Deflatgate? More like Derailgate

In a story that broke early last week by ESPN and other major news networks, the networks pinned deflate gate on the NFL rather than the New England Patriots. In a major swing and change although it may be a couple years, suspensions, picks and fines to late. The NFL used its media prowess to allow this story to get published to make the patriots look bad as an organization, especially taking its aim at Tom Brady in a shot of defamation on his brand and persona. The NFL has not issued a statement since the ESPN article, and most likely will not. With limited evidence and no creditability to it the NFL leaked limited information only to protect itself from the image of the witch hunt of a hall of fame coach, quarterback and arguably the greatest organization in all American sports. There was never any scientific evidence to prove that the footballs were deflated, leaking that Tom Brady had thrown his phone away, because he had gotten a new one which all people do when they get a new phone. The only thing the NFL proved was how egotistical and salty they were the Patriots had gotten off on the cheating allegation. Proving that the only scandal that happened was the NFL investigation into the matter. The best part of the whole story is the Patriots coming out and winning the Superbowl the next week. Then, to make it even better and defend their title in the year Tom Brady served his suspension and win it again then, but not only to win it but to have the greatest comeback in NFL playoff history. Deflategate was one of the biggest derailment attempts at the greatest organizations in American sports history, further proving that the NFL is only worried about showing its might and power. Especially when giving the same amount of games suspension to Tom Brady as it has given to players who have tested positive for PED's as well as those who have been charged with domestic abuse charges.

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/01/22/espn-story-deflategate-scandal-nfl-patriots-national-narrative/

Hurley, Michael. “ESPN Runs Story Pinning DeflateGate Scandal On NFL Instead Of Patriots, Perhaps Reshaping National Narrative.” CBS Boston, CBS Boston, 24 Jan. 2020, boston.cbslocal.com/2020/01/22/espn-story-deflategate-scandal-nfl-patriots-national-narrative/.

Mumble Rap: The love hate relationship of the rap community

Some of you might be going what in the world is a mumble rap and why would I want to listen to someone mumble. Well it is the newest craze in hip-hop and is ultimately taking over the community. It is a form of rapping where the artist strings together occasional words to make them flow into one another rather than clearly articulating each one. This makes the song very catchy leading to a hit song. Artists known for mumble rapping are Playboi carti, Young Thug, and the Migos. But just because this new form of rap is popular doesn't mean everyone is a fan of it. This new style is upsetting og fans of the rap community stating that the new generations delivery lacks professionalism and is just plain effortless. 

Personally I am a fan of this new generation style of rapping dubbed “mumble rap” but I can understand how someone from the og rap community can have a distastefulness to it. As a young kid I would only listen to bands like RHCP, Van Halen, and Coldplay and had an extreme disliking towards any rap music. But as I got older the things I had a liking for changed as well as the friend group I had and I think that had a huge influence on my music today. Over time I got used to this genre of music and it has become one of the favorites. I think people need to be open minded and give things a chance before judging.

http://theconversation.com/mumble-rap-cultural-laziness-or-a-true-reflection-of-contemporary-times-85550

Love for the Game

Basketball has always shown to be like no other when it came to how it links the fans and the game, proving that the fans are always the most important thing. They do this in many different ways, one being that the fans have a choice in who will play in the All-Star game or not, leaving the fans to vote for whoever. Things like this have given the people more say into what they see on the court.

