Contemporary Connections: The Running Man Challenge- Section 2 Group A

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/04/asia/police-running-man-challenge/

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/04/26/video-running-man-challenge-college-basketball-vines-compilation-song

           Dating back to around a year ago, a popular dance trend labeled, "The Running Man Challenge", became a social media phenomenon all across the world.  The first link provided displays a video of New York and New Zealand police officers doing "The Running Man Challenge."  The second link describes the "The Running Man Challenge's" origin and the official video, along with others, that began this social media frenzy.  The original video was posted to Instagram by two Maryland basketball players named Jared Nickens and Jaylen Brantley.  In the post, they show themselves doing their own version of the dance move, the running man, to an old popular 90's song, "My Boo" by Ghost Town DJ's.  The video quickly became very popular and persuaded other people to make their own videos of themselves doing "The Running Man Challenge."  Other college athletic teams decided to make their own versions, along with celebrities such as Kyrie Irving, Chance the Rapper, and Kevin Hart.

            Although "The Running Man Challenge" is definitely not as popular as it once was in 2016, the social media trend brought people all around the world together from a single video.  Through the use of the social media we have today, we have the capability to discover new dance trends such as "The Running Man Challenge" easier than ever before.  Capturing these trends on camera and posting them to social media allows them to become more popular quickly.  This is illustrated through the reading we had in class stating, "Dance, like all U.S. culture, has been deeply affected by the technology and growth of mass media....Because the camera, both by design and through the editing process, determines the ultimate view of a dance, media technology played a powerful role in what and how dance movement was viewed..."  Social media can be used as a platform to bring people with different cultures closer together.  "The Running Man Challenge" is a good example of this because it brought people together through the use of a popular dance trend.

The "Evolution" of Dance styles

            

http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars/news/dwts-results-and-eliminations/dancing-with-the-stars-season-24-week-1-season-premiere-results-and-eliminations-032017

The show "Dancing With The Stars" is a popular show on television that gives the audience a look at what Ballroom Dancing looks like and what it is about. It educates the public as well as entertains them, but there is one other aspect of the show that people don't generally think about, and that is the adaptation of certain dance styles to a more European form. This assimilation of dance styles is one small detail about the show that is overlooked due to the number of other factors that affect the public. It gives children clear and specific gender roles, and adults the idea that they can overcome all of the obstacles that they face, just like the dancers as they go through the choreography and tough physical training. It gives people a lot to like, but the problem is that the show changes the dance and dancers to look different and have less connections to their natural characteristics and place of origin.
 For example, the show requires the dancers to get a spray tan in order to step out of themselves and feel more comfortable with a latin-american dance. Not only that, but the dance is slightly changed so that the dancer's "respectable" reputation is held intact in spite of shimmying, which is part of the dance.

So while the show is entertaining and is has a lot to offer, it also takes away from the authenticity of certain dance cultures and makes it more "appropriate" to our own, which is not supposed to be part of American Ideology.

Section 02, Group A- Contemporary Connections- "Trump administration approves Keystone XL pipeline"

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/23/politics/keystone-xl-pipeline-trump-approve/index.html

Today President Donald Trump announced that he has approved the controversial Keystone Pipeline. This Pipeline will go from the rich oil deposits of Alberta, Canada, to the refineries of the Gulf Coast. This decision reverses the Obama Administration's decision to block the project. This comes after years of debate on the project itself, with many dissenters of the project stating that the risk of environmental destruction of animals and humans alike is not worth energy independence from countries in the Middle East and Venezuela. Environmentalists also stress that this pipeline will cut into the Ogalalla Aquifer, one of the worlds largest fresh water aquifers. Trump also states that this will be the first of many approvals for other pipelines and energy projects.

My reaction to this is that I'm not surprised by this approval at all. With the Secretary of State being a former CEO of Exxon-Mobil, it was only a matter of time before this project was going to get approved. This pipeline will not be sustainable to hold over 42,000 jobs like the Trump Administration predicts. That will only be for the construction. When it is all said an done, only about 50 permanent jobs will remain. This is a move that was made for short term profits for oil companies, and the environment is going to take a nasty blow from it.

Group A - Section 2 : The "Dab"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/03/01/what-is-the-dab-dance-and-why-are-sports-stars-celebrating-with/

Recently a dance move called “dab” has become a popular trend. The article defines what the “dab” dance is and why many celebrities today perform it. The dance move was created by a popular rap group , Migos. The “dab” was brought on to the football field after Jeremy Hill scored a touchdown. Quarterback , Cam Newton then became the face of the “dab” after Migos had declared him the “dab daddy”. Newton has been seen performing it every time his teammates  made it to the end zone. Celebrities now like Lebron James, Ellen, and even Hillary Clinton have been seen dabbing.

The dance move originated in the United States but has become viral reaching countries all over the world. The dance move has been very popular among athletes , it is a way for people to express the feeling of showing off or accomplishing something. This connects back to the class text where it states “Dance, which has always existed , in far-flung corners of culture and society, now finds a home in the virtual world of computers…” Trending dances now have become more easily recognize because of social media it is a quick and easy way we can express and share our cultures with others. Throughout the generations we see people grow more and more culturally diverse through the acknowledgement of other social perspectives. In a way this unties all cultures through the expression of dance.

