Medium Magazine (Issue #1, 2020)

Vol. 1 Issue 1 September 2020

M

edium ag a z i n e

Exploring the Intersections Between Media and Culture

CONTENTS

Maintaining Friendships through Social Media

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MEDIUM Magazine CONTRIBUTORS Robin Bolton Julissa Casillas Jordan Darling Catalina Garcia Melanie Gerner Julian Guerrero Sarai Henriquez Dayszha Lino Malena Lopez Christopher Martinez Angelica Mozol Carina Noyola Chelsea Vera Ocampo Jennifer Olguin Jenny Regla Violeta Rocha Ulises Rodriguez Destiny Torres EDITOR

Dr. Brant Burkey, Associate Professor, Dept. of Communications

How Media Technology Kept Us Connected

Page 5 Social Distance Gatherings

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Social Media Use in Quarantine Page 11 Pandemic Games

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The Sounds of the Pandemic

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Online Dating During Covid Page 17 Technology in Homeschooling Page 20 Media & Fears of Covid

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Cancel Culture

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Embracing Subtitles

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Females in Journalism

Representation of Disability in Film

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Page 37

Understanding Memes

Page 41

Plus-Size Women in the Media Page 44

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS COLLEGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES 1000 East Victoria Street • Carson, CA 90747 (310) 243-3313 / (310) 243-3683 • Fax (310) 516-3779 ©2017 All Rights Reserved

Social Media & SelfPresentation Page 46 Social Media & Relationships

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Welcome to the inaugural issue of Medium Magazine, a publication devoted to exploring the intersections between media and culture. As our media-saturated society continues to both transform and complicate how we get information, socialize, and behave, the pages of Medium Magazine will provide critical reflections and analysis on the role

role legacy media play in larger cultural issues, including “cancel culture,” the representation of disability in Hollywood, and the need for more female voices in newsrooms. All told, we hope our readers will come away with new perspectives about how our contemporary, dynamic media landscape is shaping how we see the world around us and ourselves in it.

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legacy and digital media play in our lives. Unfortunately, as this first issue was being drafted, the world shut down because of the tragic Covid-19 pandemic. Which is why many of the articles here focus on the ways media technologies were used for staying connected, distance learning, and even online dating during this historic moment. But our writers also thought it necessary to focus on the

Where Did All My Friends Go? Medium 3

By Destiny Torres

Growing up, I remember being told by my mom to enjoy the time I had with my friends while we still went to the same school because after high school we would most likely disconnect. Little did she know the idea of ‘temporary’ friendships would be no more, or that the structure of friendships would change drastically with the rise of social media.

I didn’t join Instagram or Facebook

until my senior year of high school. As soon as I hopped on the trend, I followed all my close friends, my classmates, and their friends. My Instagram feed was a mix of people I was friends with and people I only knew virtually.

Eventually, I’d come across the profile of my crush from second grade, which led to me finding (and following) old friends from my days back in elementary and middle school.

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Through social media, I was given access to distant, just right,” Turkle said of virtual friendships. a window from which I could see what goes on in “And when you want to end things, it can usually their personal lives. I can comment on their birthhappen without penalty from family or community.” day posts and congratulate them on their college

On the other hand, making time for IRL acceptances. I always felt up-to-date with their lives friends requires scheduling, constant back-andwithout exchanging any real form of communicaforth and clear communication. But people today tion. Our interactions were diminished to likes and are too busy to do all of that. In an essay written for comments on posts that we mindlessly absorbed. the New York Times, Tim Kreider writes about how

Every now and then my comment section this generation is constantly busy; too busy to make would have a “Miss you, we need to catch up sometime for friends. time,” or something of that nature. And every time I

“They schedule in time with friends the responded with “Miss you too, let’s plan something way students with 4.0 G.P.A.’s make sure to sign up soon.” for community service

Never have we because it looks good followed through with “You can have your friendships at the on their college applithose plans. It’s not to cations,” Kreider said. say that either of us is if we are too busy temperature you want them - not too toSomake a “bad friend,” we’re connections barely friends at all. with people IRL, the Friendships close, not too distant, just right” next alternative is to are not easy to mainform bonds over the tain in real life (IRL), World Wide Web. - Sherry Turkle especially with many Evolutionary anthrothings going on in pologist Robin Dunbar the day-to-day. People get too busy to grab a cup of found that it is impossible for some to be friends, coffee or attend parties. Living in the 21st century, emotional bonds and all, with more than 150 peoeveryone seems too busy to be social in-person. So ple. Some have argued his findings, while others it probably should not be a surprise that a study by have wondered since social media has connected us Cigna found that the younger generation of Amerito so many more people over the years, shouldn’t cans, from ages 18 to 22, are lonely. They also found that number be far greater? that only about half of Americans have meaningful

“Yes, I can find out what you had for breakin-person social interactions like spending time with fast from your tweet, but can I really get to know family or holding a conversation with a close friend. you better?” Dunbar said. “These digital develop With social media being in our grasp at any ments help us keep in touch when in the past a time of the day, it’s understandable that some might relationship might just have died; but in the end, we think we’re being more social by adding hundreds of actually have to get together to make a relationship people to our list of friends. It is called social media, work.” after all, which leaves the impression that the more

Dunbar said that Facebook has not made people we have on our friends list means we actually us friends with the people we follow. It has simply have more friends. allowed us to keep them from completely disappear The thing is digital and IRL friends are ing from our lives. nurtured very differently. On one hand, in-real-life

However, what makes a true friendship is friendships require more time and effort whereas shared experience and that requires more than just virtual friendships require less emotional commitsharing memes online. While the Internet helps ment.Sherry Turkle, a psychologist and professor to keep people from different periods of your life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said it connected, it does not substitute for IRL friendship, and the real work requires us to maintain the actual best in an article for the New York Times. bonds of friendship by staying connected IRL.

“You can have your friendships at the temperature you want them - not too close, not too

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Wh e n Te c h n o l o g y lives online. But a New York Times analysis of internet usage in the United States from SimilarWeb and Apptopia, two online data providers, reveals that our behaviors shifted, as the virus spread and pushed us to our devices for work, play and connecting.

Technology is really kicking in and allowing us to keep sane by communicating with our friends and family members. FaceTime and Zoom have become so normal in our life. We speak to family members this way, friends, and even school/work.

With all gatherings not being permitted and social distancing becoming very serious, Americans are looking out for entertainment on During the pandemic, being stuck at home meant we had to turn to our screens streaming services like Netflix and to stay connected to others and not feel so alone.

YouTube, and looking to connect with one another on social media outlets like Facebook. In the past

By Julissa Casillas few years, users of these services were increasingly moving to their smartphones, creating an indus Since this virus outbreak many of us don’t try-wide focus on mobile devices. Now that we are know how to actually keep busy or we have just found spending our days at home, with computers close out that we don’t have any real hobbies, other than at hand, society appears to be remembering how maybe sleeping and eating. This is something we unpleasant it can be to squint at those little phone didn’t really expect, but it is what it is and we are here screens. now, thriving and trying to survive it!

From March onward, we could now be

At the beginning of this quarantine, let’s looking at screens for the whole summer, maybe be real, we all sort of liked it. Staying at home and even longer, if the virus doesn’t decrease. But at sleeping in, not going to class, but reality hit when times, we can still get bored of seeing the same we REALLY had to stay home and not socialize like faces all the time. That’s why it’s been great to visit we normally would. Now here we are in day 52882 with family members you don’t usually see, get a of quarantine and we figured out how to makes days game night going virtually, even painting together or better and still keep in contact with the outside world. cleaning the closet at the same time, all over Face Stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemTime! Or you can simply ask them how they are ic, with movie theaters closed and no restaurants to doing and check up on them, see how they are doing dine in, Americans have been spending more of their mentally and try to lift people’s spirits up!

K e e p s Us C o n n e c t e d

measures. This has led to a renewed interest in Nextdoor, the social media site focused on connecting local neighborhoods.

When even hanging with our friends gets boring or we just want to talk to new people, online dating is another answer. Bumble, Tinder, and other dating apps are perfect for this time because you can cam talk to new people and figure out what you like to want. Then maybe after this lockdown ends, a real life relationship could begin. It at least gives people a chance to actually get to know each other, not just by looks but by getting into deep conversations, like if pineapple belongs on pizza and such.

In these past months, we did not expect to be in lockdown and we really were not ready for this pandemic to rock our worlds but, as a community, we can do our parts by staying home and using technology to keep us connected, even when we’re apart.

“It’s not so bad,” said 22-year-old Kiara Gomez. “Yes, I would love to be out with my friends on the weekends, but we still do that. We all agree on a time and we all do that on FaceTime.

We still talk, see each other’s faces, and their facial expressions. It just sucks because I feel like I took for granted the last time I saw them.”

Photos by Julissa Casillas and Catalina Garcia

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This is also an excellent time to teach the older generations about this new tech stuff, especially grandparents, who really can’t go outside. Teach theming how to answer or use video platforms can help them smile through a screen because we don’t know when we will be able to see them in person again. It’s times like these where we really can’t look at it and say, “I’ll do it tomorrow.” In a pandemic, there’s not time like the present.

Jesus Ramirez, 78 years old, says that his grandkids bought him a phone so they he could call them to see how he is doing and if he needs anything. He said he finally learned how to text so every day he sends messages to all 21 of his grandkids to make sure they are doing okay in these tough times.

For some of us who can’t live without doing anything without our friends, when even FaceTime isn’t enough, Netflix is offering Netflix party, which is basically you and your friends together having a virtual movie night. Everybody is tuned in watching the movie in the comfort of their own homes and the best part is that there is no unnecessary commentary!

While traditional social media sites have been growing, it seems that we want to do more than just connect through messaging and text, we want to see one another. This has given a big boost to apps that used to remain unimportant, like Google’s video chatting application, Duo, and Houseparty, which allow groups of friends to join a single video chat and play games together.

We have also grown much more interested in our immediate environment, and how it is changing and responding to the virus and the quarantine

Partying with Friends

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BY JORDAN DARLING

Social Distance - Style

Bars have closed their doors,

Dine-in restaurants have put up their chairs, and social life throughout much of the country has come to a grinding halt.

COVID-19 has put the world in a precarious position, where social isolation is the new normal and society is looking for ways to jump the hurdle.

Orange County residents Joseph and Claudine Sidhom and a few of their cousins found a way around the obstacle of social isolation by using a video app called Zoom.

The Sidhom cousins gathered around their computer screens, all cozy in their sweatpants on a casual Wednesday night with bottles of wine, beer, and anything they could drink, to share a long-awaited happy hour with their family members in late March 2020.

Multiple conversations buzzed throughout the group as cousins busied themselves with multiplayer video games and shared the news with one another.

Joseph and two of his cousins

preoccupied themselves with the popular game Animal Crossing New Horizons, which launched that month.

The virtual connection was more about being together and finding a semblance of normality in a time where the modern world is in an unprecedented health crisis.

“I hadn’t been completely isolated yet, it felt like a bunch of people [just] hanging out,” said Claudine.

Sidhom and her brother are both in the accounting field and are considered essential workers, along with three of their cousins who are a part of the medical field.

While the cousins may not be feeling completely isolated, the stress of potential exposure and isolation from their social activities called for a much-needed break from reality.

The Sidhoms are making the most of the situation and have been able to use this time to connect with their family across the country who they would normally not get the opportunity to connect with.

“Honestly, it’s fun, we get to talk to our cousins more and interact

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Claudine Sidhom shares screentime laughs and a little Tiger King with family and friends.

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with cousins that live in San Francisco and New York,” Joseph said.

“They told us about the virus in their cities, and we talked about life.”

Stay-at-home orders had been put in place throughout 42 U.S. states and the District of Columbia throughout March and February 2020. The stay-at-home order in California was put into effect on March 19 until further notice in the hopes of slowing the spread of the virus, with health officials imposing limits on people to essential outings like grocery shopping and doctor visits.

Throughout this global health crisis, companies have been looking for ways to encourage people to stay in their homes by finding ways for them to remain connected with the outside world.

Zoom has taken over as a new trend among families, friends, schools, and jobs, as people look for ways to stay connected with one another through this time of social isolation.

Data Journalist Felix Richter with Statista reported that Zoom users jumped from just under five million users in February 2020 to 26.9 million users in the month of March.

Zoom is a ‘freemium’ video app that allows for over 100 users to participate in a video call at any one time. For calls over 40 minutes, users have to pay $14.99 a month. Companies and schools are happily paying the premium to continue their regular business and continue classes as necessary.

Zoom jumped to no. 10 in Apple’s free iOS apps followed by Facebook Messenger at no. 11. Messenger can hold up to 32 people in one video call, making it another popular choice for friend groups who want to get together virtually.

Given the current circumstances, another popular video app Google

Hangout is offering free premium services through July 1 to encourage people to stay home and stay connected with loved ones.

Aside from video chatting services, other companies are jumping behind the push to offer apps that provide social connection in order to encourage people to stay at home throughout the duration of this global health crisis.

Even Netflix released their Party App, allowing users to host remote movie nights with friends and family.

This might mean “Netflix and chill” could take on new meaning as users are literally sitting around remotely chilling with friends to watch their favorite movies and television shows.

The app matches up video playback and provides a group chat that watchers

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Ultimately, social distancing is can use to keep up with their friends forcing users to get creative in order to and chime in with their thoughts and stay connected with friends and famiopinions. The app is a google chrome ly. Technology gives people around the extension and can be downloaded for world to connect with their loved ones free through the browser. virtually or finding online sources that Other apps are offering social give the opportunity for creative outconnections through online games. lets.

Tabletopia The is a website Photo Credits: Claudine Sidhom & Catalina Garcia point is that offers to stay as over 800 free connected board games as possible that can be and to supplayed onport one line with another friends. throughout Remote this time game nights of social are definiteisolation. ly becoming The a new trend Sidhoms as users look are using to break the this time monotony to stay and loneconnectliness of ed with social isolatheir famtion. A perily across fect example the Unitwould be the ed States game Catan, through which allows happy you to shithours, multiplayer video games, and talk your friends virtually. loads of hours clocked in on video mesAnother website, Date Night in saging apps.

Box, offers a creative way to stay conWhile this is not their first choice nected in your relationship by offerand they would much rather be out and ing packaged ‘date nights’ during this about in the social world, sometimes time. sitting down in your den in sweatpants Couples can go online and sign with a bottle of wine and some virtual up to receive date night boxes through company can be a good alternative to their website that range from HGTV complete isolation. style projects to dinner and dancing in “It is an alternative,” Claudine the comfort of their own homes. said. “Would I purposely choose to The hope is that if date night is Zoom again after quarantine? No. Do I delivered to your home you won’t feel understand? Yes. Do I like it? No. [But] the need to go out and expose yourself it is a good way to stay connected.” or others to the virus, and maybe lower the divorce rate that is about to skyrocket after isolation is over.

#social media use

By Joseph Alexander Witrago

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I

Quarantine Check

n Mid-March, the state of California put in place a stay at home order due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. This required schools, businesses, and public places including parks to shut down in order to halt the spread of the virus. This confined people to their homes leaving them with lots of time to kill.

It seems that a lot of that time was spent on our digital devices, and more specifically social media platforms.

A new study reveals that the usage of social media went up by 61% since the start of COVID-19.

The same study revealed an increase across all messaging platforms specifically among 1834 year olds.

Eighteen-year-old David Serrano, a senior and football player for Duarte High School before the start of the stay at home order, only had one social media platform he was on, Facebook. Serrano was hardly ever active on any digital media platform, but that all changed Andrew Witrago after being told to stay home and practice social

distancing. Serrano since he has been on lockdown has downloaded Instagram and Twitter to keep connected with his family and friends.

“Before the pandemic, they were too much to keep up with and I would get bored,” said Serrano. “I saw my friends at school and during football practice or when I went to hang out with them.”

Serrano is not alone in this, the usage and downloads of social media have risen since the start of the pandemic. There are millions of videos that can be found on social media and most of them are not necessarily related to the COVID-19.

Although what people have decided to do because they are confined to their homes, you can find hundreds of trends that can be found across all platforms of digital media. For example, quarantine challenges, new hobbies, quarantine life and much more.

Before the stay at home order, when school was still filled with students, and sports were being played, Andrew Witrago said soccer was his therapy and escape. Today, the varsity starting 11 goalkeeper for Monrovia High School is stuck at home and has turned to posting videos of his soccer stunts on Tik-Tok as a way to cope with his lack of game time.

“I was so bored. My options were staying in the house or juggling the ball in my backyard,” said Witrago. “I heard of this app called Tik-Tok earlier this year, and I usually go on to watch videos, but now I have decided to make and post my own videos.”

David Serrano

tion that was rumored, particularly in social media. Previous studies indicated that indirect exposure to mass trauma through the media can cause depression.”

Misinformation in the media is also rising during COVID-19, and social media is usually the platform that provides the opportunity for fake news to spread. The United States is not new to the spread of fake news, although social media apps have done what they could to stop the spread of misinformation to the public some posts are protected by free speech.

“Social media is where young people get their news,” Serrano said, shrugging his shoulders.

Although there are negative effects to the increase of screen time, we have also seen positive outcomes from people around the world. During this lockdown, people are able to connect with friends, loved ones, or people going through the same thing. In other words, social media is able to show everyone that we are all in this pandemic together through the content we make and how we respond to it. Or as famous Tik-Tok dancer Charli D’Amelio said best in one of her viral videos, “inhale, exhale, breathe slow, rewind, stay at home.”

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Social media has given a platform for many people to openly express their concerns, their experiences, and opinions about COVID-19. Take Cardi B, for example, the famous American rapper famously known for her “no filter attitude” who posted a few videos regarding her opinion of COVID-19. Her comedic voice once again starts a viral trend causing people to create videos with her voice over. Social media plays a role in keeping people connected with each other while also becoming a person’s choice of escape especially during a global pandemic.

During the COVID-19 lock down social media has also helped people with depression. A broad body of research by KFF.org shows a link between social isolation and loneliness to poor mental health. Recent data shows that significantly higher shares of people that are sheltering in place reported negative mental health effects resulting from stress related to COVID-19.

To most of the youth today, social interaction through education, friendships, and sports mean the world to them. Serrano, like most teenagers, is no different. Before the pandemic, football was his life, a sense of purpose, and something he looked forward to.

Witrago can say the same thing about soccer. Since early on in the lockdown, Witrago has dealt with depression due to little communication with his soccer friends and lack of playing his favorite sport. When Witrago started posting stories on his Instagram and Tik-Tok, friends and strangers began pouring into his comment section from his now most liked photo on Instagram, which is him holding a soccer ball with a face mask.

“I still wake up sad everyday knowing that people are dying, and we are still locked inside,” said Witrago, “but at least my new ideas of photos and Tik-Tok videos, give me something to keep my mind off those things. It’s the closest I can get to the feeling of playing soccer.”

This digital media platform has done a great service by making us laugh and keeping us connected to the world during COVID-19. However, it may have a negative effect as well. Fortunately for Serrano and Witrago who have both benefited from social media as a coping mechanism from being restrained from their reason to get up in the morning; others are not so lucky.

According to Plos.org, “A study conducted in China found that social media may lead to (mis)information overload, which may cause mental health problems. The study shows that the overload of information caused by fear, anxiety, and stigma created misinforma-

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Playing Games in a Pandemic

By Angelica Mozol

W

ith the world feeling the brunt of the pandemic, the popular meme and phrase “gamers rise up” has taken a whole new meaning.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people around the world to stay at home in hopes of slowing down the number of those infected, allowing more time for many to look for creative ways to combat boredom by picking up an old hobby or finding a new one. It turns out many have taken to the virtual world of video games, finding creative ways to still hang out with their friends through these games and find solace in these strange times.

With pandemic shutting down anything and everything that wasn’t deemed essential, leaving many stuck at home because of the pandemic lockdown, the impact on the gaming industry has been skyrocketing playtimes and a significant increase in video game sales. Many consumers have started to notice in particular the Nintendo Switch sales increasing, especially after the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom: Eternal. This included the video game retail shop Gamestop, which had to postpone its midnight release of these highly anticipated games on March 20.

Despite the lack of a midnight release, both games went beyond expectations on their release date.

New Horizons is set to be one of the best-selling titles on Switch and probably the best-selling title in the franchise’s history, selling 1.88 billion copies in Japan, not including digital sales its opening weekend. While Doom: Eternal is ranking among the fastest-selling in the series so far and was one of the most played games the week after its release.

Then, as of March 22, it was announced that GameStop stores would be closed until further notice due to the severity of COVID-19.

“As millions of Americans look to GameStop to adjust to their new normal of increased time at home, for

work, learning and play, we have implemented practices to help ensure the safety and health of our employees, customers and partners,” GameStop CEO George Sherman said in a news release.

Cameron Shannon, a gamer enthusiast, spoke about trying to find Nintendo Switch as Gamestops had closed shop and having to spend almost an entire morning trying to find a store that was carrying the console.

“It’s insane how even the official website didn’t have any listed at all when I checked,” Shannon said. “I got lucky finding mine through a seller on the Facebook marketplace for one that wasn’t overpriced.”

