Wrap-up

I had the opportunity to take a course called Strategic Presentation this Spring semester. I honestly really enjoyed this class; it is by far one of my favorite courses I have taken for my DCIM minor.

While taking this course, I have learned so many new techniques on how to distribute information, gather information and select information. I have been working with media for many years now and this course has taught me a more about the field I am entering.

The hardest task for me to do is to research information and know what parts of that information is most important. In this course, I had to make a thirty second PSA. That is not a long time frame, stumbling on one word could make you lose five seconds of time to speak. When I had to find the right information for my PSA and distribute the most important or detailed parts of it, I found it to be difficult. I would say that the PSA I made was very informative, but there was still some information I could have left out. If I had left out some less relevant information, my PSA would have been smoother and clearer.

Another task that I will always remember looking back on this course is when I had to make a tutorial video. Although I did not record myself or record actual footage, finding the right topic to talk about and the right clips to share was difficult. I did not know what type of tutorial I could teach about the LGBT community. I had to think about the things I would like to learn more about and that’s when I decided to make my video about gender pronouns and the importance of them. This tutorial took some time for me to make but it is by far my favorite project I have made for this course.

Strategic Presentation is a course that taught me so much. I love my blog page and I plan on improving as a writer and editor so I can keep this page up and moving. The LGBT community is an organization I strongly support and care about. I will never stop educating myself and others about it!

LGBT Memes

Google Images

Google Images

Google Images

These three memes relate to my topic of my WordPress page because they are about the LGBT community. I grew up with two older brothers and a twin sister. My second brother is gay and my sister is a lesbian, so growing up I witnessed the struggles they went through when it came to their sexuality. The first meme is about how people talk about the LGBT community just to have a topic to talk about. The second and third memes are relatable because those are prime examples of what my sister and brother went through growing up. They didn’t have to hide their sexuality from my mother but we grew up in a christian home, so I think they kept it to themselves because they didn’t want to disappoint my mother.

For a long time my whole family knew my brother way gay, but he did not officially come out until High School. I think the main reason for that was because he was bullied all through Middle School because everyone assumed he was gay, but he never confirmed it. My sister had two serious relationships with guys before she started talking to girls. She is now in a committed relationship with her girlfriend.

In Davison’s reading it says “the ideals of memes operate in reverse. The ideal of a meme is the aggregate of all manifestations of that meme” (133). Reading this quote, I think the ideals of my memes are the collection of the actual photos and the chosen words that were put on the memes.

I think my memes start with the LGBT community and they spread to different types of people. For example, these memes relate to me because I grew up with siblings who are apart of this community. So these memes can relate to people like me. These memes can also relate to members of the LGBT community because they can relate to what these memes are talking about. These memes overall spread to people within the community or close to the community.

The manifestations of my chosen memes is the LGBT flag colors. All three memes have the colors incorporated in their photos and I think that makes them stand out the most. With the other memes that I was looking at, they all did not have the flag in them so that’s what makes them different from other possible manifestations.

These memes and their manifestations that I have chosen can appeal to my target audience because they are very vivid and are attention grabbers. My chosen memes are not boring and do not have too much writing.

 

Citations

https://www.google.com/search?q=lgbt+memes&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS820US820&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiI1c20ueLhAhXHY98KHQR7CAcQ_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=1SE2trgx0GCKxM:

https://www.google.com/search?q=lgbt+memes&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS820US820&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmzs2sruLhAhVGc98KHXYECm8Q_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=FDAU-MomaMijJM:manifestations

https://www.google.com/search?q=lgbt+memes&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS820US820&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmzs2sruLhAhVGc98KHXYECm8Q_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=QljdSk8LbAm9EM:

Some information about The Center of Social Justice and LGBT Communities

 

This audio clip is a podcast about a non-profit organization called The Center of Social Justice and LGBT Communities. I met with the assistant director of programming, Lindsay Jeffers and we talked a little bit about what the organization was about, how it changes peoples lives and got some information about who Lindsay Jeffers is.

Listening to this Podcast, you will get the purpose of this non profit organization and how it changes people’s lives in a positive way.  In the beginning of the Podcast, you will hear a 30 second PSA introducing The Center of Social Justice and LGBT Communities. Next you will hear Linday and I talking about the organization and a little bit about her. To end the Podcast, I thank you guys for listening and the PSA that I had in the beginning will play again to wrap everything up.

Image from Google

https://www.google.com/search?q=the+social+justice+and+lgbt+communities+rutgers&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS820US820&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwil2OeW0dPhAhWHnOAKHVSbDgEQ_AUIDygC&cshid=1555384078393607&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=-JEuVplgVjMYlM:

Music
musichttp://freemusicarchive.org/curator/Creative_Commons

Interview

Lindsay Jeffers
http://socialjustice.rutgers.edu/about-us/meet-the-staff/

The Center of Social Justice and LGBT Communities

This soundcloud clip is a short PSA audio about a non-profit organization relating to my blog topic, the LGBTQ Community. Here at Rutgers University we have an organization called The Center of Social Justice and LGBT Communities.

The purpose of this audio clip is to give a quick glimpse about what this organization is about and how you can get in contact with it.

The Center of Social Justice and LGBT Communities is located at 17 Barrette St., New Brunswick, NJ 08901. You can also contact them by phone at 848-445-4141 Monday through Friday.

