HW for Class One: Three Themes

(Sorry that this is late, Professor.)

The first theme I would be interested in exploring for the final project would be nature. I know that it is an overdone, cliched idea, but it can be done in so many ways that are breathtaking.
A couple of ways that this could be done:

• Take pictures from around Ramapo College, including the Reservation. (Ex: the lake, the hike up, areas on campus such as Cameron Pond, the view from the Overlook, etc.)
• Combine pictures with poems and prose about nature to make a collage, or a photo diary.
• Practice Ekphrasis - take lots of pictures of nature and write stories, plays, and poetry about what I document.
•  Show the effect that different parts of the world have on nature, both good and bad - i.e. pictures of Chernobyl, or on the bright side, plantlife preservation sites.

The second theme I would be interested in exploring for the final project would be relationships as portrayed by the media. I think it's fascinating how writers can mimic romantic and/or familial love so accurately sometimes and so dismally at others.
A couple of ways that this could be done:

•  Study some television shows that display characters in family situations and/or romantic relationships. Document similar techniques that different TV shows use, and explain if they work or not.
• Choose a couple of reality TV shows and document how they portray familial and/or romantic relationships, and then see if they are actually how people act towards one another in real life. If it isn't, explain how.
• Watch a couple of old TV shows alongside a couple of new ones, and write about how the ways TV shows portray familial and/or romantic relationships have changed over the past couple of decades.

The third theme I would be interested in exploring for the final project would be how the media is shown to children. It is such a tangible part of every post-pubescent person's life, and it would be interesting to see how children are exposed to media.
A couple of ways that this could be done:

• Watch some TV shows that are aimed at young children. Note the amount of media displayed in the shows. (Cartoons where the main characters have cell phones, computers, etc, as opposed to going outside and playing.)
• See if there is a correlation between having an older sibling and being interested in the media at a young age.
• Interview kids to see how much they know about what's going on in the world today.