My E-Portfolio Posts

Post #1:

http://sites.psu.edu/reshmakjblog/2013/02/08/gay-marriage-and-the-morality-of-it-all/

This post talks about the morality of gay marriage and the religious controversies over the issue.

Post #2:

http://sites.psu.edu/reshmakjblog/2013/04/05/gay-marriage-in-the-media/

This post talks about the former senator of Pennsylvania’s blaming the tv show Will and Grace as to being the reason why gay marriage has become such an issue in today’s society.

Post #3:

http://sites.psu.edu/reshmajblog/2013/01/31/randumb-fact-16-on-an-episode-of-saved-by-the-bell-the-college-years-a-c-slater-learned-his-last-name-was-actually-sanchez-his-dad-changed-it-25-years-earlier-to-get-into-the-military-academy/

This post is about the tv show Saved by the Bell and how one of the main character’s father changed his last name in order to be accepted into the army and relates it to the idea that we need to accept ourselves for who we are

Post #4:

http://sites.psu.edu/reshmajblog/2013/04/05/randumb-fact-22-the-guy-who-invented-the-karaoke-machine-daisuke-inoue-couldnt-sing-couldnt-read-music-and-played-the-keyboard-about-as-well-as-your-average-third-grader/

This post is about the man who invented karaoke couldn’t actually sing or read music and did not play the keyboard well but he believed in himself and was able to produce one of the most popular musical pastime.

Post #5:

http://sites.psu.edu/reshmajblog/2012/09/27/randumb-fact-3-while-santas-sleigh-seems-to-make-pit-stops-the-world-over-he-might-need-to-cross-saudi-arabia-off-his-to-do-list-according-to-law-the-country-bans-anything-and-everything/

This post is about how Saudi Arabians do not celebrate Christmas and ban anything related to the idea of celebrating the holiday and how my cousin who lives in Saudi Arabia lives under such strict circumstances whereas I live in a free nation.

Advocacy Project

For our advocacy project, we decided to bring attention towards water awareness. We tend to take water for granted and don’t realize that it’s NOT an unlimited resource and we have to take better measures to learn about water conservation. In order to do this, we adopted a simple advocacy plan that will hopefully bring about a great result. First, we are going to post these signs over water fountains and other popular locations on campus:

WIW2-01

 

By seeing this poster, we hope that students (maybe even faculty members) will take the initiative to go to the twitter account @Water_Awareness. This twitter account, which we will create, will tweet about facts related to water conservation and include tweets such as “Retweet if you turned the water faucet off all the way” or something like that so that users will have an interactive approach to this project. We hope to get a good number of people to follow this account and retweet/favorite our tweets. We will also utilize Facebook to create a page where students can like our project and give direct access to our twitter account so that they will follow it. One of our goals is to get our hashtag “#wateriswet” which will follow after each post, to be trending.

It’s Time for Some Op-Eds

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/opinion/the-country-that-stopped-reading.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

This article from the NY Times talks about the Mexican education system and how, even when these children are attending school, they aren’t really “learning.” Nobody appreciates the fact that all this learning stems from one of the most basic tasks: reading. No, this does not include reading your huge and extremely heavy biology textbook or your dull history book, but it means reading, wait for it…FOR FUN. Actually taking the time our of your schedule to read books of substance, books that are not required for class, books that keep your attention and call for you to keep on reading. This lack of reading is what is making kids go backwards in terms of their education, instead of learning and actually absorbing information, students are just memorizing whatever its easy for them to memorize, whether than reading and understanding complicated issues. The author is trying to help us understand the underlying issues behind a lack of literacy and how that directly correlates to our educational standards.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/06/op-ed-science-tv-drama/

This article, from WIRED, explains the importance, no, the necessity for a show based on real academia, not just the interpersonal relationships among various colleagues, whether they are medical students, law students, grad students, etc. It uses examples of shows place in this sort of setting, such as Law and Order, Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs, Big Bang Theory. While these shows have been around for a long time and have generated a loyal audience allowing it to prolong its presence on the small screen, they focus more on the personal lives of its characters, rather than the underlying principles of the law, medicine, and science in general. They argue that there needs to be more television shows based on the academia, the basis of understanding knowledge, and how our country’s law policies and medical care have come into effect. But then again, the basis of television is to draw in readers and to make them want to continue with the show and one of the easy ways to do that, is to make sure that there are some personal complications between the complications. They want to make it a point not to completely drive a readers to one completely different idea, but to draw them into a combined idea, an idea that doesn’t get rid of the so called “problem” but draw upon that and a solution that may rectify the academia television scene.

