brinaedwards

[brinaedwards]

Lady Midnight/The Dream Catcher

Lady Midnight is who children describe as the monster in their closet. While she may be a villain to some, she is a hero to others.

During the Cold War, the U.S. government began using psychological warfare. Before becoming Lady Midnight, Dr. Melinda Mara was in charge of a top secret project known as “Dream Catcher”. The objective of the project was to get into the subconscious of an enemy and extract information. The idea was that since we get the most done while sleeping, tapping into that part of the brain may hold more information than anything imaginable.

Past History of Dr. Melinda Mara:

Dr. Melinda Mara was born Melinda Woods ,June 14th 1956. She is the youngest of five and after her mother passed away after giving birth to her, she was seen as an outcast by her siblings and basically a demon in her fathers eyes. To him Melinda was to blame for his wife’s death.

Life on a farm in upstate New York was hard for Melinda, especially being considered the black sheep of the family. From the beginning she was cast out, everything she did was wrong and anything that went wrong was her fault even when it clearly wasn’t. Her bedroom was basically a pantry closet and the only clothes she had were ripped, dirty hand me downs from her brothers and sister.

As if life on the farm wasn’t bad enough, the town saw her as an outsider just as her family did. Adam Woods (Melinda’s Father) had deep ties in the community and his word was basically God. He made it so the whole town would not look at her twice and if Melinda dared to speak to others without being spoken to first she would be practically exiled to the attic for days.

Her education in public school was almost nonexistent but her only escape was the books left from her mother in the attic. Mary Woods (Melinda’s Mother) was a librarian at the community college and obtained a vast collection of books over her years. Melinda would look forward to being exiled from her family because she could escape the torment when she was reading. She grew fond of the psychology texts her mother had and would read them over and over till they were practically memorized. By the time Melinda was 17 she was able to recite all the texts from memory, they were basically her bible. Wanting more from her life, Melinda applied for a scholarship to a university. Unfortunately her father found out that Melinda applied for school and was not happy that she got accepted on a full ride. His reasoning being that she would be nothing, she deserved nothing because of what she did to his wife. In the middle of the night Melinda snuck into her fathers room, stole the acceptance letter, took money out of his wallet and ran, never looking back. She changed her name to Mara, her mother's maiden name and began her studies in brain mapping, specifically the study of the subconscious mind.

The Birth of “Lady Midnight”:

After years of schooling, Melinda gained her doctorate in advanced psychology, brain mapping and became one of the top experts in the study of dreaming. She was recruited by the U.S in 1982 as lead researcher for Project “Dream Catcher”. During one of the experiments a patient got out of containment leaving Dr. Mara in a sleep chamber.  The escaped patient raised the levels of the sleeping gas that is a combination of multiple sleeping agents, from Nitrous Oxide used by many dentists and aresouled Chloroform. The raised levels should have killed Mara but instead changed her.

Though her physical appearance was not altered her  psychological one was. Melinda has the ability to go inside others' subconscious. She is able to alter dreams and see memories of others. When the higher ups of Project “Dream Catcher” found out Melinda’s abilities they used it to their advantage. To Melinda, this was the opportunity she was waiting for. She saw it as a way to get back at all the evil she endured as a child, by getting in the heads of the enemy she was getting back at her life on the farm in a way.

Each person that Melinda crossed saw her differently. Each time she entered the subconscious mind, she was seen differently depending on the person. When she left their minds each person was left with a horrific look on their face, as if they’d seen the devil in person. Their worst nightmares were brought to life and the effects Melinda left on the people she touched were worse than death. Even though Project “DreamCatcher '' was kind of a success with the amount of intelligence collected. The aftermath was unimaginable.

Melinda began to feel guilty of what she was doing to people, even though they were considered enemies of the state. She kept this detail quiet until one of her victims revealed that what she was doing was part of another project. While inside the mind of this victim she went deeper into the mind and found that this victim was an agent of the government. Come to find that each “enemy” was really agents who went against the “grand plan” and were sent to Melinda as an insurance policy so they wouldn't talk.

Lady Midnight Evolved:

Like every government conspiracy things did not end well. In efforts to fight against this “grand plan” Melinda was hunted down, and was labeled as an enemy of the state. It was rumored that she eventually died but she was able to hide in people's minds evading the government for years. Until she slipped into the wrong mind, Professor Charles Xavier.

Taking her under his wing Professor X helps Melinda control her abilities and pushes her abilities to their limits. Helping her be viewed not as a monster to others but also as something good, beautiful even.  He also helps her with her goal of finding where this government conspiracy leads and if it can be stopped.

Abilities/Powers:

With the ability of essentially dream walking and being able to create dreams within the subconscious she can also make others see what they want. During her time being an asset to the government she was able to make an enemy see a boiling pot of water look like a bowl of candy. Bring able to make the mind see what she wants she also has access to the part of the brain that feels pain and turns it off.

During her time with Professor X she was able to learn that can control the emotions of others but also help others overcome things. Her ability to deepen memories can essentially erase them. However, a consequence of her abilities is that she can’t sleep or dream.  With being able to live in the subconscious she is able to reverse her ageing. Essentially slowing it down but not stopping it completely.

Future:

Lady Midnight continues to use her abilities to learn from others but also uses them to find more information on those involved in this “grand plan”

Creation:

When thinking of an idea for a superhero I had so many different ideas. What I could not stop thinking about is how cool it would be if I took Freddy Kruger’s abilities and made it into this superhero. I am a huge Marvel Comic fan but I didn not want something that was part of the MCU, I wanted to focus more on this character living in the X-Men side Marvel. This character has had some troubles and I felt that placing her with the darker side of marvel would be a good fit.

