I think I might just create an Eng 101 assignment around this video.
Showing posts with label adolescence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adolescence. Show all posts
Jul 14, 2009
Twilight Irony
Mar 4, 2009
Fox Spreads Herpes
I'm not a huge fan of the Colbert Report, but last night I was waiting to take my next dose of cough medicine and watched part of an episode. I probably would have changed the channel, but Colbert was doing a story on how herpes was being spread quickly on college campuses due to the prevalence of playing beer pong. Colbert's "report" was actually not about herpes or beer pong, but really about how the whole story was a college newspaper joke that got picked up and spread by the national media (aka primarily Fox News). Here is Colbert's take...
I'm always a sucker for ways of using pop culture to "teach" source evaluation, but I'm also really interested in the ways that some stories get spread while others don't. One blogger who talked about the spread of the article notes that it is probably the combination of adolescent, sexuality, and alcohol. He correctly points out that these three things are included in many urban legends, but are also strong enough social concerns that can lead people to miss the urban legend in badly written satire.
Sadly, Fox News won't allow me to embedded their original newscast, but thanks to the miracle of Youtube, here's their story. My favorite part of this is that they offer tips for "safe beer pong" while on Spring Break.
In addition to being a much funnier and more current example of evaluating sources,* I really like it as an example of the anxiety we have over adolescent sexuality, specifically as it relates to travel. You'll note that Fox News seems to be working under the assumption that beer pong is something that only happens in the tropical, debauchedness of Cancun or Daytona Beach. This story is in fact not much different than the numerous warning of violence linked to drugs and prostitution threatening Spring Breakers in Mexico. The original State Department advisory warns primarily of drug related violence, although when discussed by the media this story generally takes an advisory against frequenting areas of known for prostitution and morphs it into a warning about females being sold into prostitution.
I'm really intrigued with the ways that both the beer pong and Mexico warnings place risky adolescent behavior in remote locations and use the "holiday" to talk about taboos that are clearly issues the other 51 weeks out of year. I write a lot about how these taboos are so strong that they often have to be dealt with in the adolescent road trip novel in order to physically, geographically, and emotionally distance the behavior from adolescence, but I find it even more interesting that this pattern seems to becoming common for the media as well.
*My previous example is a series of stories about Al Gore inventing the internet and the ways that narrative was spread and expanded by "reputable" sources. Sadly, for most of my composition students, this example is too dated for it to be funny.
I'm always a sucker for ways of using pop culture to "teach" source evaluation, but I'm also really interested in the ways that some stories get spread while others don't. One blogger who talked about the spread of the article notes that it is probably the combination of adolescent, sexuality, and alcohol. He correctly points out that these three things are included in many urban legends, but are also strong enough social concerns that can lead people to miss the urban legend in badly written satire.
Sadly, Fox News won't allow me to embedded their original newscast, but thanks to the miracle of Youtube, here's their story. My favorite part of this is that they offer tips for "safe beer pong" while on Spring Break.
In addition to being a much funnier and more current example of evaluating sources,* I really like it as an example of the anxiety we have over adolescent sexuality, specifically as it relates to travel. You'll note that Fox News seems to be working under the assumption that beer pong is something that only happens in the tropical, debauchedness of Cancun or Daytona Beach. This story is in fact not much different than the numerous warning of violence linked to drugs and prostitution threatening Spring Breakers in Mexico. The original State Department advisory warns primarily of drug related violence, although when discussed by the media this story generally takes an advisory against frequenting areas of known for prostitution and morphs it into a warning about females being sold into prostitution.
I'm really intrigued with the ways that both the beer pong and Mexico warnings place risky adolescent behavior in remote locations and use the "holiday" to talk about taboos that are clearly issues the other 51 weeks out of year. I write a lot about how these taboos are so strong that they often have to be dealt with in the adolescent road trip novel in order to physically, geographically, and emotionally distance the behavior from adolescence, but I find it even more interesting that this pattern seems to becoming common for the media as well.
*My previous example is a series of stories about Al Gore inventing the internet and the ways that narrative was spread and expanded by "reputable" sources. Sadly, for most of my composition students, this example is too dated for it to be funny.
Feb 18, 2009
I <3 John Green
John Green is a YA author with a blog, but it isn't aimed at teachers or parents or some idealized version of the American teenager. If you ask a dumb question, he tells you what he thinks, and I really enjoy that.
Example from today's Q and A blog:
He also vlogs, which I'm secretly envious of.
Example from today's Q and A blog:
Q. What is your view on Jessica Simpons' weight gain?
A. When I look deep down into the very core of my being, into the darkness which is me, I truly do not give a shit.
He also vlogs, which I'm secretly envious of.