Moderator’s Philosophy

All throughout my life, I have seen myself as someone who quickly adapts to new situations. While I may initially approach such situations with some anxiety, I quickly get over my fears and face my challenge head on. I always try to welcome a new challenge because it not only prepares me for the future, which is always filled with uncertainty, but it also gives me new and exciting experiences to work from. The key to getting to this point, however, is to get over my reserved nature and to express my ideas and opinions without the fear of being judged by others. I’ve learned that there is rarely going to be a time where everyone agrees on everything and there is no instance for disagreement. This deliberation showed me how to get out of my shell and not only contribute to the conversation, but to also lead discussion.

The week before our in class deliberation started, I was confident that my group and I would be able to not only converse with one another about our own views about sustainability, but also deliberate with one another. We were not afraid to disagree with or question one another’s views. I enjoyed the fact that the deliberative atmosphere was open and accepting of all the different perspectives that came from each group member. I was able to contribute my thoughts and ideas to the group discussion and counter another group member’s point without hesitation. My role as a moderator was to lead the discussion groups and I feel that my leadership style can be characterized as open-minded with a firm standing. When I was moderating the discussion, I made sure that every group member had the chance to speak his or her mind and contribute to the conversation. As a moderator, I made it a point to not only introduce my own views on the topics at hand during my time as a moderator, but also drive the conversation to a deeper level once I felt that the conversation was coming to a slow pace. I was firm in my standing that the conversation should be focused on sustainability, and if I felt that the conversation was taking a wrong turn, I would bring it back to the option that we were talking about that day. These characteristics allowed me to successfully moderate the discussion and ensure that my group members were engaged in their deliberation.

I feel that my strengths as a moderator were that I was very open to other people’s ideas and was willing to contribute my own views to the discussion, but I also felt that sometimes, I took a greater role as the deliberator rather than the moderator. When I would help direct the conversation toward a deeper level, I found myself contributing to the conversation more than actually moderating it, which was good in the fact that the conversation kept on going, but did not employ my job as the moderator. This experience has taught me the importance of deliberation and how crucial the roles of deliberator and moderator are to society. I have learned how to become a better moderator and how to hold my own forum about serious issues, such as sustainability. I hope to use this experience to improve my moderating skills for the future so that when the situation calls for it, I will be ready.

 

 

 

My Top 3 Passion Blogs

1. http://sites.psu.edu/marlowe2012/

If you love to travel or are interested in finding a country to go ahead and do a study abroad, this blog will definitely help you make the decision. The fact that the author is accounting his own experiences rather than just stating the pros and cons of a certain country gives the blog post a personable tone. Including pictures also gives the audience an easier time in understanding the author’s experiences and like I said before, in case you find upon a country that you’d like to do a study abroad, it would be nice to at least have seen pictures of it.

2. http://sites.psu.edu/kielceskirclblog/

This blog not only provides people with a good sample of different kinds of music, but in my case, introduces me to bands of genres that I would not typically listen to on an everyday basis. She gives a good background on the band that is featured, along with her opinion of the band’s music taste and efficiently added youtube links at the end of the post. This way, if someone was interested in the band after reading the post, they can instantly start listening to their music and hey, maybe they’ll become their next big fan.

3. http://sites.psu.edu/evans2012/

I liked this blog not only because of it’s take on fashion, but because of the fact the author not only incorporated the fashions and styles that we see in magazines and walking around in the city, but she also incorporates her own style. She explains why she wears the clothes she does and includes a visual aid so that we can actually see how her style changes over the course of a week.

Civic Issues Research Questions

1. What are the benefits of same-sex marriage? In a financial sense? What are the benefits compared to those of a heterosexual marriage?

2. What are the current legal standings on gay marriage? What states are currently advancing their legalization of gay marriage? Why are certain states completely opposed to overturning their view of gay marriage, their lack of legalizing this endeavor?

3. How has gay marriage affected the media? How has the movie and television industry interpreted the growing interest in gay rights? Have these instances helped create new initiatives in the gay rights movement?

I Believe in the Power of Humor

From sarcastic jokes to whimsical comments, being funny has always been a big part of my personality. Now I know that it may sound silly. I mean, how can telling a few jokes and getting a couple of laughs here and there actually constitute a person’s being? The truth is, I honestly do not know what my life would be like if I didn’t have a sense of humor, or if I couldn’t make people laugh. Humor brings about a light within myself, a light that at times, I don’t even recognize, but other times, I feel that my tendency toward humor comes at a price, the price of not being taken seriously. I felt that people would discredit my thoughts and ideas, simply because having serious thoughts would simply be out of my nature. There was a point in my life, when I thought that being funny was not going to help me make a difference in my life or anyone else’s life for that matter, and that I should try to find something else to identify myself with, when suddenly, things changed.