As I was thinking of a name for my character I wanted something that was related to nightmares. When researching folklore on nightmares I fell in love with the story of Mara. It is this German sleep paralysis demon that comes as this beautiful woman that gives terrible nightmares.

[brinaedwards]

Irréversible: Brilliant, Awful, or Both?

Irréversible can be argued as either  really good or really bad depending on who you ask. Then again, doesn't that go for every film?

If I had to describe this film in one word it would be nauseating. Not because of the brutal rape but because the first twenty minutes you are litteraly being sent down this sprialling rabbit whole of confusion (0m:0s- 22m:16s). Don’t get me wrong, I love a good camera spin for dramatic effect but when combined with the dark cinematography, subtitles and how the movie is told backwards, my eyes were getting crossed and I wanted to throw up within the first ten minutes. If that wasn’t confusing enough the beginning credits or rather end credits are backwards and upside down. For a second I thought my computer was glitching out.

After those twenty minutes or so one of two things happened. Either the camera calmed down with the spinning or my eyes adjusted and I was able to focus. Maybe a combination of both. The spinning camera aside, everything else about this film was pretty good. There are a couple of moments where I was confused, for example the scene with the two sweaty men on the bed (4m:49s - 8m-15s). I don’t know how that was related to the story or message of the film at all. Honestly I think it could have been done without it.  

Taking away the excessive camera spinning in the beginning, Director Gaspar Noé does something I don’t think anyone has ever done/seen before. He invited the audience into the film, taking us into this journey to find out what is happening/happened. I am a huge fan of found footage/point of view style film because it creates this sense of realism for the viewer. I believe that is that message that Noé wanted to convey, realism. He wanted the audience to feel what the characters were feeling, anger, confusion, disbelief. Not only that but this film was told backwards. Each scene answered questions that the other scene left out. For example when Pierre (Albert Dupontel) and Marcus (Vincent Cassel) are in the taxi cab, the audience is unaware of why they are in the cab until the next scene (26m:27s - 34m:09s). While the main characters are on their own search for answers, the audience is left on their own mystery of finding out what happened in the first place.

What I found most interesting about the whole film was how Noé showed the whole brutal rape of Alex, from begining to end. It was gruesome and just plain awful. But I think that is what Noé was going for. The purpose of this film was to create emotion within the film but also in the audience as well. We were given a glance at what happened to Alex (Monica Bellucci) in the scene where she is being taken out of the building by paramedics (39m:30s - 40m:48s). That scene is what makes the violence, and mystery before make sense. All of the dots are connected and maybe the movie could have ended right there.  However, we all know it did not and after this point I can see where some may find this movie awul and extremely violent.

Noé shows the audience what really happened to Alex. He takes the audience through the journey of what happened to her from beginning to end and that scene is not for the faint of heart. (41m:03s - 52m:49s), for eleven minutes the audience is shown the brutality of what occured. I think it's safe to assume that for most, this is where it is agreed that this movie is awful and should not have been shown to begin with. I can agree to that as well. Those eleven minutes were gruesome and made me feel sick, and cried for the girl as if I was right there with her watching. But for those reasons I say that is what made this movie brilliant. For those eleven minutes the audience is feeling connected to the characters, they are connected to the pain that Alex must be feeling, the fear, the fight for survival. They are sickened by the man who is doing this and are reminded that it was the same man from the beginning, the man who DID NOT get his face smashed in by what looked like to be a fire extinguisher (22m:39s - 23m:58s).

The overall message that Noé was trying to tell, the reasoning for why this movie was told backwards is because we, the viewers, were able to feel these great emotions about characters we knew nothing about. It was only until after we were witness to all the brutality were we formally introduced to Pierre, Marcus and Alex. Noé was telling the audience, “you don’t have to know a person to feel this way. You don’t have to know someone's background inorder to feel sickened, angry, sad about their misfortunes”. Noé chooses not to tell the audience about these characters because he wanted the audience to react to the violence. How we should all act when something as brutal as this occurs. To show us, to tell us that it is time to take action, to show awareness to violence just like Alex endoured. It does not have to be someone you know personally in order for us to take things such as that seriously.  

Would we have all reacted the same if we would have known Alex was pregnant? (1hr:27m:03s - 1hr:29m:11s). Would we have felt the same about Marcus if we would have known he was a cheating mess? (55m:22s- 56m:29s). Would we have better understood the anger that Pierre felt when seeing Alex having known his relationship with her? (1hr:00m:23s - 1hr:1m:48s). Maybe. Maybe if we would have known all those things before, we would have had the same emotions but we would not have had the same reactions and would not have been given the same message.

I agree that this film had its awful points. But overall I believe that this film had its brilliant points as well. This is something I would 100% recommend because the message alone tells a thousand words.

[brinaedwards]

WHAT IF? A Narrative was Flipped

A few nights ago I went to my local cinema with my mother and we watched Halloween Kills. I enjoyed the movie very much and I appreciated the easter eggs of the previous Halloween films. After I got home I decided on looking over my assignments due this week. When going over my checklist of assignments that I have completed I took another look at a lecture response that I handed in last week. I wrote in one of my answers that a film I had to watch had me in tears at the end. It got me thinking about the power of movies and how you can be so invested in their characters. It’s like how when you read a book and someone dies you get mad and show all these emotions, even though in the back of our minds we know it's only fiction. However, influence can be everywhere, it is what shapes us into rethinking opinions or opening our eyes to another narrative. I think a good example of a film that can shape our perspectives into seeing another narrative would be Brokeback Mountain.