This however isn't exactly why the NBA is so popular but more like situations that occur, like the passing of a NBA legend in Kobe Bryant. Such an unexpected tragedy, when his private helicopter crashed with him, his daughter, two other little girls and three more adults all also dying instantly. Immediately the first reaction for everyone was that there was no way it could be true, his daughter also played basketball and was only 13. Being a huge fan myself I was devastated, mainly because of the loss of his daughter, she was talented and had the rest of her life ahead of her, just cut short. This united many basketball fans all over to show respect to what once was the leader of a great franchise in the Lakers, and also show respect to what could've been an amazing professional athlete in Gianna. This doesn't happen frequently in any sport, never mind basketball, but it was beautiful to see during such a tragedy, many former and current players, fans of the game, and just people in general reflect on how important family is and how every day matters. This is what the game is about and Kobe preached his love for the game constantly, and his daughter was just as obsessed.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kobe-bryant-gets-emotional-tributes-jimmy-kimmel-ellen-degeneres-jimmy-n1124496

Modern Music Versus The Oldies

                                                   "Modern Music Versus The Oldies"

        I found this article on a search through  a random search at Google. Using keywords Modern Musicians Versus Classic. 

       As we get older, we fall under the cliche that modern music is bad and the stuff we grew up on was better. According to scientists, this statement is actually true. I can remember growing up listening to the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and many more from the 50's on to the 70's. My father had an extensive collection of LP's and most consisted of classic rock and Oldie's from the 50's. 

      There was a study done by Spanish researchers, analysed an archive known as the Million Song Data set to discover how the course of music changed between 1955 and 2010. A couple of quotes I'd like to mention are. 

     Joan Serra of the Spanish National Research Council, who led the study published in the Scientific Reports journal, said: “We found evidence of a progressive homogenization of the musical discourse.
“The diversity of transitions between note combinations – roughly speaking chords plus melodies – has consistently diminished in the past 50 years.” 
     
     These statements couldn't be more true, in my opinion. Modern music does sound the same, and it's been proven. Being a musician myself, I have noticed the downtrend in actually learning an instrument and the theory behind it, to taking shortcuts to learn just what is needed to get that "hook". You couldn't play in a cover band back in the day without knowing your scales, modes, and theory. Even the most basic "Hair Bands" of the 80's required significant practice and knowledge of your instrument. 

     Most modern musicians today still have some of the same influences that I had and still do, to include Jimmy Page, Edward Van Halen, Eric Clapton, and Steve Vai. These musicians are and were the masters of the art. One key point to make is the remakes of most of these classic artists songs. If they weren't good, why cover them? Hence the downtrend of new material and original composition. 




http://thediagonal.com/2012/08/16/modern-music-versus-the-oldies/

NFL Celebrations and Fortnite

Finding the article was easy, I used the academic search premier and found this article in seconds. In order to do that I used the advanced search engine and made sure the article reached all requirements, and it did.

The NFL has had a this rep throughout the sports world as "the no-fun league" for a little while now and has been trying to improve on that. Celebrations are a huge part of the sport and at one point athletes were very limited on what they could do. Beginning in 2017 they changed those rules in order to hopefully bring more attention to the game, which it did, so much so that the athletes began to dig real deep for inspiration into new dances and such. Many began using dances that were also very common in the video game Fortnite. The rest of the article continues to explain how famous the celebrations had become and how end-zone celebrations and Fortnite dances can and can't be trademarked.

I thought the article was interesting because it went into detail how exactly something like a dance or movement can be trademarked. I learned that even though it is difficult to trademark a dance if it is short in length but Fortnite proved otherwise, making millions off of people who try to claim the dance as their own. In terms of popular culture, you see these dances all over your Instagram and Twitter, bringing a large amount of attention to the NFL and Fortnite.

Permalink

Avakiantz, Alex. “Stealing Swagger: Nfl End Zone Celebrations and Fortnite’s Fortune.” Washington Law Review, vol. 94, no. 1, Mar. 2019, pp. 453–479. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip&db=a9h&AN=136062260&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Cars over time

