A League of Their Own

While scanning the endless options on Netflix, my husband and I came across a classic movie, "A League of Their Own." Surprisingly, my husband had never seen it. As we watched, feminist issues stuck out to me more than the ever had before. In one of my classes earlier this week, we were learning about feminism and the different types of feminism. Things from that lecture came to mind as we watched.
The movie takes place in the early 1940's during WWII. The Major League Baseball industry was suffering as most the ball players were being sent off to war. As a way to make money, they decided to create a women's baseball league. The story follows a team of women and their experiences playing in the first women's baseball league, hence why it is called "A League of Their Own."
I found it interesting that although they would be playing baseball, they were expected to wear short dresses as their uniform (which often left them injured when they'd slide into home). Not only were they supposed to play baseball like a man, they were expected to dress and walk like a lady.
When sales started decreasing, the girls started using their feminine side as a way to increase ticket sales. They would do the splits as they caught the ball, give kisses to anyone that got a foul ball, etc. At one point, one of the team owners said that the war was going to be over soon which would bring the ballplayers back and they wouldn't need the women anymore. In that moment, it wasn't about these women's dream to play baseball, but the profits they were bringing to the league.
As women were treated differently, the feminist side of me (which isn't very big, I might add) came out and I understood better some of the feminist issues that women used to face.  It is a great movie, I would definitely recommend it.

If only we all could be like Rudy

Rudy- one of the greatest football movies of all time. My husband recently got accepted to Notre Dame's  Master of Accountancy program and immediately I thought of Rudy. I decided to borrow the movie and realized why I loved it so much.
Based on a true story, Rudy is the story of a young man that dreamt of attending Notre Dame and playing for their football team. The only problem; he was only about 5 feet tall, weighed just over 100 or so pounds, and couldn't make the grades to get in. (**Spoiler Alert). He had a dream and he did everything he could and finally after applying to Notre Dame four times got accepted. He tried out and got on. As the story continues, Rudy works so hard to actually play, but doesn't play until the last game of the season.
Rudy is a great example of perseverance. He works so hard to reach his goals and does nothing to stop until he gets it. He has lots of moments of discouragement and even feels like giving up, but is determined in the end. If only we all could be like Rudy.

God Uses Media

This weekend was filled with some great uses of media and technology. As a young women leader in my ward, I've had the opportunity and blessing of helping the youth practice and get ready for the Cultural Celebration for the dedication of the Provo City Center Temple. Saturday was the performance in the Marriott Center. It was so neat to see the use of technology as the youth were shown on the jumbo-tron and the performance was broadcast on lds.org which could be accessed all around the world. The next day, the dedication was broadcast to 600 buildings across Utah. A recently baptized friend that came with us commented, "It is so neat to see how many people are gathered for this dedication and how it's almost like we are all there." I realized in that moment how much I have taken for granted the other temple dedications I have seen, the many stake conferences that have been broadcast, CES firesides, and of course the biggest broadcast in the church, General Conference. If it wasn't for technology and the ability we have to broadcast to our church buildings around the world or even in our own homes, we would miss out on so many wonderful things. Technology and media really are a blessing and allow more of God's children the chance to participate in and hear the great messages of the Gospel. God uses media.

Click here for the recent Mormon Newsroom article on the dedication.

Snapchat

I remember the first time I heard about Snapchat. I was a missionary and a member told me about this new app that lets you send a picture or short video to someone else who is then only allowed to see the picture/ video for 10 seconds or less. Immediately I thought of all the bad things that people would use the app for and I couldn't believe what the world had come to.
Well, I am currently a Snapchat user. A friend of mine convinced me to get it after showing me that it can be used for good, clean, fun. Although I'm not one to send a lot of pictures on Snapchat to friends and family, I do appreciate sending fun pictures and not having it fill up the memory space on my phone. I currently have less than ten people on my list of Snapchat friends (half of which are mission companions).
As I've thought about my original impression of Snapchat and my current use of it, I have come to realize how there are a lot of things in this world that can be used for both good and bad. The Internet for example has a lot of inappropriate, incorrect, and cruel things on it. However, it is also filled with many great, uplifting, and inspiring things as well.
I think it is good to remember that media isn't inherently bad, but that we should be active consumers of the media we view and use. Talking to one of the young women in my ward, she mentioned that she isn't allowed to have Snapchat. I completely agree. I feel that although I use Snapchat in appropriate ways, it may not always be easy for an immature consumer to know the most appropriate way to use it. I commend her parents for not allowing her to use Snapchat, because I can see how easy it would be for someone to send inappropriate pictures.
Obviously there are some forms of media that are bad for all ages. I believe that we should be active consumers and really think about what forms or types of media we chose to consume rather than just passively accepting the societal norm.