There is a lot of speculation about this movie being about “gay cowboys” but it is not at all. Instead this is a movie that gives an inside look of the pressures of the herterosexual social norm. This film follows two men, Jack and Ennis, who live double lives in order to conceal their love or eachother. While both men fall in love with each other, in the back of their minds they know that they must adhere to the hetersexual social norm, man and woman. Not to mention the patriarchal nature of the man being the sole provider of the family, doing hard labor to make ends meet while the woman stays at home handling the household chores and taking care of the children.  However, that is only seen in the double life of Ennis, in Jack's case his wife seems to be the one who handles all the hard work, such as handling the office paperwork and the family business. While Jack is doing the “woman's” work of being the salesman of the farm equipment. While watching the film it is easy to see how an audience can be captured by the love the two men share and can be moved and influenced by the queer film. At the end when finding out that Jack died, I ugly-cried for what seemed forever because I was holding out hope that they would both run away together, and live their happy selves. I would imagine that this film moved others who have watched it the same way it did me. By creating that emotional repsonse and hense influenceing others that it is okay to break the heterosexual norm.  

There is more to shaping and influencing the perceptions and emotions of an audience than just having a good story. In order to grab the audience it is important to keep in mind the mind of the audience itself. Who is this film speaking to? While Brokeback Mountain was a good example of how a film might cause an emotional response from an audience. I feel Moonlight is an excellent example of how race, gender and sexual identity reflect in ways that can be representative of the filmmaker's visual style.  

A24 is a production company that has always created films using alternative styles. I feel that A24 uses visual storytelling to express messages rather than simple dialog. In an interview with Gaylene Gould, Director Barry Jenkins, expresses how  he  “always tried to find a way to use the aesthetics of filmmaking to tap into the subconscious”

In Moonlight we follow the stages of life of a young black man ,Chiron, living in the lower parts of Miami, struggling internally with his own sexuality. Jenkins literally taps into Chiron’s subconscious by using blue light as a way of Chiron coming to the realization of his own sexuality. When Chiron is younger, he has a conversation with Juan about how you can decide who you want to be. That others may call you one thing  but only you can decide what your narrative can be. The conversation sticks with Chiron because Juan mentions something about being seen in Blue Light. In Chirons subconscious that blue light will be a guide for him to discover his true self. Jenkins uses his visual style to speak to the audience a message that sometimes the answer will not always come right away or can be determined simply. Sometimes that answer can be told within yourself.

This also leads into a question of what might “queer” visual style look like? While Jenkins uses the subconscious and light as a way to show “queer visual style”, I think that we have already been exposed to this visual style for many years.

Recently, I watched a documentary on Disney plus, Behind the Mask, and in the documentary they mentioned that comic book artists would use these visual styles to throw hints that certain characters were in the LGBTQ community. In one part of Behind the Mask, author of “New Mutants”, Ramzi Fawaz mentions that during the gay liberation movement of the 1970s, the X-Men comics would show the characters dressed in “flamboyant drag attire” representing the queer community (42m:40s - 45m:58s).  Even though nothing can be said directly, like in the 1970 X-Men comics, the visual styles can still be there. They can still be used in a way the represents that “Queer” visual style. 

With all this talk about heterosexual norms and queer visual styles, it makes me wonder what it would look like if a narrative from a film that exhibits herterosexual lead characters that also have patriarchal themes would be flipped? It got me wondering if something like that was already done and it kind of has. For example, in the film Love Simon, Simon comes to terms with being gay and wants to come out about it. But he wonders why is it just people who are not part of the heterosexual norm have to come out? Why can’t everyone. In that scene each character who is part of the heterosexual norm comes out.

Another example of having the narrative flipped would be The Rocky Horror Picture Show. When I first watched the movie, I was trying to figure out what it reminded me of and then it hit me FRANKENSTEIN! And also The Bride of Frankenstein as well. is a movie about a doctor  who creates a monster, in fear of the monster being lonely he created him a bride, a woman and inturen the master of both monsters being a  man. Basically, a heterosexaul film that has patriarchal themes. How is the narrative flipped in The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Well in the 1975 film, (yes the narrative has been flipped in films for some time now) you have Dr. Frank N. Furter who is playing as a transvestite scientist. Still a man playing a role yes but then instead of creating a monster and then the monster's mate Dr. Frank N. Future creates a mate for himself, being a man. However, the narrative gets flipped again because here are these two heterosexual lead characters, that walk into the mansion and both are seduced by the good doctor. The narrative gets even further flipped in 2016 where you have the lead character, not being played by a man but by a transgendered woman of color, Leverne Cox.

However, while yes those films were narratives flipped. They were also originally works of fiction to begin with. Stories based on monsters and nothing real, while it was a good example, I feel that movies like that would not get the same reaction as if a film such as The Great Gatsby.