Importance of Pronouns Tutorial

This YouTube video that I have put together talks about the importance of pronouns. My blog page is about the LGBTQ community and their rights. I want to educate my readers a little bit more about this community. My purpose for making this video is too grab the attention of people who are not members of the LGBTQ community. I want to inform others about why accepting and respecting people is important, no matter if they agree with others choices or not. People express themselves in all different types of ways, just because you may not like how someone expresses themselves, does not mean you have the right to disrespect them.

In my video, I gathered a few clips from other YouTube videos that I thought were important and put them together. I wanted to educated my viewers on gender pronouns and why it is important to accept the way people decide to be labeled. The first video I used was Why Gender Pronouns Matter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iKHjl5xAaA. This video expressed why people use gender pronouns and why they are important to these people.

The second video that I used was Why Pronouns Matter to Trans People https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_yBG. This video really spoke to me because these people expressed their feelings and thoughts. Everyone is human and that makes us all different, no one should be disrespected because of who they truly are.

The last video I used was What are Pronouns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xpvricekxU. The first two videos introduced the importance of gender pronouns and why people use them. I added this last video because I gave a glimpse on the importance of pronouns and accepting them, but never told my viewers what they were. So this last video shows some of the gender pronouns and explains what misgendering is.

I ended my video with a quote that really stood out to me. Baba wrote about how there are people out there that do not identify the same way. We are all made uniquely and that gives us the right to identity ourselves in unique ways. It may not be the “normal” way, but in my opinion, there is no real definition of normal. Normal to be is being true to yourself, despite what other may think or say.

I expect viewers to find my video while they are on my wordpress page looking at my posts. I will have this video uploaded so it is available to all viewers and it gives them straight access to the actual link.

 (YQ Baba) 

In Wolf’s article it says “Often displayed by way of “recommended” or “trending” content, a hallmark of Web 2.0 platforms today is their ability to shape notions of “relevance” by algorithmic sorting and customization (Gillespie, 2014).” My blog page tackles one specific topic, which is the LGBTQ community. Viewers will know that coming to my page will lead them only to topics, articles, and videos related to my wordpress site. I expect my readers to find my videos, or blog posts by visiting my website and knowing it will be there. 

Respect for LGBTQ+

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These images are sources from https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

There are many different lifestyles people choose to live. With different religions, beliefs, and families, everyone is raised differently. Although this is true, that does not give anyone the right to attack or bully a member of the LGBTQ community just because they are “different”.

In this scholarly journal “National and Local Tensions Between Religious Freedom and LGBTQ+ Civil Rights”, it talks about how religious freedom and LGBTQ civil rights contradict one another.

“The 1st Amendment states that an individual has the right to express his or her religious beliefs, while the 14th Amendment preaches equality for all” Carlsbad says.

If you look at the 14 amendment, you can see that this quote is accurate. Every individual has the right to express who they truly are, whether they define themselves with religion or their sexuality. People need to understand that just because someone may have unlike interests, that does not mean that makes them any less of a person.

The uniqueness that the LGBTQ community holds is what connects their community. It is filled with people who are not afraid to be true to who they are, and they know that being themselves makes them happier and freer.

In another scholarly article “We discovered eight positive themes common to LGBTQ identities. These themes are living an authentic life, having increased self-awareness and insight, feeling free to create flexible rules for what gender means and how it is expressed.”

These are just three of the eight rules that the LGBTQ community shares. Overall, the LGBTQ community face problems because of their sexuality. This is not fair to the member of this community.

“Nearly half of LGBTQ youth surveyed reported having experienced harassment or threats and almost a quarter physical abuse” the Lancet states.

We need to accept people for who they are despite the differences they may have.

Introducing my blog

In my blog, I will be discussing/ raising awareness about the LGBTQ community. This is entirely my opinion, thus, I’d like to point out that I am not trying to sway anyone to support or not support this community. Instead, I’d like to help educate people on the LGBTQ community and all that this community entails. I will be talking about the history of this community, successful figures within this community, as well as the circumstances that the LGBTQ community has overcame. Along with this, I will also be discussing some of the many important things that this community is still fighting to achieve and overcome. There are many members of the LGBTQ community that have gone a long way in life, regardless of the stigmas against them. My goal is to illustrate their successes to my readers in order to show that being who you truly are can get you anywhere, even when people may not support you. A lot of people are scared of expressing who they truly are because they tend to get judged based off of the traditional mindsets of others. However, I think that no one should judge others just because they do not agree with their lifestyles. My intentions are to inform the audience on why I support this organization with hopes that readers will understand the importance on being open-minded to underrepresented communities such as the LGBTQ community. This topic is held close to my heart because I am surrounded by many individuals who are apart of the LGBTQ community. With that being said, I deal with this individuals on daily basis and know them well enough to say that we are all equal, regardless of our personal preferences. I feel that no one should be judged or not accepted because of who they truly are. No one should ever hide who they are because they fear being judged. We are all created differently for a reason, and those reasons should not determine the way we deserve to be treated. These photos belong to the website Flickr but “if you do nothing else, after you’ve supported Creative Commons, you need to support this movement to stop this war now” (Lessig 168). We need to start letting photos and information be shared freely without people suing others for taking the information.

(Flickr photo)

(Flickr photo)

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton