I made my flyer for the CTL Showcase and posted it on the bulletin board between West Commons and Storm Hall.

In case anyone wanted to see the actual digital copy here it is. 

One of the most iconic images ever taken to describe America as a whole would have to be the one taken during the 1968 Olympics when the winners of the 200 meter race were being awarded their medals. In the 1968 Summer Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos were two people of color athletes who were competing for the United States in the 200 meter race. Their honorary display of solidarity was photographed and grew to become one of the most iconic images of the 20^th century. I was able to download the image in .jpeg format from theguardian.com. The website is a well known global news source that is most famous for their disclosure on the Edward Snowden story. This photograph was particularly found in an article about the life of one John Carlos after the Olympics. The iconic photo itself was taken by a man named John Diminis who was a photographer for Life magazine at the time of his capture.  Probably the most important aspect about this image was what it stood for. This image was a sign for solidarity within the black community. A famous quote that can summarize the photograph is by Tommie Smith. He said, “If I win, I am American, not a black American. But if I did something bad, then they would say I’m a Negro. We are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight.” Because of this photograph and this sign of solidarity for the black community, they became poster boys for civil rights activism in the United States. I saw the image a few times around the internet and I picked the one that was clear and somewhat less grainy than the others. I’m assuming it was scanned at some point from the Life magazine that it was originally published in, but it appears to be in good condition. The file size of the image is 19.2 KB which is really small for a jpeg file. This may be because the pixel count and quality isn’t as clear as it could be. Personally, I see this image as being timeless. It still appears in many modern day reports and recaps of the past century. It will not deteriorate in importance for as long as we’re around. It is also really easy to find, I personally Googled “black power Olympic picture” and it came up with millions of results, all showing the same thing. The interest that arose from a textbook that we were assigned this semester was the perfect inspiration necessary for this microhack and even though our class wasn’t able to cover the book in detail, at least I’ll know who and what the picture on the cover stands for. Black power was a huge cultural aspect of the late 1900’s and it continues on in many forms in present day America. This image and many others that display the power of unity will be timeless and their meaning will carry on to multiple generations down the road.

The Bruce Jenner interview was really something.
I always saw him as the least-diva asset of the Kardashian family tree. I think, more or less, that she’s been really brave about this whole thing. Mainly because she never really had attention to begin with? Like everyone wants to see Kim, Khloe, Kris, Kylie, etc etc etc. but Bruce is kind of off in the wings being in the background. Now the one time that she gets attention, its for something so personal and private. Personally, I think Bruce made the best out of the situation. But you can clearly see how society can really mess someone up when they’re going through a change like that. Bruce contemplated suicide. Many people actually commit it and go without a word. Bruce holds so much power right now with this situation, I’m glad that it’s happening the way it is. But people need to be more accepting of situations like this because it happens to non famous people too, and they don’t get two hour interviews with Diane Sawyer. Historically speaking, transgender individuals have gone through so much to gain a grain of acceptance. There is a day dedicated to trans called the Transgender Day of Remembrance that shows respect to those whose lives have been lost due to their gender identity. Bruce Jenner has it easy and has the potential to change the way people view transgender individuals. Food for thought.

After talking and listening to a lot of discussion regarding feminism in the 60’s today in class, I decided to do a little research on what feminism looks like today. I was pleasantly surprised to come across the Red Umbrella Fund website. Basically it is a global fund created by sex workers for sex workers with the goal to achieve the same rights as people who work in any other field. I recall Linnea saying something about how sex workers can also be feminists, that using your body as your empowerment does not mean you are degrading yourself. This fund also creates grants for organizations that seek the same equality with similar interests in helping sex workers. Its a great example of how far feminism has come and how it wont stop anytime soon. They also created an International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Its a day that is celebrated in memory of all the sex workers that have been murdered due to their profession. During this day many clinics hold workshops for self defense and survival.

http://www.redumbrellafund.org/

My essay is on the effects of George W. Bush’s presidency in the long term. My background on this topic sparked from a joke somebody made to me one day. The joke was something along the lines of “Not even Texas likes George W. Bush”. That made me really curious as to why everybody expresses a dislike for him. Even though he was a president during my lifetime, I never took the time out of my day to educate myself on why he was a bad president. Many people blame him for the conflicts in Iraq and many are quick to point out his excessive amounts of vacation days. Because of this, I want to find out why people perceive him as a bad president and what were the long term effects on America due to his decisions.

I think the funniest thing about America was how scared they were about communists at one point. The Red Scare in the 1950’s was one of those moments. It seems so justified since the Soviet Union was very powerful around that moment in time and the Cold War was going on too. Even now there are some government forms that ask you if you have ever been affiliated with a communist party. Yet it’s so hard to believe that America and it’s government wouldn’t be able to handle a few communists in such a crucial moment. Surprisingly enough, the ideals of communism aren’t all that hard to agree with. I just don’t see why there is so much hate for an idea that is good in theory.

Upon searching for something to make a hack about, I turned to my incredibly old Polaroid camera. Upon a little bit of research, I found out some very interesting facts. The company, Polaroid, was very involved in the war efforts for World War II. Polaroid produced eyewear and essentially the inception of film for the navy and army to use. Also something to consider, Polaroid held a monopoly over the entire instant film industry. 20% of overall camera and film sales went through Polaroid. Interestingly enough, Professor Blum spoke out about monopolies not so long ago..

As I walked to class a few days ago, I stopped right in front of this building and I took a good look at it. I reflected on what Professor Blum had said about history haunting us in our every day lives and this couldn’t be a better example. Every day we walk around campus and we pride ourselves on the design of our buildings. SDSU is known for its Spanish Colonial style of its buildings. We pride ourselves on and exploit the styles and ideas of people from another country! Think about it, how many times have you ever heard anyone say “I love American architecture!” ?