Cars. Believe it or not, the first one was made way back in the 1880s' so needless to say they have been around for a few years now and just keep on getting better. Over these many years, the goal has still been the same with few exceptions, to get people from one place to another faster than walking or horseback. I'd have to say its been very successful. to see how far cars have come and what they are now is truly amazing. Now, for the most part, people get a car to get from point A to B, and as long as they get their reliably most people will never think twice. Some people need something more than just a car, they may have a need to move a lot of people comfortably or move large items. so they have pickup trucks and SUV's. These serve a purpose and are arguably much more common than just plain old cars. Then you have the cars that are designed to be much more eco-friendly. Hybrids car and SUV's often run off of just a tiny amount of gas and mostly electricity that come from large rechargeable batteries in the car. With the small gas engine, you never have to worry about the batteries dying and becoming stranded it will kick in and get you to your destination. Nowadays they have 100% electric cars that are gaining in popularity. At the complete opposite end of good gas mileage and being eco-friendly, you have sports cars. If you have a need for speed and some deep pockets these are the cars for you. They are not practical at all, terrible in the rain or snow, and your significant other will most like have you sleeping on the couch for spending all that money. besides all the downsides, these are meant for the people who don't see a car as going from A to B but, a hobby in itself. The car enthusiast. Now to bring it all back together, over the past oh 100 years or so the car has reflected what people need in their lives. Every decade has a most popular type of car, like 1970 during the gas crisis. people need a car great on gas mileage, not a sports car. Ever since cars have been in production people have had a need for a certain type of car.

Community and Togetherness: A View on Hockey.

While I was searching for topics to write about I had to think deeply about my interests and how I look at them differently than a simple spectator. That's when I thought of hockey. All my life I have loved watching and learning about the sport. While I have never played on a team (Because I can hardly skate without bruising myself) I still love hockey.

This brought me to deeper thought. Why do I love hockey? Is it the fast-paced play style of the game? or maybe even the rough and tough aspects of the game you don't see in many other sports. No, my favorite part about hockey is the community that comes with being a fan. I have been to countless Boston Bruins games and have experienced feelings of joy, bliss, heartbreak, and hope. Sometimes all in the same game! This feeling comes from being in a stadium packed with people who have at least one thing in common; their love for Hockey.

I have made so many friends and met many people just based on our shared interest in the Boston Bruins. You haven't really made a bond with someone until you experience the devastating heartbreak that was the 2019 Stanley Cup Championship Game 7. Moments like that aren't seen as necessarily bad in my opinion. I got to share something with not only my friends but all of Boston. And while we all may have that scar, at least it is something we all dealt with together.

Hockey is a beautiful thing, but the sense of community, friendship, and togetherness I feel when even think about the sport is what enthralls me the most.

https://www.buriedpuck.com/blogs/the-concourse/ice-hockey-more-than-a-game

Food, glorious food

Everyone loves Food and it has invaded popular culture. Whether you go out or dine in there are many things to consider. Ingredient sourcing has become a big topic, environmentalists are all for everything locally sourced, organic, and plant-based proteins. If you eat meat, what does that say about you? How about GMO's? This is a very deep rabbit hole.

https://www.plantbasednews.org/news/london-buses-refuse-vegan-ad-might-cause-offence

Aside from where your food comes from is the consideration of how and where it's prepared. You can have gourmet meals at home with meal delivery kits that are all the rage now. You can shop for your groceries online and have them delivered to your door. You can get your recipe from Pinterest, cook it in your Instapot, and Instagram it #foodgasm. How about #avocadotoast. The internet was aflame over Millenials and their toast. It was blamed for everything, from financial instability to the reason home sales have declined.

https://www.californiaavocado.com/recipe-details/view/31710/california-avocado-toast-three-ways
Being a foodie is so in. Everyone is a professional photographer on Instagram. How many times do you go out and see someone photograph their food before they eat it? I do it all the time. We don't just photograph it, we leave a review on Yelp and Google to influence the next diner considering the spot.
Restaurants have become entertainment spaces as well. Dave&Busters is widely known as a place to get a great dinner and have fun. Dinner theatre is a thing, you can order meals at most movie theatres as well.