I feel that this would be an amazing film to have the narrative flipped because it is based on seemingly real events and can be taken more seriously than a monster movie can. This film is something that represents heterosexual lead characters and patriarchal themes to a Tee. This is a film about a youngman, Nick, who comes to live next door to a millionaire that throws these extravagant parties. His cousin lives across the river and lives in a mansion with her, not so loving husband. Turns out Gatsby was once and still is madly in-love with Daisy, and throws these wild parties in hopes it would grab her attention enough for her to come over. Gatsby is part of what is called “New-Money” while Tom (Daisy’s husband) is from “Old-money”. Right away there is this tension of old versus new. Right away I have so many ideas of how this narrative can be flipped and changed. However, I have to ask myself, would the ending change? Would the overall plot change? But to that I say, it does not have to. It does not take much to change the narrative of a film. Going back to Love, Simon that one scene changed the narrative right away. “Why is straight the default?” If I were to change the narrative of The Great Gatsby I would have Nick Carraway be replaced with a woman. Right there a woman being the narrator of such a classic book and film can change the perspective. Her views would different from Nick’s in so many ways. When it comes to seeing Tom Buchanan having a mistress, (16m:08s - 17m29s) Nick being a man, there already is some awkwardness since Daisy is his cousin, but if it was from a woman’s perspective I wonder if anything would be said. But let's go a bit further with changing the narrative shall we? Instead of Tom Buchanan being the head of the household and the one who is a part of “Old Money”, what if Daisy was the head of the household, what if she was the one who ran the house and to even further change this narrative what if the cast was people of color? As my past music theory professor would say “The plot thickens”. There does beg this question though, would Gatsby still be throwing these extravagant parties for Daisy? No, instead Gatsby was throwing these parties as a way of discovering himself, as if he is struggling with his own sexual identity. In the original narrative these parties were for the extravagant, and the avant garde. So why not in the new narrative keep that same idea and change it for those who are also sexually fluid and sex is purely sex no matter the gender. Would the plot still be the same? I don’t think so, because instead of having Tom have a mistress, Tom himself is curious about his own sexuality and sneaks away to see what all the fuss is about across the way. There could be zero connection between Gatsby and Daisy and it can still be about “Old versus New Money”.

The only question left is, will Gatsby die in the end? I think so but not by Tom this time no. I think Daisy because while she could have been visiting her cousin she could have seen Tom entering the party and since Daisy is head of house and is corrupted by the pride of “Old Money” she refuses her name be tarnished by her husband entering these “wild” parties. Not because of her husband's sexual curiosities but how it would look if a Buchanan were to associate with those who spend their days wasting money they earned from opportunity and not legacy. Instead of killing her husband because that itself could be more of a scandal, she kills Gatsby as if she is cutting the head of the snake. We can even change the time life's we had to as well and the same issues can arise because as the old saying goes “money is the root of all evil”

[brinaedwards]

Inside our Culture: Its Definitely Something

When I would talk to my grandparents about what life was like growing up during the Great Depression, or when I would ask my parents what it was like growing up during the Civil Rights Movement. The response was always the same “it was definitely something”. I never understood what that meant when I was younger. I never understood why the answer didn’t have more detail. I would ask myself “where are the stories” “what really happened that the history books left out”. But now that we are in the middle of such a changing time, a time where we are dealing with a global pandemic, a vast cultural movement and wondering what the next day will bring, I can now understand why the answer was simply “it was definitely something”. I can understand that because well, it definitely is something.

We live in a world that is basically controlled by the media. I’m not wrong in saying this because I can post something now and a year later be shamed for it. My words or posts can be used against me to prove a point. We all know I’m talking about cancel culture and while yes it is warranted, I feel that is taken in the wrong direction. That it fell victim to wrong hands. Media has given us this false idea that everything has to be perfect and if we fall out of line we get shamed for it. Not just by your group of friends, your town, your state but by the whole world. Once you have been canceled by a majority, there is not going back. Betty Hart puts out an idea that we should “suffer” together in her TED Talk about Cancel culture. She doesn’t mean that in a bad way, however she means it in a way that we should respect each other's opinions, that we should go about ideologies in a “compassionate way” rather than such a hateful and one sided position. Easier said than done right?

I fell into this cultural rabbit whole and like many vast movements there are so many moving parts. It’s not just limited to one thing, everything is connected. As I was in my search I noticed that cancel culture and the #MeToo movements are connected. These past few years, sexaul assault confessions have been made more public. We saw a new light shine on Hollywood which shook a lot of people. More stories came out and the world got a huge wake up call that our systems our, our abuse of power went to very dark places. That power was abused by powerful men, men that would before be seen as Saints and could do no harm. The MeToo Movement page says that rape culture isn’t just sexual assult. It can be subtle jokes, misogynist phrases, even unsubtle statements.

The more I found out the more I came to the conclusion that there is another aspect of cancel culture. Racism has always been an issue in our society. It can be subtle, it can be full-frontal even. The more I dug the more disgusted I got by a society I grew up in. A society I was taught to love and respect. But then, it hit me. The emotions I’m going through, the thoughts swirling through my head of what the next day will bring must have been what my parents and grandparents felt during their time in such an unknown world. 

In that moment I knew I had to ask others what life was like back then, what it must feel like now with all this chaos going on. I reached out to five people who were willing to tell their stories, reached out to those in high professional positions, to those who live as normal residents.​​ I spoke to Mookie, a Brooklyn resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. John “Bluto” Blutatsky a former D. C man who is facing his own battle with cancel culture. Dr. Gilbert Lowe who was close friends with Dr. Lewis Skolnick, the scientist facing multiple rape allegations. Wan Li a.k.a. “Short Round”  a very close colleague of the late Dr. Indiana Jones and Samantha Baker-Ryan.

MOOKIE:

Q: It’s been a little over a year since the death of George Floyd. How do you feel about his death being the tipping point of this year's recent BLM activity?

A: People like to think that what happened to Floyd was a new thing. Shit like that happens all the time around here. Police didn't do shit, they killed our friend Radio Rakeem back in the day. Everyone saw it but did nothing.

Q: If you could change one thing about how police behave or their procedures, what would it be?

A: HA! For one thing I would change the man on the top. Switch him out for someone like us, someone who knows what it is like growing up around here.

Q: Do you feel that police back then were different from police today?