Shannon had searched high and low for any available consoles at different locations, such as Target, Walmart, and just about anywhere they could think of to look, until they gave in and checked the Facebook marketplace. The consoles have been sold out almost every time they checked online and had refused to spend the ridiculous amount of $500 or more by re-sellers.

There are many friends and family who have found creative ways to still connect with each other with the help of video games. Some have turned to meeting up in these multiplayer games such as New Horizons or getting together to play board games online, such as Dungeons & Dragons (DnD), or standard board games like Monopoly.

“I miss being able to meet with friends so Animal Crossing helps out with that,” CSUDH student Robin Fischer said. “It’s not a replacement for in-person, but with the circumstances, it makes things more bearable and feels like an escape from everything.”

According to VGChartz, Switch was the best-selling console worldwide for the week of March 21, which sold over 840,000 units, while Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One sold less than 170,000 units combined. Switch has been taking off

with recent sales and word of mouth, it’s been almost impossible to find in the limited stores in recent days.

On March 21, the PC gaming service, Steam, overtook its all-time record for simultaneous users over the weekend with a 24-hour peak set at 20,313,451, according to data from the platform’s website. It was the first time Steam had more than 20 million users online at a time and nearly 6.4 million of them were actively playing a game.

Overall, it seems video games have become a go-to as many are struggling to find a way to relieve the boredom of being confined. Some have turned to their Steam libraries while others have started filling their smartphones with mobile games.

“I have bought so many games just this past month to stay pre-occupied,” Antelope Valley College student Robert Perez said. “It’s a great way to pass the time and helps me forget all the craziness going on in the world even for a little bit.”

Individual games such as Call of Duty: Warzone on Steam and mobile game Plague Inc. have also seen an increase in users, with Warzone increasing from 6 to 15 million in three days and Plague Inc. topping the charts in March.

Verizon reported that game traffic has increased 75 percent since outdoor restrictions had begun. Virtual private network usage has also seen an increase by 34 percent, while surprisingly enough social media networks stayed consistent. Other network providers, such as T-Mobile, AT&T, and Comcast, announced they

removed consumer data caps in the midst of the crisis.

Even the people who enjoy watching others play video games are contributing to the boom in the world of gaming. Different platforms that allow gamers to live-stream videos of their gameplay, such as Twitch and Youtube, are seeing spikes in their viewership.

According to the article “Twitch breaks 3b total hours watched in a single quarter for the first time,” by Rebekah Valentine, Twitch reached 3.1 billion hours watched, up 17 percent quarter-over-quarter, a 33 percent increase in the number of unique channels, and an all-time quarterly high in average concurrent viewership of 1.4 million.

The #PlayApartTogether campaign had the gaming industry teamed up together to encourage more players to resort to video games to promote social distancing while still staying connected with others. Many companies, such as Twitch, Activision Blizzard, and Unity to name a few, used guidelines from the World Health Organization to highlight social distancing.

“It’s never been more critical to ensure people stay safely connected to one another,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick in a press release. “Games are the perfect platform because they connect people through the lens of joy, purpose, and meaning. We are proud to participate in such a worthwhile and necessary initiative.”

Video games have been a key part of many people’s lives and now more than ever are a key part of staying connected with others while also staying safe.

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Photos by Angelica Mozol

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The Beat Goes On

By Robin Renay Bolton

Crackling sounds tickle Christian Bolden’s ear as he carefully drops the needle down on one of his favorite vinyl records. After a few more seconds of crackling noises, a boozy jazz melody fills his room as Ari Lennox’s “Chicago boy” begins to play. Bolden closes his eyes and lets the music transport him out of his dark room to somewhere else.

Before the world came to a screeching halt due to california issuing its “stay at home” orders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Bolden had tickets to see Ari Lennox perform. But instead of being crammed in general admission at the Novo in downtown LA, watching one of his favorite singers perform his favorite songs, he’s at home pretending.

For as long as Bolden could remember, music has always held a special place in his heart. He grew up laying on the floor, watching his family dance to vinyl records in their small living room. music was an everyday part of his life. Whether it was cooking dinner or cleaning up, his mother always had music playing in their home. To say music is a very important part of his life would be an understatement.

Since Bolden has been old enough, he’s spent any money he had saved up, and sometimes money he didn’t have, to get tickets to some of his generation’s biggest artists. He’s seen Kendrick Lamar at Staples Center, J Cole at the Forum, and he’s seen his all-time favorite artist, Beyoncé, more than once. He loves listening to music in his car or on his vinyl player but, to him, nothing beats a live performance.

2020 was supposed to be a big year for him.

He had a handful of concerts lined up but the thing he was looking forward to the most was going to Coachella for the first time. The concert festival Coachella wasn’t initially canceled but it was pushed so far into the future Bolden felt like the anticipation might kill him before he made it to the desert.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Coachella,” said Bolden. “I don’t even like the heat or standing for too long, but I love music and experiencing things for the first time. Plus, when will I ever get the chance to see Frank Ocean perform?”

Bolden, like so many others, is grappling with canceled or postponed plans. Forbes estimates over 76 million people have been affected by postponed or canceled events due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Bolden knows the events will eventually be resched-

uled or he’ll receive a refund, so he tries not to think about it too much. To him, it seems so trivial to be upset about not being able to go to a concert when there’s a dangerous virus sweeping the country but admits he’s human and falls victim to these kinds of feelings every so often.

A couple weeks ago, when the “stay at home” orders were in their infancy, Bolden was laying in the dark doing what he does best, listening to music when his phone illuminated with a text from his friend. The text simply said, “check this out,” followed by a link to an Instagram profile. Bolden clicked the link, which took him to a live feed of a dj having a full-on party in his living room. The jockey, DJ D-Nice, was all alone in the comforts of his home but when Bolden looked in the upper right-hand corner of his screen, he saw over 100,000 people were viewing the feed. The longer Bolden viewed the feed, the higher the viewer count went. He had never seen anything like it.

For almost two hours, Bolden was glued to his phone. He found himself bouncing around his room grooving to DJ D-Nice’s virtual set. He was in heaven. It felt like there wasn’t a genre or decade D-Nice didn’t cover. There was a song for everyone in the mix. For the first time in a couple of weeks, Bolden didn’t think about being laid off or not being able to hang out with his friends. All he could think about was what song he would hear next. When the live stream was over, Bolden says he felt like he had just left a concert.

“You know that feeling of cool air hitting your damp skin after walking out of a crowded concert venue, that’s how I felt,” Bolden recalled. “I felt like I was just in a room with thousands of people experiencing the same thing.”

The next night, DJ D-Nice had another live stream, but this time Bolden didn’t watch it alone. He started a Zoom meeting with a handful of his friends and had a virtual party. At first, the idea seemed abnormal and borderline corny, but it also felt creative.

He knows he has to be safe and can’t hang out with friends in the traditional sense, so this would have to do. For three hours, Bolden sat around listening to music with his friends, pretending they were out in the streets in the literal sense. It brought him some peace during this chaotic time.

Virtual concerts have become Bolden’s guilty

doesn’t matter. He’s spending time with his friends enjoying the music he loves.

When he’s not having a karaoke session with his friends, he tunes into the DJ D-Nice’s sets.

It’s become a thing in his household. He hooks his phone up to his family’s speaker and has a dance party with his mom.

The coronavirus has made the world stop and learn how to connect with others in different ways. We’ve had to realize touch is more than physical. Sounds are more than what hits the ear. We’ve been reminded connections are not always literal.

Bolden says his mom used to tease him so much because of how much time he spent on social media, but now she sees it’s more than what meets the eye.

Social media was created to link friends and family near and far, but now it’s being used for more than that.

In the case of Bolden, social media has helped soothe his anxious heart. It helps bridge the gap between now and his next concert. Yeah, he isn’t in a sweaty room with strangers singing his heart out, but he’s sitting in front of a screen with his nearest and dearest friends. Although social distance has put miles between now and what he considers to be his normal, he has never felt closer to his loved ones.

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pleasure. Instead of spending his days going stir crazy cooped up in the house, he’s spending his free time hopping from live stream to live stream, enjoying some of his favorite artists giving free concerts on instagram.

He’s seen John Legend while eating lunch in his kitchen. Watched Tori Kelly perform while catching some sun in his backyard. Beyoncé even serenaded him with “When You Wish Upon A Star” from the comforts of his couch.

Being in isolation is hard for Bolden. He’s a social butterfly who loves hanging with his friends.

Being home all day with that impending doom feeling like it’s only a block away makes him feel anxious but these at-home concerts have truly been a highlight of his time at home.

“Honestly, it’s made me look at concerts so different,” Bolden said. “I miss them so much, but it means a lot to me that artists are taking time out of their day to entertain people because they really don’t have to.”

The Instagram concerts have inspired Bolden to connect with his friends in different ways. a couple times a week, when schedules permit, he hosts karaoke sessions with his friends. They pick songs and take turns singing. they all sound horrible, he recalled, no one can hold a note, but it

Photos by Violeta Rocha

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“ I have a lot of downtime, and I’m most definitely going to be swiping right to talk to potential guys that I find attractive and fun to talk to...”

- Kailyn Jackson

Women Dating In The Time Of The Coronavirus Women are finding new ways to date and taking precautionary measures in the time of this epidemic

By Violeta Rocha

O

The main thing is that people are having to navigate how to be together or stay apart during a deadly pandemic, which has profound effects on people’s personal and romantic relationships.

Whle Americans are being told to practice social distancing, stay home, limit unnecessary interactions and even avoid intimate moments (no hugs and kisses), there is also a surge of people turning to dating applications to bridge across physical distance.

Online dating has seen a resurgence precisely because so many are stuck in confinement but still yearning for human connection.

Online dating apps and websites allow people to open their laptops from the comfort of their own homes with new video-based features, making it simpler to meet more people despite social distancing requirements. People can maintain these connections and display their communication skills even more now through dating applications.

“One upside to this [is people are] making time and enjoying conversations and bonding,” said Dr. Giacomo Bono, Associate Professor of Psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, whose specialization includes studying gratitude and mindfulness.

According to Hussey, one thing that this pandemic has forced us to do is to be creative when wanting to impress the person on the other side of the screen and not having sexual intimacy during quarantine is an advantage

“Sexual intimacy is often used as a surrogate for real connections,” said Hussey.

“Right now, sexual intimacy isn’t possible for

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ne hundred faces stare back at Matthew Hussey, life dating coach expert and New York Times best-selling author of how to “Get the Guy,” each one enclosed in a box as he kicks off his Webinar scheduled for 11 a.m. sharp. When participants successfully log in, they can’t help but notice a diverse crowd. All of these women - Black, White, Latino, Asian - are trying to get answers to their relationship questions during the pandemic from this author and life dating coach, and who better to turn to than Hussey to better understand how a man thinks.