I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.

After the bad inversion we had a few weeks ago, my husband has been a lot more conscious of our environmental impact. We both love Dr. Seuss books and lately read The Lorax together. What a great book and great way to educate children about their environmental impact. We read the story to my nephews tonight and asked what they learned. My nephew's response, "Don't cut down tree because it makes our air bad." It was great to see that my nephew was able to understand the main lesson from the story. I love Dr. Seuss and the imagination his words bring. All his stories have such great lessons for children to learn. My favorite lines from the Lorax are:

"I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues... UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

If you haven't read the Lorax, I strongly encourage you do. It's a great read!

Full House just got Fuller

A couple weeks ago I talked about Boy Meets World meets Girl Meets World. I mentioned how it was fun to see the characters I grew up with on the screen again, this time with their own children to raise. Well, on Friday, Fuller House was made available on Netflix.
A spin off of the early 90's hit TV show, Full House, Fuller House follows two of the Tanner girls, DJ and Stephanie, and DJ's best friend Kimmy, as they learn how to raise kids of their own. The three of them paired together are very similar to the original Danny, Joey, and Jesse trio. It has been fun to watch and reminisce on past episodes of the original Full House. I also like that they have brought some old characters back and included them in the story. I've definitely enjoyed watching the episodes so far and think it is fun to make connections with my childhood. If you haven't watched it yet, check it out. I can promise it will bring back some memories from your youth.

Parenthood

Back in December, a friend recommended that my husband and I watch Parenthood. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of shows on TV. I am very particular about what I watch so when she made this suggestion I figured this would just be another show full of dumb humor, sexual content, and shallow plots. I promised I would watch all of Season 1 before I turned it down. "You'll be hooked after the pilot episode" my friend promised. Well, that was not the case. In fact, I found the pilot episode to have some dumb humor, sexual content, and a shallow plot, but I had made a promise and I had to stick to it. I wasn't convinced though that I would love the show like my friend said I would. The first day of class, Dr. Coyne mentioned that her favorite TV show right now was Parenthood. I was completely shocked by this, 'were we watching the same show?' I decided to give it another chance. The next three or four episodes still didn't convince me, but I made a promise to finish the whole first season so I pushed through. Suddenly I was halfway through season 2 and I found myself binge watching it. At some point between the pilot episode and season 2 I grew to love the characters. I began to understand each of them on a different level. I found myself taking concepts I've learned from my family studies courses and applying them to this family. I saw attachment issues and communication styles. I found myself analyzing how situations with their children were handled and my husband and I would pause it to discuss what we would do if the same situation happened to us and our future kids.
Now on season 5, I can honestly say I really like Parenthood. I've learned a lot about different parenting techniques, marriage conflicts, and have
been able to discuss what went well and what could be better. I can't say that everyone would love the show and should watch it, but I can say that I've been an active audience and by doing so I have been able to learn from what I watch.

Sundays with Gene Kelly

Growing up, my siblings and I were only allowed to watch church movies, musicals, or select Disney movies on Sundays. I grew to love musicals, especially musicals with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. These musicals were always really fun to watch and sing along with. The story line was clean and my parent's never had to worry about questionable material. As a teenage girl, I had pictures of Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in my locker while my friends had the latest heart throb.
Today, I decided to watch "Anchors Aweigh" featuring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra. As I watched, memories of watching it before when I lived at home came to my mind. The songs were fun and nostalgic and I fell in love with Gene and Frank again.
It is interesting how much movies have changed. At one point, musicals were the normal thing to come to theater, now a musical is a rare occasion. I want to instill a love of musicals in my own family when I have children. I think it's important for parents to know what their kids are watching and old movies like "Anchors Aweigh" is a movie no parent should have to worry about.

