Change in Media - it starts with me?

Wrote this letter for class - it really challenged me to think about what questions I had, what I want changed, and how to effect that change in media.

Dear Toni Morrison,

            Hello, I am Matthew Nielson. I am a 24-year-old student in Utah. I am in the middle of reading your novel, Song of Solomon. I was immediately drawn in by your powerful characters and intense, ingenuitive use of language. However, after continuing with the book I am becoming more and more disheartened with your liberal use of offensive language and sexual content. What I really want to know is your motives for including these elements in your writing. Is it to give a realistic depiction of the life that these characters would have had, had they been real? If that is the case, is it possible to give a realistic view of a culture without including deleterious language and scenes? I also wonder whether it is harmful for someone to stay naïve or innocent about some of the atrocities in our modern world; obviously offensive and depraved acts are going to continue whether I am apprised of them or not. Is there value in introducing this derogatory material into my life? I would appreciate your views on this topic because I am honestly do not understand it.  According to what I have experienced so far, modern literature would be improved if offensive language and overtly sexual content were limited. In my opinion, it detracts from other themes and messages of the writing, it limits audiences, and it leaves a negative feeling.

            One important reason why I do not appreciate strong language and explicit sex in literature is because it detracts from the other themes in the book. As you know, humans are physical creatures and have a natural arousal corresponding with sexual content. Of course literature can use sex in many different ways, several which are not intended to be arousing. However I think the very nature of the topic makes it overshadow other issues that may be present. I would rather spend more time thinking about the journey of discovery you characters undertake, but it is difficult when the sexual content speaks with such a loud voice.

            If lingering thoughts about the book are on sexual content and language rather than other messages, the receptive audience of the message will be naturally limited. This is in addition to younger readers who (in my opinion) should be shielded from many of the topics you explore in the book until they are older. That raises the question that what about being an adult makes reading mature themes acceptable? If something is pornographic shouldn’t it be inappropriate for everyone?

            The last reason that I feel that sex and swearing do not improve a book is the overall negative feeling that accompanies it. I am not talking about depression or realism that may come from seeing such a naked view of the sad state the world is in, I am talking about how peace, love, comfort, and light cannot share the stage with wicked things. When we choose to surround ourselves with bad influences, good influences cannot stay.

            I love reading and I want to be well read, but offensive language and explicit sexual scenes make it difficult to achieve that goal. I do not want to enforce my own ideas of morality on other people. We are free to think and choose to take in what we will, but as for myself, I would appreciate it if you would limit your use of profanity and sex in your novels. I would also appreciate you answering some of my questions about the role of naiveté or awareness.

Sincerely,

Matthew Nielson

Grooveshark

It has recently come to my attention that not everyone know about Grooveshark. It's a music platform that is like a mix between Pandora and Youtube. I imagine that it is comparable to Spotify which I was going to try out, but then I heard it at my cousin's house and realized that there are commercials on spotify. Blech. Grooveshark is commercial free music on demand that you can organize into your very own playlists. Also, Grooveshark has updated its music suggestion lists, and they are phenomenal. I have found so much good music from it lately including:

• Delicate - Damien Rice
• Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men
• People Help the People - Birdy. 

Look them up. They're Quality.

A Spiritual Red Bull

I had kind of a hard day yesterday and I came home right in time for FHE - or so I thought. Turns out my bishop lives in Highland, not Orem, so there was no way that I would be able to drive over there in time, late as I was. I was pretty unhappy because I have really wanted to be a more active contributer in the ward and also I wanted to end the day on a spiritual note. One of my roommates is sick and he didn't go either. Still feeling strongly that I wanted something, I suggested that we watch a conference talk and discussed it. We ended up watching Elder Eyring's priesthood talk, Help Them Aim High. It was just what I was looking for. As we were watching, I felt the spirit return back to me, and I remembered again that I want to do everything I can to keep its influence with me.

Reasons to Survive November

I am taking a poetry class this semester so that I can become a better descriptive writer. This is a poem I have found that is so powerful (and perfectly seasonal).

Reasons to Survive November - by Tony Hoagland

November like a train wreck—

as if a locomotive made of cold
had hurtled out of Canada
and crashed into a million trees,
flaming the leaves, setting the woods on fire.

The sky is a thick, cold gauze—
but there's a soup special at the Waffle House downtown,
and the Jack Parsons show is up at the museum,
full of luminous red barns.

—Or maybe I'll visit beautiful Donna,
the kickboxing queen from Santa Fe,
and roll around in her foldout bed.

I know there are some people out there
who think I am supposed to end up
                in a room by myself

with a gun and a bottle full of hate,
a locked door and my slack mouth open
          like a disconnected phone.

But I hate those people back
from the core of my donkey soul
and the hatred makes me strong
and my survival is their failure,

and my happiness would kill them
so I shove joy like a knife
into my own heart over and over

and I force myself toward pleasure,
and I love this November life
where I run like a train
deeper and deeper
into the land of my enemies.

Bookface: (like Facebook for books :)

So the social network that is like Facebook for books is actually called Goodreads.com. 

I have been a member for about a year and these are the reasons why I love it:

• All my scrappy little booklists have been compiled onto one place online. Before I was on Goodreads I tried to keep track of the books I wanted to read by simply remembering them (not very effective), by saving them on the notepad on my phone (I remember to look at that like twice a year), and on scrubby pieces of paper stuffed in between the receipts in my wallet. Now when I discover an intriguing new book I simply add it to my "To read list"!
• Your friends can recommend books for you. In the past, my siblings and friends often forgot to tell each other when we discovered a new literary gem. Months or even years later we'd be talking and say, "oh yeah, I read a really good book last year. It was called... uh..." 
• You can see what your friends are reading. Even if people don't get around to recommending good books to each other, interesting titles that they are reading come up on the newsfeed.
• You can write reviews for the books you read. Go ahead! Discover the secret pleasure of becoming a book critic and breaking down pros and cons of the plot, characters, writing style, whatever - it is much fun.
• Goodreads send me a newsletter each month about new books my favorite authors have written. Hello! That's amazing!

Watching or Snacking?? A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

I had been doing research for a paper for a couple of hours in my apartment when I suddenly realized: "I'm hungry. And I want candy." I hustled into the kitchen and found a bag of chocolate chips. It was so easy to gobble as I googled that before I knew it I had eaten a hefty amount. Consequently I vote that surfing the net/research be added into the list of media that enables one to "eat mindlessly." Yum!

The dialogue in this movie is too low... but the music and sound effects are too loud! (And other First World Problems)

I just responded 3 times on Blogger... But I forgot to "prove I wasn't a robot" every time!! On the last one, I actually realized my mistake, but as I was going through the confirmation process, my computer ran out of battery and died :) Amazingly, my 21st century world has adapted to deal with people like me, and when I plugged my computer back in 10 minutes later, my same screen came up! And I was able to publish the stinking comment! Not only that but I went back to the other two blogs I had commented on, and they still had my comments there, just kind of hanging in space waiting for me to come back and confirm them. Pretty cool. Also pretty cool are these first world problem memes: http://www.quickmeme.com/First-World-Problems/popular/.