https://www.bonappetit.com/restaurants-travel/slideshow/7-movie-theaters-foodies
Celebrity influences our food consumption as well. Diet plans sell you the ideal body. Drink this shake or these personalized prepared meals and you, too, can look like them. Follow the link for the TB12 diet.
TB12 Diet

Food is social and cultural. What do you always do at family gatherings? You eat and what you eat may be determined by your cultural identity. Grandma's house was always great as a kid. You better come hungry because you won't get out of there without eating.
Check out this article from BonApetit for more on food in popular culture.
https://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/pop-culture/article/food-invaded-pop-culture

Football players

Liam Reddy
Blog #2


Being a football player comes with a lot of responsibility. With big responsibility comes big reward. The only way to play such physical and mentally taxing game is to be one hundred percent in. You have to dedicate your life to it because in the game of football if you show it love it will show you love and vice versa. You take one day off someone is getting 1 day better than you which you never want to happen. To identify yourself as a football player it all starts in the weight room in the offseason. The bigger and stronger you get there the better you play on the field. As well as out of the weight room, the offseason is where everything happens to get better. Without the early morning lifts, hot day sprints and suicides you will not be as good as you can be come September. Sometimes it means missing a party to go bed early because you have a workout or a practice. The definition of football player is grit. The more grit you have the better player you are. It all starts with toughness, both mentally and physically. Without either of the two you will be lost on your way in a world hurt and pain. Also, defining yourself by the difference of being hurt and injured. if your hurt you better get back up take your 1, 2, 3 or 4 plays off and get back out there. Take the pain and finish the game then get healthy during the week. Sometimes it might not feel to great but you can not let your brothers down who have been through just as much as you. Focus is a popular topic in pop culture because of the physical nature of the game. Everyone loves when two people in full gear just run right into each other as hard as you can think possible. Thats just physical nature of human beings. Football and I just go hand and hand. Since I was 7 years old I have loved and played football. From the time I made it through pop Warner and won the region to go to Florida and place 5 nationally, through high school and played at Gillette stadium in a state championship game all the way through starting my first college football game. It was an adventure during my playing career, but now thats it over I look back at all the fun and love I had for the game and now get into my career as a high school coach. Football symbolizes brotherhood and family. It takes those who may not have many friends or a great family background and brings them together as brothers getting through everything together, the high and the lows. We always had each others back no matter our backgrounds rich or poor once we had the same helmet and jersey on we were linked together for the rest of our lives.

https://blogs.usafootball.com/blog/912/the-brotherhood-of-football-is-unbreakable

Batman: How a Character identity crisis has led to a fortune

Jeffries, Dru H. "Convergence culture and the Caped Crusader: Batman and the environment of new 
media." CineAction, no. 77, 2009, p. 42+. Gale OneFile: Pop Culture Studies, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A200253751/PPOP?u=mlin_n_danvers&sid=PPOP&xid=0e7d560c. Accessed 22 Jan. 2020.


Finding this academic journal on Batman took a little bit of time. I had to search through several different databases in order to find an academic journal for the character alone as most of the written material for Batman was magazine interviews and opinion columns on the films and comics. I did however end up finding this academic journal on Gale. The most challenging part in the search process was trying to weave out other source materials other than academic journals. The easy part was finding articles on Batman and his franchise as he is one of the most notable and iconic superhero/comic book characters as well as the popularity of his films and video games within the last fifteen years.

