Quarter Three Project

My readership has greatly improved since Q2. The month of December I had 14 views, the month of November was 91 and October was only 12 views, the entire month of February I had 218 page views. I think the biggest difference from before was that in quarter three I started putting my blog as a link on Facebook a couple times a week and after I made a new post so that more people could reach it. I also put labels at the end of my blog so that anyone searching those could possibly find my blog that way too.

            My two most popular posts were my contribution post and my MTV 16 and pregnant post. I am not sure why the contribution post received so many views, but as for the MTV one I know that I advertised on Facebook for it and I told my friends to go read my blog. This worked really well because MTV is a very popular TV channel and many people my age would be interested in reading something that had to do with a TV show they would understand. The other posts that were after these two, were also posts that had to do with main stream ideas, like for instance American Idol, I noticed that the more I made my posts about something many people would know about, the more people I had that viewed that particular post.

            My referring sites were mainly Facebook and Google. The only key word I had where someone found my blog was from the MTV 16 and pregnant. These referring sites taught me that many people are on Facebook all the time, and the best way to get more people to read your blog is if you advertise it on a website, like Facebook, that can be spread quickly and effortlessly.

            Some questions I have would be why some posts weren’t as popular as I figured they would be. I had assumed that most people would know American Idol more than they would know about MTV’s 16 and pregnant. However this was not true.  During the third quarter I also became a follower to more than just the other students in my class, and I only had one person follow me back. It showed me that some of the bigger blogs won’t necessarily follow you back just because you follow them. If I would assign myself a grade I would say that I would give myself an A. I kept up with the weekly deadlines of doing a post every week, and I also accomplished getting more readers for the third quarter than I had in the second quarter. Not only that but I tried to broaden my topics so as to attract more readers that way and I would say that I did succeed. More importantly is that I branched out to other blogs and started to follow them, and by reading other people’s blogs who had many followers, I was given ideas on how to improve my blog so as to gain more followers as well. Lastly, I read my fellow classmates blogs pretty religiously, I did not always comment on everyone’s blog, but at the very least I did read a majority of the blogs that they all wrote.

            In doing this assignment with the blogs I learned that sometimes when you want to gain more readers, the topics you write about have to change. For instance some topics will be more popular than others, and at the very least if you choose not to pick relevant and popular topics, you must have a theme in order to keep people coming back to your blog. I feel that my writer persona did change when I was writing for other people. When I first started I blogged about whatever was in my head at the time or a topic that was important to me. During this quarter I had to adapt that idea and make it more relevant and important to readers than necessarily to myself. For future writing I will remember this so that if I want people to read it and the writing to not just be for me, that I need to write it differently. I need to make sure I consider the audience in my work instead of just making myself feel better afterwards.

College

Today while we had off at school and everyone was sleeping in I was waking up at 5:45 to get on the road to go to a Spring Open House for University of Maryland. Granted I am one of those people who knew what college they wanted to go to as they were applying, which is a huge advantage. When I went to the Fall open house I  basically knew I was going there and that I was going to major in elementary education. I wouldn't say there was an A-ha moment with University of Maryland the first time I heard about it or even got information on it, but I was definately excited after that fall open house and agreed that the education program was a great one. Today was like 200000x that feeling of excitement. Not only is there only like 40 some days left of my Senior year in highschool, I also got to learn more about the process that my Education major was going to take me in the next four years of my life. The open house started off with an introduction which had some musical entertainment of an acapela group called the "Faux paz" which I have to say were amazing. They were all extremely talented and performed with a lot of energy. Once the other parts of the day happened with the meetings and what not at the building for my major I was so ready to be there in classes, to be at college and living that lifestyle. I am so beyond excited to go to college after today that I can not even explain it, I don't even really want to go back to high school on Monday, even though I know I have to.

College is going to be an amazing experience, and I cant wait to be one of many new freshman as the Class of 2015 to be partaking in this experience in the fall. The feeling of taking classes that may be CORE but you have more options of and then doing classes that involve your intended major is so exciting. The atmosphere is so different than high school, and even though I will miss that part of my life, I can't wait to start my next journey.