Before the coronavirus disruption, Hussey was giving women guidelines in what to do to feel lessdesperate and more fun to be around. Every week, women tuned in for a new dating buzzword - cheating, ex-boyfriend, ghosting, breadcrumbing and how to deal with an ex-partner when they return with an “are you up” text. But Hussey is even breaking his advice and giving women the “okay” to be quarantined with their ex-boyfriends but, obviously, there are always exceptions to this rule.

Hussey has answers to women’s questions, especially if they should reconnect with an ex-boyfriend during quarantine. He says that by being alone, it is easy to get drawn back into former relationships and want to rekindle a fling.

“Should I make a pact with someone that’s causal, but you know, we have a kind of isolation pact where we say let’s just be together right now and go through this together?” said Hussey.

He explained there is nothing wrong with this as long as each person is honest and direct about only wanting to ride out quarantine together with no further expectations.

During these times, when practicing social distancing, there’s a lot of uncertainty and the singletons are figuring out ways to feel less lonely.

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Photos by Violeta Rocha many, which opens the door for us to build a deeper connection through real conversation.”

Dr. Bono also emphasizes how important it is to have real connections with the people you love and how highly stimulating it is to maintain those bonds, even during this time when we don’t have access to connecting with one another.

After several weeks in lockdown in Huntington Beach, Calif., Kailyn Jackson found herself with a lot of lonely downtime. Her classes at Golden West College had gone remote — she studies liberal arts remote —so she

opened Bumble last week and started scrolling down.

“I have a lot of downtime, and I’m most definitely going to be swiping right to talk to potential guys that I find attractive and fun to talk to,” she said.

Gen Z and Millennials still want to date during the pandemic, virtual dating has become their new norm and this has only intensified their focus on dating apps and sites.

Bumble, Tinder, and other dating sites have seen an increase in their traffic flow since mid-March. According to YPulse’s Extended Singledom research, they found a 40 percent increase of Millennials from the

ages of 25-34-years-old that said being quarantined hasn’t stopped them from dating, even if their goal is to be in a relationship.

Natascha Vand, a single-family Marriage Therapist, has been casually dating before this coronavirus rampage started but has been spending more time on one of the many dating sites she’s encountered in the past. She understands the challenges when it comes to dating in the coronavirus outbreak and knows it comes with its pros and cons.

“You will run into people wanting to break quarantine and health regulations,” said Vand, “but if you can build a connection without physically seeing each other, then this has potential. But other guys care about their health and don’t want to meet up right now. So far, I have two dates planned after this whole situation is over.”

Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd recently spoke on how it’s essential to practice social distancing and has pushed users to continue dating online.

Bumble added two new features to make it easier for people to date while social distancing.

The video chat and voice calling features are simplifying the way to connect with others.

Wolfe announced that Bumble had also expanded their distance filters to those wanting to connect in other countries instead of having the 100-mile radius. “We want to help you stay connected,” Wolfe said, “even when physically apart.”

There is no secret that the importance of a healthy relationship is the base foundation ingredient in establishing secure communication. To build a physical intimacy, you need to create an emotional and intellectual connection to have a successful relationship, and maybe, just maybe, online dating during the coronavirus is showing us different horizons in bonding with one another.

Senior Night at King Drew High School

bringing school work home now has new meaning

BY JENNIFER OLGUIN Medium 20

It’s week 2,000 of quarantine and Donald Rivera is losing his mind. Will alternative learning, like online education, actually help kids from K-12 continue their education from where they left off? Rivera is a senior at King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles, Calif. He is an athlete at his school playing multiple sports from soccer to volleyball and basketball in his free time with his friends. His last season of volleyball was about to begin before the COVID-19 restrictions were implemented. Everything changed for him, especially his education.

The transition from being at school to going online has been difficult for Rivera. He went from waking up, eating a quick breakfast, heading to school, attending classes, and ending his day at practice.

Rivera was taking six classes that included AP Psychology, Honors English, Honors Economics, Marine Biology and Pre-Calculus.

He enjoyed going to class everyday and had the opportunity to hang out with his friends and learn from his teachers.

“I miss having good talks in class like talking about work and discussing how it’s related to your lives,” Rivera said.

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Rivera hanging out after his Marine Biology class

Rivera playing volleyball against Maywood High School

But now he wakes up, gets out from bed, and walks less than five feet to sit at his desk and start his online learning. He expresses that there are too many distractions like watching Netflix, playing video games, random trips to the fridge and taking naps throughout the day.

Rivera logs onto Schoology to receive his assignments for the day. Schoology is a platform that King Drew and many other schools from LAUSD are using to provide the new alternative for learning.

“As school closures continue, district leaders are working to adopt distance learning as a vehicle to continue teaching and learning. We’ve put together a number of resources to help you keep learning going anywhere, anytime during this unprecedented time. As school closures continue, district leaders are working to adopt distance learning as a vehicle to continue teaching and learning. We’ve put together a number of resources to help you keep learning going anywhere, anytime during this unprecedented time,” stated on the Schoology website.

Rivera shares that he is not used to this kind of learning. “It’s different because in school, we talk and have a conversation. We learn the material that the teacher is presenting but with Schoology, we only watch videos,” Rivera said. “Our teachers aren’t teaching us in these videos, it’s random strangers.”

The class that he struggles with the most online is AP Psy

“It’s a lot of information and the assign-

ments are difficult to understand without being able to ask questions to my teacher,” Rivera explained.

“Because this is my only AP class, I have to study for the upcoming AP Exams in May. It’s stressful and I have so much to review!”

Rivera was sent a message stating, “The teachers cannot give them zeros for grades. The grades that they had on March 15th, won’t be affected too much.” This gives him a bit of breathing space but he also expressed that it’s simply not the same, especially staying motivated. It is already a skill that most people and students struggle with. The senior states that he’s not as motivated to learn online than he was in a physical place.

He also misses “having a good conversation with teachers - talking about college, their experience and guidance with my future college choices.”

This new transition is affecting a lot of people. The K-12 students are not used to learning through online education. They are struggling, with Rivera being only one example. Once the quarantine has been lifted, he can’t wait to reunite with his friends, teammates and celebrate his eighteenth birthday.

Despite the current situation, Rivera has decided to attend Fullerton College in the fall of 2020 to play collegiate volleyball and soccer. Like a lot of graduating seniors graduating, he’s going to miss out on going to Prom, Grad Night and turning the tassel on his cap and gown due to this quarantine.

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Rivera doing homework on Schoology during quarantine

What We Got Wrong About Covid from the Media

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By Dayzsha Lino

In early March, 2020, 20-year-old author and owner of GenGuru.com John Stillman was diagnosed with the coronavirus after experiencing symptoms that began with a slight cough and sore throat, and then escalated to a high fever and body aches.

“It felt like I was in a horrible car accident almost,” Stillman said in an interview with TODAY. “I couldn’t move...the simplest of tasks would wind me.”

That week, 22-year-old Bjonda Haliti gained online attention for her tweet in which she outlined her coronavirus symptoms day-by-day, ranging from headaches, to dry cough and nausea, to shortness of breath. In her tweet she wrote:

“I’ve been debating on posting, but I want to share my experience especially with those around my age to help bring awareness, and to relieve any stress/anxiety some may have to the pandemic.”

Before it became a national pandemic, there was a notion that COVID-19 was more harmful and deadly to elderly people, people with underlying health conditions, and people with weakened immune systems than those who were young and healthy. The narrative from the media at the time was that young people who didn’t have weakened immune systems or underlying health conditions didn’t have to worry as much and only needed to take minor precautions to prevent them from unknowingly contracting and spreading COVID-19.

Yet, as of April 2020, we are seeing a different reality. On March 18, The New York Times reported that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released data showing 40 percent of those being hospitalized for coronavirus were aged 20 to 54. Overall, the US now has over 500,000 cases of coronavirus with more than 20,000 deaths, and numbers are expected to rise.

All of this information begs the question: did the media play a role in alleviating young peoples’ fears of the coronavirus? And, could there have been a better way to keep young people safe from the coronavirus before it became a pandemic?

A lot of millenials and Gen Zers already think they’re invincible and are able to freely do whatever they want under any circumstance, no matter what the repercussions may be. So when faced with a threat that seems to only attack older people, it becomes much harder to get them to comply with what the CDC, World Health Organization (WHO), and local, state, and federal government tells them to do.

We’ve been seeing this play out for weeks as young people in many states have been ignoring stay-at-home orders set in place by their governors. Probably the most notable instances of this happening were the Florida beachgoers who, despite the threat of COVID-19, decided to ignore stay-at-home orders and flood the beaches to go enjoy their spring break.

Various media outlets reported on this, causing outrage from those who thought the Florida spring-breakers were putting vulnerable people at risk of getting COVID-19 by carelessly ignoring social distancing laws in favor of having a good time.

Governors from other states such as Gov. Cuomo from New York criticized the college students for their reckless behavior and used their rambunctious behavior as an example to urge New Yorkers not to defy rules or else the spread of coronavirus in their state could get much worse.

“These pictures of young people on beaches, these videos of young people saying, ‘This is my spring break, I’m out to party, this is my time to party,’ this is so unintelligent and reckless I can’t even begin to express it,” Gov. Cuomo said.

Before this happened, there was a narrative by the media that young people who were healthy were less likely to suffer and die from the virus, and more likely to unknowingly contract it and spread it to those who were elderly and had underlying health conditions. Outlets like Grunge have told young people that they are less likely to die from the virus due to their strong immune systems.

However, a contributor to The Atlantic, Kerry Kennedy Metzler, an internal medicine resident physician from New York, recently shared her story on treating too many

are safe from COVID-19,” Metzler said.

As the number of coronavirus cases continue to grow past 500,000 in the US, it is important for outlets/publications to keep up with the current science, as it pertains to COVID-19.

So far, we’ve been witnessing the effects of what can happen when the media tries to play it safe. While the media seemed to miss the opportunity to warn young people about the dangers of COVID-19 early on, hopefully they will keep track of newer developments that can help young people as the virus continues to run rampant.

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young people with COVID-19. The 28-year-old said five of her patients were in their 20s and 30s, and that one of her patients was young and healthy, but had to be out on a ventilator only a day after being admitted for a dry cough and high fever.

Metzler believes that too many young people in the US are not taking the statistics put out by the CDC and our governors as seriously as they should. “But in spite of these alarming figures, too many young Americans have been slow to give up the false belief that they

Photo by Catalina Garcia

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Concerning CANCEL Culture

By Julian Guerrero

The year 2017 saw the meteoric rise of one of YouTube’s biggest names, Logan Paul. This former Viner was one of YouTube’s fastest creators to reach 10 million subscribers. His channel was also largely aimed towards a very young audience, in relation to his high-energy videos. That being said, there was usually not much explicit content posted by Logan. However, his trip to Japan was the biggest turning point in his career.

