For my Passion Blog, I have decided to write about old school classic hip hop culture, scandals associated with them, and the influence it has had on the current generation.
For my Civic Issues Blog, I will be conducting research about climate change. I could look into what the government is doing for it and what they could be doing more of. Along with that, I could talk about the impacts being made on the daily that could be easily avoided.
URL: http://sites.psu.edu/joshmicivicissues/
On April 16th, 2019, Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor, John Fetterman visited Penn State University on his recently launched statewide listening tour on recreational marijuana legalization. He specified how he was only there to collect feedback and hear all sides of the story from residents across the state.
One of the first people to speak at the open mic event was a former policeman. Over the course of his career, he had arrested over 400 drunk drivers, but never once arrested an individual under the influence of marijuana. This seemed to be a popular argument on why marijuana should be legalized. Marijuana is not known to cause people to become aggressive or harmful.
When deadly opioids and addictive drugs are legal and even prescribed by pharmaceutical companies, it is hard to ignore how the drug industry is simply making a profit from those who fall prey to these substances. Another speaker who came up to the mic talked about how she had been struggling with such addictive drugs that were prescribed to her by her doctor. One she experimented with marijuana, she was able to sly away from those drugs while getting the pain relief that she needed in the first place.
As people discover the benefits of marijuana and the lack of serious side effects, they begin to use the substance. Unfortunately, this has led to an increased incrimination rate. There are countless people who have been arrested for such a victimless act. Once these people get released from jail, they are not able to get a job since it taints their record. A popular suggestion at this discussion was erase all marijuana related charges from those who have been accused. The aftermath of such an accusation caused way more harm than good.
Although the support for legalizing marijuana was high, many people came forward with the concern that, this will cause the price of it to rise. The audience encouraged Fetterman to fight the inflation that would be enforced on marijuana priced once it is legalized. Many came forward with how the recreational use of marijuana had helped them get their life on track. However, if it becomes in-affordable, they will have no choice but to return to where they started.
Opposition to the legalization of marijuana claimed how marijuana makes people “unproductive and lazy”. This person had a negative experience with marijuana because it made him lose the motivation he needed in life. To this, many replied that this depended on the person using it. The people should use it responsibly so that it gave them more benefits than harm.
Overall, Fetterman’s discussion showed how majority of the public favored the legalization of marijuana and how it had positively impacted all of their lives. Through this discussion, I was able to better understand the implications and benefits of legalizing marijuana. Fetterman explicitly said that he was in favor of legalizing the plant, however, he said that his policies are simply in the exploratory phase. So, he was not able to contribute much, except for listening to those who had opinions.
Establishing the rules and expectations at a deliberation is one of the most crucial things to be done, since this factor could influence the discussion in a severe way. Gastil’s criteria for deliberative discussion highlights extremely important factors a successful deliberation should possess. These criteria were observable throughout the deliberation of my group, Plastic State University, and in the deliberation Pour Decisions, led by my classmates.
While deliberating, moderators are prompted to keep their opinions to themselves in order to promote a comforting environment for all opinions. Prioritizing key values at stake is a criteria that was crucial in creating this environment. By reflecting on our own values, as well as the values of others, we were able to accept any opinions that went against our personal values. Although most of Plastic State University participants leaned towards pro-sustainability, there were minor ideas that were presented during the discussion that I had to listen to patiently instead of turning them down right away. For instance, it was mentioned that it is acceptable for a student to disregard any attempt at being sustainable if it was not convenient to them. I believe that the student should at least consider trying it out first before they turn the idea down completely. Nevertheless, I attempted to understand their values and point of view in order to create a welcoming environment.
Compared to the Plastic State University deliberation, the “Pour” Decisions deliberation had a different dynamic regarding this criteria. As this topic directly related to the college lifestyle, many of the participants had different ideals compared to the deliberators. The group was quick to jump on the negative aspects of all the approaches that were suggested. This may have been because some students favored the presence of alcohol in their college lifestyle. In specific, a participant was a member of a sorority. According to her, alcohol is an undeniable staple at any event on the weekend. Her strong association with alcohol led her to not prioritize the values of those who did not consume alcohol as much.