The article tries to explain that Batman should not be anywhere near as popular as he is because of the several different identities the character has. In the original comics in the late 1930's to early 1940's Batman was a gritty mysterious vigilante who fought from the shadows to fight all crime. Then with the creation of the 1960's television series that saw Adam West be Batman for the first time on screen saw a much sillier comic relief type of character that was almost the polar opposite of the original comics. Then when it came time to make the Michael Keaton Batman movies in the late 1980's Warner Brothers didn't know which way to go with the character as they didn't want to get away from the characters roots and the way that the creators of the character intended him to be, but they didn't want to upset the generation of people that grew up watching the sillier Adam west batman television series. They elected to take their own spin on the character and give him a brand new identity and turned what should have been a marketing nightmare into a worldwide phenomenon that saw batman almost over night become the most notable brand in the world. This lead to a much darker and grittier batman in the comics as fans wanted the Dark knight to be just that. This led to some of the most iconic batman comics such as Batman: The Dark Knight and Batman: The Killing Joke. Riding on this high Warner Brothers in the 90's made films that were closer to the Adam west batman that almost completely killed the franchise. It then shot back into the forefront with Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale's Dark Knight trilogy which is the darkest that batman has appeared on screen.

From this article I learned that Batman is a character that can be molded to fit for people of all ages to enjoy. Just look recently with the Darker grittier batman and his popularity in both Batman v. Superman and Justice League as well as in the Batman: Arkham  video games, compared to the lighter kid friendly LEGO Batman movie. The caped crusader can take many forms and has had many different personalities throughout his history. But to have the ability to have a different Batman for everyone to attach to was/is a genius move by Warner Brothers and even though many people expected the franchise to fail, having him be fluid and diverse was only going to revive the franchise and make it prominent in our culture.

Batman Gale Academic Journal

A cyberbullying protection plan_

"A cyberbullying protection plan" was an interesting article that I cam across when I was looking for articles to write about. This article is written by Joel D. Haber and Lisa Daley and published on March 1, 2011 from American Camping Association. The article was available on Gale Onefile Website in the pop culture studies part.

As I was searching for any interesting articles topics, nothing particular, cyberbullying took my attention as it is an extremely big issue and it has become increasingly common, especially among kids and teenagers. The tittle of the article seems interesting and made me go into it and read in more details. I found this article using one of the links the recommended data base. First when I wasn't sure what article to choose and to read, it was kind of a challenge because I did not know what I was looking for or if I was in the right place, but I found something interesting that I like to write about.

This article starts off with an interesting story, a thirteen-year-old was booked for cyberbullying or else for to make a threat via electronic communications in order to bully the people with red hair, freckles and so on. The article goes on explaining what is cyberbullying how a larger issue it has  become, and how easily this kind of bullying can escalate. The article uses a really true sentence who explains how this issue can start from just a comment. "The stories of how one comment leads to five comments, which leads to a Web of communications, which leads to abuse and even suicide, are becoming more and more commonplace. Anyone working with kids has to know what cyberbullying is, appreciate that it is everywhere, and realize that all kids are at risk of exposure." The article also mentions and explains how dangerous cyberbullying as it is permanent, it is anonymous, potential of humiliation and embarrassment, mental issues, harmful messages and so on. And at the end of the article is a cyberbullying protection plan, which starts with a development of an acceptable Internet Use Policy, a controlled Web Site by parents or adults, a Cell Phone management as well it affects a lot children and teenagers these days, Discipline and everyone should take cyberbullying seriously and take the precautions to stop and to avoid it for everyone in the family, a role model appropriate behavior is important in every environment.

I think this article had a lot of potential and achieved its goal, by giving step by step a cyberbullying protection plan. Starting off with a story I think was a great step because this way the audience kind of understands better what the problem is and what are the consequences, also it understands why this happens and what are the influences that bring to the action. Moving on with explaining what the term cyberbullying is also helpful and gives a better understanding of what is the author's idea of a protection plan, why this plan is needed. Giving facts, such as bullying is going to take place among our youth wherever and whenever there is a lack of a respected adult presence, and also giving the reasons why cyberbullying is dangerous makes the audience to agree for a protection plan. Coming to the end where we as the audience need a solution for our problem, there is the plan good coordinated and organized, touched upon the most important points to help kids and teenagers to not fall for cyberbullying. I learned some interesting points that were important as part of the protection plan such as  role model appropriate behavior has a lot of influence on every environment especially for teens and kids. I have a little brother, he is 6 years old, and I think this plan would help my parents keep him protected and controlled as he grows up.