Jul 12, 2008
The Associated Press: Study: As gas prices go up, auto deaths decline
The Associated Press: Study: As gas prices go up, auto deaths decline
Last week, I was theorizing on the changes that I've seen in ya road trip novels. One theory that I posited was that the rising cost of gas is making the car less accessible to teens, therefore while the car was once the metaphor for economic growth, it is now being replaced by other things. M suggested this might be a shift toward digital mobility rather than physical mobility, and I think she may be right. Recently there was a study that said that the rising gas prices are helping to cut traffic deaths
Such a program is really interesting to me because of the ways that it mirrors the trend toward an extended adolescence. Most of my undergraduate students still identify themselves as adolescents on some level and the graduated licensing law seems to reflect such a perception of delayed adulthood.
What I find most intriguing about the study, however, is the fact that teen deaths are the most marked decrease. In ya lit cars are often used as punishment for non-adult behavior. You get pregnant, you instantly lose you car. You have sex, you (or your partner) are in a horrible car wreck. You fail to get/keep a summer job the car is taken away. Then of course we have the car removed for drug/alcohol/other anti-social behavior books a well. Cars do two things in ya lit: they enable adult behaviors (sex, jobs, mobility) and they serve as reminders for the ways in which adolescents must concede to growing up and to abiding by the rules of grown ups.
If actual teen deaths from automobile accidents are dropping, I would assume that authors will begin to find a new metaphor for the need to grow up (economically) and the consequences for unsanctioned behavior. Will this be cell phones or computers? I'm curious how this change will resonate in ya lit.
Last week, I was theorizing on the changes that I've seen in ya road trip novels. One theory that I posited was that the rising cost of gas is making the car less accessible to teens, therefore while the car was once the metaphor for economic growth, it is now being replaced by other things. M suggested this might be a shift toward digital mobility rather than physical mobility, and I think she may be right. Recently there was a study that said that the rising gas prices are helping to cut traffic deaths
with the most dramatic drop likely to be among teen drivers.I find this interesting for a number of reasons. In terms of actual teen drivers, central Illinois has had a really rough couple of years with teen deaths. Illinois has enacted a graduated driver's license program which hardly makes 16 the target year anymore.
Such a program is really interesting to me because of the ways that it mirrors the trend toward an extended adolescence. Most of my undergraduate students still identify themselves as adolescents on some level and the graduated licensing law seems to reflect such a perception of delayed adulthood.
What I find most intriguing about the study, however, is the fact that teen deaths are the most marked decrease. In ya lit cars are often used as punishment for non-adult behavior. You get pregnant, you instantly lose you car. You have sex, you (or your partner) are in a horrible car wreck. You fail to get/keep a summer job the car is taken away. Then of course we have the car removed for drug/alcohol/other anti-social behavior books a well. Cars do two things in ya lit: they enable adult behaviors (sex, jobs, mobility) and they serve as reminders for the ways in which adolescents must concede to growing up and to abiding by the rules of grown ups.
If actual teen deaths from automobile accidents are dropping, I would assume that authors will begin to find a new metaphor for the need to grow up (economically) and the consequences for unsanctioned behavior. Will this be cell phones or computers? I'm curious how this change will resonate in ya lit.
Jul 9, 2008
Baby Borrowers
I'd heard about the show Baby Borrowers and up until now found the idea a disturbing concept for a reality television show. It's clearly a way for NBC to further cash in on the teen pregnancy/celebrity baby boom lately. This bothers me not because it's exploiting teen pregnancies, but because I'm not sure that I'm okay with giving actual babies to teens who may or may not have the skills and desire to care for them properly even if they are shadowed by professional nannies. Babies are not toys, and the show has the very real potential to use them in this way.
Anyway, I find myself watching it tonight, I found some of the producers' choices interesting:
Anyway, I find myself watching it tonight, I found some of the producers' choices interesting:
- While most of the couples chose to have the male go out to work, the show did not require this. Couples made the choice for themselves, and I was glad to see that the show incorporated such a open gender roles in the show. I was also glad to see that the show seemed to show very involved fathers. In fact, I would say that for the most part the guys were more emotionally invested than the girls.
- In the one episode I watched one of the teens mom's from each couple came by for 3 hours to help out. Nearly every mom ran in and picked up the borrowed baby and then gave the "see I told you, you did not really want a baby." Was this really necessary? Clearly the way that the show is edited, most of the teens are not enjoying the experience and most have already vocalized their change of heart. To bring an adult into to deliver this "moral" seems forced to me and co-opts the teens' voices.
- Early in the episode I was really disturbed by the fact that I felt that they were dividing the females as "good" and "bad" mothers. At the end of the episode, there were still females that were labeled as the mothers that were "checked out" "immature" and "selfish." This labeling was slightly negated by the fact that at least one of the "real" mothers talked about her own faults as a mother and how things aren't always perfect. The overall tone of the show still seems to be more critical of the women than the men. Several of the couples might be described as dysfunctional, but there seems to be more critique of the females' attitudes than the males' attitudes. While I realize that bad mothers can be described in lots of different ways, I find it interesting that the bad mothers in this shows are clearly defined as the adolescent mothers. Those who are described as "natural" mothers are those who can emotionally and financially navigate the family (one "bad" mother for example wastes money at the grocery store, while another insists that her husband forgo a paycheck in order to stay home and care for the children while she sits on the couch).
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