Prom Queen from a hospital bed

The good side of teens in the media:

Breathing crisis threatens dying Tennessee teen’s prom — but friends and family still make her wish come true

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/breathing-crisis-threatens-dying-teen-prom-friends-family-save-day-article-1.1300553#ixzz2On45INC5

I understand how Katelyn feels to an extent.  I had been in Hasbro Children's Hospital for two months by the time my Junior Prom happened, and my doctors had told me that there was a slight chance that I would be healthy enough to make it out in time.  And my current boyfriend had promised that no matter what I looked like (I didn't have the best hair styles at the time) or how long I could stay he was going to take me to the prom if I was allowed to go.  Unfortunately I was unable to make it out in time for my prom but I was still awarded Prom Queen and one of my best friends accepted for me.  The next day, there were about 20 kids who showed up at the ICU at Hasbro Hospital, which is against the rules, when you are in the ICU you can only have two people in the room at one time.  Some of the nurses tried to tell my friends that they could not come present the tiara to me because there were too many kids and it was against the rules and blah blah blah... BUT then the attending stepped in and said that it was a very special exception for a very special PICU Prom Queen.  And my favorite nurse had decorated my room with silver stars and streamers and she was wearing a plastic tiara.  

Final Project

So for this semesters final project I am working with Alexa Comparone, Celine Vescera, and Jessica Parenteau.  Celine and Jess had both posted their blogs about what they wanted to do for the final project and Alexa and I was on board right away.  So we are going to do a final project on eating disorders in teenagers, including

1. anorexia
2. bulimia
3. BDD - Body Dysmorphic Disorder

4. Overeating

We already have brainstormed a list of texts that we want to put into a tumbler.

Talking Point #7: Brave

Connections:

So I found this video really interesting because it reminded me of Croteau's Media and Ideology.  In class when we broke into groups, group 1 pulled out this quote in particular and I think it does a great job of representing Merida.

"This articulation is accomplished, in large part, by the fact that popular media, particularly television and mass advertising, have a tendency to display a remarkably narrow range of behaviors and lifestyles, marginalizing or neglecting people who are "different" from the mass-mediated norm."  (Page 163)

 Just because Merida is not willing to get married she is considered to be a lesbian.  And I've seen this movie a bunch of times and not once has that thought crossed my mind, but watching it in class made me think of this movie with a new perspective.  I also kept thinking about what it would be like if this was different or that was different.  For example:  Would it have made a difference if the writers had put in a true "prince charming... or even a more normal guy" character for Merida?  If she had gotten that love at first sight moment like all the other princesses, would her story have turned out differently?

This leads to me believe that there is a secret education that is so deeply engrained within us: that some of us want the prince and princess to fall in love and live happily ever after, I am one of them.  The secret education...

"instructs young people to accept the world as it is portrayed in these social blueprints.  And often that would depicts the domination of one sex, one race, one class, or one country, over a weaker counterpart."  (Page 176)

 Christensen is talking about all of the things that Merida is going against in the movie Brave.  Not only does she not want to be the typical princess by dressing up, taking orders, singing all day, finding a man to take care of her, but she is helping kids, especially girls learn that you don't have to be a "princess".

When comparing this movie to Peggy Orenstein's Cinderella Ate My Daughter I really compared my noted to my blog from last semester.  One thing that I have commented in my notes is that, why is it that the writers have portrayed women in such a way that their breasts are just ginormous?  I wrote in my blog last semester about body sizes being very important to Princesses.

I also wrote last semester how important a girl's hair is to her, especially a princess's hair.  And maybe it is a keltic or Irish tradition to hide a princess's hair, I honestly don't know but I also made a note of Merida's hair when she was being presented to her potential suiters.

Introducing Dee Dee

So a while ago I found a lump in my left breast while doing a self breast exam. My parents were on vacation in the Cape for Shaffie's (my step-dad's) birthday so I waited for them to come home so not to freak them out and never them go on vacation ever again and I went to my OBGYN, Dr. Bowling on Wednesday February 20th. She felt the lump and believed it was a cyst and attempted to aspirate, which turned out terribly because I ended up bleeding all over everywhere. So after realizing that aspirating was not the best idea she sent me in for an ultrasound on Wednesday February 27th where we learned that the lump was not a cyst but in fact another tumor.

We spent all of that day at Woman and Infants and got a biopsy in the afternoon. The tumor, a fibroadenoma, is benign but the concern is its size. From my understanding it is pretty big, about 3 inches long. We met with Dr. Jennifer Gass, a breast surgeon.  The surgery will be on Thursday May 30th, after the semester is over.  It will be a easy surgery (compared to brain surgery its all easy in my opinion). Outpatient surgery, hopefully I'd be the first one: in at 6:00 in the morning, surgery at 7:30 and I should be home that day. A week of relaxation: basically a week off from work and school.  I think I need a week of retail therapy anyways, right?

So I'm not too freaked out yet but I'm the fact that my body is growing more tumors is a little on the scary side. But we're ready to handle whatever life throws at us, and I'm ready to fight it.

Oh and with the help of Brooke we've named the new tumor DeeDee, so now Timmy has a new friend... :D

Final... Already?

I'm not really sure what to do for a final since it seems like we just finished midterms and my mind is still in Florida, like Jess's and many other peoples.  But I really liked what, I think it was Jacki, did for her midterm project because it was so personal.  Although my group also interviewed teens for some reason I just feel like I would get a different reaction if say I interviewed someone like, my older brother, Bubba, age 26,

Bubba has recently been transferred from the Air Force in Anchorage Alaska to Louisiana for training because he will be deployed with the army to Afghanistan in May.  He has always had a particular view on teenagers so to get his opinions would be interesting.

Also to get input from actual teenagers that I know like my other brother, Aaron, the 19 year old who is taking a gap year in Costa-Rica at the moment.

He is supposedly "building houses for the homeless" and blah blah blah but I'm seeing a lot of pictures on Facebook of girls and the beach and red solo cups, so I'm weary about this gap year.  But in any case this goes to show that his idea of teens and what they should be doing to "have fun" is completely different from Bubba's.

Another person whom I would love to get in touch would be an old co-worker, Matt, who recently quit T's resteraunt in East Greenwich after only working there for a few months.  He is only 16 years old and a Junior in high school but he and his girlfriend just had a baby girl a in February.  His girlfriend ended up getting kicked out of her house because she was keeping the baby so they were all living at his moms house.  It was a true 16 and Pregnant story.  

                  

 Haileigh

Einstein & Technology

This picture popped up on my newsfeed a while back and I had again saved it knowing I was taking this course and I had forgotten to post it when I posted the "It's Media" picture.  I feel like this picture and Einstein's quote goes along with what Wesch is saying about teenagers and technology, expect Wesch is saying we need technology.

Midterm Post

So Alexa Comparone, Jessica Parenteau, Celine Vescera, and I are in a group together for the midterm project.  In order to show what we have learned about teenagers thus far in this course we decided it was easiest to actually interview teenagers or to interview people and ask them their views on teenagers.  We came up with 4 different questions: each question relating to a different course reading and interviewed students at RIC.

It's been really interesting to see how the interviews play out because we're never really sure what answers we're going to get out of people.  Some of them just say "yes" or "no" while others have gone into great detail.

This is something new, especially for me, because I am technologically impaired and have never really edited a movie before.

So far we have analyzed our texts and done two days worth of interviews.  We are planning to meet Sunday night to get any more interviews if we need them and edit the material that we have.