Source Citation

Haber, Joel D., and Lisa Daley. "A cyberbullying protection plan." Camping Magazine, Mar.-Apr. 2011, p. 32+. Gale OneFile: Pop Culture Studies

Link to the Article:

https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CA272496872&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZAHJ-MOD1&prodId=PPOP&contentSet=GALE%7CA272496872&searchId=R4&userGroupName=mlin_n_danvers&inPS=true

Police Shootings of dogs

One thing that I never fully understood was why police officers shoot and kill dogs. As a police officer myself, and an avid animal lover, shooting a dog seems a bit extreme. I feel as though dogs do not pose as life threatening danger to police officers (in some cases they could). The majority of the time, non-lethal tactics could be used such as strikes, pepper spray, tasers, batons and so on. I do not think I could bring myself to shoot a dog, only under extreme circumstances. We know that people treat their pets as family members, as do I. When police shootings occur involving dogs, it can cause an uproar and a distrust between citizens and police.

Some breeds of dogs are plagued with stereotypes of being extremely dangerous, or deadly. In some cases, this could be the reason for the police-dog shootings. Proper police training on dog encounters could potentially improve how these encounters play out. This is a two way street as well, dog owners can take extra measures to ensure their dog does not get out, or make sure they are on a leash when being walked. Overall, more training is needed for law enforcement. "According to Karen L., Amendola, PhD, Chief Behavioral Scientist with the National Police Foundation, "Clearly, there is a pressing need for more evidence-based knowledge to be conveyed to law enforcement officers regarding breed-specific behavior stereotypes and the differences between K-9 and companion dog behavior."(Sept. 2019). 

To conclude, in order to put a stop to unnecessary police shootings of dogs, better and more consistent training is needed. I am not saying that all shootings of dogs are unnecessary, in some cases, it was. We are just looking to prevent violence, and to better prepare the police for dealing with various situations involving dogs.







"Report on Reducing Dog Shootings in Police Encounters." Law Enforcement Product News, Sept. 2019, p. 34. Gale OneFile: Criminal Justice, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A603845723/PPCJ?u=mlin_n_danvers&sid=PPCJ&xid=46a6119a. Accessed 21 Jan. 2020.

Pop Culture Says CBD Cures Everything--Here's What Scientists Say

" Pop Culture Says CBD Cures Everything"

I found this article on the Gale OneFile database. I found this topic to be a fascinating one, since it's relevance these days to the ongoing approval of Marijuana and like substances being accepted across the United States and beyond. Searching for this type of article wasn't hard to do, there are many available.

This article taught me about our ever changing culture in the search for "alternative medicine". CBD products are sold in virtually every corner store of every town in America. The ongoing scientific studies versus the every day person claiming it's true healing power. The Food & Drug administrations involvement in the development and approval process is far behind the rest of the world.

I found this article to quite informative and eye opening. I was unaware of just how much this product has exploded across the country in the last 3 years. I also learned about it's many uses to include helping with Sleep, Anxiety, and General Pain. The approval process with the FDA, and more. The thousands of case studies currently underway and the scientific evidence on all ends to either prove or disapprove it's benefits. This is a very interesting read, and very informative.

A link to the article is below.

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A597942089/PPOP?u=mlin_n_danvers&sid=PPOP&xid=4f30304c

Freedman, David H. "Pop Culture Says CBD Cures Everything--Here's What Scientists Say; Until recently CBD was an obscure extract of a cousin of the marijuana plant, now it's everybody's favorite miracle cure for whatever ails them." Newsweek, 6 Sept. 2019. Gale OneFile: Pop Culture Studies, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A597942089/PPOP?u=mlin_n_danvers&sid=PPOP&xid=4f30304c. Accessed 20 Jan. 2020.

Melbourne, One of the World's Most Livable Cities

Ever since I was a little kid, I have been fascinated with Australia. I have always wanted to visit, and live there. In all honesty, I think Steve Irwin was my first introduction to the country, as The Crocodile Hunter was my favorite show as a very young kid. It was something that never left me and I never grew out of, and as I got older, I realized Melbourne was the place I wanted to be. As explained in this article, the city of Melbourne has been repeatedly voted as one of the world's most liveable cities in the 1990's and 2000's. The article goes in depth as to what exactly that means, and how Melbourne achieved it.

In the 1980's, the country was starting to rebound from rough times, and one of their main focuses was making the city significantly more pedestrian friendly. In 1993, the city brought in Jan Gehl, a Danish architect to study the area, gather people's opinions on the city and ask them about their daily routines in their city. These questions could include their commutes to work, or how long they spend in the city. Gehl's main focus was to urbanize the city in a way that pedestrians would enjoy the city, even if they are simply getting to work. Gehl suggested adding several gathering places throughout the city. The city's government also did their share, as they improved their roads and road maintenance, constructed several footpaths, added arcades, and built several public gathering places. The cities goal was improving the city by improving people's experience's within the city, and it definitely worked. In one of the first ever "most liveable cities" studies, Melbourne came out on top, and the city from that point on has set out to preserve that highly valued accolade. To this day, the city still continuously works to improve the liveability of the city, with one of the more recent movements being the "greening" of the city, by adding grass, trees and plants throughout the city. This project was a big risk in the 1980's with no guarantee that it would work, but looking back at it now, that hit the jackpot. 

Source: Blomkamp, Emma, and Jenny M. Lewis. “‘Marvellous Melbourne’: Making the World’s Most Liveable City.” Successful Public Policy: Lessons from Australia and New Zealand, edited by Joannah Luetjens et al., ANU Press, Acton ACT, Australia, 2019, pp. 113–138. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh4zj6k.12. Accessed 20 Jan. 2020.

Predation of The 'Creative Class'

The "Creative Class" and the Gentrifying City: Skateboarding in Philadelphia's Love Park Author(s): Ocean Howell Source: Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), Vol. 59, No. 2 (Nov., 2005), pp. 32-42 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Inc. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40480609 Accessed: 20-01-2020 04:44 UTC


The story of Love Park Philadelphia is very well known in the world of skateboarding. Being internationally recognized in the culture as a hub, or even the mecca of east coast skateboarding. A park that by the mid-late 80s was a homeless camp and center of drug use in the center of Philadelphia. Skateboarders had moved in and co-existed with the people already residing and frequenting the park. By the mid 90's it had become a world famous and iconic location in the world of skateboarding. This article explores how skateboarders were originally written and viewed the same as the supposedly vagrant, criminal locals who resided in the park, but were re-branded and became pawns for the gentrification of the city of Philadelphia. Unfortunately it seems as though the author views gentrification as a positive, and a sort of progress. I would argue the opposite. The case with Love Park specifically saw the re-branding of skateboarders, using their newly fabricated positive image as a tool to gentrify and displace working class and homeless populations, while simultaneously invalidating, and rejecting the skateboard culture whenever it was not beneficial for the city. ie: shhutting down the iconic park.

Intersectionality: As a Whole and with Haitian Women

Thinking up topics to look for articles to write about was a little bit of a process. I started off with the library database in order to find databases. It was a bit confusing at first, as I haven’t done much of this in previous classes I’ve taken, but I soon got the hang of it. I didn’t know what to look up at first so I tried to find articles on plants and romance, two things I can write for hours about. However, I couldn’t really find articles that I liked that were long enough so I settled with another topic I can also write for hours about: intersectional feminism. That was too specific of a search and it didn’t get me to where I wanted, so I backspaced a little and searched intersectionality on EBSCOhost. After scrolling a bit, I found this article which I found immensely interesting because I don’t really see many articles about Haiti, the country where my parents are from, so I ended up choosing this article.

