Melinda Duckett and the Media

(Technorati Tags: Melinda Duckett)

I'm not really sure how I haven't even heard of this story until now. There is a dearth of actual information on any of the news sites I commonly use, but googling affords a good timeline of news events relating to the story. It's tragic--and not just in the way that every newscaster has feinted the phrase to gain the collective emotive response from viewers that helps boost ratings.

The media is ripping open the family's lives for everyone to see, with detailed commentary on divorce papers, hobbies, mental illnesses, including accusations and assumptions of Melinda's guilt, which should be roles relegated to unbiased law enforcement agencies, not polarizing talk shows. Media even went so far as to begin their own arm of the prosecution, and some assert this, combined with other factors, may have sparked the conditions necessary for Melinda's suicidal intent and delivery.

On some of my own investigatory work (or google), I discovered Melinda's MySpace page, although it is (and has always been) set to private and so one cannot see more details. But looking at the empty profile page alone breaks my heart.

What do I see?

I see an attractive 21-year-old woman, smiling, standing in a blurry picture. I see her heartache, her troubles with the father to her baby, her difficulty in managing her life as a young mother, her fear of loss, her stress, written in unseen text. Her tribulations are tremendous--I will never understand how difficult young, single mothers must have it, nor will a lot of the folks reading this.

I also see a lot of love and hope, both for her own life and that of her child. And I see an empty future.

It's painful to see, and I suffer vicariously just knowing that life can offer these difficulties, but then fails to offer necessary support. The simple fact that I, too, am making light of this story on my blog, and am offering links on where others can find out more information, means that I'm furthering some of the goals of the media that I find hideous. But my intentions are not the same: I don't want you to make a value judgment of Melinda's innocence or guilt. I want you to acknowledge the pain in her life, and the fate that befell her.

I sent a message to Melinda just now, and felt sharing it would tie up my thoughts before I head to bed:

I'm sorry. I'm sorry for your child. I'm sorry for your fate. I'm sorry I was able to even find this page, courtesy of all of the media attention your story has received.

I used to have a friend who also struggled to make ends meet as a young, single mother. She is your age, and deals with stresses I cannot begin to fathom. I am thankful that she is managing so well in raising her son, despite a lot of obstacles thrown her way. I only wish you, a stranger to me, would have an opportunity to see the same for your son.

Rest peacefully,
Chris

Movies I Want to See

...and the trailers that appetize:



Saw III.













The Fountain.

Webcasts

I've added a link that will be new to those of you non-Cal students: Berkeley Webcasts. It is a listing of recorded events and class lecturers that anyone may peruse at any time. It is definitely a step in the right direction in making school more accessible to everyone, and I'm glad the number of classes and events that are recorded seem to be increasing as of late.

Note: See those 2 MCB courses, 102 and 110? I (need to) see them a lot, myself, to prepare for another round of GREs, biochem-style. Irk.

Revenge on the Rays?

Irwin fans, maybe this isn't such a good idea:

Dead stingrays with their tails cut off have been found in Australia, sparking concern that fans of naturalist Steve Irwin may be avenging his death.

Leaders and Language Use

Besides witnessing a glorious conquest of the Gophers led by the Golden Bears of Berkeley, today I participated and planned a training session for our new executive committees for hall association.

Just to define these terms for readers, Hall Association is the forum by which residents can use their voice and represent their interests, when it comes to doling out funding for programs (each resident puts in $45 of his or her housing fees to a hall government fund), deciding on which issues the community values participation in, and to coalesce in social harmony and shape the residence halls into something they can all call Home. The officers democratically elected as leaders of the hall association make up the Executive Committee. I just spent the last couple of weeks planning and implementing an extended elections production for these officers, teaming with publicity, paperwork and parleys, so you can perhaps understand where I was coming from with the previous post.

I’m pleased with the outcome, both of the officer turnout and of their initial training. Training today consisted of the standard introduction and icebreaker, followed by specific job training for each of the different Ex-Comm positions. I and another staff member led the training for RHA Reps. Again, some clarification: the officers of the Ex-Comm all have different roles, and these include president, executive vice president, secretary, treasurer, and so forth. Another important position is the Residence Hall Assembly (RHA) Representative. A common analogy employed is that of the levels of government in America: RHA is the federal government, namely the senate, where representatives from every Ex-Comm in the Berkeley Res. Hall system (the state governments) can congregate and discuss issues that are important to their constituents, whom are the residents of their respective hall communities. Very swank indeed.

So, right, the RHA Rep training. We discussed some basic duties of the position, time commitments, all in all a very broad overview because they would be getting more specific training next week that I am not a part of. I’m proud to say that the last section we included was one on addressing diversity, specifically related with language use and abuse and why it matters to leaders who want to effectively lead. I’m going to include the flyer we helped put together with some additional analysis.

