Departure?

I'm sound asleep at around 9 am and get an extremely reckless wake up call from my mother ordering me to start packing for my flight in a few hours. I gathered all the dress shirts, all the nice jeans, classy shoes and flashy accessories I could find around my extremely neat room and threw them in my duffle bag. Finally time comes, the taxi driver pulls up in a lincoln sadan, mind you I am a legit 6 foot 5 boy with three more family members with wedding attire and party gear in their luggage. How this man thought fitting 5 suitcases in one car was amazing to me, but it worked! Got to JFK airport and hounded on my triple whopper burger waiting for boarding. The whole time walking down the aisle of the plane, I'm staring at first class, I'm staring at business and then finally seeing the seats I am placed in. Of course, with my luck, half my body fits into the seat, a master plan maneuver between my brother and I was arranged for the both of us to be semi-comfortable. Mind you a family of two babies are sitting in front of us, which was cute for 10 minutes until the pillow fight occurred. I'm sitting quietly with my ipod in, bumping drake and dubstep and everything else to hype me up for Europe! I start to wonder why this plane isn't moving or anything and just as I say something, the lights and air shuts off in the plane. After sweating for an hour in my comfortable thrown of a chair, everyone gets kicked off the plane and was told that the next plane is at 11:30 pm. Now I'm starting to feel a bit bad because the wedding is the day we arrive and we're leaving this late because I was at prom the night before. We are sitting in the gate lobby waiting for answers and finally my mom says, "we'll arrive at 1pm tomorrow." I'm thinking that's great news, the wedding will be later and we've got time to day drink or something. I was wrong. The wedding is at 4 pm which gives us a couple hours to get ready, get over jet lag and party the shit out of this French-Armenian wedding! I wasn't going to make a blog until i got completely bored and saw my brother start his entry. This is the first post of many because I can assure you France will be insane, Whales will be wild with Sean, and London will be nuts with our cousins Sergio and Carlo but only God knows what Amsterdam will be like with me and Aram! Wish us luck!!

Media as a way of communication

American society has many expectations about those individuals who leave within the United States. There are many things that influence the way that American culture perceives others. Things such as language, ethnicity, culture, race and gender are few of the things that impacts the way people are viewed in America. However, three main things that seem to have some kind of influence over individuals are their, identity, action and their values. Unfortunately, our beliefs and values become affected by what we know to be facts. Although, people in American society seem to share certain customs this later on become affected by the media. The media is technological way use to persuade viewers. The media is a way of communication through channels such as radio, films, prints and TV. There are certain programs which targets viewers in society base on their identity, race, socioeconomic class, ethnicity and language. The viewers respond to what they see and hear in the media base on their individual and social identity. The media shapes the audience understanding of what is and isn’t important in the world. Unfortunately, there are negative as well as positive massages send through the media. Something that is positive is that the media sometimes brings people together and something that is negative is that it increases aggressiveness and antisocial behaviors. In other words the media influence over individuals everyday lives.

The Final Answer?

The answer to our discussion seems to be that there are only questions. Perhaps it is a testament to the individual nature and independence of Americans that we all have a slightly different idea of what it means to be American. So, what truths can we take away from our journey this semester?

Question Three

Americans thrive upon the media, and it is one of few cultures that is entirely wrapped up within the media that disseminates it. This may have implications as far as the global "worth" or respect of American culture. Do you feel that American culture is a respected or valuable one? Remember, this is not a question about patriotism, but rather a question of how you feel America, Americans, and American culture is perceived by other nations, citizens, and cultures. How does American culture fit into the spectrum of cultures across the globe?

Media Blog: Question Two

Media Blog: Question Two: "In what capacity does the media - specifically television, music, and film - figure into the construction of American culture? Are Americans..."


The media especially television, music, and film figure into the construction of the American culture because it helps people to engage more with one another. It is a way in which people in our society are able to release their witness or fantasy. For many individuals is important to be able to have something that represents them or something that they can relate to through and this way is through the television, films and music. Americans are the way they are due to what the media dictates by the cultural values of Americans because the Americans have establish a very dominant value towards the media in which they use it as a way to magnetize or humiliate individuals in the United States.

Question Two

In what capacity does the media - specifically television, music, and film - figure into the construction of American culture? Are Americans the way they are due to what's portrayed in the media, or is the media dictated by the cultural values of Americans?

Question One

What are the defining characteristics of American cultural identity? What does American cultural identity mean to you?