Who I Am - Simmi Kaur

I am a college student, legally an adult, a politically liberal feminist and not-even-close-to-20-years-old-at-heart. My relationship to the media is quite complex. Like all of us, I am immersed in it - The New York Times and AlJazeera are my homepages, I get Anderson Cooper's tweets as texts on my phone, I love all kinds music and the show Modern Family, I read books, newspapers, and magazines.

As a political science major, I have a lot of qualms with the media as well - or what I perceive to be the "mainstream media" at least. I despise sound-bytes, especially during election season, I despise commentary that reduces candidates to their fashion sense or continuously criticizes their degree of gender role compliance. I sometimes see the media as the root of all evil, especially when I watch Glenn Beck and the millions of Americans who follow him blindly. When I see Barack Obama's birth certificate issue getting more in-depth coverage than healthcare, the bailout or the debt ceiling get, I want to move to Canada. On the other hand, I reluctantly admit that I also get my information from the media, albeit different sources. I try to stay informed, and be media-literate, but I fail more often than not.

As someone considering journalism as a career, I also see the potential of the media to be the engine for social change. The Arab Spring of this year showed the value of the Internet and Twitter in helping people organize and voice their discontent with the regimes in power. I'm hoping to see the media used more for purposes like those, rather than to constantly shove reality t.v. down my throat.

It's all very confusing.