In one sense, this information is key in understanding those that one wants to lead, and we were explicitly promoting these tenets from the sole perspective of including others as one leads. However, I think readers will know that I’m also a fan of social justice for the sake of it itself, and I want to make it clear that these ideas should be given credit regardless of one’s job or, say, position on an executive committee.

We as a diverse people accept language norms from society and assume they are natural, but only because it is so ingrained in our culture and daily life. We accept this and other arms of socialization in different aspects of our lives, but only because we may not have made an effort to really see what is going on. That is, we’re allowing others to think for us. Us! College students! This simple truth can be hard to swallow but it is an immediate consequence of interacting with a society corrupted by fears and generalizations. It’s up to anyone who is a free-thinking individual, particularly those of us who are quickly moving ahead in the world with higher education, to step up to the challenge of instituting change, and recognize that just because society says it is ok does not make it right.

One does not need to consider oneself a leader to act as a conduit for change. Nay, the very act of pushing for change is what defines you as a leader, so take from this what you will and know that your actions, no matter how trivial you assume them to be, are what make you a leader in the eyes of others.

Including Others: Language

As leaders in the halls, you play the dual role of representing your peers and acting as role models before them. Listed below are some examples of offensive phrases and perceptions that affect different areas of diversity. Make a conscious effort to avoid language abuse and encourage your peers to do the same. Many of these statements may not have ever occurred to you as being offensive, but please read with an open mind, and remember that intent is not always the same as impact.

Intent vs. Impact
• What you mean isn’t necessarily how it is perceived
• You must take responsibility for what you say; just because you didn’t mean it doesn’t invalidate the emotional response of the person you offended

Bottled-up Effect
• You don’t know what experiences people go through
• You might think someone is overreacting to a situation
• You might say something and the person will pretend to not be offended or hold it in and then explode later
• People’s physical reactions don’t necessarily reflect how they are really feeling

One of my favorite analogies to this (as I indeed used it today and will continue doing so) follows: suppose I reached over my friend to pick up a book, but in doing so, I absolutely crushed my friend's foot in the process with accidental misplaced footing. My intent was pure and righteous, seeing as how I only wanted the book and didn't want to cause trouble, but the impact manifested itself as a few bruised toes, and a probably irate friend. Knowing this, it would be foolish to justify my actions by saying, 'Whoops! Mah' bad, but it's only your foot, you'll live," or to similarly move on with my life without taking responsibility for my action. I would be invalidating his response and not recognizing that the impact of my actions was tremendously different than just what I intended.

We can make the connections from this analogy to any of the below statements used in our society, and how what we intend to mean does not necessarily correspond with an intended impact.

Sexuality
• “Oh that’s so gay”

An all-too-common adjective describing anything negative. Why do we use this? Why is gay given a negative description? How is anything other than people gay? How do you think a person who identifies as being gay will respond to such a statement?

Gender
• “Hey guys”
• “First Years” instead of “Freshmen”

Why do you only address the guys in the room when you address your friends with this? How awkward for you would it be, if you are a man or a woman, to hear someone welcome a group of people with "Hey ladies how's it going"?

Race
• “Asian ghetto”

An affectionate term for a special southside hub of Berkeley delectable eats from a variety of cultures, several of them identifying as Asian. But why do we call it that? What are we implying about those that work there, or those that eat there? What about the Asian cultures that are represented there? Further, how does using the term ghetto for labeling a successful food court make those who are actually suffering in poverty-stricken areas of America feel? Aren't we then making a mockery of their plight?

A helpful note to Cal students: its name is the DURANT FOOD COURT. So use it!

Ability
• “That’s so retarded/that’s insane/that’s crazy”

Similar to the language involving gay.

Spirituality
• “Let’s all thank God…”
• “You’re going to hell”

Why assume that everyone identifies with a Christian belief system?

Class
• “This is so cheap!”

Not for some it isn't. Why assume that everyone has similar finances or similar financial stability?

Lingo
• "Residence Halls" instead of "Dorms"

Not so important for those living outside the residence halls, but still an important distinction to make. The word dormitory has Latin origin and comes from to sleep, but we don't want this to be a place just for sleep. We want interaction. We want communities to form. We want a sense of being at Home, with extended family. That's why they are residence halls.

Muddle Through

...is the advice given by Tom McMahon in his transcendent take on life's lessons:

Muddle through

I've never seen a self-help book with this advice, but really it's some of the best advice I can give somebody going through a difficult stretch. Sometimes the absolute best you can do isn't that pretty, or elegant, or graceful, or frankly all that inspiring. When you're in one of those stretches, stop worrying about it. Nobody else could do that much better in your position either.

I found this post back in March and I still go back to it for advice and a soothing read in troubled waters. I recommend it to anyone currently struggling to swim.

