Single Stories

The single story is very dangerous in society today. Our culture at large runs on single stories, specifically in 2014, where everything you want and more is available to you at hand. So negative and/or limiting single stories have a strong effect on the subject at large. A single story is dynamic and varies in subject matter. For instances a single story can be about, human physical appearance, cognitive abilities, international bias, etc. The consequences of single stories can vary from minimal to extremely damaging. A single story that results in minimal damage could hurt someones feelings, but extreme damage could lead to a young girl's anorexia. The media's affects the likelihood of a single story solidifying and becoming imbued into our cognition. Today, our technology exceeds the past, as we can communicate with others across the world adding to the damage a single story can cause. One example of this is that majority of websites on the web are in English, unable to be accessed by those of minority culture. Through globalization the majority culture's influence over communication barriers has limited websites to minorities based on design and language availability.
In the future, I believe our generation as a whole will be more open minded as our education was based off of the scientific method. For this reason, our generation considers if the resource is credible and reliable. Our generation investigates issues and continues to develop formal operations thinking. Although we are not perfect, majority of us strive and continue to influence younger generations.

Before moving to Columbus, I had never encountered such poverty and homeless people. Honestly, I thought that homeless were not very common beside the statistics. In my hometown, not everyone is rich, but they are for the most part pretty well off. Not saying there wasn't poor families, but they could afford the essentials for basic survival. Majority of my hometown inhabitants are considered working class or lower middle class with few being higher-middle class.Before I came to college I was sheltered and although I knew about poverty and homeless people I had never experienced it. As soon as I met a true homeless person did I experienced culture shock. Now, I often sympathize for homeless youth. Not only is this an extremely damaging issue to individuals, families, and culture at large, but we learned from the single story that if we don't see it, it doesn't exist.
It is cowardly, but it is this that I have hope. More emerging adults, from my peers at Ohio State, that I have talked to have at least meet individuals of different culture, ethnicity, race, SES, etc. and/or have traveled abroad. We are receiving a more informed and global view of the world from through our own experiences diminishing the power of the single story.

"Hollywood Here We Come"

Although as strange as this may sound, I believe celebrities can be influential leaders. One celebrity I believe is a leader is Macklemore. Not only because he made thrift clothes cool and trendy, but because of his stance on drugs and gay rights. Through his popularity and his music, he is raising awareness. Below are two videos that I believe to be an example of his leadership.

I know what you may be thinking, these songs mean nothing and that there only purpose was for publicity, but honestly, that isn’t what I believe.

While these issues are controversial, I believe a leader should stick to their morals. It takes bravery to speak out and admit to having a problem knowing you have to give up your life as you know it and begin again. Either if you are coming out or coming clean it requires courage.

Being a leader requires selflessness and I believe Macklemore can be an influential leader on the war on drugs and civil rights. Everyone is created equal and Macklemore is showing his support for both issues.  

Do you really wanna know?

How do you explain who you are in 250 words? You would assume that it would be easy; I mean, you are the only one who knows you better than anyone, right?

Other than the basics, how do you put into words who you are? Do you explain specific life-changing experiences? Or describe your personal beliefs and ideas on how the world turns? Not only is this not an easy task, but if you are like me, you’ll worry about how your peers will perceive your personal description of yourself. You wouldn’t want to come across as simple and prosaic, rather you would like to come across as unique without sounding too grandiloquent. Can you tell I have been studying for the GRE vocabulary for the last couple of hours?

I believe it is important for you to know who you are for your own personal success and development. You don’t owe anybody an explanation of who you are because, in the end, it does not matter what people think about you.  

You may agree that the insignificant rant above gave you, the reader, a better understanding of who I am and a greater insight into my thought process. Plus it was more entertaining than me simply explaining to you that I am a cheesy, opinionated individual who enjoys being different. I probably sound like a hipster, but doesn’t everyone go through a hipster phase? Yes? Maybe? No, Okay.

From my experience while in college, I’ve learned that once you become comfortable with yourself everything else falls into place.  My aspirations, resilience, and the support from my family and everyone I hold close to my heart are responsible for inspiring me to continue chasing my ever changing dreams. I am a helper and hope to empower people to develop into the best he or she can be. My goal is to change someone’s life every day. That can be as easy as flashing someone a quick smile or thank you, or as difficult as giving constructive criticism (usually sugar coated). Although I am not involved with many extracurricular activities outside of school, working in student life is how I enjoy spending my time. As weird as that sounds, it has lead me to those life changing experiences I mentioned above and helped shaped me into whom I am today.