I still remember the day like it was yesterday. It was my junior year of high school. I was sitting in our high school commons during my free period when two of my sophomore friends came and sat down on the couches next to me. They told me about an assignment they had to do for their English class, one that I had done the year before. The assignment was to write and perform a short skit based on the topic assigned to each group and ironically, they were given the same topic that my group had to perform when we were sophomores. The topic was the idea of mixed marriages and the complications that can arise from them when coming from an immigrant family. My friends’ families, as well as my own, all came from India, making us first generation American-Indians and well, you can say that we knew what most immigrant families would say to a mixed marriage.

My friends made their play about an American boy asking an Indian father for his daughter’s hand in marriage. They wrote up the play but they needed someone to play the part of the father so they could rehearse for class and I agreed to rehearse some lines with them. As I channeled my inner Indian father and got set to do this impromptu performance, I began saying my lines and well, I guess all that channeling must have done some good. I was speaking with an Indian accent and stern tone, as most Indian fathers in this position would have done and before I knew it, there were people coming toward me and my friends and watching our little performance. As we progressed throughout the play, more and more students came and more laughs were heard. When we were finished, the crowd of students applauded and commended us on our acting. My confidence was at an all time high that day, I had never gotten this much recognition for my humor before, and yet that was not even the best part of the day.

Soon after our little performance, the bell rang and it was time for class. As I began to pack up my things, I felt someone tap my shoulder and when I turned around, I saw that it was one of my closest friends. She said two words to me, “Thank you.” I was confused. I didn’t know why she was thanking me but then she began to explain. You see, my friend had lost her mother two months ago in a car accident and while she was holding strong, her little sister was still heartbroken. She told me that her sister hardly spoke anymore, let alone smiled and that no matter what she did to try and comfort her, nothing worked. She was worried that her sister would never get past her mother’s death and did not know how to help her. As my friend was watching our little performance, she saw her sister among the crowd, smiling and laughing. She came to thank me for brightening up her sister’s day with my ridiculous accent and dramatic acting. As she gave me a hug and quickly went on her way to class, I began to think about what an impact I had made with this, quote on quote, talent of mine. Something that I overlooked about myself, something that I thought of as a weakness, provided strength for someone else. I believe that my humor is something that I should not take for granted, but something I should embrace. It gives me a different perspective on life, and gives my friends some very amusing conversations. I believe that being funny is my superpower, a power that I should always cherish. I believe in the power of humor.

 

“This I Believe”

When listening to the “This I Believe” podcasts, I got an idea as to what I want to write my own “I Believe” podcast. I decided that I wanted to make my podcast related to my own life, something that I could easily use to tell a story, and I was thinking maybe I would write about friendships, especially the friendship between me and my best friend. Me and my best friend have been there for each other through everything and without a doubt, I believe that the bond between best friends is something that people tend to take for granted and at one point, I did too. My life would definitely be different without my best friend, and I truly believe that the power of friendship is something that should not be taken for granted.

Another topic that I was thinking about writing about would be the power of family. In my own life, the bond between family members has come into play several different times. From the time that my uncle, a long time smoker, was on his death bed but was miraculously healed and vowed to stop smoking so he could see his two sons grow up and be with his family, to the time that my father and all of his siblings dropped everything they had to do and took a flight from the US to India for my grandfather’s funeral and tend to my grandmother.

The History of a Public Controversy

We have made some slight deviations with our public controversy project. Instead of focusing on the whole KONY 2012 campaign alone, we decided to focus on the more broad topic of child soldiers in Africa. We are still working out the kinks, but we decided that because we have such a powerful and serious topic, we want to bring in the audience and give them the opportunity to truly be a part of the project. For the first scene, we want to start off with the sound of fists pounding on the door and a statistic running across the screen about children soldiers. We then want to use pictures as a background to our narration of the history and background of child soldiers. During this part of the presentation, we will also be incorporating interviews that we will conduct with various students on campus to get their feedback on how well they are informed about child soldiers and the KONY 2012 will also be incorporated into the project, rather than being the sole focus of the project. Our main goals are to not only inform the public about child soldiers and the efforts that are going towards this cause to help alleviate the pain which it causes, but to truly move the audience.