Fast Forward Ten Years by Lauren Greenfield

Greenfield's article is about the pictures that she took for her book in the article she discusses how when she took the pictures for her book she was still an adolescent. When the book was published she was an adult. She originally she began taking pictures in her hometown of LA but her project grew into something bigger. She discusses how when she was working on her first book only the rich kids new about the expensive designer. When she started to work on her second book she noticed that kids from urban areas and suburban areas were wearing the same designers. It doesn't matter where you are from or if you can afford it they were wearing it. Then she realized the media is the reason why these kids all are dressing alike and wearing the same designers. Teen over seas are more worried about MTV than whats going on around them. Young girls are dressing and behaving like they are women in music videos, but when adults see her pictures in the museum's they act shocked. Because they see themselves in these pictures or they see their children, and still say that there lives and values are not like the ones in the book.
Greenfield is basically trying to show people that even though teens are young they are still impressionable. Everything that goes on around them affects them, especially the media. Even if you try to keep them away from it, some how they are still influenced. It is amazing and you really can't point the blame at one person because it is all around them. I agree with Greenfield and think that everything she discusses it true. Parents always try to act like they never did anything their children did when they were younger, but they probably did worse. Parents should talk to there children not criticise them.

Black Noise by Tricia Rose

Rose discusses in her article how Hip Hop is not dead but, it needs reconstruction. She states that the commercial market is taking over the industry and sexuality and racial stereotypes is what sells right now. Therefore artists like Jay Z and 50 cents is what fits into those categories and they are selling a lot of records. The underground rappers who rap about being positive and bettering yourself does not fit it the corporate standards, so they are not selling or heard on the radio as much as mainstream artists. Rose is not trying to talk bad about the main stream rappers in her article, but she is just trying to state that they need to take responsibility for there music. Even though they are not trying to force you to listen to it but it is all you hear on the radios and on TV. Rose states that Hip Hop is not what it use to be, when children and parents could listen to the same music. When music was about education, history and trying to make yourself a better person. Rose discusses how Hip Hop is seen as violent, she totally disagrees with this statement. She thinks that in the 1960 black America was violent, but it was a way of fighting for rights not just something to do to make noise. I think that this article has many strong points. At one point in time I also thought that Hip Hop was dead, but then I decided to re evaluate the situation. I stopped listening to Hip Hop and decided to switch to R&B, but that did'nt help. I then decided to change the Rap artists that I listened to, but that didnt help. After reading this article I know why "Same thing with Jay-Z. Even he has acknowledged that he's "dumbed his music down" so that he can sell records." Jay Z at one point in time was one of my favorite rappers, but the content of music started to change. I feel that artist should not lower there standards of music to sell more music. Hip Hop is black america's way of telling our story, it is like a verbal history book. When artist water down there lyrics it changes the way youth look at themselves. Hip Hop as a community needs to come together and repair what corporate America has done to it.

Do They Really Think Differently By Marc Prensky

In the article Prensky is discussing the way that children today are socializing in a different ways from their parents. He talks about how children are exposed to thousands of hours of videogames, internet, television and commercials and very little time is spent reading books. These are todays Digital Natives, and anyone who was not raised the same way thinks differently. Prensky discusses why there are alot of educational problems in the schools today. The Digital Native children think differently from there teachers. He discusses how neurologically there is a difference in the way Digital Native's brains function. "Social Psychology also provides strong evidence that one's thinking patterns change depending on one's experiences." I agree with this statement I feel that the different things that people have experienced in their life effects the way that they think. It is like if you are younger and you get burned by fire you learn that the flame is hot and never to touch it again. As I was growing up I only felt that a hand full of my teachers understood the way that I would process things. " The environment and culture in which people are raised affects and even determines many of their thought processes." I agree with this statement also because I am Nigerian, but I was born in America. I recently took a trip back to Nigeria and met a couple of my cousins who were born in Nigeria. We sat down one day and discussed general issues about the world, and the way we view life in general is totally different. I thought about the situation and if I was raised in the same environment as them then I probably would think of life in a whole different way. Prensky also discusses how teachers say that children have short attention spans. He thinks that children have short attention spans for old ways of learning. "Digital Natives accustomed to the twitch-speed, multitasking, random- access, graphics-first active, connected, fun, fantasy, quick-payoff world of their video games, MTV and internet are bored by most of todays education, well meaning as it may be. But worse, the many skills that new technologies have actually enhanced which have profound implications for their learning are almost totally ignored by educators." I think this would be a good way to explain why alot of kids are dropping out of school or are two to three grades lower than they should be. Prensky thinks that teacher should make learning fun and teachers should adapt to what children are use to. I think that this article is very true because alot of people do not understand the way that the Digital Natives think and think they just want to be different and rebelious.