A:No. They all the same. They may change how they word shit, dress everything up all nice for the cameras but it's all the same. Ain’t nothing ever changin no matter what everyone is tryin to do.

Q: Do you think there will ever be peace in this world, well America, when it comes to the topic of race?

A: Peace? Listen there is one thing I know, one thing that only matters and that’s doing the right thing. Whether that be for your community or yourself. I’ve been living here all my life and i’ve seen alot of shit. But ain’t no one asking me about peace. You want an answer to that? No, not in my lifetime and probably no in yours. Like I said everything is the same, the players may be different but hunny its the same game. We all play even if we don’t want to.

Q: What would you tell your younger self about the world today?

A: Hang on tight cuz it only goes downhill from here.

JOHN “BLUTO” BLUTATSKY:

Q: Do you believe school/college is harder than it was when you were a student?

A: In all honesty I don’t remember doing much studying back then but with all these gadgets and high speed internet it don’t think it would be that difficult.

Q: You were recently “canceled” how are you dealing with that

A: I'm not a subscription to some magazine that can just be deleted. You can’t cancel anyone that is absurd. Is that what we are calling that? “Canceled” Jesus what did I do? That was all in the past, Get over it.

Q: I take it you don’t agree that people should bend to todays culture?

A: Listen, I am not responsible for the Bluto of the past, I'm only responsible for the man I am today. I should not be ridiculed for things I did as a young adult. I was drunk half the time so what? I say one thing about a dress code and now I am the bad guy. I could have done something with my career, I could have gone far up in D.C but no.

Q: How do you feel about the recent sexual assault allegation against your once school mate Eric “Otter” Stratton?

A: What Otter did to those girls has nothing to do with me. Next question.

Q: Do you think your daughters or granddaughters should be treated by men the same way you and your buddies treated girls back then?

A: Oh my God, of course not. We were just young men back then, hormones!! Not for nothing but those girls should have known better than to flaunt themselves around like that. I know my kids and grandkids know better than to dress like that.

DR. GILBERT LOWE:

Q: Your best friend's ex wife came out saying that she was raped by Lewis in college. Do you care to elaborate on that?

A: I had no knowledge of that at the time. He told me it was consensual and I believed him. He had no reason to lie to me.

Q: She stated that he “dressed in the same costume as her then boyfriend, performed sexual activity without revealing his identity. Gilbert, would you consider that to be rape?

A: Well I suppose yes but, she could have had him take off the mask beforehand. Like I said, Lewis told me it was consensual back then.

Q: So do you believe that it was right your friends relationship, hell, marriage was based on sexual assault?

A: I say this again, I was told it was consensual at the time. Even if it was rape, the statue of limitaions is way up. Nothing legally could be done about it now. Can we move on please.

Q: Can you elaborate on your collaboration with the cameras you and your friends placed in the sorority house?

A: I'm not going to elaborate on that at all. After what happened to my friend, saying anything about a napkin the wrong way can tank my career.

Q: Just one more question, do  you believe that selling nude images of a girls photo in a college fair was wrong at the time?

A: I'm leaving.

WAN LI “SHORT ROUND”:

Q: Can you describe your life before you met Indiana Jones?

A: Ah, yes. I don’t remember much. It happened such a long time ago but from what I do remember, it was awful. I was what would be called “trafficked”. I remember  being so scared being sold off to someone. I didn’t know what would happen to me.

Q: Do you think Indiana was racist and did he ever make you feel less than?

A: No, I don't think he was racist. He was a man of knowledge and culture. He never stayed in one place. He wanted adventure, he wanted to learn new things, new people. I was treated nicely by his side. I learned so much, I was given so much. He treated me like a son and for that I am grateful.

Q: How do you feel about the recent allegations of your late friend being defamed a racist?

A: I feel sick. Who ever said that is reaching, looking too hard at something that isn’t there. I told you the man was always looking at different cultures, he was very open minded. If anything he was the one who fell victim to racial scrutiny being the only white man in some of the places we explored.

Q: Do you think you benefited from being with Indiana?

A: My time with Dr.Jones was the best time of my life. I would have been dead a very long time ago if it weren't for that man, he was my best friend.

Q: How do you think this world can be changed culturally?

A: I think this world could use a little self reflection. I believe if people were to just put away the hatred. Put away the finger pointing of the past, to accept the bad things and to maybe forgive. We could all benefit.

SAMANTHA BAKER-RYAN”

Q: Samantha, being a highschool principal what do you think is the problem with cancel culture?

A: Oh I think it is consuming children. Kids stare at their phones all day concerned about their favorite actors and actresses being persecuted from God knows what. Not to mention how it is affecting the parents.

Q: What are your thoughts on the recent sexuall assault allegations against one of your teachers?

A: The situation is being handled, I can’t elaborate on it anymore.

Q: Being a highschool principal, what are your thoughts on the dress code, specifically to the girls?

A: Our dress code is there for a reason, girls can wear very provocative things, and don't want boys getting the wrong idea now. I understand why that question would be brought up and I have had my arguments with parents but I don’t make the rules I just enforce them.

Q: With the recent allaegations against on of your teachers, have you held any assembles regarding sexual assault, consent etc?

A: Yes, we have. There are weekly assemblies about the matter. We focus on the use of safe sex, consentual sex and if there is anyone who has fell victim to such assault to come forward.

Q: Have you known someone that fell prey to such things?

A: I don’t know this person personally but I heard such things happen at my old highschool when I went there. It was disgusting to think that men could do as they please even when you weren’t conscience.