Another criteria that I observed in Plastic State University, as well as Pour Decisions, was that they both identified a broad range of solutions. Both deliberations presented their audience with numerous approaches that could be taken to help progress their initiative. The Plastic State deliberation presented solutions that ranged from easy to implement, to initiative that would take a lot a more time and effort. For instance, both deliberations proposed the initiative to begin educating the community on their issue. This campaign is easy to implement and would not take much funding. In contrast, both deliberations proposed approaches that would be harder to implement. Imposing a plastic tax would be something that would require the abilities of people at a higher standing. For the Pour Decisions deliberation, a “truth-style” campaign would require a lot more time and energy.
As several approaches were introduced, both deliberations set aside time to discuss both the pros and cons for each. Both deliberations had at least two moderators for each approach so that they could alternate between discussing the pros and cons. For the tax approach, Plastic State University discussed how implementing a penalty would bring about immediate results, however, a con would be that if it was ever removed, people would return to their original behavior. The Pour Decisions deliberation also discussed the pros and cons of each approach. For example, they mentioned how a “truth-style” campaign would be attention-catching since it was a new idea. They continued to mention some drawbacks such as how the negative tone of the campaign may not be as effective as a positive tone. Weighing the pros and cons among solutions allowed for a non biased discussion that would determine if the approach was practical to implement.
Some other criteria the deliberation of Plastic State University utilized were adequately distributing speaking opportunities, ensuring mutual comprehension, and respecting other participants. Throughout our deliberation, we timed how much each moderator would speak so that one person did not over-power other participants or even their fellow moderators. Each introductory monologue was also limited to 15-20 minutes to allow enough time for participants to voice their opinions. Additionally, the team agreed on the topics that were going to be discussed prior to the deliberation. This ensured mutual comprehension amongst the group. Finally, it was made apparent that respect was to be an undeniable aspect of our deliberation. Our group consciously made sure that everyones opinions and valued were respected.
I had my headphones in, with the volume turned up almost all the way. My eyes were glued to my phone screen, as I looked through the playlists on my Spotify account. I scrolled through all of the possible options without being able to make a solid choice. I scrolled and scrolled while blindly making my way to class. I just relied on my peripheral view to avoid walking into anybody. Playing the right song for this walk was really my number one priority. Besides, I had the whole walk mentally mapped and memorized since I did it nearly every day. So, I knew exactly where to cross, where to turn, and where to walk faster and slower.
As one of the familiar crosses came up, I didn’t even bother to look up from my phone and pay attention to my feet. I just kept scrolling and scrolling and stepped off the sidewalk to cross the road. Next minute, all I heard, was a loud rip of my ankle. I somersaulted right onto oncoming traffic. My phone flew out of my hands taking my headphones with it. My left ankle radiated a pain, worse than the combination of hitting the funny bone and stubbing a toe. Seeing the cars driving towards me in full speed gave me no option but to grit my teeth and run off the road with my injured foot.
So I sat there on the sidewalk; holding on to the top of my ankle for dear life, hoping, to numb just a little bit of the pulsating pain. I sat there, breathing through my teeth, in pure shock at what just happened. I thought of all the times my friends would tell me to “look up from your phone”. I thought of all the times I’d brush their opinions away because I thought I knew better and that I had a good reason to be looking at my phone. But here I was, with a torn ligament in my ankle, all because I felt that choosing the right song was more important than paying attention to the road and what I was stepping on.
As embarrassing as it sounds, I really did just sprain my ankle over a Spotify song. However, surprisingly, I am not the only one who has taken a fall for the sake of technology. Others have developed “smartphone pinky’s,” which are indentations on the pinky caused by phones. Some, have “text necks,” which is soreness of the neck from looking down at a phone for an extended amount of time.
When I see that my generation has come to a point where technology is physically affecting them, I begin to question how much I want to give in to these new advances. It’s even crazier to think that the millennials may be the last generation that lived a part of their lives without knowing any sort of technology. This maybe the last generation to live in an era where saying no to technology is even possible.
And as I live through, potentially, the most important years of my adolescent life, I want to create memories that doesn’t involve screens. I want authentic connections with people. I want intellectual discussions without the manipulation of media. I want face to face without the barrier of a phone. But, most importantly, I no longer want to put my life in danger over such a trivial thing.
So, I lift my head, and look up when I walk. I consciously fight the urge to pull out snapchat, or Instagram when I am with my friends. With constant practice, this will eventually become a habit. And with that habit, I look forward to less sprained ankles because of phones and more memories I cherish because I lived in the moment.
“God! Always deaf with those headphones of yours. wheew” My panting friend exhaled as she pull me back by my shoulder as she caught up to me. “Oh hey. My bad, I had no idea you were calling my name.”