Dreams

As I was watching American Idol on thursday it occured to me that many of the contestants this year that made it through to the Hollywood week and then to the top 24 were under the age of 18. I then imagined myself being on stage and in front of all those people, which of course is not something that I would particularly like, but even without liking being on stage I can not imagine being that young and doing what you want the most, to perform to the entire country. It must be an exhilarating experience to go and sing in front of millions of people and in front of well known artists like Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. I think that it is wonderful that they get to fulfill their dream at a young age, because many people don't even get that ability. My dream job isnt something like singing, but I definately have dreams that are large and could potentially never happen. For instance I want to travel to a lot of Europe and see many countries, and even though I have started and been to France and Spain this past summer, I don't know if I will be able to see all the countries I want to. I think its important for people to have dreams, because even if they all don't come true, its something to live and strive for, its a goal that could be obtainable, and having a goal and ambition is important.

So what are your dreams? If you could do anything what would it be?

The healing power of music

Music has been a wonderful gift that many talented people over the years have given the world. I do not know about you, but I know many people who use music so strongly to help them when they are upset or just in their daily life. I love many types of music, yes I have a select few categories I usually do not like with the occassional exception, but mostly I do not only stay to one genre. I have had many people look at the songs in my itunes and call it a completely random group of songs. I feel music can be an extremely powerful thing if someone is open to what the story of the song is going to tell them, or where they will end up after hearing it. Some songs are just fun to listen to when you are happy and carefree, like the summer songs that everyone loves to hear when it starts to get warmer. Music can tap into memories of certain periods of your life so quickly and can even create the mood you are in. More importantly is I feel that music has the ability to heal. I can not explain the feeling of I get being in your car(or whatever vehicle you have) and blasting the music to the point that you can hear NOTHING else, no thoughts, nothing, just the words and tune that are coming through the speakers. You do not have to be in a car for this to work, having headphones in and turning the music all the way up helps as well. I know that when I have a hard day, or I am upset that after I do this I will miraculously feel a lot better especially if I end up screaming the lyrics, even if to others it doesn't sound good doesn't matter. No the problem doesn't go away just because I sing a song, but sometimes its the best way to just let it all out.

I know that not everyone reacts to music the same way, for example I know that my cousin will hear the lyrics to EVERY song on the first time she listens to it, and I can do this with some songs, but it will usually take me a couple times to hear all the lyrics first. Regardless of how you react to music, it is usually in a positive way, and I feel it helps everyone at some point, and does heal those who let it. So whats that song that you let blast in your car or on your ipod? Is there a song? Or do you react differently to music?

Here is a song that was sent to me recently, and thanks to that person I love listening to it :) I can't guarantee you will all like it who listen to it, but someone may and thats all that matters.

Give them a chance!

This blog post might be slightly different then my previous two blogs about TV shows. However something that has come to my mind this week is about learning different cultures. Being in a world lit class and a world religions class at the same time would probably be the culprits of this idea. In addition to these two classes, I have always had somewhat of a philosophy that learning about other cultures and religions are a good thing not a bad thing. One of my pet peeves would be when people make assumptions about a particular culture or group without even knowing much about it. These assumptions usually do not lead to good outcomes, some examples would be war, violence, and hatred of some people without having just cause to. I have heard more than once people my age and other generations say some comments about certain people or certain cultures that they really had no business to. Yes I am aware that everyone is granted to their own opinion, but I would strongly disagree with their opinion. I know that I wouldn’t appreciate being judged because of superficial things or my background, without any one even knowing me. So in my life I try to not judge others or other ideas or cultures without knowing more about them first. Something my dad once told me is that “we should look at life like a rubix cube. You may see green, red, or blue, but I see white and yellow. Now neither one of us are wrong, but without knowing the other ones perspective then you may be making decisions or judgments on things you don’t fully know or understand.” This has always stuck with me, and since then I try even harder to do what I can to know about every angle before I make a decision or pass judgment.

