Activities at SMASH

Hi this is Jorge from the UC Berkeley campus. Our group decided to make the podcast about how the mandated activities affects us as SMASH scholars. We took many steps to make this podcast, our first step was to introduce ouselves in the SMASH way. Then we interviewed the first year Phenoula, the second year Jessica Sodi, the third year Joseph De La Riva, and the RA Lorin Jackson; We did this so we could get a broader perspective in the matter. After all we concluded that although the activities are not always necessary, they do help you socialize and make SMASH a one big happy family.

I think the first time I ever used media was even before I was born, when my mom did her ultrasound to see if I was a boy or a girl. Media has being around my life for as long as I can remember, and I obviously became part of my life. I could still remember being a little kid living in a small town in Peru, and every time I would come back from school, I would not want to go do homework, instead I would go and watch Rugrats, Rocko’s Modern Life, Hey Arnold!, SpongeBob SquarePants, Dexter’s Laboratory, Bananas in Pajamas, or Doug. I had a good time watching cartoons on media, like TV. I also had a good time playing with my Super Nintendo, I only had a few games, but I felt like the most fortunate kid just playing on it.

As I grew older, I started experiencing different types of media, like the boring news my parents used to watch on the TV, or the boring newspapers my parents used to read. Nowadays, we all use pretty much all of the types of media that is offered to us. The very popular iPod is one of the most used sources of media; almost everyone has one these days from the simple Shuffle to the fancy iTouch. Another source of media that became pretty popular these days are the very well known myspace and facebook, they have both done a very good job in keeping people communicated in a very fashion and modern manner. As for me I use very my iPod and my myspace all the time, but what I use the most is my always-by-my-side phone because from there I can access all types of media, from the latest news to the latest ringtones or myspace friend, all at my fingertips.

Although media has shaped our lives for the good, I believe that media could be used for much better proposes. Like maybe teaching the less fortunate kids how to read and write, I believe that would have a great impact to this society if there were more underprivileged kids that knew how to read and write, that way there will be much less poverty around the world. Overall I believe media has change our lives and the world around us, whether it is that we’re watching the soccer game or we’re instant messaging our families in different countries, media is always there with us, however it would be more useful if it was to help the needed society.