         This article discusses what kind of impact the 2010 earthquake had on the women in Haiti. More specifically gender-based violence. Gender-based violence was being reported more and eventually classified as its own section of humanitarian disaster. One question this does bring up however, is were the amounts of violence the same as before the earthquake, but just more visible thereafter? The article even mentions a prevalent problem in Haiti’s culture revolving around musicians and the hold they have over political decisions, the title being a popular song about women’s rights and showing the opposite of that mentality with the political outcome he forced his hand with. The gender-based violence that Haitian women experience is being talked about more, and so is the discrimination being faced as being Haitian in general. The intersectionality that the article goes over more specifically is about the discrimination women experience and the racism that these women are also experiencing, coinciding to be what is essentially double the damage.

As someone who still has cousins and family living in Haiti, and in fact has lived there myself, for a number of years, seeing an article highlighting concerns I feel deeply myself was in some sort of way, self-gratifying. This an issue I feel that most people don’t see with Haiti, especially since Haiti hasn’t improved much after the earthquake, not when this article was written, and not now either despite the help my family here and there have done for the country. The president in Haiti that’s mentioned in the article I personally didn’t know much about, I learned more about in this article regarding his politics. While I can’t do much, being in America, I know I can spread this knowledge around and get more help for those living in Haiti. Intersectionality has gone through several different meanings, some of which not giving the word what it needs and deserves. Talking about intersectionality is good, as it opens the door for more discussions, and I’m glad that its becoming more mainstream and that more people know what it means, and how it affects people who are minorities in more than one way, like Haitian women who are experiencing both gender based violence, and the violence they would experience by also being black.

Schuller, Mark. “‘Pa Manyen Fanm Nan Konsa’: Intersectionality, Structural Violence, and Vulnerability Before and After Haiti's Earthquake.” Feminist Studies, vol. 41, no. 1, 2015, pp. 184–210. EBSCOhost, doi:10.15767/feministstudies.41.1.184.

Who is the most popular consumer in fashion?

Baker, Renee, et al. "Identifying tween fashion consumers' profile concerning fashion innovativeness, opinion leadership, internet use for apparel shopping, interest in online co-design involvement, and brand commitment." Fashion and Textiles, vol. 6, no. 1, 2019. Gale Academic Onefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A583933163/AONE?u=mlin_n_danvers&sid=AONE&xid=be7a64fe. Accessed 16 Jan. 2020.

I am familiar with the search process of using the schools database so for me it wasn't too complex of finding an article to my liking. I choose this article in particular because I am very interested in fashion and what makes certain clothes and brands more popular than others. I ended up choosing Gale academic Onefile as my database choice and I have found over the years using the other databases and not just the library's database is more helpful because it provides more sources than what you would find on the library's database. It is also much easier if you do an advanced search because it allows you to use multiple keywords to narrow down the options. 

In this article it discusses the influencers of fashion particularly focusing on the U.S. childrenswear market, fashion adoption theory, and whether or not consumers can be segmented into different groups. This childrenswear market or “tweens” are children ranging from the ages of 7-14, they are responsible for the $43 billion in spending power and apparel represents the primary purchase category. Fashion adoption theory is an individual's decision making process to adopt any given style. Tweens have dominated the consumer market because of their ability to adopt new styles. These consumers can be broken down into different groups fashion innovators, fashion opinion leaders, innovative communicators and fashion followers. These groups are all responsible for the advancement of new trends and styles.

I thought this article was pretty interesting for me personally because it gave me information that I was not familiar with and I actually learned from it. I didn't know that the consumer group was mainly focused around kids ranging from 7-14. I was confused mainly for the reason that probably all of these kids don't make their own money and have to rely on parents to make purchases. So why is it that the people who dont make money are responsible for what is popular in fashion. That just confused me because when I was that age it didn't really peak my interest to wear these “cool” brands and now they are the biggest consumer group.