Boy Meets World meets Girl Meets World

I've been watching Girl Meets World, a spin off of the 90's Boy Meets World, for my groups content analysis project. It's been nostalgic as I watch grown up Cory and Topgana as the raise two kids of their own. I remember afternoons spent watching Cory, Sean, and the gang grow up. It was one of my favorite shows and I really felt I could connect to some of the life challenges. Watching Girl Meets World has been interesting. I'm definitely not a tween anymore so the humor found in the show doesn't appeal to me. There are still circumstances that I'm sure teens can relate. I do think it's fun that Disney decided to re-do the series, this time with Cory and Topanga's daughter as the lead. It's fun to see some connections to the past series and see how it is applicable to the youth today.

Coldplay - A Sky Full Of Stars

In class on Wednesday we were learning about music. Dr. Coyne asked each of us to think of a song that described us or our life. I had the hardest time thinking of something. I went home and asked my husband if he could think of anything. We both came up empty. Then my husband reminded me of when we were dating. The song "Sky Full of Stars" by Coldplay came out that year and was really popular. Turns out that whenever my husband hears that song he thinks of me and when we were dating/ engaged. I love this song and think it has a great beat, but also is a great love song without being overly mushy. In the song it talks about how in a sky full of stars he sees her and for my husband, whenever this song comes on, he thinks of me. Enjoy the music video!

Infants and Books

I had the opportunity to watch my 19 month old niece this week while her parents were away. I've watched her many times and it's always so much fun. This time my niece was excited to show me her books. We had just learned in class about the effect that media has on infants. As we read some simple books together, it reminded me of  the list of how infants learn.

1. Synchrony (matching your emotions to theirs)
2. Joint Attention (both caregiver and child are looking at the same thing)
3. Repetition
4. Simplicity (easy concepts)
5. Prosodic features of language
6. Segmentation (break down into smaller segments)

As we sat together and read, I recognized all six steps. As my niece was excited about pictures I responded by mimicking her which was synchrony. We experienced joint attention together as I focused on the book with her. It was repetitive as we read the books over and over, repeating the words or what was in the pictures. The images and words were simple and easy to understand which kept her attention. As I spoke, I found myself talking in a prosodic way and lastly each part of the book we read was broken down into smaller parts making it easy to follow.

I really enjoyed this interaction. I felt that my time reading with my niece was beneficial to me and our connection to each other was made stronger.

The Great British Baking Show

There are so many different TV series, reality shows, movies, etc. to watch. Sometimes it is difficult to decide what is worth watching, what adds value, or what is appropriate. It's easy to find something that doesn't add value and isn't appropriate. Too easy. My husband and I were on the search for anything that was interesting, yet left out any profanity, back biting, sexual content, violence, etc. What we found?? The Great British Baking Show.
Unlike other cooking/ baking competition shows, The Great British Baking Show doesn't have the back biting, jealousy, profanity, or other negative aspects. This show focuses on the abilities of each competitor without putting others down. At times contestants even help each other. When a person is sent home, the judges and other competitors even hug and say goodbye. The overall atmosphere is supportive, positive, and uplifting. As we watch we are educated about the baking process of different dishes and end feeling good and excited for all the contestants.
I definitely recommend The Great British Baking Show. You won't be disappointed!

The Start of Something New

I am excited about the chance I have this semester to take Dr. Coyne's "Media, Family, and Human Development" course at Brigham Young University. I've always been quite interested in the effect media has on families - especially children and adolescents - and look forward to what I will learn.
As part of the course I have been asked to keep a blog describing and analyzing the media I am exposed to, hence my blog title: "ME"dia. I hope you enjoy my media journey over the next few months and gain as much insight as I will. Enjoy!