Logan landed in Japan and was instantly all over the media.

While there in Japan, Logan thought it’d be best to take this opportunity to make some videos ‘on theme.’ The video even reached YouTube’s trending page at #10. This allowed a wider audience to see it and weigh in on the video. By the next day, Logan had removed the video from YouTube and this story was flooding the media.

The amount of backlash from this video sent Logan into hiding, even as YouTube cut ties with him. Six months later, Logan released a video apologizing for the incident, explaining how he had made some serious changes. His channel then went through a complete rebranding with the help of British YouTuber KSI (26 million subscribers). Logan arranged a professional boxing match with KSI, emerged back into the spotlight, and put this controversy to rest.

He released one showing him racing through the streets as Super Mario, then a video focused around Pokemon. During these videos, Paul was largely seen as being disrespectful to Japan’s people and culture. But it was his next video that changed his YouTube experience.

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Within the past ten years, popular culture has been heavily affected by the rapid expansion of media across all forms. The non-stop media consumption has slowly escalated to the point where our devices even tell us our weekly usage. With the media-centered popular culture in place, one particular media platform gave many an outlet to reach millions while expressing their creativity - YouTube.

YouTube is defined as a “video-sharing service” but is much much more than that. With an audience of all ages, there are videos for practically anyone/thing. The monetization of particular YouTuber’s videos is largely credited to the advertisements YouTube shows before your video plays. Creators are paid based on the amount of views their videos receive.

This gives creators the incentive to cultivate their followers in order to keep their views and money consistent.

As of recently, a new trend has emerged amongst these social media superstars. “Cancel culture” is a new pattern originating from controversies experienced across YouTube. The proximity of YouTube’s communities makes it easier for the rapid spread of rumors or gossip. Therefore, cancel culture sees the bandwagon effect take place, where subscribers claim a creator is “cancelled” and unsubscribe just because others are unsubscribing and claiming they’re “cancelled.”

Clearly this can be horrendous for a YouTuber, whose main monetization comes from the amount of views produced. Two young YouTubers by the names of Logan Paul and James Charles have their own individual experiences to contribute to the study of this cancel culture dating back to 2017.

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Logan decided to take a trip to a local forest in Japan, Aokigahara, known as a place where many suicides have occurred. Accompanied by his crew, they headed off into the forest in search of some content. Two minutes later, they stumbled across a dead body. Him and his team took the moment to joke around about it and even filmed up-close footage of the body. Now, the body was blurred for a majority of the video, but can still be seen in different shots. The video ran its usual number of views and then some.

She even took some old tweets from Charles that supported her story even though they were highly out of context and outdated. The YouTube beauty community exploded. Everyone who was anyone was talking about it and even making videos over the matter.

The video had reached nearly 40 million views. In the days following Westbrook’s video, everyone seemed to have made up their mind right away. Charles was losing thousands of subscribers by the hour. The almighty PewDiePie (the only YouTuber with 100 million subscribers) even weighed in on the situation and just presented this drama to his even wider platform.

James Charles experienced the biggest scandal of his career and perhaps even the year 2019 in total. As one of YouTube’s biggest makeup channels, as well as one of the youngest mega-stars, there was no questioning why all the heat was on Charles. Another beauty YouTuber by the name of Tati Westbrook released a video essentially slandering Charles.

This 40-minute video was a premeditated rant on her relationship with Charles. She shared “personal experiences” with Charles where he made her uncomfortable. Westbrook claimed Charles would try to pressure heterosexual boys into liking him, as if trying to convert them somehow. Westbrook included screenshots of conversations over text with a waiter from one of her stories about Charles exhibiting this behavior.

This had a major effect on the reach of the

controversy. People who had no clue about Charles suddenly knew all about him and his private life.

Charles was “cancelled” in headlines all over the media. A couple of days after the initial release, Charles released his own video in response to Westbrook.

His video went in depth to stop the false claims Westbrook presented.

All of a sudden, Charles was “cancelled” no more. His subscriber and follower count returned to its typical increasing trend, and all this drama quickly dissipated. The focus of this controversy was the haste Charles’ audience had when deciding who was in the wrong without his response, just going to show this new “cancel culture” created.

Audience members are constantly monitoring YouTubers, watching them everyday! Any slipup from them and their whole career they’ve spent years making can all be gone in an instant. The manner in which Charles handled this situation explains why his follower count is higher than ever.

These two YouTubers were able to recover from these scandals because they already had enough time to establish themselves.

This made it possible for Logan and Charles to respond with the help of a team. Smaller YouTubers are not in the position to respond or frankly don’t have enough resources.

Recently, a YouTuber by the name of Carl Riemers was the subject of a giant controversy and was not able to smooth things out as well as Paul and Charles.

SoaR Carl is the name of Riemer’s channel where he is constantly streaming a variety of RNG games such as Fortnite, Call of Duty, and others.

One night, Riemers got a little too tipsy on his live stream and accidentally fired off his handgun.

His gun was laying there on the desk where he was gaming and he shot it, thinking there were no rounds in the clip. Luckily, neither he nor his numerous pets were hurt, but one of his PC monitors fell as collateral. He showed detailed footage of where the bullet traveled, straight through a stainless steel traveler mug, a carton of his sponsor GFUEL, and into his several hundred dollar PC monitor.

Photos by Catalina Garcia previous levels of fame or popularity.

The question then becomes what personal behaviors warrant a total fall from grace? Who decides what goes too far? And are they given a fair trial in the court of public opinion?

Obviously, certain behaviors are egregious enough that there needs to be accountability, but in some cases, many are quick to make judgments about celebrities, sports stars, and social media creators that can ruin careers before all the facts are known.

Given the stakes, maybe we should ask ourselves if social media is indeed the best place to try these high-profile cases, where the only due process is the click of a button and users themselves end up serving as judge, jury, and executioner all at once.

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The bullet easily could have richoted in his direction or even towards one of his pets.

As a result of his actions, Reimers was stripped of his membership with popular Esports team SoaR. He then went to YouTube and apologized for his actions. Shortly after, he was banned from streaming on not just YouTube but Twitch as well. Since Reimers was not a big enough entity and his main source of revenue being streaming, his entire career was destroyed. His overall misery and despair portrayed in his apology video truly showed the magnitude of how bad his mistake was in exchange for his dream job.

Other social media creators and celebrities have similarly lost their careers over incidents deemed offensive, including racist comments, misogynistic behaviors, domestic abuse, and sexual assault. Many will never make it back to their

By Tanya Silerio

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This year, the Oscars shocked everyone by giving their biggest award of the night, Best Picture, to the movie “Parasite.” The film is described . as a comedic thriller that deals with topics on class discrimination and greed. It had amazing reviews, won other major film awards like the Critics Choice Award, and made over $200 million in the box office. It has everything an Oscar-worthy film would need: controversial topics, an amazing cast, and an unforgettable plot twist.

Yet despite that, no one thought it would win.

In fact, many were sure it would be snubbed and not be nominated at all. But, in the end, it was nominated in six different categories and won all of them.

The reason people were so skeptical over it doing so well is simple, it isn’t in English and, if you want to watch it, you will need to read subtitles as the movie is in Korean.

In America, it’s hard to imagine a film with little to no English doing so well. It’s happened before with films like “Amélie,” “Life is Beautiful,” and “Roma.” But, it’s rare and doesn’t happen as much. It’s so rare that Americans are stereotyped as a nation that refuses to read the dialogue.

This causes distributors to reconsider bring-

ing foreign-language films and leaves us with a limited list of movies to watch. If these foreign language films are shown, they are usually shown only in states like California or New York. It’s hard to imagine why a country with over 400 languages spoken has a hard time dealing with subtitles. It should be easy since other countries do it all the time, especially with how big the American film industry is. The rest of the world tends to watch the same films that we do that are in English only and are ok with it.

With recent movies like “Roma” and “Parasite” becoming hits, it seems like people are now more open to the idea of watching films in another language. And with streaming services like Netflix providing many TV shows and films from all over the world, more people are watching things they would have never imagined due to language barriers.

In fact, Netflix had a hard time with the hit series “Narcos.” In order to ease the audience into using subtitles for a whole episode, the show would switch from English to Spanish. Netflix didn’t want the show to be strictly English because they thought it would be silly to have these characters from Mexico speak only English. This tactic seemed to work as it is now

Photo by Catalina Garcia

Embracing Subtitles

This year, the Oscars shocked everyone by giving their biggest award of the night, Best Picture, to the movie “Parasite.” The film is described as a comedic thriller that deals with topics on class discrimination and greed. It had amazing reviews, won other major film awards like the Critics Choice Award, and made over $200 million in the box office. It has everything an Oscar-worthy film would need: controversial topics, an amazing cast, and an unforgettable plot twist.

Yet despite that, no one thought it would win. In fact, many were sure it would be snubbed and not be nominated at all. But, in the end, it was nominated in six different categories and won all of them. The reason people were so skeptical over it doing so well is simple, it isn’t in English and, if you want to watch it, you will need to read subtitles as the movie is in Korean.

In America, it’s hard to imagine a film with little to no English doing so well. It’s happened before with films like “Amélie,” “Life is Beautiful,” and “Roma.” But, it’s rare and doesn’t happen as much. It’s so rare that Americans are stereotyped as a nation that refuses to read the dialogue.

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Photo Credit: Posted byu/TheMightyEz

This causes distributors to reconsider bringing foreign-language films and leaves us with a limited list of movies to watch. If these foreign language films are shown, they are usually shown only in states like California or New York. It’s hard to imagine why a country with over 400 languages spoken has a hard time dealing with subtitles. It should be easy since other countries do it all the time, especially with how big the American film industry is. The rest of the world tends to watch the same films that we do that are in English only and are ok with it.

With recent movies like “Roma” and “Parasite” becoming hits, it seems like people are now more open to the idea of watching films in another language. And with streaming services like Netflix providing many TV shows and films from all over the world, more people are watching things they would have never imagined due to language barriers.

In fact, Netflix had a hard time with the hit series “Narcos.” In order to ease the audience into using subtitles for a whole episode, the show would switch from English to Spanish. Netflix didn’t want the show to be strictly English because they thought

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it would be silly to have these characters from Mexico speak only English. This tactic seemed to work as it is now in its second season. Its success will hopefully lead to entertainment companies accepting more non-English entertainment for a country that speaks mostly English.

It’s not hard for everyone to accept it. Those that grew up in bilingual households are used to it.

Many families across the country grow up watching television in both Spanish and English. Cindy Lozano, a film student at UC Berkeley, had such an upbringing. As a result, her goals include winning an Oscar, working with director Martin Scorcese, and introducing foreign films to those that are indifferent to them.

