LBCC Radio

I didn't know that some people at Linn Benton had thought of creating a radio station based out of the campus, but I think it is something that could work. It would be a way that students could listen to their music as well as hear news about the campus and events that may be occurring there. The mass texts that are sent out to inform students about campus closures and events are similar, but this is another way the college could get information out. Although I am not sure where and how they would run this, it seems to me that they would need a studio space and figure out whether staff would help run this at all or if it would be solely up to the students? What would happen when the students who create it graduate? These are questions to consider when thinking of whether or not this idea of a radio station for LBCC would function or not.
Two formats I think would help those creating the radio station are incorporating contemporary hit radio (CHR) and news and talk radio. Linn Benton has a variety of people who attend and these people are among a wide range of age groups. CHR would be more appealing to the younger generations, but could also appeal to those older because of the music variety, it isn't simply one genre being played consistently. Even though the textbook says that this forma is losing ground I think it is an important one for a school radio station simply because students will either listen to it or they won't. Some may ignore it and just think of it as just another radio station, but those who do listen to it would listen to a variety of music. There isn't much someone can do the persuade another person to listen to the radio rather than downloaded music, but CHR is a way to keep someone there once they start listening. News and talk radio is also important because this could be how students hear about news that will affect their potential jobs after graduation, learn about events or changes on campus, or even just hear local news. We listen to news to hear what applies to us and by having a select group, the group being college students, it can be simple to find news topics to discuss that will affect them personally.
One way students could fund this is through tables on campus and asking for donations, people who value the radio station could then easily help support it. Another way is to have students come in the classes and give a quick talk about it and ask for donations, similar to how quickly the student government came in to discuss voting to the election, no long presentation, just something to make people aware. Students could also ask the community for help. Sending out pamphlets in the mail asking for even a small contribution of a few dollars could quickly add up in a town.

The Influence of Music

I've never really been told that I couldn't listen to a certain genre of music because of what they were saying or who the artist was or any other reason, nor have I really been around when someone was told they couldn't listen to a particular song or genre. I understand why some people, especially parents, would try to limit what their children hear though. For example, a lot of rap music or R&B is pretty explicit in talking about sex or sexual situations as well as rap being known for the profanity in many songs. People sometimes stereotype people who listen to particular genres as well, such as hard rock or screamo and parents may try to keep their child from listening to this if they agree with the stereotype themselves.
One situation that I can remember where I kept someone from listening to a particular song was when I was with my younger sisters, who were 7 and 5 at the time, and the song Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon. When it came on the radio I quickly changed the station to avoid any questions that might arise. Another time was recently at work when one of our preppers in the back was playing music, as they always do, but the song Closer by Nine Inch Nails came on. I asked them to skip the song in case anyone were to get offended by what it was going to say. Both of these situations weren't awful and I only really felt bad asking our prepper to turn off the song because we typically let them listen to what they want since they're in the back by themselves, but since that song is so explicit I felt as though it shouldn't be played at work. With my little sisters I know that if they wanted to listen to that song when they were older it would be alright with my parents, but I felt awkward in case they asked me any questions about sex.
I don't have a top favorite genre of music, I go between many and have phases of which I listen to most at the time. I always have a country station on in my car, when I go to the gym I tend to listen to rap, but I also appreciate R&B and funk music. I currently love the song Atomic Dog by George Clinton. A few of my favorite artists are Kendrick Lamar, The Ying Yang Twins, Darius Rucker, Nykee Heaton, and Childish Gambino. I have been to a variety of concerts, including Five Finger Death Punch, Billy Currington, Frankie Ballard, Odesza, and I went to the Mad Decent Block Party in Eugene last year.

Magazines of Interest

I used to always subscribe to magazines during those school fund raisers and I continued to order from these fund raisers after I graduated and my younger sisters were still in elementary school. Three magazines that I've always looked at were Cooking Light, HGTV Magazine and People Magazine. I grew up watching the Food Network and HGTV with my mom and sister and still enjoy watching those channels. These magazines give me another way to look at recipes and house decor ideas. People magazine is simply an interesting magazine that has celebrity news, fashion, advertisements, and other topics along these lines. On the Cooking Light website there are a variety of similar articles like the ones found in the magazine, one I would be interested in is about healthy condiments, some common and some not. I also like how this magazine gives a variety of recipes for different diet plans, such as vegan, vegetarian, paleo, and gluten free.