"Contemporary Connections: Wind Energy and Offshore Wind Farms

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/23/science/americas-first-offshore-wind-farm-may-power-up-a-new-industry.html?_r=0

Wind energy is an alternative energy source that can provide power to thousands of homes with minimal impact on the environment. Offshore wind farms are in place in many European countries to harness the strong winds off the coast and provide power to large cities most commonly places along the coastline. The United States first attempt at an offshore wind farm off Block Island, Rhode Island failed due to distance off the coast, cost and loss of support from political leaders. The project was planned to have 130 turbines with the potential to provide power to 17,000 homes. It costs around $30 million dollars to build, install and connect one turbine. These towering turbines require heavier, more expensive parts to avoid corrosion from ocean waters. Also very few company's have the propper equipment to transfer and install them off the coast. Although America is behind in offshore wind energy, by waiting for prices to drop as it becomes more and more popular in Europe as well as learning from their mistakes could put us in place for an offshore wind energy take off in the next decade or so. 

Wind energy is a huge environmental movement today in which the US is trying to look into to using different things to use more wind power instead of burning fossil fuels. In the article we had read for class, they had mentioned that many individuals had fought for a dam in San Fransisco. "By the first decade of the twentieth century, in the single most famous episode in American conservation history, a national debate had exploded over whether the city of San Francisco should be permitted to augment its water supply by damming the Tuolumne River in Hetch Hetchy valley, well within the boundaries of Yosemite National Park. The dam was eventually built, but what today seems no less significant is that so many people fought to prevent its completion. Even as the fight was being lost, Hetch Hetchy became the baffle cry of an emerging movement to preserve wilderness." Today, we know about the dam and see the dam but don't ever think about what happened to have the dam built. Wind energy is very similar to this event in history. Many individuals know how useful and beneficial offshore wind farms can be to the US; however, there is still a fight for developing them. Throughout the article, one of the main themes is preservation of wilderness. I think not only in the article but with many individuals in the world today we seek to preserve the wilderness. Wilderness has always something we find joy and piece in and wind energy does not effect that. Wind energy is made to keep america beautiful. Wind energy is sustaining our fossil fuels and giving us an alternative way to get energy. I think there is a huge controversy on if wind energy is too ugly. One of the main themes in the article is how we see wilderness and how we connect to it and I think many individuals believe that wind farms will take away from the beauty of the wilderness and country. 

Section 2, Group A - Contemporary Connections: "3 Myths That Shape the Transgender Bathroom Debate" and LGBT Movements

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/07/health/transgender-bathroom-law-facts-myths/

In CNN’s article “3 Myths That Shape the Transgender Bathroom Debate,” the arguments used by those opposed to allowing transgender individuals to use the bathroom that correlates to their gender are analyzed and debunked. One argument used by dissenters is that predators can take advantage of transgender bathroom laws to enter women’s restrooms and sexually assault women and children. CNN disproves this argument by citing only a single incident in which a man undressed in a women’s locker room who may have taken advantage of such anti-discrimination laws. Otherwise, there seems to be virtually zero cases in which such laws have resulted in sexual assault, proving that those making such an argument are either woefully uninformed or purposely attempting to impede civil rights progress for the LGBTQ movement.

These unsubstantiated arguments against the LGBTQ community are not new; our class reading, “Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement,” mentions that during the Cold War, thousands of gay individuals in military and government positions lost jobs because gay people “lack the emotional stability of normal persons” which means they “constitute security risks.” While such arguments seem ridiculous by today’s standards, those opposed to gay rights used such arguments to oppress gay people and strip them of their jobs and their rights. 

Contemporary Connections - Keep America Beautiful & The Trump Administration


Keep America Beautiful, this PSA video from the 1970's is striking and sheds light on the pollution and sheer disregard that Americans had toward the well being of the environment. That commercial was aired in 1971, 46 years later it holds relevance to our current environmental crisis known as global warming. Oddly enough, our current leader does not seem to believe that it is a scientifically backed idea. 

In 2012 Donald Trump tweeted: "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive". While that was five years ago, I fail to believe that his views have radically changed to be congruent with the beliefs that most educated people hold: that global warming is real, and is a real problem. 

Since the 2017 inauguration, there has been talk from the Trump administration that supports a resurgence of energy and money into the coal industry which has faced considerable trouble in recent years. While I do support the idea of creating jobs and helping to grow/repair our economy, it is difficult to support the idea of facilitating this growth through the dying coal industry. America has a bountiful supply of coal, but the use of coal has proven to be problematic for our planet. 

I fear that the disregard of facts (that global warming is real) will permit this administration and it's supporters to irreparably damage our planet. The truth is, one cannot choose to believe what is convenient for them and demonize what isn't. Because that is intelligent, presidential, or ethical. It is however, foolish. 

I watch this video and think, perhaps it would be best to show this to our supreme leader. But it most likely would not make a difference. 46 years later and America is not great, and it is uglier than ever.