After those interviews I came to the conclusion that, we can’t change everyone’s point of view on things. Betty  Hart said it right when she talked about “compassion” there will be those with different opinions but we have to understand from another perspective. Luvvie Ajayi talks about being a domino. That change only happens when that first domino falls. With that I like to think that we are all the dominos, falling waiting for the sequence to end. But like some domino setups, things may take time. There may be bigger things that need to fall. At the end of the falling dominos, a picture is revealed. We all may just have to wait till the picture is seen. 

Buchanan, Larry, et al. “Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 July 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html. 

“Canceling Cancel Culture with Compassion” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbihoXj0QwM 

“Get Comfortable with being uncomfortable” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QijH4UAqGD8 

Vogels, Emily A., et al. “Americans and 'Cancel Culture': Where Some See Calls for Accountability, Others See Censorship, Punishment.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, Pew Research Center, 27 Sept. 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/05/19/americans-and-cancel-culture-where-some-see-calls-for-accountability-others-see-censorship-punishment/. 

“You're Not Alone.” Me Too. Movement, 16 Apr. 2021, https://metoomvmt.org/disrupt-rape-culture/. 

[brinaedwards]

Honey, I think We F*$#@# Up the Kids

The thing about this class that is really awesome is the fact that I can take a day to myself, watch movies and still call it homework. Euphoria took me a couple days of binge watching but still, it was nice to relax and take in films that I would have never watched on my own.  Some I enjoyed like MID90's, some I did not, KIDS. Like I said in my last post, I would not want to watch that film again. I have no real reason as to why not other than the fact I just did not enjoy watching it. Well the scene where Capser sucks kool-aid out of a tampon, yeah that could be a reason why not to watch it again.Everything else was really good though, then again I could watch The Breakfast Club all the time.

As a common theme of these posts I have a list of questions that I am required to answer next to me. After watching these films/tv shows, the character that I identified with most is a combination of characters. Specifically from Euphoria because honesty that show is pretty close to society today. Kat is someone I can easily relate to because when I was in High School, I was very much overweight. I never noticed it because I was surrounded by friends that didn’t make me feel overweight. Like Kat, those friends were really skinny and included me in things like going out and having a good time. I forgot what year but sometime during high school I met a kid who I fell head over heels for, similar to how Jules fell for “Tyler”.  However, I wasn’t catfished or anything like that but I was very manipulated by this dude, let's call him “Tyller #2”. . We were never together but I was like his side chick in a way. Similar to Jules, “Tyler #2”  convinced me to do things that I would never think of doing but being in a vulnerable state at the time, it was easy for him to take advantage of certain situations. For the first time I was very conscious of my weight, and tried all the dieting techniques out there and none of it worked. I eventually ended up being with someone else who actually made me happy and confident. But “Tyler #2” got under my skin again and I eventually broke up with the dude I was with under the false promise of being with “Tyler #2”. For years I was under this man-child's thumb and like Kat I spiraled, desperate to try and find myself. I would confide in friends and they would tell me to get away from this dude but I never listened. This kept going on for years. I ended up becoming friends with some not so great people because of it. Thankfully I got away before anything super awful happened. But back to “Tyler #2”. It was about a year into college that I got over “Tyler #2”, and that's because I woke up one day. I will never forget this but I remember him saying to me, “Maybe you should lower your standards and then you can get a guy”. I don’t know why that hit me so hard but in that moment I came to this realization that I shouldn't have to lower my standards for anyone, if anything I need to raise them. And that is exactly what I did.I blocked “Tyler #2” from all my social media, and when he called me out on it one day I looked at him and said “you are a disgusting, sad piece of shit”. After that moment I felt free. Like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I ended up losing a lot of weight and gained confidence back in myself. I found someone who exceeded my standards and I've been with him for three years now. I haven't seen or spoken to “Tyler #2” for a long time and I hope to keep it that way. There are things I know he has done to girls he was with, things that should have gotten him charged with assault but, of course nothing could ever be proven. That's why I can identify with Kat, Jules and come to think of it, even Maddy.

I guess that goes into the themes these films/tv shows portray in youth. Abuse, Social Pressure and Sex. When I would watch things like this around my parents or brothers when I was younger, they always gave me a look of shock and disbelief. As if things like that don’t happen in today's world or ever happened. And of course when trying to explain to them that things like that happen, they get defensive or even a bit disappointed that issues were never brought up. I think that’s because things like this aren’t  easy to explain, it's more than words can explain. A lot of it has to do with social pressures today, I mean social pressures such as the pressures of getting good grades, meeting parental expectations, peer pressure and massive world pressure that is being forced on us today. Euphoria didn’t go too much into detail of social pressure as much as it did with abuse and sex but The Breakfast Club on the other hand oozed it. For example, characters such as Claire, Andrew and Brian each went through their own pressures. For Brian he is pressured by his mother to get good grades no matter what, eventually the pressure of failing a class was too much for him and he brought a gun into the school. Yes it was a flare gun but the principle is there. In an article from the Pew Research Center, a study showed that “61% of teens today feel pressure to get good grades” That alone can cause anyone to go off the edge not to mention the public expectations put on youth, for example, Andrew having to win and prove to his father that he is cool. And how Claire values what her friends would think if they knew she wanted to be friends with the others. All those things are sometimes built up in one person and it's absolutely terrifying. The Guardian article on how Euphoria captures teen melancholy briefly mentions how we are a generation of school shooter drills. (I don’t know if that is meant as a description of how we are as a generation but that's not the point of trying to make). What I am trying to get across is that social pressure placed on youth today is scary, especially since there was a time where every few weeks there was a school shooting. I don’t want to get into gun laws because that is a long post for another day. I just want to get into the mentality of it all because The Breakfast Club highlights an important issue to mental health and what kids even now go through.

