A Worthwhile Mission Needs Worthwhile Attention

The topic for this blog was outlined in the course syllabus as “We Are At War: What is your response”. To me that title says it all; originally this was a peacekeeping mission and now 98 troops have died fighting for peace. This mission has been extremely disorganized. During the start of this mission in 2002, Canadians felt proud fighting for peace and tearing down the Taliban’s hold on Afghanistan. We immediately saw change as women stopped wearing their burka’s and more schools were built. However, when many troops were moved to the southern region of Afghanistan the Taliban fought back. All of a sudden, we found ourselves at war.

Since then we have extended the mission to 2011 and I agree with this decision only if the war is given enough political attention. With the Harper Government in charge, I found that the Afghanistan mission did not focus on peacekeeping and rebuilding. I agree immensely with the Manley report which states that 1000 troops be added by our allies and their focus shifts from combat to diplomacy. The report also states that the military focus on training the Afghan army. I believe that following this report may lead to success in the near future. We must stop fighting and empower the Afghan army to take charge of the Taliban. I have great respect for the men and women fighting for peace in the name of Canada, therefore let us stop wasting their time and put the Manley report to test.

Enough With Repetitive Advertisements!

When you look at magazines, it is not difficult to spot advertisements for products that are shown off by skinny models-men or female. That is why I believe many of us are de-sensitised to this sort of advertisings. Instead of focusing on the usual negative traits from ads that are sexist and cliché, I would like to focus on a smart advertisement. This one is an ad by Converse showing the passionate lead singer of Metric reaching out to her fans. In the distance you can see that she is wearing shinny silver shoes, however they are not the main focal point. At the top right corner “frontman” is written and at the bottom “the new all star light on Emily Haines, Metric” is written in small font.

After looking at the picture for 15 minutes, I find it ironic that “frontman” is written when she is a front woman. This is making it clear that women should feel empowered by females like her and should not feel dominated by males. The picture itself is Emily Haines wearing a black top and shorts on her knees singing passionately into the microphone. Such photography is extremely powerful in outlining the funk and power that the “frontman” has. This advertisement focuses on the feeling gained from wearing the funky shoes and not by how beautiful the models portray the product. There is only one photo of the four different colours of shoes on the bottom right. This ad is one about passion, individuality and strength. I find it sad to say that this was the only smart advertisement I came across in this magazine.

The American Election...Where Do I Start?

I must confess that I am a huge political junkie; meaning I have spent many late hours watching CNN. As a Canadian, I wonder to myself why our current election is not as entertaining as theirs. The United States of America has surprised me in respects to the progressive change I have seen in this current election. Two women have played key roles in America’s political future and for the first time there is an African American candidate for President. We Canadians like to think of ourselves as progressive, but I think our progressive time has faded.

Furthermore, politically I support Senator Barack Obama and Joe Biden. However, I wanted Hillary Clinton to win the democratic nomination due to her experience and concrete plans. Senator Clinton has been compared to the Terminator and now her supporters may decide which candidate is President. The action of Hillary Clinton supporters to even consider voting Republican due to her poor relations with Obama is ludicrous. To all supporters of Hillary Clinton: Get over it!

Since I am discussing woman in this campaign I will bring up the name Sarah Palin. For starters, if Senator McCain is elected President she will be literally a heartbeat away from presidency. Was I the only one who got shivers from that sentence? I would like to finish on an ironic note, only weeks ago the McCain team were launching attack ads comparing Obama to a celebrity, now when I am checking out at the grocery store I am literally surrounded by Sarah Palin on the cover of gossip magazines. How I wish I could vote in this election.

A Day In The Life: My Experience

Yesterday, Tuesday October 1st 2008 I experienced a student’s worst fear. Not failing an exam or forgetting to hand in a 20% assignment; I experienced the death of my laptop. With an assignment due that was saved on the computer and a midterm the next day, this could not have been a worse day. I decided that this was an emergency-I had to leave the languages of the media lecture. I immediately called Dell and demanded that they fix the problem. Of course I was given the answer: "If you upgrade your warranty we could solve the problem quicker". I heard that I could get my files out at a local computer shop. So I slept on it, very late at night.

The next day, I was without a computer and felt out of touch in my class. I went to the computer shop and they extracted my files. I used my friend’s laptop to send my assignment in. The next 5 hours, I was without a laptop studying not by PowerPoint, but by handwritten notes. I went to my exam and noticed that I did not worry about my laptop while it was at the front of class. I actually felt free. I had no computer to write my blogs on and I wanted to write one, so here I am at 1:17 AM in the Library renting a laptop. The occurrence of this broken laptop has given me mixed feelings. It is very difficult to participate in the world of University with no laptop; however I feel more free and individual. This experience has provided me with a great understanding of my dependence and participation in the media economies.