Zine Justification

As far as my own contribution to the group zine, I did the page front and back for a total of four individual pages as well as printing out and helping design the cover and back page and printing out comic strips for inside the front and back covers. I had two main written contributions. One of my written contributions was a piece on how super heroes can be viewed as mainstream because when children grow up, almost every child wants to be a super hero. Children grow up imagining their super hero name and costume and thinking about what powers they would have and how they would help people. I also wrote a piece on how super heroes can be underground because of the comic books they are in not being as popular, but how that gives them the unique ability to make various social criticisms as well as letting the artist be more creative. That is the longer of the two pieces and, because I could not fit it all on one page, it is on two. I also had a page that was more visual. It contained a male and a female super hero as well as the word Pow in typical comic book style and a quote from Martian Manhunter about justice.

The process of creating those was a little difficult at first because I was not entirely sure what I wanted to do, but after that it was easier. Creating my piece about the children wanting to be super heroes came to me when I found cute pictures online of children wanting to be super heroes and realized that what child does not want to be a super hero at some point in their life. I came up with the piece about how super heroes can be underground because I started to think about how there are so many different super heroes out there that no one had ever heard of and how those are just as important to the genre of super heroes as the mainstream ones that popularized it. The visuals were just what I thought that a stereotypical super hero would look like and the word Pow because that is present in just about every super hero comic book that I can think of. It is just one of those visuals that you think of when you think of super heroes.

As for why I created these pieces, each has a different purpose. The one about the children was to show just how much the mainstream super heroes had an impact on popular culture. People today can walk down the street and see people wearing super hero shirts, advertisements for the next best super hero movie, or even people dressed as super heroes. Children are seemingly always pretending like they are a super hero by dressing like one or acting like one. This piece shows that, although super heroes may not have started mainstream, they evolved into one of the biggest pieces of popular culture. In contrast to the piece about how super heroes are somewhat mainstream, I also did one about how there are also many different super heroes out there that are still underground. The underground super heroes are more of a showcase of artistic ability and social criticism than their more popular counterparts but this essential in the forward progress of the super hero genre. Without the underground super heroes, there would be no real way for the mainstream super heroes to evolve, and this evolution is essential in keeping the genre fresh and exciting. As for the visuals, I wanted to give the audience an idea of the stereotypical super hero and what goes along with that. The male and female super heroes looked strong and quick, which is what almost every super hero seems to be portrayed as. As far as the word Pow, it can be seen in almost every super hero comic I can think of and is essential to the whole super hero culture.

My pieces fit in with the group idea because it illustrated how super heroes can be both mainstream and underground. Both the piece about the children and the piece about the underground comics prove how much the super hero genre can be mainstream and underground and that was the goal of our group zine. However, it also fits in with the overall class theme because as I started to do my writings, I realized that although people may view super heroes as underground, they are actually fairly mainstream. This realization should be evident in the different writings.

As far as my performance, I think visually it was good for how much I lack any artistic or creative ability, but my writing was just alright. I have been feeling a little off of my writing game lately and this is evident in my different pieces. I am happy with how the different pages look though and I think, although they could be a little less plain, overall they look rather appealing. If I had to make another zine, I would make sure that I did it on a subject that I was more knowledgeable on and I would probably try not to do the majority of it in study hall, or if I did, remember all of my materials so that I could complete it in a timely manner.

Superhero Theme Justification

The superhero theme fits perfectly into the context of this class. We did an entire Watchmen unit that had to do mainly with superheroes. There are many different lenses that go with superheroes and their comics. The different lenses we covered in class that could be used to analyze the superheroes include, the feminist/masculine lens, the racial lens, the power lens, and the underground/mainstream lens. Each of these can give a deeper description of what to expect from them and the message they are trying to get across. They all provide a unique perspective and provide different details. The class encourages us to look at things in a different way in order to understand it and that is what these lenses help us do.
This class also covered the different genres that a book or movie could be put into. Superhero comics can represent a variety of different genres too. They could fit into the science fiction genre, since they contain characters with abnormal abilities, they can take place in settings real people can't be and the characters look different from how normal people would look. The whole superhero franchise has it's own sub genre that is completely its own. They all contain characters fighting evil or a villain, protecting their community, and helping their fellow peacekeepers. Overall, the main theme of a superhero comic tends to be similar. The big theme of the class was whether a media item can be classified as mainstream or underground. Comics about superheroes could be considered as both underground and mainstream. Superheroes can have a big following in the mainstream, but the content itself would probably be considered more underground. The movie adaptations could be considered mainstream since it has a large audience. More people know about superheroes because of their movies, not so much by their comics. The comics contain elements that are more underground than the movies and contain a lot more detail. There is a smaller audience for the comic books, since it is more for readers, and the movies are more for everyone else.  This also really ties into our title of the zines, "Not really underground, actually fairly mainstream" because superheroes have become more mainstream lately. Ultimately, superheroes is a rather broad topic, allowing us to cover almost everything that we have gone over in class and that is why we have chosen this topic.

Response to Jocelyn's Blog Post

I am choosing to write about my own thing this week and stray away from our optional prompt. Sorry guys but this week’s blog will about my obsession will pigs.

• Well I am really glad that I am not the only one who did not write about the prompt. Let me just say that your pictures are adorable and I feel very informed now about pigs. I think you have found yourself a nice little hobby. 

Response to Liam's Post

Although YouTube involves very little reading because it is almost exclusively video watching, I am including it in this list because of the sheer amount of time I spend on YouTube on a daily basis.

• I am glad that I am not the only one who is on youtube a fair amount. It is really addicting for some reason and I really have to make sure that I keep track of time when I am watching videos because some times I don't and next thing you know it is like two hours later. Youtube is definitely a big part of my media intake as well.

Student Athletes

Beep. Beep. Beep. It's 5:25 time to wake up and workout. Next is breakfast and then off to class. First two rows. Then lunch and practice. Finally, dinner, study hall, and then off to bed. Can't forget about curfew check. Wake up the next say and do it all over again.

Well that is my typical day, filled with the obstacles and joys of being a student athlete. There are countless mental and physical challenges, but for some reason we keep going back for more. Maybe it is the feeling that you get when you think that you cannot physically do any more and you get through it because of your team.Maybe it is those crazy times with your team or all all of times that you laugh so hard that you cry that out weigh those days that you are the captain of the struggle bus. Whatever the motivation, you simply have to love playing your sport. I know I have a lot more respect for student athletes now that I am one. You begin to realize how difficult it really is when you live the life day in and day out and no matter what sport, you respect how much hard work everyone has to put in.

I honestly could not imagine being on any other team but the softball team. We are like one big family. We may have some differences, but at the end of the day we all genuinely care about each other. There are countless inside jokes and random conversations that we have had. I even have a little "family," complete with family dinners and all. It is always great to know that you have that support system to get you through the day. The freshmen class dinners at Taos are always a great way to vent about your day and talk with people who can sympathize with you. Even my mentor is always there whenever I need someone to talk to. I could not imagine not living with my teammates, random dancing and all. The part I really love about our team is the team values: Education, Faith, Respect, Relentlessness, and Family. After all, we are here to get our education, we have to have faith in each other, a mutual respect for one another, relentlessness in all that we do, and at the end of the day we are a family. I also love that we give our best effort. It is really emphasized that we need to learn lessons for life, not just softball, and that can only benefit us. We may have a decent amount of rules and standards of behavior to uphold, but at the end of the day I could not imagine doing anything else.

Although the struggles that a student athlete may face are constant and challenging, you do it for those moments that you are so glad you have your team. You do it because you love the game. You do it because you just could not imagine yourself doing anything else. No matter the sport, student athletes at this level work extremely hard and I have a totally different view now when I watch any college sporting events.

Response to Jocelyn's Blog Post

 But being with my grandmother in the hospital on a daily basis inspired me and gave me an idea of what nurses did. It showed me that they can do their job and still enjoy doing it twenty years down the road.

I think that this is an awesome story about how you decided you want to become a nurse. It was very important for me as well to help people and still love what I was doing. Nursing does seem like one of those jobs that you can work forever and still love your job so that is awesome.

Those Who Can, Teach

For as long as I can remember, I have never really wanted to be anything but an elementary school teacher. Since my aunt is a kindergarten teacher and my mom is a substitute teacher, it is what I am surrounded with. For some reason, when I was little, I looked up to teachers. I wanted to be like that. They seemed to know everything and always wanted us to be our very best. As I started to get older, I realized how much I could really see myself being a teacher. I could see myself helping all of the little students as they worked on the new materials. I had found what I truly wanted to do.

Let's be honest here, I am never going to get rich being a teacher. People that teach, however, do not do it for the money or the fame, they do it for the knowledge that they are making a positive impact in the lives of the youth. Teachers live to see that light go on in the minds of their students when they finally understand something or make a discovery that they have never thought of before. It is the best feeling in the world knowing that you have made a difference. I took a class my senior year in high school called Careers in Education and it just strengthened my desire to become a teacher. I got to go into my aunt's little kindergarten class and they were just a bright spot in my day. There were some rough patches, but it was an amazing experience. The students got so excited to see me and everyday I walked in to "Miss Morgan!" or "She's here!". One time I even got a standing ovation when I walked in. Anyways, I got so much real life experience that made me really realize that although it would be hard at times, I still wanted to be a teacher. How can you be sad when you are with kids all day? 

Teaching is just so rewarding. I want to have a job where I can really make a difference in lives, not just sit at a desk all day, even if it does make good money. The great thing about teaching is that you get weekends, holidays, and summers off. Also, I do not have to worry about working any crazy hours or random days. Who could argue with that schedule? A teacher also gets to make their own lesson plans and decide how they want to teach. There is definitely never a dull moment when you are teaching, especially when the kids are that little. I really cannot think of a job that I would rather do than be a teacher. It is so rewarding and the feeling you get when the student finally gets it is awesome. I can think of no other major more exciting and rewarding than elementary education.