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Overall, I thought this was a very fun and informative class and I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to take it. I think Dr. Castle did a great job teaching us about media and justice while keeping the topics and the class discussions interesting. My most favorite topics were the copycat killers because I enjoy learning about killers and their motives. My least favorite topics were the topics had to be the media fast and hearing about the same cases over and over. I can honestly say I didn't not enjoy anything in this class though. I would like to see a more indepth discussion about copycat killers. If I were to teach a class like this one, I would do it the exact same way Dr. Castle has, because I don't believe their is a more effective way.

Gran Torino

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLdIKlXl3ZA

This is my favorite scene from one of my favorite movies, Gran Torino.  Walt Kowalski is a bitter old man and a Korean War veteran who has just lost his wife. The world has changed around him as well. His once all-white neighborhood is now mostly Southeast Asian and he has a Hmong family living next door. He doesn't get along with his own family, all of whom seem more interested in getting his house than anything else. His pride and joy, however, is his mint condition 1972 Gran Torino. When the Hmong teenager who lives next door, Thao, is threatened by his cousin and other local gang members to steal it, Walt almost shoots him. Gradually, however, he realizes he has more in common with his neighbors than his own family and becomes something of a neighborhood hero when he prevents the gangbangers from forcing Thao into their car. He takes Thao under his wing, teaching him a few things about life and helps getting him a job. Walt's intervention has a price, however, when the gang shoots up Thao's house and attack his sister Sue. Walt decides to take things into his own hands, but not in the way you would think.

This movie raises concern for innercity gang violence. I'm sure its very hard for kids like these to escape the gangs, considering it is pretty much all they have sometimes. Its also kinda sad that Thao feels like he has to be like his cousin in order to "be a man".

Changes

Tupac - Changes

Come on come on
I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself
is life worth living should I blast myself?
I'm tired of bein' poor & even worse I'm black
my stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch
Cops give a damn about a negro
pull the trigger kill a nigga he's a hero
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares
one less hungry mouth on the welfare
First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers
give 'em guns step back watch 'em kill each other
It's time to fight back that's what Huey said
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead
I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other
We gotta start makin' changes
learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers
and that's how it's supposed to be
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids
but things changed, and that's the way it is

[Bridge w/ changing ad libs]
Come on come on
That's just the way it is
Things'll never be the same
That's just the way it is
aww yeah
[Repeat]

[2]
I see no changes all I see is racist faces
misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under I wonder what it takes to make this
one better place, let's erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people they'll be acting right
'cause both black and white is smokin' crack tonight
and only time we chill is when we kill each other
it takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven sent
We ain't ready, to see a black President, uhh
It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact
the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks
But some things will never change
try to show another way but you stayin' in the dope game
Now tell me what's a mother to do
bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you
You gotta operate the easy way
"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way
sellin' crack to the kid. " I gotta get paid,"
Well hey, well that's the way it is

[Bridge]

[Talking:]
We gotta make a change...
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
and let's change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.

[3]
And still I see no changes can't a brother get a little peace
It's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs
so the police can bother me
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do
But now I'm back with the facts givin' it back to you
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up,
crack you up and pimp smack you up
You gotta learn to hold ya own
they get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone
But tell the cops they can't touch this
I don't trust this when they try to rush I bust this
That's the sound of my tool you say it ain't cool
my mama didn't raise no fool
And as long as I stay black I gotta stay strapped
& I never get to lay back
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs
some punk that I roughed up way back
comin' back after all these years
rat-tat-tat-tat-tat that's the way it is uhh


Some things will never change


This songs has always been a personal favortie of mine and most people can always recognize this song.  This song raises questions about poverty, drug abuse, drug dealing, racism, murder, weapons, and corruption in the police force. Tupac is calling for a change in the way people live their lives to hopefully bring peace.

Guest Speaker

I thought Katie Baird did a great job at presenting a topic like suicide in a not so morbid manner to help educate us about it. She really went into detail about every little subject possbile about suicide and really helped us to recognize, diagnose, and treat one of our loved ones who may have these kind of thoughts. It is important that people take this information and apply it to everyday life. It doesn't matter if you use this information to save a loved one or ust some person you know from class, but if you save a single life, isn't it worth listening to an informational and involving presentation?

Amityville

http://www.radfordreviews.com/cgi-bin/rview.cgi?rm=mode2&type=article&name=TheTruthBehindTheAmityvilleHorror

Last night I was watching a documentary of the truth behind the Amityville Horror. It was really interesting and went into detail about Ronnie Defeo. His background and his mental state. Ronnie DeFeo was the son that killed his entire family while they were sleeping by gunshots execution style. He claimed he was insane and said that the house made him do it.  He claimed to hear voices and had a lot of weird happenings in the house. Turns out the house was actually placed on top of an Indian burial ground. What do you think? Do you believe Ronnie DeFeo was insane? Either way I have always been very interested in this story.

Beyond Sorry

I attended the folm Beyond Sorry in this week's Oceania Film Festival series. It was more of a documentary of Zita Wallace. Her family is in an aboriginal tribe in Autralia but over 50 years ago under the Government, she was taken by white men from her family and forced into schools and made to learn to live in white society. This story is of her finally return back to her home land and regain her culture which was stripped from her.  I found it interesting that the parents of the kids taken were told that their kids were dead so in their culture they were not allowed to talk about dead children.  Zita is one a few that come back to their true home and family even though they are nothing like it used to be. It is a touching tale that is a very interesting story that I never knew took place. Come connections I got were that this story reminds me a lot of the assmiliation and oppression put on the Native Americans by the English and Spanish settlers of the old days. Often we sometimes overlook what bad things we have done in the past.

Copycat Film

I really enjoyed the movie with Bill Curtis we watched in class last week.  After other blogs I think everyone pretty much hit it on the head that this individuals that commit these crimes and sick and mentally weak. These people do not know how to take responsibility of their own actions. I believe that these people have mental problems that are overlooked in the earlier stages of their development. I think the copycat acts can be avoided if the propers actions are taken when they show signs of not knowing right from wrong or understanding the consequences of their actions. To them, watching these people do it on movies only makes them feel like it can be done and they can maybe get some recognition and have a movie made about them possibly. Some of these offenders want just that, to be acknowledged. Either way they are all sick in the head and I feel if the people who surround them take the proper steps to get them help then the whole "copycat" excuse can be laid to rest.