I remember being in highschool and my school had a serious shooter threat. My parents still sent me to school because they felt that nothing would happen. Nothing did but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t absolutely terrified. I did not attend any classes that day, instead I stayed in the band room that day because if anything were to happenI could hide in a cubby or run out the back door. Even more recently a few years back when SUNY Orange got a shooter threat, I didn’t even go and neither did a lot of people.

I am so thrilled that mental health awareness is something that is being recognized and taken seriously. The stigma behind needing therapy and vocalizing feelings needs to end, especially the stigma of gender roles. Abuse is a theme that is presented in all the films/tv shows watched this week. The Breakfast Club shows insight on domestic physical abuse through John, Euphoria gets more into the psychological, emotional, physical and self abuse that teens go through. This theme especially is something that needs to become more recognized and addressed. Abuse is not just physical, it is mental and emotional. Nate abuses both mentally and physically by using Jules as duct tape to make problems go away by black mailing her. With Maddy he uses his control physically, verbally assaulting her about how she dresses, oh the list can go on and on.

Sex is a common theme in all the films/tv shows this week and that is something that every teen goes through. At that age your body goes through changes and it’s only natural that it is explored. In todays world sex is not much of a taboo like it was for our parents. But at the same time I feel that it is. When I was in highschool sex was not talked about. It was mentioned once in health class but that was it. No one went into detail, there was no explanation about stds, how females need to check for things, the list goes on. KIDS was a film that went into sex way more than all the other films/tv shows. It highlighted the horrors of unprotected sex, such as contracting HIV. As much as I disliked this film it is one that needs to be seen. The lectures talk about the “Disneyfication” of things today but it's that way of thinking that is hurting the youth of today. I can understand that parents don’t want their kids going through such trama at a young age, but if they are not being taught properly, not being educated they are going to find out on their own. Any issues kids face today parents right it off as a “part of growing up” but when your kid doesn't know what a condom is, or how to properly use birth control what do you expect is going to happen when the daughter is pregnant or the son has an std? That is not a part of growing up, that is just pure negligence on the parents and teachers. I could really go way into more of a rant but I feel that a topic like this needs its own blog and this one is already long af. Here are links to videos that I watched that go more into detail about education today. I promise they are not that long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yt6raj-S1M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnC6IABJXOI

Long story short, abuse, social pressure and sex are themes that kids face on a daily basis. It’s amazing that there are shows out there like Euphoria or films such as KIDS and The Breakfast Club to make it known that this is real. The world is a scary place, but that does not mean censoring that bad stuff. It means that the youth need to be prepared for a shit world, and if they’re not shown or educated about things before the fact then honey, I think we f*$#@# up the kids.

To make this whole post a little lighter let's just talk about the music, the Euphoria soundtrack was all of today's music, which if you listen to half of them its all about getting laid and doing drugs. Sort of on theme of the show don’t you think?For MID90’s the soundtrack fitted the “skater” “punk” theme. A soundtrack is something that can spark a memory, make it feel relatable. Take you back to a time where you had a similar experience. For example, certain songs I listen to take me back to when I used to be at Billy Joes in Newburgh line dancing, getting wasted and then eating pancakes at the Alexis Diner. It makes me think of what kind of playlist would describe my adolescence. Oof, well isn’t that a trip down memory lane.

I grew up listening to metal, my brothers have their own metal band, so I would be the only toddler sitting on the amps coloring not giving a shit about all the grimey people in the audience haha. It would be only fitting that my playlist would consist of metal & rock. However, as I got older I enjoyed pop songs and a couple edm mixes. My list would probably be:

Fame - David Bowie

ARTPOP - Lady Gaga

Bring Me to Life - Evanescence

Everytime We Touch - Cascada

Evil Angel - Breaking Benjamin

Forest - System of a Down

Hype - NEFFEX

My Curse - Killswitch Engage

Nightmare - Avenged Sevenfold

Shout 2000 - Disturbed

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/my-adolescents/pl.u-8aAVVgafjg0W9A

These would be songs I would listen to non-stop as teen in middle school/ high school. “Fame” is a song that just makes me dance. I mean who doesn’t love a good David Bowie song right? “ARTPOP” is something that brings me back to when me and my uncle went to NYC to see Lady Gaga at the opening of H&M. “Bring Me to Life” is a song that honestly, all kids that are exploring metal/rock come across, the same is said for “Nightmare” and “My Curse”. “Hype” and “Everytime We Touch” takes me back to when I used to go to parties. I don’t know why but these were songs that would be on, I think because everyone was probably too drunk to care. “Shout 2000” is a song that my brother introduced me to, he would have this specific Distrubed album playing non stop and im sure thats why the CD got all scratched up. Ahh the days of CD’s, I feel that I’m part of the generation that saw the last of those things. “Evil Angel” is a song that I played all the time on my ipod. Breaking Benjamin was the best band I ever heard and when I got the chance to see them live it was amazing! As for “Forest”, well, System of A Down has such a chaotic, emotional style that you can’t just help but to headbang to their songs. This was always one of my favorites. As I got older my music taste  has expanded to musicals, classical, pop, jazz, kind of every genre but country haha. Sorry country.

WORK CITED

“The Sadness of Euphoria: How the Show Captures Teen Melancholy.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 25 June 2019, www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jun/25/the-sadness-of-euphoria-how-the-show-captures-teen-melancholy.

