Day 21...Sick and Tired

Awaking at 5:00 in the morning is not how I would have chosen to begin my day. Unfortunately, I was forced to deal with it because sleeping it off did not work. I could not even manage to eat anything. I made it through class and even managed to add to the discussion a little. However, as soon as it ended, I went straight to my room and jumped in bed.

After a two hour nap, I felt a tad better. My stomach still hurt but some of the pain was simply hunger. Nikia, Joanna, and Shannel had plans to walk to the market, so I decided to join. I purchased a few items, and we headed back to the hotel. I ate and worked on my projects some before listening to a guest speaker. Daniella, a media specialist in the area, spoke to us about dealing with prejudice in the media. Her company works to educate journalists of their responsibility to society dealing with prejudice in the media. They inform on items such as using politically correct terms and spanning coverage, good and bad, over all races rather than just the good for the dominant culture and just the bad for the minority cultures.

After we finished our lecture, we had the opportunity to work some before dinner. I managed to complete some items with enough time to take a fifteen minute nap. Dinner was casual this evening, and we all really enjoyed ourselves. I had some really good conversations with some of my fellow classmates causing me to feel like I have made some wonderful friendships here. After dinner, we proceeded back to the hotel for our last evening at Hotel Milvia.

Today during class we discussed the portrayal of certain races and ethnicities in the media. One specific video clip that was discussed was that of "Bonquiqui". Yesterday, a friend who had never seen the clip asked what it was about. As I told her, I laughed as I recalled each humorous line in full detail. However, today I realized how hurtful this video comes across to the people targeted, in this case black females. It portrays them as loud, rude, and obnoxious. Unfortunately, the clip causes the negativity perceived of black women to be attached to all black females who most likely have little in common with the girl in the video. While the idea may seem hilarious, it is important to remember how the targeted people must feel. Therefore, today's lesson is to be mindful of the consequences humor can cause at others' expense in all aspects including gender, race, religion, ethnicity, etc.