Each of these magazines has it's own type of advertisements within them. Cooking Light has ads pertaining to different restaurants, foods, and cooking shows. HGTV has ads for furniture stores, TV shows on the channel HGTV, and products for around the house, such as cleaning supplies. People magazine gears more towards fashion like clothes and perfumes for their ads, with the occasional other ad similar to those in HGTV and Cooking Light. The fact that I read these magazines shows my interest in cooking and home decor as well as liking to keep up with at least a little bit of celebrity news. I don't keep track of everything celebrities and stars do, but I like to know a bit about the current events.

Banned Books

I've always known about the banned books list because my mom was continually looking into the books added to the list. When looking it over just now I thought it was interesting how many books were on there and the reasons that they were banned--it almost seems as though people could find reasons to put just about anything on there! A few that stuck out to me were To Kill a Mockingbird, Brave New World, Gossip Girl, Hunger Games, Thirteen Reasons Why, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, these are all very different books. Brave New World and To Kill a Mockingbird are classics, but it's said that they're either sexually explicit, racist, have offensive language, or a combination of them, but both of these books have powerful messages about why racism is a bad thing and shows why with a story. Thirteen Reasons Why was one of my favorite books growing up because it addresses bullying and how it comes in various forms, but the site says that it is unsuited because it discusses suicide. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is another powerful book that tells a story about the struggles teens go through with school, family, and peers, but it has many reasons to be on the list.

I understand why some schools limit the books allowed in their libraries, but it's hard to say what exactly should be limited. Some books may be obvious, such as elementary students probably shouldn't be reading Brave New World or Thirteen Reasons Why, but that doesn't mean students in middle school or high school shouldn't be allowed to read them in school. It can also be tough when saying if schools should be allowed to limit the books made available because there are private and public schools. I think that it is more acceptable for private schools than public to have banned books because parents and families know going into the school and having their child there that this is something that could happen. Private schools are selected and paid for, but public schools are not, and sometimes the libraries there are the only ones children may have access to and what they can find shouldn't be limited beyond reason. The same thing goes for public libraries, people have the choice of what to rent and shouldn't be limited.

People might see a variety of books on my shelves, from Perks of Being a Wallflower, Harry Potter, Milk and Honey, and Dracula. Some people might just look at this and see that I read many genres, but others might judge me based off the witchcraft in Harry Potter, the homosexuality in Perks of Being a Wallflower, or the sex in Milk and Honey. Honestly, I just like to read the books people recommend for me and I don't often stick to one genre.

What The Health

What The Health is a new documentary released by Netflix. It has been widely spread and very quickly became popular, but why? This documentary is graphic and discusses why a plant based diet is superior to an animal based one, not only for health reasons, but for the sake of animals and their lives as well. I support plant based diets. I am vegetarian and am slowly making the change to vegan, but this documentary is not the reason why and I would advise people who are interested in this topic to watch other films rather than this one to obtain information on the subject. I first heard about What the Health from co-workers, they said it made them change their lifestyle and go vegan. I continued to hear that people were going vegan because of this movie over a day more days before I decided to watch it. Although this documentary has some good information, there are also some statements that weren’t backed up or seemed to me to be misleading, when I looked into it further I was surprised to find that there weren’t any sources made available for what was said in the film. The official site for this documentary can be found at:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/whatthehealth

Kip Andersen is the filmmaker behind this documentary. He claims to have found the reasoning behind many chronic diseases and says with this information being released it could help to prevent or even reverse them, but Kip says health industries don’t want us to know about it. Throughout this film, Kip visits multiple health industries to interview them and ask about why they promote an animal based diet rather than plant based, but many people say that they cannot help him or they aren’t the right person with whom he should be discussing nutrition. Viewers also see Kip talking with others who are eating a plant based diet and hear voiceovers of facts and statistics. Along with What The Health, Kip is known for two more documentaries: Cowspiracy and Sea of Life. It’s clear what his topic of interest is and what message he is trying to get out to the public through all his documentaries: a plant based diet is superior. It’s hard to tell exactly how well What the Health has done in the sense of monetary value because it is available on Netflix, but it has received four stars on IMDb.

There are many documentaries about food what what should be eaten versus not eaten to live a healthy life. People are on the hunt to find out what the perfect diet is for maintaining a healthy life, but this answer is difficult because everyone’s body and life is different. Another documentary on Netflix about a similar topic is Forks Over Knives. This film is about how the Western diet is potentially the cause or a cause of many chronic diseases and how a diet of plant based whole foods could reduce and possibly eliminate these diseases. This sounds like a vegan diet, but today someone who is vegan could find processed soy proteins that create a chicken nugget like form that tastes similar to one as well, but the physician in Forks Over Knives advises to stick to minimally processed foods. This film also is created through the words of a physician who has completed studies as well as a professor of nutritional biochemistry while Kip is a movie director doing what research he can via a computer at his home, claiming he knows all the facts necessary to get rid of chronic diseases.

Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, one of Kip’s other films, is similar to What the Health in the sense that it is in regards to why people should eliminate animal products from their diet, but the reasoning is different. Cowspiracy discusses what is being done to our environment through the animal agriculture system. Kip claims that climate change and greenhouse gases are a by product of the animal agriculture, even though this is not what scientists say and support. Here is another way in which the films are alike, he finds something that he claims to be true and says that it is a hidden secret that industries, such as health companies and environmental organizations don’t want you to know. As the title of Cowspiracy implies, his theories tend to sound like conspiracy theories.

What the Health and other health documentaries are important. Many people in the United States are living with chronic diseases, taking multiple types of pills to get through the day, overweight, or a combination of these factors. Film is one way to get across to more people the message that they need to hear, even if scientists are still doing research and finding the information necessary to back up these findings, if a change in their diet could help in any way, they need to know. Diet changes are up and coming in our society, from vegetarian and vegan, to gluten free or paleo, people are trying to find what works best for them and their bodies. Studies do show some as more superior to others, but people are trying everything. What the Health is trying to reach anyone and everyone. Diet isn’t something that only people with diseases or are overweight should think about, but people who are healthy should think about it as well in order to prevent future issues. As I said before, What the Health isn’t the documentary I would recommend for someone who is trying to make a change in their diet, but this is due to the way it is presented. Everyone in this film is vegan and is a bit extreme in how they display their facts or word their ideas, giving some people a negative idea of vegans. When going out to eat someone shouldn’t be nervous to ask if an entree is vegan friendly for fear of being judged, but should be confident in their way of life. Vegans, such as those in this film, are the type who people think of as extreme and give others a bad name.

Despite the flaws of What the Health, it does have strengths, such as when it talks about the very real issues of how animals are treated when they are being raised for human consumption. This cannot be argued, many farms where these animals are kept aren’t sanitary nor are they proper living conditions for an animal. Some of the topics brought up about this are disgusting and I won’t go into detail about them, but I highly recommend looking into where your food comes from. Due to the impact this movie has made and how many people it has reached, it is difficult to say whether or not it is a good movie or a bad one. If we look simply at how well they do at citing their sources or how reliable the people making this film are, I would say that it’s leaning more towards bad, but if we look at how many people are changing their lifestyles to reduce or eliminate animal products I would say it’s pretty good and successful. The controversy over What the Health has made it more memorable than a lot of health documentaries and has also increased the number of people who have watched it. Due to the controversy I don’t think that it will be forgotten anytime soon, many articles are being written about what facts were skewed and some of the people interviewed in the film are coming out on their own to say more on the topic. One article I found and really liked was published by Vox, it explains how what is said in the film is true at many points, but is portrayed in the most extreme way possible. Just one point they make is how Kip says eating processed meat will increase your likelihood of colorectal cancer by 18%, but when looking at a person’s likelihood in the first place is 5%, it’s made clear that eating processed meat every day will increase your chance by 18% of that 5%, giving you a total 6% likelihood.

Reviews by doctors and others that have done research on the topic is much more important when it comes to this movie than reviews done by film critics. For the most part doctors say that when it comes to what Kip has to say, he has some accurate facts and that it is true that Americans should reduce their intake of meats and dairy products, that a vegan diet isn’t necessary for everyone.  On orlandodietitian.com two dietitians wrote about their view on What the Health and a particular two sentences really stood out to me. “The reason why nutrition is such a hotly debated topic is because there is no one-size-fits all answer. There is no perfect diet.” It goes to show that no matter how hard someone tries, they can’t find a diet or lifestyle that will be the perfect match for both them and another person.

As far as my friends views on this documentary it really varies, a few people are now vegan because of it, but others critique it the way I do. My sister, who is entirely vegan, doesn’t even want to watch it after I told her about how it presents itself and the information it holds. We did our research and eat the way we do based on information we can back, both for health and animal cruelty, but I wonder if those who watch this film and change their diet after can say the same.