Horowitz, Juliana Menasce, and Nikki Graf. “Most U.S. Teens SEE Anxiety, Depression as Major Problems.” Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project, Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020, www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/02/20/most-u-s-teens-see-anxiety-and-depression-as-a-major-problem-among-their-peers/.

O'Keeffe, Gwenn Schurgin, et al. “The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families.” American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 Apr. 2011, pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/4/800.

TEDxTalks, director. YouTube, YouTube, 2 May 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnC6IABJXOI.

TEDxTalks, director. YouTube, YouTube, 6 Feb. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yt6raj-S1M.

[brinaedwards]

Hi, my name is Brina... and I’m a workaholic

As the above title states, my name is Brina and yes, I am a workaholic. I don't think of that as a bad thing since I enjoy the self-motivation and the feeling of accomplishment when I get tasks done. However, my boyfriend thinks that I should focus some of that time getting more hours of sleep, haha. 

I attended Valley Central High school and graduated in 2017. High school was an okay experience, if I wasn’t apart of the band program I feel that I would have disliked it more and would not have an interest in the things I do now. I’m not trying to shit on the school, but I feel that it needed a deep cleanse on administration staffing and just an overall re-look on how to spend the funding. Just saying, I think the asbestos issue should have been handled before the  bleachers and locker rooms. But, not my problem anymore, Thank God. 

When it came to deciding colleges and all that jazz, my high school was zero help in the whole process. Yes, they talked about it but at that age things should be more simplified to understand what needs to be done. I’m 22 and I just finally figured out how to build up my credit score? Like, HELLO, start teaching kids about loans and all the other financial shit that goes into college. Not to mention the absolute lack of help I got when picking my major. I knew I wanted to go into the music or media industry and of course, none of my advisors had a clue what I was talking about. I decided on OCCC for the pricing and that cushion of still figuring out what I wanted to do. I attended SUNY Orange Fall of 2017 as a liberal arts: music emphasis major. Fast forward a year later to find out that they actually have a music program! Got to love the help advisors give you right? More so, the help wrong advisors give you. That following fall I was a full Music: Performing Arts major and loved every second of it. I met amazing, talented people that I am very glad to still be in touch with. When I was on my last semester and was on the edge of graduating I had the moment of “Oh, God.. What the hell am I going to do after this”. I decided I wasn't ready to move on from SUNY Orange, since I had no idea what direction to go. I started looking into another major and that's when I found New Media! I was always interested on how content was made and what went into making a film. I remember my cousin and I used to make these little movie clips with the windows movie maker. We thought we were going to be these big movie-making hot shots at 8/9 years old haha. 

I am grateful that I took my time with school and by the end of this OCCC journey I will be graduating next Fall with two A.A.S degrees and a clear idea of where I want to go.

Aside from anything media related I’ve been on this reading kick. Genres from fantasy, horror and some history. This summer my boyfriend and I got really into reading/collecting comic books! He has way more comics than I do but at least once a week we’re at Middletown Comics seeing what new issues came out! Now with the fall/Halloween season fast approaching I have been planning some great ideas for this year! I know I may catch a lot of eye-rolls/ mini-hate from those not wishing summer to be over but I can’t wait for fall. Besides, halloween is everyday haha. I’ve been looking at Pinterest ideas on how to DIY some awesome decorations. I guess Pinterest is somewhat media related though? Ah well, since I'm back talking about it, I might as well talk about the last movie and TV show I watched. The last movie I watched was actually what had to be watched for COM 105. It was the 1995 movie Kids and uh.. it was definitely something haha. I understood the point of how it related to youth culture but I would not want to watch that movie again. As for the last TV show I watched, was again what I had to be watched for COM 105. It was Euphoria season 1 and that was a really good show. I know I only had to watch the first four episodes but I binged the whole season. The way the story was told was creative, I enjoyed the narrative back a forth style and how each character had their own stories. It made it worth getting a month of HBO Max.  

Being on the topic of last things done, I suppose the next order is the last book/video game played or finished. The last book I finished was A Map of the Dark by Karen Ellis. I got that book from Thrill Club. It’s basically a horror/thriller/anything dark and creepy book subscription. I canceled thrill club awhile ago and just now getting into the books I was sent. Anyway back to this book that I read. I found it a little empty. I just wanted more from it, it was very predictable and dry. I wanted more character depth, more suspense and just more of everything. The book is in the corner of my room at this moment because I’m going to donate it, that's how unsatisfying it was to me. But HEY if anyone is interested in a dry thriller let me know! Haha. As for the last video game played it would have to be Assassins Creed Valhalla and that was a few weeks ago. I do love to game but when I’m getting into a project or assignment, more of my focus goes into that rather than a video game. But my goal this semster is to take more time to myself and have self-care days, so Valhalla here I come! 

Going down the “Lasts” list I have to my right here is, the last thing I created. Um, I guess the last thing I created was a make up look, that I will post a pic of at the bottom!  I do have ideas I wish to create such as uploading my podcast and YouTube videos! Im a really big planner so when it comes to things like that I want to have clear, organized agenda. I do have a date that I want things done and released so there’s that! I will probably mention more of my podcast in future posts but for now things are in the works. 

Which now brings us to the last thing of the “Lasts” list. Im sure there is a tongue twister in there somewhere but I don’t have the brain capacity to think of one. My last meal on earth would have to be what I had for dinner last night. I ate cheese ravioli with a side of mozzarella sticks. 

I know this assignment was supposed to be a minimum of 500 words and I believe I exceeded that. I look forward to these blog assignments since I can let my mind go and word things as if I was actually speaking. Well with a post this long I guess it’s safe to say I was ranting. 

To future rants and of course the required MLA formatted references!