Croc Hunter's Father Speaks

Saw this article on "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, and found this line from his father heart-breaking:

Bob Irwin told reporters his son and he were extremely close.

"Steve and I weren't like father and son, we never were," Irwin said.

"We were good mates. I'll remember Steve as my best mate ever," he said.

Stubborn Teachers

I believe strongly in certain tenets of education, like taking the emphasis off of busy work and homework and placing emphasis where it belongs: on actually learning the subject. My physics course here at Cal requires its students to complete weekly online homework assignments from a teaching aid dreaded by many a science major, Mastering Physics.

And so every Monday at 1pm, I hate my life with such a passion, because

I stare. At a blinking cursor. In front of a long string of variables, parentheses, and Greek letters. Above a memo from the automaton instructor informing me that I have one more attempt remaining to answer the question.

I submit to its evil intentions. I give up. I click 'Show Answer'. I see an equation appear in the box. The same equation that I had crafted over the past 43 minutes, with a parenthesis moved ever so subtly.

This happens all the time.

Another fact: I like to argue, especially in written form. It's what netted me a solid GRE writing score (although it did nothing for my math section, which was expected). And so I emailed the professor about my thoughts, in hopes that I could persuade him to reconsider this torture:

What's frustrating is how trivial some of my mistakes were (squaring 2 and d_2 instead of just d_2), and yet the program would offer no real constructive advice on how to glean the correct answer from my input. While I do enjoy your lectures, I am really not looking forward to an entire semester with this frustrating teaching aid.

He responds a day later:

Perhaps the best approach is to learn a precise approach. Math is not free-form; it requires a level of precision that also helps to clarify one's thought.

If that doesn't help, and if you're thinking of a career in medicine, consider that a misplaced decimal point on a prescription can kill a patient. "Well, that was a trivial mistake" won't cut it then. The same problem applies in most professions, including law, etc.

Of course, I take this reply as a slap in the face for a d-d-d-d-d-duel, and respond as such:

I understand what you're saying about a certain level of precision when it comes to math, but your analogy really doesn't fit, unless you want me to assume that every week, Mastering Physics gives me life or death decisions to make, and in which case I'd ask that you clarify your expectation with the rest of the class. This is only a homework assignment, given to help us learn physics.

Also, in terms of human grading, there is not a GSI in the world that would give me a 0 for such an answer, when I did the same work and got the same results (sans the unfortunate typo) as any other student with full credit.

All I'm saying is that this teaching aid is really sucking the life out of studying because it emphasizes formatting answers and not the actual work involved in getting there, and if one felt so inclined, it is easy to see which one has the more important life lesson.

At this point, I feel that I've addressed all of his concerns. Yes, precision counts, but learning physics does more in the context of a physics course. If we're to pretend that moving a decimal the wrong way will kill someone, then we should also assume that we're not really learning anymore, and instead only focusing on getting the right answers with the educational tools we already have--which misses the entire point of homework, unless someone wants to correct me on my perception of homework's purpose for being used as a study aid.

But what does he respond with?

It's pretty clear you've already made your mind up. Having taught
this course in several forms over a number of years, I've learned
that in cases like this it's best to just say that I disagree, and
that I think it's unfortunate you're missing the point of how MP can
help you learn.

I wish you luck learning the thinking skills you'll need for this course.

Yeah, he insults me and avoids my arguments. Great. I don't have the 'thinking skills' necessary for doing well in the course, nor the prowess to comprehend how important it is that we do not potentially terminate someone with that one misplaced parenthesis. Maybe the professor can update me on what these 'thinking skills' are, as I've been told that professors normally teach these to their students.

The Cell: A Motion Picture

Harvard biology students will be given a cool resource in their attempts to learn the events happening inside cells: a flash animation.

The Inner Life of a Cell is an eight-minute flash movie that visualizes how a cell uses its myriad, minute components in effecting a physiological response. Every little part inside the cell has a function, a purpose, a job to carry out, and the movie gives an interesting view on how the parts work separately and together.

If you don't already have a background in cell biology, the movie will look foreign and freakish, but remember that it is metaphorically the movie of YOU under a powerful microscope!

Still Here

Janelle was thinking of me and my "recent" post when she bought her Frappuccino, and picked up a Starbucks pamphlet with a catchy title:

Starbucks Commitment to Social Responsibility

I'd wager this is more of an attempt to allay the sometimes violent opposition to their corporation and practices than anything, an intention that differs oh-so-slightly from a college dining hall's advertisement, but it's still good to see.

And, yeah, there's been a slight falling out between me and Blogger this last past week. I realize now that the beginning of the Fall semester as a Program Assistant is a bigger strain on my time, and consequently blog relations, than it was in past years as a Resident Assistant. This should not last too much longer, and I'll try to reach my goal of reasonable posting intervals in due time. Hell, I still haven't finished the Hall Staff Training posts. More to come!