What is real?

I'm also taking Adolescent Development with Dr. Coyne (excellent), and I just finished reading my adolescent book this week, The Giver....

love

love

loved it!

Great book, fast read, and I would totally recommend it. After reading the book it really made me think about all the little things that we under appreciate in our world, the color, feelings, memories, the joy, the pain, the beauty. And I thought it really tied in with our lecture today when we talked about what is reality, and how real is media. 

Media is wonderful because it can portray reality or branch off into a fantastical world.....

Although this distopian book wasn't reality, it made me reflect on what makes my reality so great. Media allows us to capture reality and share it with others. The other day I was outside on a run, and the sunset was magnificent, so I took a picture- sadly this picture doesn't do the sunset justice, but it gives you a glimpse of what my reality was after that run. 

Reality is magnificent, beautiful, and full of happiness, and love. 

Reality can also really suck a lot of the time, some days we feel down, depressed, sad.

Reality brings pain, stress, and disappointment.

Reality is was makes us human, it is the human experience. We take it with all the good and bad because we own it, reality is who we are- right here, right now- the good and the bad. 

We each choose our own realities....no two realities are the same.

Example: The other day when it was raining, I was walking on campus, when I realized that I was also walking on a battlefield, where innocent earthworms were being slaughtered with no chance of survival. They only came on the sidewalks thinking they would be safe from drowning in the dirt, little did they know they would meet an untimely death from a careless giant's foot. I, being a very earthworm-friendly person, have always made sure to try my hardest not to kill tiny living creatures in their own environments (if they are in my house it's a different scenario  but  if I'm outside, then I'm in their turf). I was sad to notice that worm after worm was being stomped and didn't know what to do to help, besides make sure I didn't step on any of them. Perhaps you're like me and do the same thing? But perhaps you've never ever thought about caring about the stupid worm's life being taken under your foot.

My reality is different then yours, as weird as an example this might be (really this post is just to raise worm-death awareness at BYU during rainstorms).....but I'm sure there are things you think of that aren't currently part of my reality. By reading this post, maybe next time it rains, you'll look down and think about the poor helpless little worms underfoot......this is how realities are shared. 

What is real to you?

The Letter

In class we wrote letter to someone in the media about something we felt passionate about, first thing I thought about was Carl's Jr and their awful commercials....so here is my letter

Dear Carl Karcher Enterprises,

Your sexual advertisements for Carl's Junior are disrespectful, demeaning, and damaging towards women. After seeing your Carl's Junior Super Bowl commercial this year, I am firmly resolved to never purchase your products again. I am not a mindless consumer that will simply buy things that remind me of sex, so please do not assume we are all stupid. The moment your commercial aired, all my respect for you as a company was gone, and you should care about this. I find your advertisements offensive and crude. As I am sure you already know, women have 86% of the purchasing power in the United States, and believe me, we take this power very seriously.
Your commercials tell me you are not proud of your business, or confident in your product. Your commercials tell me that you do not respect women. Your commercials tell me to never buy your product, because it obviously sucks on many levels. Either you change the way you advertise, or your business will not last in the long run.
It's your future, take pride in the legacy you leave, and make your restaurant chain a family friendly place, where everyone can feel welcome. If the only idea your advertisement team can come up with to sell your product is a sexy woman, nearly naked, eating it....then they are not a very good advertisement team. In fact I'm pretty sure a cro-magnon could come up with a better idea. Ask yourself, where is the creativity? Where is the art?And how much are you paying these people to make garbage?
When I see a commercial I want to laugh and connect with the product. I do not want to see a message that says, "women are objects to be drooled over". I would much rather see a delicious burger, made fresh, that is healthier than the other burger places. Your commercials make your burger look like the slut of all the other burgers, so why on earth would I choose to eat a slut-burger when I could eat a family cookout burger that tastes like a summer breeze? It's a no brainier to me, as it is for many thousands who I know feel the same way.
I know you can come up with a much better advertising campaign, so please just stop with the lazy advertising, put your thinking caps on and be creative. Stop undressing women, and start impressing them.

Sincerely,
A Former Costumer