Feed My Sheep

I know the Feed My Sheep mini-presentation wasn't part of our classroom discussion but I think it is a very important topic and can somewhat relate to what we talk about in class.
I'd never heard of the organization before they came into class on Wednesday. I'd always considered organizations like this to be great for the community but honestly, not really any of my concern. But for some reason, this woman and this cause hit me that day and I really got to thinking about. I'll speak personally but I am almost certain many of you can relate. I spend a great deal of time throughout my day on my phone or online. Whether I'm surfing pictures on Instagram or checking out news updates on my USA Today app, I'm always connected to what is around me. But when she was speaking I got to thinking, how connected am I really when the community around me is suffering and I'm doing nothing to help. So as she talked I decided that I would volunteer that Wednesday before Thanksgiving. For a block of time I am going to put my phone away, ignore my twitter feed, silence my Facebook notifications and give my attention to people who really need it. Furthermore, what are we good for if we don't utilize what we have for good? I encourage everyone to find a cause, maybe not FMS but something you believe in and make your Facebook and Twitter and Instagram followers and community aware of this cause. Give them the opportunity to learn more and possibly reach out their hands in an effort to help. Maybe we can't all agree on politics or sports or even our C322 articles, but if we all open our minds and our hearts and our hands to the community around us, maybe we can make this place just a little better each day.

Culture Jamming

What an awesome idea! I think people in my Generation are always looking for something out of the ordinary. Everything has been done these days. Shows are repetitive, songs have the same beat, and if I see another pair of UGGs I'm going to blow up. But culture jamming is something completely different that can draw the attention of people that may not even want to pay attention to it. Guerilla warfare of media. In doing things like creating fake businesses, such as pet groomers, with no serious message but simply to draw attention, we take a break from all the other messages we're fed throughout our lives. This seems like an odd approach but I find it interesting.

Don't take away my Pinterest!

I'm going to just say it, I felt personally attacked by "Pinterest, Tumblr, and the Trouble with Curation." As I read, at every turn of the sentence, it was as id I was bring called out for a problem I was blissfully unaware that I had. I love Pinterest. I love it so much that I will put it above my homework sometimes (shamefully, that includes my C322 reading). So when I saw it referred to as an "avenue for procrastination" I had a minor panic attack that was a personal intervention. then when Choire Sicha made it so abundantly clear that my pinning habit was much less than real curation I had to come to terms with the fact that maybe she was on to something. That maybe my so strategically organized shopping list, recipe, and well-in-advance wedding boards aren't really art. Okay, that I can accept. But then, I was mentally harassed by the claim that these boards I've devoted countless study hours perfecting are a "photo album of the life we think we were meant to have but don't..." Excuse me, why is it, exactly, that I can't have these things I've pinned? is it so impossible that one day I get bit by the domestic bug, slap on an apron, and attempt every mouthwatering meal on my recipe board? Or say hell does freeze over someday and I find myself in search of a long white dress - well, lookie lookie who's got her whole wedding planned on her 'New, Borrowed and Blue' wedding board! I understand the theory that Pinterest is a forum for "fantasies about and idealized future" but why is having ideas - well-organized ideas at that - such a horrible thing?