Overall I learned that just because a film has the word documentary used to label it doesn’t mean that it is a credible source, but it can be easy to fall into this trap. Seeing how What the Health displays their information and tweeks it so it benefits what they are saying makes me want to fact check more documentaries I watch and not take the information as true when I hear it. If a friend was to tell you that eating one egg is equally as bad for you as smoking five cigarettes (a claim made in What the Health) you probably wouldn’t believe them, so why do people believe it when it is said in a movie?

"Fake News"

Fake news has become a phrase that just about everyone will recognize. Donald Trump has used this phrase countless times in speeches and, as of July 24, has tweeted this phrase 72 times. I found this exact number along with each Tweet using this phrase on ew.com and if you click here, you could take a look for yourself. It appears as though Trump labels news as "fake news" whenever it makes him appear to be disengaged in the process of making a decision, even if only slightly, or if a comment is made about him or his family that can be taken in a negative way. Although he is trying to make people stop paying attention to these news companies it appears as though he is bringing more attention to them by constantly Tweeting and talking about it, it makes you wonder why he doesn't simply ignore the comments. I don't think it is fake. Yes, every celebrity, star, or government official has rumors spread and fake stories are told, so I won't say that everything said about him is true, but the amount of things he says are fake is alarming and concerning. The words and phrases Trump uses when talking about news agencies also makes me think it is not all fake, he isn't professional in how he handles the matter and it seems like if he knew it weren't true he wouldn't be going to extremes to show the US that. For examples, look at the Tweets and how he uses the word sleazebag or how he calls the New York Times, a news company that has been around and deemed credible for quite a while, "A Fake News Joke." An article is written about this and can be read here.

I agree that he is harming the right of Freedom of Speech and the rights that accompany it in the First Amendment. People have been fired from their jobs because they printed information that Trump attacked by calling fake news and going after those who wrote it. People may end up fearing for their jobs if they write about news that involves Trump or his administration that he doesn't want printed for the world to see. It hasn't even been a year into his presidency and people are already becoming concerned for their freedom of speech and press, it leads me to wonder if there will be more rights people are questioning whether or not they still have.

With the state of affairs and Trump blasting his thoughts on Twitter it's put other people in an awkward situation. We live in a country where our government is formed through democracy, but the president is still more in control than most people. It would make sense that out president should be professional and respectful, but the Tweets we see don't match this description. This administration is weakening the use of social media by making a joke out of his accounts, if he were to one day apologize and begin to use Twitter in a way to positively reach thousands of people, I'm not sure if people would be able to take him seriously or not.

News Today

As I have said many times before, I'm not very good at keeping up with the news today and current events. Most of my news comes from Facebook via friends sharing links or from status updates about things they have heard or seen happening. My other news outlet is through word of mouth. I work with a lot of people who are into politics and keep up with what is going on in our country and they talk about it at work where I then hear about it. I take all this news information with a grain of slat though until I can further look into it because I know word of mouth and Facebook aren't the most credible of sources. Facebook can lead to looking at credible sources, but it is still important to double check statements before accepting them as truth. I believe news is important and I try to look into what is going on, but I honestly don't look into it enough to think that the local news has too much of an impact on my daily life. I don't plan on living in Corvallis forever and have only been here three years so some of the very local changes don't affect me as much as someone who has lived here their entire life and plans on staying longer. If local were to mean the state of Oregon I would say it is concerning to me what happens, but I don't think of it on a daily basis.

I don't subscribe to any news websites or newspapers and the only reason I have basic cable (which includes a few news channels) is because Comcast offered me a deal if I got it to pair with my internet. This isn't because I don't value the news, but I think there are ways I can reach reliable information without paying for it. Many big newspaper companies have online resources as well, and with access to multiple free newspapers it can be simple to fact check information. I also know myself well enough to think "Would I really read the newspaper if I subscribed to one?" The answer is no. I lack the motivation to read it, it's a habit I am trying to break. I don't want to brush off the news and what is happening today. I just do.

It isn't just news like what our government is up to or what is going on with other countries and our relations with them. I'm entirely out of the loop when it comes to news. I don't know much about celebrity lives or who is coming out with a new music album or even what movies are in theatre. If I were to be honest with myself I would have to say on a scale of 1-5 on how informed I am I would say 1.5. It's not like I am oblivious, I know what changes are being made in certain areas, such as our education system, because I want a career working with children and this could potentially land me working in the school district so I keep up with that area of information. It's important to me to be informed in this area not only because it could potentially affect a career for myself, but affects all the children who will be attending school when these changes occur and they cannot get back these years of school and do them again for a better education.