Lozano’s love for movies started when she was young. She uses to constantly replay films like “Pretty in Pink,” “The Shining,” and “Friday the 13th.” Her favorite genres are still horror and coming of age stories.

“It’s a weird combination, I agree,” Lozano, the 22-year-old film major said. “But my parents love horror so it’s normal for me to have a horror film playing in the background as I study, people get freaked out but I love it. As for teen movies I don’t know, I feel like the 80s got it right. I’ve seen all of them too many times.”

She talks about spending hours online watching the behind the scenes process of these films and how that sparked an interest in filmmaking. “The process is fascinating to me,” Lozano said, “and to be making it is even more fascinating, it’s a mixture of everything honestly.”

Throughout the years, she has kept track of all her favorite films and while that list continues to grow she has noticed that she has a deep love and appreciation for foreign films. She recalls her first exposure to TV or any other form of entertainment was in Spanish. “My parents didn’t speak English well so I obviously grew up in a Spanish-only environment until I started going to school,” Lozano said.

For her, it’s only right to favor foreign-language films. “ I have a soft spot for them, many of my happiest memories involve those films,” Lozano said. “I never thought much of it if anything

I thought it was normal and that everyone else was living and watching just like me but, I found out I was wrong.”

Her love for Spanish films led to her love for French cinema with the film “Amélie.” It’s a French rom-com film that was released in 2001 and became one of the highest-grossing French films at the time.

“It blew my mind,” Lozano said. “Sure it was a rom-com but it was in French and it taught me a few things about French culture.”

The older Cindy got the more films she discovered in both her native and non-native language.

She didn’t care what language it was in as long as the story was good, as long as she felt some sort of emotion, she enjoyed it. Whenever people would ask for recommendations, she would give them two options, one in English the other in another language.

“People would often give me a look after,” explained Lozano. “I guess they thought I was joking and were waiting for me to say ‘just kidding,’ but I was serious.”

She says she’s baffled by people’s hatred for subtitled films. “They would mostly always respond with ‘I don’t want to read’ or ‘I feel weird watching it.’”

All she could do was respond with light laughter. “It’s really interesting to hear people complain about reading,” Lozano said. She explains that maybe it’s because she’s used to it, but she does not find the process of reading subtitles difficult but gets why it might be for some.

“Subtitles aren’t always reliable,” Lozano explains. “It depends on who translates it and sometimes they can be a bit off. You have to pay attention, you have to learn to how to focus on the visual language, body language of the characters, scenery, and other things that help [us] understand a movie better.”

She thinks maybe this is what scares many Americans into avoiding these films. “It can be overwhelming,” Lozano said, “I enjoy observing those things but the average movie goer might not, and I get it.”

Despite some of the struggles that come with it, Cindy still tries her best to persuade people about the beauty of foreign films.

“I think the best way to watch them is on the big screen,” Lozano said, “It’s important to pay attention to the background, scenery, details, facial

Photo Credit: Pinterest

Photo Credit: flickr / CC0 film,” she said.

While of course a film’s main purpose is to entertain and make audiences forget about their worries for an hour or more but, according to Lozano, it’s different when it has a cast, background, location, and storyline from a place you have only seen in pictures or video.

“Honestly it just feels different in many ways,” Lozano concludes. “These foreign films get their point across much better than a film shot in America. It’s important to step out of your comfort zone and expand your mind and this, to me, is a great way to start.”

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expressions, basically everything in order to really take it all in.”

She laughs a little as she realizes how descriptive she gets when talking about these details.

“As a film major, I pay attention to these things but if you don’t it doesn’t matter,” Lozano said. “Really it doesn’t matter how you enjoy a film as long as you really do end up enjoying it.”

Her big selling point is the chance to experience new cultures through the comfort of your own home or movie theater “At the moment, I don’t have enough money to take a trip out of the country, so, the next best thing is to visit them via

WOMEN FILL JOURNALISM CLASSROOMS...

YET NEWSROOMS ARE MOSTLY STILL MEN

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A

By Melanie Gerner

lyssa Vega was inspired by the investigative journalism of New York Times reporters Meghan Twohey and Jodi Kantor.

Today, Vega is a journalism student at Boston University and a lifestyle, arts and entertainment beat reporter for The Belmont Citizen Herald. At BU, Vega has both male and female professors currently working in media, notably The Boston Globe, MSNBC and NPR, but class composition stands in stark contrast. In a journalism ethics course last semester, Vega shared the classroom with only two male students out of 30. That trend continued into the following semester when an in-depth reporting course was principally women and hosted only one male student.

Journalism classrooms are consistently dominated by female students, yet in 2018, the percentage of male workers in newsrooms was higher than that of the overall U.S. workforce. About six-in-ten newsroom employees (61%) are men, compared with 53% of all workers. Interestingly, the ratio of younger newsroom employees was about fifty-fifty. This may be because journalism classes at universities are more and more filled with women, or it could be these young women have not decided to have a family yet.

Dr. Ana de la Serna, communications professor at California State University Dominguez Hills, knows firsthand about the limitations a family can have on an international career in photojournalism. After working with the president

of Mexico and traveling for extended periods, she was forced to choose between her photojournalism career and her family.

“There aren’t a lot of men who are willing to stay home and watch their children or do that part, so it is assumed as a woman, that is your responsibility. I am not trying to reinforce stereotypes, but it is just what I see” de la Serna said. “I think that’s why there are not that many women in the newsroom. It becomes incompatible to have a family and have this job that is so demanding.”

Women shouldering the labor of caretaking is common around the world, and in America.

Acccording to Author Jessica Neuwirth, in her essay entitled “Unequal: A Global Perspective on Women Under the Law,” as recently as 2001 the United States Supreme Court upheld a ruling where children of mothers with U.S. citizenship were granted a lifetime right to U.S. citizenship, and children of fathers with U.S. citizenship (including GIs stationed overseas) must take legal steps, before turning 18, to claim legal citizenship.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor noted in her dissenting opinion on the ruling, “[T]he majority’s discussion may itself simply reflect the stereotype of male irresponsibility that is no more a basis for the validity of classification than are the stereotypes about ‘traditional’ behavior patterns of women.”

“I started my first journalism course in 2017. This was a time when two investigative reporters broke the news of the sexual allegations against Harvey Weinstein, and these two investigative reporters were female reporters. I thought to myself, ‘This is what I want to do.’”

- Melanie Gerner

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Vega is personally acquainted with the “traditional” behavior patterns expected of women. One of her proudest accomplishments is the graphic she created for an essay entitled “Rejecting My Family’s Mexican-American Traditions Pushed Me Toward a Higher Education.” Vega’s educational and professional pursuits challenge the traditional gender roles expected of her in her parents’ home.

Women in America began to formally push back on “traditional” behavior patterns decades ago. More than one hundred years ago women began taking steps to have their voices heard in the theater of American government by changing policy for voting rights and property ownership.

Women’s suffrage challenged the legacy of coverture law that was imported from England during the founding of America. Nonetheless, its legacy continues to linger among many professions, including American news production.

Darlena Cunha is a professor of journalism at the University of Florida and is a freelance journalist for the New York Times, Washington Post and others. Cunha was hitting her stride in a career in television news production when she learned she was pregnant in 2008. Instead of dedicating all her time and energy to television news production, she gave some of herself to her family, as a wife and mother.

“My life would have been completely different if I had gotten pregnant at a different time,” Cunha said. “Journalism hours aren’t necessarily kind

“There were four of us, the two males were getting paid a lot more than my coworker and I who were women,” Dr. de la Serna said. “We were all doing the same amount of work.”

Dr. de la Serna realized her career had plateaued when she decided to return to school for an advanced degree. She thought as a photojournalist she would only ever be paid as a technician rather than as a professional.

“I think that is why so many journalism majors go into public relations and doing other things. It is more stable, so it allows the opportunity to balance life and work,” Dr. de la Serna said.

For many women it may not be worth it to sacrifice time with their families to work in a low-paying field.

Still, young women are filling seats in journalism classes all over the country, despite the historically low rates of success for females in news production.

Perhaps the recent report of equal numbers of male and female newsroom employees aged 18-29 is a forecast of newsrooms in the future.

Vega and students like her are the future of journalism. To her, storytelling is a big part of her life and she is excited to make it her work. She has always been curious about people, what they do and why they do it. She is proud to be a journalist and considers it a privilege to tell the untold stories of the world. With more women like her in today’s journalism classrooms, maybe their voices will start to reflect broader conversations, shatter more glass ceilings and present a more inclusive future for the industry as well.

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to family life if you are working outside the home.

Either you are missing dinner or you are missing breakfast. You are just not there.”

After becoming a mother, Cunha stopped producing television news and began blogging for free.

Her family saw struggle, but she found a way to earn her master’s degree and later become an adjunct professor at the University of Florida. In 2014, she started her freelance journalism career with a breakout essay about her financial struggles during the economic downturn of 2009. Today, as a parent of 11-year-old twin girls, she works from home as a professor, writer, editor, ghost writer and news producer.

“It took me a long time to pivot and create this new ladder for myself,” Cunha said. “I work 70 hours a week, but if anyone needs me, I’m on duty again [as a mother].”

Journalism is a poorly paid profession unless you are in a top tier position, which many women do not reach. There is a glass ceiling for women when it comes to promotions and pay raises. Women drop out of newsrooms to take care of their families or switch to more profitable careers. Women are going through college as journalism majors, but they are still not represented in higher-level news management positions.

Photojournalism is particularly competitive, and it is difficult to reach a level of notoriety that is highly profitable. This is especially true for women.

Dr. de la Serna recalled the gender pay gap from her own experience as a photojournalist.

Hollywood: Where You Can Be Anything, Even A Disabled Person

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By Sarai Henriquez

Photo Credit: Movie Still from “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” who is not disabled can wear.

“Disability is an identity, not a costume,” said Dr. Ryan Bowles-Eagle, a California State University Dominguez Hills Film, Television, and Media studant professor. professor.

If the media always likes to call out the Kardashians for cultural appropriation, then why aren’t we doing the same when it comes to directors, actors, or Hollywood in general when they don’t cast an actor with a real disability?

According to a 37-page report released by the disability rights organization, Ruderman Family Foundation, they reported that “1.7 percent of Tv characters [are] visibly disabled and out of that, 95 percent are played by non-disabled actors.”

“Hollywood talks a lot about diversity, and I think the definition is wrong,” said Maysoon Zayid, an actress and comedian who was born with

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What do the “Good Doctor,” “Forrest Gump,” “Rain Man,” and “What’s Eating GilbertGrape” have in common? What they share is profiting from a community that isn’t theirs.

