Presenting at #OzQuest

This past Wednesday was Quest, which is a day SUNY Oswego commits to celebrating the academic endeavors of their students. Because it is a presentation of research, people may think it is only for the sciences, but many disciplines are involved. As a communications student, I have previously attended many Quest presentations, most of them focusing on the work of fellow communication students. This year I was asked to present my analysis and critique of a popular media text.In 15 minutes with added time for questions, I presented on the race and gender dynamics within Pitch Perfect 2 and how the content could be problematic when representing women and minorities. My presentation was based off of a paper I did for my children, women, and minorities in media class, which I took as part of my broadcasting curriculum. This paper included literature review of different studies and examination of media which I then applied in my own analysis of the movie. For the presentation, I selected the major points of my work and elaborated on them, supplemented by video clips and movie stills.

My thesis slide

As with anything of this nature, critique is subjective. However, I really liked engaging with the audience, and I was even able to elaborate on my thesis and arguments with interested peers afterward. It lead to really thoughtful conversations and evaluation of different work, which I think is one of the main purposes of Quest.

We had a full room with people standing and sitting on the floor when the chairs ran out. This was very fulfilling for me, and felt like a reward for my hard work. People asked excellent questions, and it let me know that they were engaged with my presentation. I would like to thank Dr. Fogel, the professor who asked me to present. Quest was a fantastic experience and a great opportunity to show the work that I do here.

Constructive Criticism

I think they truly have. See  I am student writer. One in the process of learning this craft, learning the mechanics and on a simpler note just learning how to write period. There is a difference between having good thoughts and articulating them in an efficient manner. My major says journalism but it also says student. Hence there must be a learning curve. Every post I write will not have a disclaimer to this fact. I will not make known the fact that everyday I learn new rules or find more habits that need to be broken. The point is to learn on the go and put what you learn into practice. The best piece of advice given to me when I told a mentor of mine at a previous school I wanted to write , was to do so everyday. Make it a daily habit. That’s kind of what this is about. That and to be truthful I have an unique perspective that I wanted to share with others. My college experiences are CRAZY.

HOWEVER what has annoyed me the most since starting this blog. Have been the comments. Not those by my peers I love them . Good and bad I love when people post comments on a post. It lets me know that you are alive , you are part of this little writer and reader relationship. Of course I see the amount of people that read my post and that always amazes me that so many people would read the blog. My issue however is with the Alumni. They kind of disgust me to be honest. As I write this someone is saying there goes his networking out the window( it was in my head as well) but to be truthful in edu domain friendly words “I don’t care”.

Countless amount of times my post has been featured on the school Facebook page. Whenever that happens I get more pedestrian views than usual. I sometimes don’t realize till a few days after. Usually when I see the numbers shoot off the chart. So I then take my little web stroll over to the school page and see it for myself. That’s when it always happens. Never fails that I see some Alum go ” ahhhhhh grammar grammar grammar” or “this shouldn’t be posted there are way to many mistakes” I can go on but I’m sure by now you get the point. Probably even have seen such. I then look at that comment and see about 5 “likes” . That is when I stew. Not only because that is about the only time that the alum is probably getting “likes” which some probably are still struggling to understand, but because for one the comments are never left on MY post. Which to me says “ego driven” . There is no reason I should have to go on the school page to read the criticism of my post. When I have a comment section! It’s senseless to me! That leads me to believe you are “like hunting”. More importantly is this. If I know or become aware of a typo or mistake, I fix them. After all the point is to be able to fix and correct. This is why we have the ability to edit articles already published.

The biggest issue I have with this stems from the above image. I could be wrong but I thought alum were here to uplift , encourage and be of help to current students. Simply telling the world but not the student writer of the problem will not fix or solve the current “ahhhh grammar grammar grammar” problem. I one time got so upset. That an English major graduate would take to Facebook to cry over the mistakes. Yet he didn’t think to help a current journalism major student right his wrongs or steer him in the right direction. Do you see how that sounds? What good came out of his comments. I didn’t see them until a week later and still didn’t even know what he was talking about 0_0 .This is all with out me adding in the fact that this is a BLOG. A BLOG! Not the New York Times. I am speaking to my peers: current students and soon to be’s . Where as you are still trying to remember how to change your current system preferences. I cld tlk like ths 2 my ppl nd still every1 wld get me, things like gifs, u dnt undrstnd but we do. u call it social media we use wrds like web , online, “goin on the computer during library hrs. So u c its not alwys bout wat u like but wat we like. Aii.

Moral of the story. If you are going to criticize or critique make sure that it’s function is to help and not to tear down. After all who we become or what we learn is a direct reflection of what you didn’t teach us.

p.s. Nobody likes a troll.Troll and get troll’d . Srsly