MTV-16 and Pregnant/Teen Mom and Skins

 Many people would agree that MTV airs far more reality shows than music videos these days, but many programs that they are playing have many parents up in arms. 16 and pregnant and Teen Mom followed by Teen Mom 2 have been on their second seasons and showing the hardships and challenges that teenage parents have to deal with. One day on my ride to school the radio station I was listening to was asking people to call in to give their opinions about these two series. Many people were saying that these shows glamorize teen pregnancies and don't really show them what it is like, or it shows that MTV will pay you to be irresponisble and a bad mother in some of the cases of the moms on Teen Mom.

  Some mothers blamed Teen Mom and 16 and pregnant of making it looking okay to get pregnant. Being a teenager I would have to disagree with this statement. I have watched 16 and Pregnant, Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2 and no where in any of those have I felt that they glorified being pregnant. If anything it shows how crazy and hectic some of these teenages lives are because they ended up getting pregnant before they were old enough. A lot of those women either do not have the financial ability or do not have the father to help them which makes it extremely hard for them. If there is a rise in teen pregnancy then maybe people should look more to the parents instead of to the TV shows, because even if there is something on TV if a parent doesnt't talk to their children about it and how to prevent such things, then they should be held responsible as well.

Another show that has even MORE controversary than Teen Mom and 16 and pregnant would be the show Skins. I have seen the commercials for Skins when MTV was heavily promoting the show before its series premiere, and honestly those advertisements were uncaptivating to me. I do not really have any friends that have watched this show, but from what I have seen of it, even if they did they probably would not watch it for long. MTV has been claiming that it is a show that represents what kids in high school are going through and what their lives are like, instead of other shows that gloss over the really bad things. I am sure that like with other MTV shows they have overeaggerated certain things, but at the same time it probably has some truth to it. Having not watched the show myself I can not be certain, but I wouldn't want to watch it necessarily either. Many mothers have been against the excessive drug use, alcohol, and sex that Skins displays in their episodes. MTV is close to child pornography  because of the underage actors that are on this show. Many mothers want this show off air so that their children will be saved and not exposed to it.

MTV will be a controversial TV station for years to come. They will have shows like Skins, and Teen Mom and 16 and pregnant around for awhile. I do not feel that they will change what they think will get viewers on their network, regardless of how many moms make petitions. Being a teenager I have watched some of these shows and I think that it is naive to assume that ALL teenagers will watch these shows and think, " Oh, it's on TV so it must be okay to do so." No, those who think that are the same teenagers who will be influenced by their friends to do certain things like drugs or drink before they are legal to. If parents are worried about what the show will do to their children, then they need to sit them down and make sure their children understand the reality of certain shows, and that not everything that is on TV is okay to do in real life. Parents should be parents, TV shows, songs, and bad movies will always be out there, it will be a reality in this world for many years to come, and instead of just trying to get rid of those shows, they should combat the behavior. Just because you get a show off the air does not mean that teenagers do not know about the possibility of what the show was about. It is not out of sight out of mind, the behaviors are still out there, so do something about THAT and maybe those behaviors will be lessened. As for me, I am going to continue to watch Teen Mom 2 and 16 and pregnant, but I know better than to imitate these behaviors that I see on TV.

I would love to hear your opinions on this topic. It doesn't have to be just these shows, or just MTV, but other shows that relate, and how you feel it affects those who watch it, if it affects them at all.

American Idol

American Idol is now on its tenth season since its beginning. This season however they are starting it different with two new judges, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. I remember when this show first started, I didn't watch it until the second season, and then I watched all the episodes until the winner. After the third season I watched, the show became less intriguing except for the auditions. I always enjoyed watching the auditions because there would always be someone who thought they would be the winner, and turned out to be tone deaf.

I have watched some of the episodes during this season and I think that the different judges bring something different to American Idol because of their personalities. Maybe the new judges will gain more viewers like the producers are probably hoping for, or it might turn out to be the worse season, but it is too soon to tell.

So who still watches American Idol? Who would you say were the people you remember most: the people who cant sing and make fools of themselves or the actual winners? Do you think American Idol should stop airing? Let me know what you think!

Here are some of the videos of auditions over the seasons.