Zen

My boss told me at work this evening that I was Zen. I have never considered myself such but I'm willing to that the simplicity of the Eastern religions has always appealed to me, regardless of my staunch conservatism. She gave me this title after I told her I didn't want to make a lot of money because it gave me the option to possess material possessions and would prefer to keep the clutter out of my house.
This is not because I do not value money. I do. I understand the necessity of an equalizer in our society. But it is a tool and not a goal.

Craziness?

What is wrong with people!? Why do individuals lose all logic, self restraint and dignity when the presidential election is brought up? I don't ever remember (yes, I don't have a lot to go on, but bear with me) people becoming as irate or vocal about any previous election. This is rediculous. Is it because of the race factor? The war? I sometimes think it may be because the country is becoming more polorized as we speak about ethical and moral values and Obama and McCain represent those view points.
Regardless of what it is we need to calm down. If you are a republican you need to realize that the country will still be here if Obama is elected. We survived Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter and Clinton, surely we can survive Barack. But if you are so upset about it you need to become more involved. There is not a lot of visitibility of the Republican party. Actually, when I do think about the Republican party I think old white rich man, which doesn't bode well for the party image. Maybe that's why the liberals hate Sarah Palin so much.
In contrast to the Republicans we have the Democrats. STOP SHOUTING AT ME! I don't care how much you hate Bush, the war or the restrictions put on homosexuality. I know your stance without you making me deaf. Also, having a black president isn't going to change anything. We need to stop focusing on the fact that he's black and look at his values. If it does matter that Obama is black you might want to think about why it means so much to you. If this presidential election is going to made a difference in how you view yourself as a person because of what skin color you have, you need to reevaluate your priorities.

I feel unprepared for this debate because I did not grow up with a television and my parents didn't have magazines or other forms of print media in the house. However, in regards to advertising towards females I sense two main categories. Let's take the Old Navy sweater ad. Although the women are completely dressed and there is only a slight undertone of sexual content, the overall theme is that women have to live a certain way to be beautifull. Oprah magazine is a larg proponent of this idea. Regardless of the large amounts of "self-love" she promotes, you're only alloud to be okay with yourself if you fit within the guidelines of what constitutes the modern woman: thin, dressed stylishly but unassumingly, with understated makeup. Heaven forebid someone put too much makeup on or dress in something that doesn't flatter their figure. Now, don't get me wrong, I think a lot about what I put on in the morning, but I wear what's comfortable to me. I also have been trying-once in a blue moon-to wear something that doesn't match to make sure I don't get too caught up in striving to meet other people's expectations. How are we supposed to educate the young women of this coutry to be comfortable with who they are when we aren't comfortable with who they are?
The other side of the spectrum is the anti-femenine woman. I am extremely femenine. It's a trait in myself that I've always felt comfortable with. I enjoyed playing dress-up as a child and I love to wear make-up as an adult. However, there is an aspect of female society today that criticizes women who wear dresses, shave their legs or the completely unforgiveable bear children. Again, the message that we're sending to the young females of our society is that we're not comfortable with who they are. We have to change them. They have to mold into what society expects them to be to be accepted. No wonder we have problems with teenage pregnancies. Instead of living under the pressure to live up to society's expectations they simply completely rebel and live in shame. Good job America.

Overwhelmed

Role schemas, media frames, emotions pictures . . . I am overwhelmed this week. What happens when you work for five years trying to hone a skill and you realize you might have been doing it wrong all along? As I went about my interviewing this week for the myriad of assignments I had, I realized I gravitate towards individuals I recognize as being concise well spoken individuals who can give me paragraphs of useable quotes. However, these fabulous individuals also have agendas the size of the Lone Star State. As wonderful and useful as statistics and press releases are stories do not lie between the lines of a written statement. They hide behind the eyes of the people in our city.
I have been writing short features for The Dallas Morning News about education and after school programs for inner city children. The past several events I have covered a teacher from South Dallas has also been there. As I interviewed the "programs director" for my assignment this week I watched this teacher timidly tap out rythms on a drum set in front of me. Now, did the programs director have fabulous quotes. Yes. But the effort this teacher was putting forth to reach her students encouraged me more than a statistic sheet ever could. People are what they do and not what they say.

