So~Bee~Love

American Dirt is a novel written by Jeanine Cummins. Earlier this year the book was released and immediately sparked controversy on social media. The novel is about a Mexican woman and her son and their journey across the border. There have been many thoughts on the book criticizing the content, the characters, and the intentions. Jeanine Cummin - Author One of the first things people scrutinized was not the book, but the author. With such a complex subject matter many people feel that someone with a personal connection would be better suited to write about the immigrant experience. Many people are calling it cultural appropriation since Cummins identifies as mostly white . But while criticism of her ethnic background was being questioned she acknowledged that she has a Puerto Rican grandmother. This was her way of legitimizing her closeness to the subject matter although being Puerto Rican and Mexican are two very different things. Our next book club selectio...

The readings in the Mobile and Social Journalism Media course I'm taking have given me the chance to reflect on how people consume the news today. It is very apparent that the news has been condensed in a way to be easy to digest for the reader but also structured so that it keeps them interested and piquing their interest. NYT Article One of the readings that we were assigned was an article by the New York Times outlining popular trends in the news in 2020. Instead of a straightforward list of things to look out for, this article unpacked the reading habits of the average reader in this year and outlined important things to note when producing the news. For example, it explained that time of day is important when publishing news stories. The most detail-oriented and hard-hitting news should be published in the mornings when people are energized and ready to consume news but towards the end of the day more light-hearted human interest pieces are the way to go. Th...

Importance of Independent Media Book Launch In the Fall of 2019, I was enrolled in journalism selected topics course where we learned about the history of independent media and its impact in the journalism sphere. Through this class, I was able to learn about a plethora of independent outlets that are doing amazing reporting on important stories that mainstream media won't cover or won't take the time to do the proper reporting. A large part of this course compared how mainstream media and independent news outlets report on hot button issues like climate change, police brutality, and even immigration. Class sessions were spaces where we critically critiqued mainstream media and the power they have to sway and influence public opinion. Author & Journalist Todd Miller During my time in the course I was exposed to a variety of guest speakers; authors and journalists who were experts in their fields. One of whom was Todd Miller, author of Empire of Border...

New Year, New Beginnings Happy New Year! During the first few weeks of every new year, everyone has all these resolutions, all these things they want to change or 'fix' about themselves. My theory about this is that people are obsessed with new year resolutions every year is that people are intrigued by the chance at a fresh start.  Don't get me wrong, I am one of those the people. But instead of resolutions, I like to say the word goals. I think of things that are reasonable and easy to achieve. Like popular things that people often list is that they want to go to the gym, lose, weight, eat healthier. All these things are great but by no means are realistic for me.  Going into this year I definitely want to be more mindful of my eating habits but I'm not going to change them completely just to fulfill some goal or fit into the norm. In addition to mindful eating, I also want to take one big trip this year. I am someone that has never really been on a va...

A Year in Review It is officially the first full week of 2020 and it already seems like 2019 was a distant moment in time. Although the year is young, so much has happened from social movements to political situations but aside from that, 2019 was a year of growth and self-discovery. I want to list my top moments of 2019 and their impact on me as a person. These are in no particular order but they will be loosely chronological, being that the first on the list happened earlier in the year. One of my first memorable moments of the year was turning 21. In the United States, this is the legal drinking age. Being in college it seems like a certain right of passage, you upgrade from house parties to going to the bars. This by far was one of my favorite birthdays, not because there was drinking involved (it definitely created an interesting atmosphere)  but because of all the people that were involved in my celebration. I celebrated my actual day of birth at college wi...

2019 Spotify Wrapped! For the past few years now, Spotify has been releasing personalized playlists compiled of songs most listened to by the user. They call it their Spotify Wrapped Playlist. I started using Spotify as a streaming platform in 2017 when I found out that they have a student deal where you get Spotify Premium, Hulu + Showtime for $5! For the past three years, I've gotten my personalized playlists and have thoroughly enjoyed them! Disclaimer before moving forward, I do share my Spotify account with my sister because I'm nice but this has slightly skewed my results. She does not listen to as much music as me but she listens to enough to create an impression in the results. Below are some screenshots of the visual summary that came along with my playlist this year. This year I was shown my music taste through the seasons. This year I was definitely more adventurous and ventured out of my comfort zone and branched out to different artists. ...

In my freshman year of college, I took a Literature and Cultural Studies course. Throughout this course, I learned about various literary theories that help to shape our society. Two specific theories that come to mind are Psychoanalytic and Critical Race theory. The psychoanalytic theory focuses on the mind and how the way er think effects our actions. This theory also focuses on mental health disorders and how that plays a part in the way interactions are made. And Critical Race theory obviously focuses on race but goes it goes into depth about how the history and concept of race shape our views on how we view and interact with people. Psychoanalytic theory and Critical Race theory don't often go hand-in-hand with each other. But looking at the history of the United States, science was used to dehumanize people of color by saying their minds didn't have the mental capacity to understand and comprehend complex ideas or tasks. This was not true by any means but in order ...