No this isn’t a #metoo article or #Hollywoodsowhite also. This is about the disability community that never gets the right representation even though they make up 20 percent of the world’s population. This is about how Hollywood always casts the actor/actress to put a costume on the disability community.

It is time to talk about the absence or the lack of representation of disabled people. We know that Hollywood loves to tell the stories of someone with a disability. Just think of movies like “Forrest Gump” that took away six Oscars in 1995, including Best Actor in a Leading Role. Yes, Tom Hank’s performance was phenomenal, but it brings this idea that disability is a costume that an actor

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cerebral palsy, in a video produced

by Big Think. “It is not about having one person of this color, or one person of this gender, it is about including those people and allowing [them] to tell their stories and creating images that mirror in the real world.”

Zayid also brings in the fact that when the media does try to represent people with disabilities, it is usually shown in two ways: “heal me” or “you can’t love me because I am disabled.” The media never shows them as full characters. Or we mostly see non-disabled actors play these roles and get praised at the Acad--emy Awards.

Like Eddie Redmayne who won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for playing Stephen Hawking in the 2014 film, “The Theory of Everything.”

“To us, it looks like a caricature because we don’t believe that visible disability is something that you can act. We see [it] as something like race, that there is a visible component, that an actor is just mimicking twitches, it is not capturing,” Zayid said. “We are shut out of playing the wacky best friend but we are also shut out of the people with disabilities.”

There are usually three ways Hollywood represents people with disabilities. They are either heroes, villains, or victims. As a hero, they are proven worthy when they overcome their disability. This causes them to be normal in a heroic way.

Many times, it shows that they have a special power that makes up for their lack of normativity. We can see this in the movie “Rain Man,” where Dustin Hoffman’s character Raymond Babbitt is a man with autism but, later in the film, we find out that he is very successful in math. When his brother, him to Vegas to win money it impacts the view of those with disabilities by making them feel like they must

have a special feature that makes up for their lack of feeling normal. played by Tom Cruise, takes him to Vegas to win money, it impacts the view of those with disabilities by making them feel like they must have a special feature that makes up for their lack of feeling normal.

In others cases, disabled people are portrayed as the victim and are present only as a helpless object of pity or sympathy. It can create a feeling of sympathy from the audience because the victim is some way lesser than them. We see this again in the 1994 film “Forrest Gump” with Gary Sinise’s character Lieutenant Dan. In the movie, he loses his legs in a battle and is bound to a wheelchair. Throughout the movie, we see him angry and would have rather died in battle than live his life as a disabled person. This draws in the prejudice, ignorance, and fear that exists toward those with disabilities.

The last stereotype we see are disabled people playing the villain.

Physical disabilities have been used to suggest evil or depravity. Characters have been portrayed as being driven to criminal revenge by resentment of their disability. A perfect example of a villain character with a disability is the 2004 film “Phantom of the Opera,” where Gerard Butler takes the role of Phantom who was born with a disfigured face but becomes obsessed with a beautiful young soprano at the Paris opera house. He demands the music that he writes be for the beautiful soprano singer while terrorizing the rest of the opera house.

The media has gotten better but has a long way to go. In 2016, ABC debuted a comedy called “Speechless,” which was centered on a 16-year-old named JJ DiMeo. He has cerebral palsy, cannot speak and uses an alternative-communication device to express himself.

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Played by Micah Fowler, who chair. She has worked for major comhimself has cerebral palsy, showed panies like Nordstrom, Target, and a casting decision that made this worked with the Queen B herself--Beseries stand out. The reason why yoncé. the show decided to go that route

“Initially, I saw the lack of repis that the show’s resentation for my creator, Scott Silcommunity, as far veri, grew up in from the industries a home much like goes,” Mercado said his show “Speechin an interview with less,” with a nonNowThis Entertainverbal brother ment. “I think to with cerebral palcontinue to include sy. everyone, making it

“Not so very inclusive bemuch focused hind the scenes and on doing a story in front of the scenes, about disability; I it’s going to definitewas really interly help the industry ested in doing a move very, very forfamily show and ward.” exploring how one The way that family member the entertainment, with a disabilifashion, and media ty affects everyindustries is slowly body else and moving forward is turns them into by allowing people Photo Credit: DVD Cover of “Rain Man” the specific with disabilikind of weirties to be repdos that they resented more become,” authentically.

Silveria said Letting those to The New with disabilities York Times. tell their own Unfortunatestories can proly, this series vide a balance was canceled of dignifying after three and showing seasons at disability as ABC, making normality. This it hard once is important beagain for Photo Credit: Movie Still from “Forrest Gump” cause they don’t people with want sympathy disabilities to be represented. or pity, they want acceptance.

Even in the fashion industry,

Characters with disabilities can there are more and more models have the same depth of character as who are given the chance to modthe actors who do not have a disabiliel despite their disabilities. One of ty, be more accurately represented by those models is Jillian Mercado, themselves, and, if we can all agree who is normalizing disabilities in that blackface is wrong, why can’t we fashion. The 32-year-old is a Latina be on the same page when it comes to fashion model with muscular dysactors taking on the role of a diabled trophy and uses an electric wheelperson?

More Than Memes the Eye

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By Ulises Rodriguez

over to the United States. The internet created memes that showed in a comedic way how the United States was about to get into World War III. Some even created meme videos where they created a similarity between getting drafted into the war and getting drafted in the NBA.

Dr. Abnet, who specializes in Pop Culture at California State University, Fullerton, has researched the use of memes in society.

“The reason why [memes] just keep on getting spread around is, in some way, it’s become a new form of communication,” Dr. Abnet said. “Similar to how people can get news updates from Instagram

or even Twitter, memes in a way inform the viewer about events that are happening in the world. Take, for example, last year near the Super Bowl. At the time, the creator of the SpongeBob show passed away, and people wanted the Super Bowl to have some form of tribute for him. The way fans got their voice to be heard wasn’t through petitions but memes. They continuously uploaded thousands of SpongeBob memes on the internet about SpongeBob and, behold, the Super Bowl had a tribute.”

The society also uses memes to create a form of communication about regular occurrences, such as traffic on the 91 freeway, Starbucks not getting the right

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As the internet constantly evolves from one thing to another, there has been an uprise in one specific form of communication.

From the traditional emojis that first started appearing since the early age of AOL, young adults have been constantly pushing the boundaries and finding new ways to communicate through the internet. The latest fad being memes.

What are memes? Memes in a sense can be traced back to 1996 when people would sit around in cubicles and email “I hate Monday” photos to other co-workers. Memes then started to take off when social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat became the primary way to share digital content. For a meme to be considered valid, a photo is used with a message that can have some reference to something everyone in a community can relate to. The communities that memes usually reach out is vast, as there is not one specific community it is created for. Memes can target young, old, male, female, any community that has some type of commonality that everyone can relate to.

What is fascinating is how silly images or screenshots can be used by so many different communities for different purposes just by changing the message on it. Another intriguing part about memes is that all have a lifespan that extends usually for less than a month. In some cases, memes come back as a mashup between another newer meme at the time. The way memes are created can often depend on what current event is occurring during that month.

During December 2019, one of the biggest memes had to do with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sending a “present”

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number of shots of espresso, or even something as simple as forgetting to put your alarm on.

“Culturally, memes also create a reassurance to society to let the viewer know that there are other people who experience what they go through or went through,” said Dr. Abnet. “It’s a way so that people don’t feel like an outsider, especially now where a mass majority has anxiety and social problems. These photos are meant to be seen and acknowledged as, ‘hey that happened to me last week,’ they’re just relatable for people to understand.”

Just a couple of years ago, the highlight of technology was the extra feature of being able to send emojis through text on your iPhone. Instead, now, memes are becoming another part of society.

Something might have happened during your dayto-day life and now when you go onto Facebook or Twitter you see a meme that you can easily relate to.

Sometimes you will even see something that reminds you of your friend and you have the urgency to send the meme to them. It’s all part of communication.

But memes aren’t always positive.

“One thing to look at with memes is how it permits racism to continue to flourish,” Dr. Abnet said. “Memes are allowing and giving the impression that some meme statements are true. Take for example the current situation with coronavirus.

There are thousands of memes that target the Chinese community because of the virus having origi-

nated in China. Now what you are seeing online is the continuous use of memes attacking people from the general region. In a way, memes are creating fear that people should avoid anyone from China because they might have the virus.”

Ultimately, there is a wide range of uses for memes. They can be used to commiserate, express social anxiety, share daily experiences, target a specific community, or simply for comedic purposes. There isn’t an exact guideline that memes need to follow. The creation of memes takes a matter of seconds and they are quickly spread across social media platforms. With Twitter, for example, having the ability to see what is trending around the community, country, or even world, anyone can generate a meme on an event that is occurring. If the event becomes something of interest, the meme that is the most viewed and passed on will become the “meme face” of that event.

What is most interesting is how certain memes rise to the top and become so widely recognizable and shared. There is no one winning formula and context can be everything. But once a specific image or message is recognizable, it usually takes on a life all its own. There is usually a shelf-life for how long they can be used but the most memorable memes seem to transcend any single event and have multiple meanings. All that really matters is that memes have become part of our collective lexicon of expression and they are definitely worth paying more attention to.

Sincerely, Plus-Size Women

By Carina Noyola

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We are tired.

Tired of the media making it “look” like plus size women are inclusive in the fashion industry, and then really just… not being fully included. Women are subjected to fit categories that are virtually impossible to fulfill. “Company’s only like to feature “plus-size” models that are aesthetically pleasing to see and that in reality aren’t even plus-size at all,” said Yulissa Arevalo, age 22. The story that they tell is with the intention to sell numbers.

To put this into perspective, if you were to come across an ad for jeans, click on it - the average size that most retailers stop at is a size 14, some even 10, and 12. If you were lucky enough to be looking at a site that carries plus size, you had to switch tabs and look for an entirely different pair of jeans.

Because, guess what, the cute pair of mom jeans that you saw on the ad does not come in a size 14, even though 68 percent of women wear a size 14 and above, according to the 2018 article “Size by the Numbers” from Racked.

Hennesey Lopez, age 19, remembers a time where she walked into a store with the intention of buying a cute piece she saw advertised online and found herself to walk out with a completely different experience than most of the girls in there.

“The store’s one size fits all did not apply to me when I was trying on clothing and made me feel horrible about my body,” she said. It was an experience that she found to be daunting. “I wasn’t considered exactly overweight for my height but I did have more meat to me.”

When women say inclusivity is present, we mean it’s easy to spot. It’s as easy as picking up your phone and opening Instagram seeing ads that cater to a specific type of plus-size woman. What do you see in your explore page? Tall, thin, white (and dramatically tan), blonde Instagram models. Fine.