My name is Stephanie Butts and when you meet me I will assure you it is okay to call me "Steph." Most people do anyway and I don't want to take the time to assure you it didn't hurt my feelings when you finally shorten my nine letter name to something more durable. After four years in college I am finally opening my first blog. I have yet to detirmine the educational value, or any value that is, for a blog. But, I suppose it will be good to get in the habit of editorializing my thoughts since I will probably have to do it professionally anyway.

One of my favorite things to do is type. If I am having difficulty remembering how to spell a word I will "type" it into the air to remember. If I have had a bad day and need to relieve stress I will come home, turn on loud music and pound my keys until I am stress free. Typing allows my hands to keep up with my brain. Because, as all writers, I enjoy the feel of a pen in my hand but I tend to get farther on projects and writing hobbies when the words are allowed to flow more quickly. Yes, typing is wonderful.

As you have probably figured out by now, I take pleasure in the simple things in life. Typing, painting, sitting: few people can appreciate a good sit these days. Allowing the atmosphere around you stroke your sole and let you rest.

I have always been this way, allowing the world to turn without me and enjoying my corner of the world without much disturbance. However, I do love drama, but not in my own life, which is why I believe I chose journalism subconciously long before I was sure what I wanted to do with my life. I so enjoy watching exciting things happen, writing and being involved in them and then going home to my quiet couch.

What people don't understand about me is that I truly am an extremely mundane individual. It is only when I go out that I try to be exciting. I figure, I have all the time in the world to be silent when I'm at home along, why not try and improve my environment? I laugh as I write this because improvement, like beauty, is completely in the eye of the beholder.

We watched a documentary last week on how the different media entities are covering crime. The Philadelphia news station (I forget at the moment what it was named) covered an extremely high rate of crime, which led to some speculation about whether or not they were being fair to the different racial groups in the area. An Austin television station began self-censorsing their product and left out a large story about a triple murder.

The rational behind the decision was multifaceted but the train of thought that impacted me the most was the idea that someone's life was only worth anything if they were murdered.

I would not have made the decision the Austin news program made, however I could see their logic and was interested to see what someone who didn't write for newspapers for a living would think.

I began asking some of my friends and I was intrigued by some of the answers I received. Now bear with me for a moment while I explain the logic behind my analysis because I believe it warrants explaining.

I took a communication class several years ago called Learning Languages that broke down one's personality into seven parts. Basically, this program took someone's personality and used their primary characteristics to explain why he/she interpreted information the way he/she did. I think it is brilliant.

Through a complicated process of breaking down the personality into extroverted and introverted and intensity levels. Through a personality test the curriculum also establishes whether you are an emotive, cerebral or kinesthetic learner. This allows your personality and communication style to be organized into seven "languages". Everyone has all seven but three will be most dominant. Also, depending on one's "intensity level," either high, medium or low, will establish how easy it is for someone to communicate in a language not in their top three. The higher the intensity the more difficult it is.

Allowances are also given for situations involving personal trauma. Individuals tend to operate in their third language when in distress. The greater the distress someone is in the more likely he is to move back into his top language.

I am a "Contemplator, Shaper, Doer." These are my three top languages and are used to identify why I communicate the way I do. Contemplator and Shaper are the two cerebral languages of the curriculum and Doer is kinesthetic. This gathering means that I communicate completely based on what I can mentally understand or am interested in, which means that when an individual is speaking to me he has to convince me through something that makes sense mentally to me. This does not mean it has to make sense to the rest of society, but simply me. Some of Contemplators charteristics are wanting to learn something simply for the sake of learning. 'Need to know basis' is not in a Contemplator's vocabulary. They want to know everything. Shapers tend to be leaders. They are very good at administrative duties and organize everything, including their mental thoughts, into catagories.

Now, let's go back to the beginning and apply this knowledge to the answers I received about whether or not media should self-censor. I knew the main languages of everyone I posed the question too and I began to see a trend. Individuals who were top Shapers tended to appreciate self-censorship because they didn't need the information. It didn't help them perform their jobs any better or affect them in any way. Emotive languages, someone who feels first and thinks second, didn't often have opinions. Basically, the topic at hand didn't evoke any feeling so they didn't care one way or the other. Myself, and other Contemplators tended to not appreciate the self-censorship as much, simply because other people were decided about the information we should receive. Contemplators didn't really care what the information was they just wanted it. I continue to pose the question to individuals who will take the time to listen of whether the media should self-censor or not and I continue to get a variety of answers. But as I listen to them I continue to be amazed at how communication is everything.