Hitting the shuffle button on my chill playlist on the way to classes had become muscle memory at this point. What I dread the most are those days I wake up at 7:55 for an 8 AM and forgetfulness would result in a power walk to class listening to my sniffles through the cold, the countless “I’m, like, exhausted” small talks with friends, and despite all this… silence. I know a day I forget my headphones is going to be a whole new level of misery. But I didn’t want to ruin my whole day over such a trivial thing.
So, I listened to the better things. Can you believe that birds don’t just chirp in movies? And apparently it’s possible to laugh so loud on the way to an 8 AM? A whole new perspective to the same old world. It wasn’t as bad not having All We Got blaring in my ears as prep for a two hour lecture.
Nevertheless, I went back to listening to music on the way to classes. It was too engraved into my daily routine for me to go cold turkey. But, I occasionally practiced this newly discovered version of silence. I thought about other aspects of my life that were clouded with noise. The most obvious noise immediately pinged in the palm of my hands. One following another. It just kept pinging and vibrating and clicking and tapping and criticizing. Feeling overwhelmed I held down the 29 by 29 pixel app until it started shaking and tapped the x that appeared on the top left hand corner.
I believe in the power of silence. Silence from the clamor of over 2 billion strangers who are humored by a baby covered in peanut butter, as well as, a troubled adult who committed suicide on a live stream. Extremes such as this makes me question what the boundaries are and if there was ever one to begin with. And maybe that was the point. To eliminate boundaries between individuals in a society.
However, recently it’s as if these boundaries are being forced to be established inside our minds. The pressure to conform to an idea because of its popularity is not a new concept. It is nature for human beings to seek validity and acceptance. So when your values don’t fall in line with accepted actions you create boundaries between the unconventional ideas you actually believe in and the ideas you have been told are right.
Five blue letters, S H A R E, spell angst, unknowingness, a little bit of risk. But if a minimum of 257 faithful followers accept your post to be worthy of a like and maybe even a comment, then it would’ve all been worth it. But, at what cost are we giving into all this noise.
We all know these platforms benefit off of “ego-baiting”. And we’re definitely not strangers to the fact that a person, who you have spoken to maybe once in your life, has the ability to track every move you make through snap maps. But when the effects of positive reinforcement is almost as powerful as hard drugs, it’s not hard to see why it’s so favored and the negative aspects, no matter how bad, will be justified as “Oh, that’ll never happen to me.”
Now, I am kind of a hypocrite in that I do not fully practice what I preach. I still dabble in a fair amount of social media. However, I consciously limit the amount of my life I dedicate to these apps. It is important to know a world outside of social gratification online for at least an hour, even a day, or maybe even a week. It is important to shine a spotlight on the disregarded opinions in your head, so that you can form your own opinions and decide things for yourself.
For my “This I Believe” podcast, I could talk about the power of creativity. I could talk about how it is not valued as much as it should be because there is a stigma that it does not help individuals get jobs. Another possible topic I could do is “I believe in silence.” In this podcast, I want to talk about the importance of listening. Sometimes we tend to be so “loud” that we drown out things we should focus on more. I could even tie it to social media and the negative influences of the new “noisy” norm of society on technology.
Last semester, my passion blog was surrounding the topic of art. Each week, I wrote about artists that I found intriguing, current events in the field of art, or just any intriguing and “out of the box” works by people. I really enjoyed reading and learning about the diverse pieces of works and styles in the 21st century art era. So, I am highly considering continuing this topic for my passion blog this semester.
Another topic I am interested in writing about is music. Specifically, the throwback hip-hop community. I started the show Fresh Off The Boat on Hulu, which features a lot of old hip hop. Since the oldest son on the show is obsessed with rap and hip-hop, Tupac and Biggie are commonly mentioned. I’d be interested in talking about the scandals, stories and lives of people in this time. I could also talk about how it has influenced our music today.
Trump recently threatened to stop FEMA funds for California fires because he believes that the forests are “grossly mismanaged.” Although this is a specific topic, I would like to focus on climate change in general for this blog. I could look into what the government is doing for it and what they could be doing more of. Along with that, I could talk about the impact of everyday people on the environment.
I am also intrigued by the topic of education. How is public education currently being carried out and what are its flaws or benefits? I could even explore the recent time changes to the start of high school and college classes and how this may have improved student performance and mood.