But how often do you open your discovery page, as a plus-size woman, and find a plussize woman? Almost never.

Let’s take that up a notch and add in the lack of color in these models. If you were “lucky” enough to see one, chances are you are looking at either Ashley Graham, Tara Lynn, or La’Tecia Thomas. All white females. Also known as 3 of the top 10 plus size models as named by ThePhotoStudio. com, in their article, “Top 10 Plus Size Models of 2018” (which also happens to lack color - with a total of one black model).

That means 90 percent of the world’s top plus-size models are white, as if the margin wasn’t small enough. Samantha Beltran, age 17, takes a look at the statistics presented before and makes one thing clear, “The model industry needs to expand more,” she said.

Remember the pair of jeans that you were looking for before? Take a look at the model, what else is similar about her and the one you saw before? Don’t notice anything?

Okay, take a look at the first plus-size model

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on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Now take a look at the first plus-size model to grace the cover of Vogue, or to model for Victoria Secret, or Calvin Klein. She is “curvy” in all the “right” areas: bigger breast, small waist, flat stomach, a round profound butt with matching hips and just so happens to have that perfect V-shaped jaw.

“Plus-size models are shown with flat stomachs and curves,” said Crystal Klements, age 23. “News flash. Not all women look like that.”

The lack of inclusivity in this industry is one that people love to hate, and hate to love. But the truth is, numbers don’t lie.

And in this case, numbers are a woman’s favorite act of rebellion. For years, plus-size women were typically left with few options when shopping for undergarments, lingerie, and shapewear. The options were Lane Bryant, and Victoria secret - sister companies.

Let’s be honest, good quality spoke, but so did style. Victoria secret was favored for the style, while Lane Bryant was favored for the quality. For years, intimates for plus size women were seen as less than.

In fact, Victoria Secret chief marketing officer Ed Razek went as far as saying that the public “had no interest in it,” when asked about adding plus-size inclusivity in their brand’s retail and fashion show. Ironically enough, Victoria Secret later filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy following the backlash of their refusal to be size-inclusive when it came to their brand. Up until this point, it was famously known that the media along with major corporations favored the typical thin white model. That was, until Fenty Savage came along.

“I feel like the plus-size community is gaining more representation in the fashion industry, but it still lacks in many areas,” 21-year-old Ariana Castaneda said, when asked about major upcoming brands that are plus size-inclusive.

Companies like Fenty Savage by Rihanna are doing a major part of their advertising on social media through apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. The advertising done on their official Instagram

page speaks wonders. “When you scroll through the page, it’s very easy to see the size-inclusive models that are included in the campaign,” she adds. Whereas companies like Skims by Kim Kardashian West are also including a larger size range but have one thing that is noticeably absent from their Instagram page - plus-size women.

The flaws that come with social media and their critique of plus-size women are clear as day in these two comparisons.

How is it that two brands that were both seemingly catering to a variety of plus-size women but one (Skims) had noticeably placed “curvy in the right areas” type of models on their feed, while Fenty Savage placed “curvy wherever and whenever” models on theirs? Inclusivity is noticeably absent, and we are tired.

- Sincerily, Plus-Size Women

Fake It Till You Make It

By Jenny Regla

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S

ocial Media is becoming an epidemic that is infecting all of us, particularly in how we represent ourselves, judge or get judged by others.

Social media started as a way to include those in your circle with an update, a photo, or a video you wanted to share. It also allowed us to see what our friends and followers were up to. Myspace was one of the first forms of social media but back then it was only on your desktop.

There, users were able to customize their pages and choose who they wanted on their page with their top friends showing. It felt more personalized than what we have going on today with Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. It didn’t feel quite as superficial because it was just getting started and the process of sharing your personal information was still in its infancy. There wasn’t the same level of judgement when it came to posting because it was kept within your circle of friends. Nowadays, we are friends with or follow so many people, whether we know them or not.

This means social sharing, judgment, and comparison are now happening on exponentially different levels.

In her article, “The More Miserable You Are, the Happier Your Social Media Posts, and This Twitter Thread Proves It,” Jessica Stilman acknowledges the fact that social media users like to “induce envy” when it comes to their posts. Meaning, we often post what we think others want to see, not the real, vulnerable, or unflattering versions of ourselves. Stilman suggests that because we see our followers “humblebragging” about their lives, we sometimes feel that ours doesn’t measure up to theirs, so we decide to post what we think they want to see. She explains that we know our lives differ greatly from online to our real life. But even though that difference is known, individuals still fall into the “trap” and are convinced that they need to upload flattering versions of their lifestyle, relationships, or appearance.

According to the article, there was a tweet shared that asked Twitter users to post a picture they had uploaded on social media that also represented a difficult time in their life. Through that tweet, there was an outpouring of responses from people who posted photos with stories behind

Photos by Catalina Garcia them. There was a photo from a user who had done the color run, where she was smiling in the photo but admitted she had been suicidal during that time.

It can be impactful to read these posts from users and realize that while everyone is going through something, most are not posting about it. Instead, some may post the unreal parts of themselves and somewhat “pretend” that everything is great.

A beauty influencer that goes by Desi Perkins on Instagram recently opened up about the difficulties of trying to conceive. In one of her recent videos, she decided to not edit out the part where she has a meltdown because of all the hormones she’s been intaking due to in vitro fertilization (IVF). The responses that she got back from that were all positive, and people appreciated the fact that she didn’t edit out that part.

So maybe there can be more authentic sharing but, generally speaking, social media users more often self-edit, self-censor, and self-promote from what they choose to show, the angles they use in their photos, or even through their use of filters.

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Perhaps that is why social media filters get some negative and positive backlash when it comes to posting. People are quick to judge someone when they have posted a photo on Instagram using a filter, but at the same time filters are used the majority of the time to make a photo look more attractive, lighter, colorful, or even to remove blemishes. Whether that is a selfie of yourself or what you are currently eating.

Even beauty infuencers get negative comments about the smallest things so why wouldn’t others try to post the best version of themselves?

Why wouldn’t they post the most exciting places they’ve visited, the most expensive shoes they own, or how great their relationship is, even when others know it’s not a true representation of reality?

Elena, an influencer also known as “Gentlelights” on Instagram, says she uses the platform as “an outlet to show the things I love...it can be anything from home decor, a recipe, skincare, outfit inspo, the list goes on.” While her daily posts might include promoting a jewelry brand such as Wanderelle, or a shoe brand like Dolce Vita, she also talked about the negative side of social media and how some users on Instagram are quick to judge someone, even though they “definitely shouldn’t.” She states how there is “a lot of comparing, which is so unhealthy.” She doesn’t personally see Instagram as a place where she needs to portray a certain lifestyle since she already has a presence there, but she agrees that people are still quick to judge her sometimes by what she posts.

Has social media made us a society more accustomed and open to judging others, as well as only posting the good parts of our lives? There is a saying, “If you didn’t post it, then it never happened.” This sentiment has led social media users to frequently post the best aspects of their lives, from the best angle, using the best filters, to show themselves in the best possible light. This raises concerns that social media versions of our relationships, ourselves, and what we share have become more real than our actual offline lives.

There will always be criticism about whether or not people are genuine through their social media. As users, each of us will have to be our own judges of that, but equally important to remember is that seeing should not always be the same thing as believing.

When Social Media Makes Us Less Social

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By Malena Lopez

now play in relationships.

For some, a relationship isn’t even considered official until both partners change their relationship status on social media. Some breakups are even done through the same means.

“Social media is a double-edged sword,” said Leslie Shore, communications expert and professor. Acknowledging that since there are no official rules to how a person in a relationship should treat social media, not everyone shares the same expectations.

For instance, on several, if not all, platforms there are ongoing jokes about people reacting to their significant other liking people’s pictures, following certain people, posting themselves and not their significant other. Sometimes being tagged in others’ photos or checked in to places by others can create issues, as well. All these scenarios and more have been deemed to

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People often think of social media as a way to connect with others but it can also create a divide, particularly between partners in a romantic relationship.

Nowadays, just about everywhere, couples can be seen in public not paying attention to each other and giving more attention to their phones. Part of this is that with advances in smart phones, mobile technologies, and WiFi, people can now take their social media wherever they go, to share their thoughts, political beliefs, where they are at any given moment, who they are with, and even what they are eating.

However, while they’re holding their screens in front of themselves, many users are not paying attention to their partners who are right there with them competing for their attentions. But what cannot be ignored is just how significant a role smart phones and social media

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be problematic in some relationships and can lead to distrust.

Social media posts can also provide a false impression when couples compare their own relationships with others who post seemingly idyllic relationships, even if they are not representative of reality. If someone were to see their families or friends going on flashy dates and extravagant vacations with their partners, it is easy for someone to compare their relationship to what they see online.

“They’re busy, but you have no idea whether they’re happy or not,” said Shore.

“You’re only seeing a snapshot. You’re not seeing the full 360.”

It is important to note that a post does not reveal everything about a person’s relationship.

Several people envy the lives of the people they see on social media and desire the perfection being portrayed by these people. Although, there is absolutely nothing wrong with admiring other people’s relationships, it does become problematic when that turns into dissatisfaction in your own relationship

Although taking out a phone has become purely out of instinct for many, being on the

Photos by Catalina Garcia

phone while completely neglecting a partner can also make them feel undesired. Although this may seem minor to some, the fact of the matter is that something or someone else is taking away attention from a meaningful connection with the significant other who is present. Without any words, it can still project that they are not a priority.

An article titled, “More information that you ever wanted: Does Facebook bring out the green-eyed monster of jealousy?” states, “Facebook may expose an individual to potentially jealousy provoking information about their partner, which creates a feedback loop whereby heightened jealousy leads to increased surveillance of a partner’s Facebook page. Persistent surveillance results in further exposure to jealousy-provoking information”.

“They need to be noticed,” Shore said.

“They need to know that they matter, and social media can be a wonderful way of doing that in terms of posting small messages, little videos, something that tells that person that they are on your mind and they are on your mind in a very fond way.” Such posts also can be seen as a publicly stated feelings of adoration or affirmation of commitment.

However, social media can also be mis-

use can still distract from the meaningful connections to be found in romantic relationships. While not the only cause for blame in any relationship, social media still needs to be considered as playing a more prominent role in today’s dating and relationship scene, and it’s still too soon to fully know its longterm effects on how we socialize with others and even how it will affect all of our other significant, long-term relationships.

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used. Some monitor their partners through social media, while current partners, suitors or exes alike can use it for stalking or other threatening behaviors. There are numerous examples of how some with unhealthy obsessions will follow or friend the actual friends or relatives of those they are spying on to keep tabs on their partners, would-be partners or exes.

Even in the healthiest relationships, though, social media and incessant phone

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