Media Skank?

I have had rocky, tumultuous relationships with various outlets of media filled with cheating, neglect and assorted other types of abuse(usually in the form of dropping my cell phone into various bodies of water).

One of my early beloved forms of communication was in middle school when I fell for the charming, popular internet tool known as AOL instant messenger. I could spend hours on end chatting with various buddies where we would have in-depth, drama filled discussions and debates. (Ex: how r u? good u? good. gtg. ttyl. bye.)

In high school my affection for Instant messenger waned as soon as my Dad introduced me to my shiny, new cell phone. We went everywhere together AND it would even show me who was calling so I could screen out anyone I did not particularly want to talk to!

These days, even though I will always love my cell phone, the initial flame of our relationship has died down. I’m not really tied down to one particular source (I guess you could say I’m more of a media skank these days). Most days I read a couple articles in the Washington Post. I use the internet daily for class but I always seem to get sucked into those celebrity gossip sites like Perezhilton. Television is like the one I blow off most of the time. I like to watch the Office, Jay Leno, and Conan O'Brien. They make me laugh whenI get home late after work. My one long distance relationship is with Lucky Magazine, through which I stay connected to the fashion world and try to calculate how many paychecks it will take me to buy those Chanel sunglasses.

Melissa's Blog

1st Blog:

Hi everyone, my name is Melissa Gold and I am a sophomore here at UMBC. I am an undecided major and even though I’ve had an entire year to think about what I might want to study I’m still as unsure as ever. I signed up for AMST 222 because this particular area of American Studies seems fascinating to me. I think in this day and age, and especially in American culture the media has such a powerful and far-reaching influence that it would be more than worth while to learn about it. After earning my undergraduate degree(and if I ever decide on a major) I hope to go to law school not only because it seems to be the popular thing to do in my family, but also because I think a law degree gives you a lot of options career-wise.

I grew up in Columbia, Maryland and attended Glenelg Country School. Growing up I was very athletic and spend most of my time swimming or playing soccer. When I was a junior in high school I unexpectedly had to move to Utah for a year. When I came back, to make a long story short, they wouldn’t accept my academic credits so I ended up having to repeat my junior year. Probably the hardest thing I ever had to do was watch my entire class graduate and stay behind an entire year while they escaping to college without me.

These days I spend most of my time working. I’m a waitress at Johnny’s Bistro on Main Street in Ellicott City (FYI-the food is really good!). It’s my first year trying to balance both work and school and I admit it’s harder than I thought. I have a whole newfound respect for anyone who does this without getting fired and/or sleeping through all of their classes.

Hope everyone has a fun semester.