The Break-up

I feel terrible. I just broke-up with my love - no, not Chris, but a class that I love. I just went to the professor's office to get his signature. I had a knot in my stomache, and now I'm regretting my decision.

Of all things it was a class on criminal justice and public safety in a global context - the professor is just such a fabulous teacher that I actually composed an e-mail that I sent to him last night. I wish I would have had time to talk to him more during office hours, but there were so many people waiting that I just barely had time to get his signature in. I even told him that I really regretted having to do this while reading the NY Times this morning and there was an article in it about the criminal justice system.

Yes, I'm here to focus my studies on news media analysis and its coverage and impact on the disenfranchised, but I worry that I will not necessarily learn a lot of new things - and that's what this class was doing for me - not only filling a distribution requirement but also opening my mind - plus, it pains me to have to return these fabulous books - at least the fiction - on the subject. Argh. I'm really having second thoughts.

On the flip side, I think the classes I'm taking now totally prepare me for my stated goal of wanting to do research - whatever form that may take:
Quantitative Analysis & Emperical Methods
New Media and Democracy
Journalism in a Time of Upheaval
Qualitative Research Methods

I have two assignments do tomorrow. I finallly finished my quant work - it took forever! it was very tedious - I was mostly just bored with it, though I do like having the knowledge. Now I have to write this very broad-based paper for the Media & Democracy class...(posted below) in only 3-5 pages. The professor is the one radical I'm taking from, so that's nice. He is married to Lani Guinier. I love it when a man is defined by his wife!

I'm having a really tough time focusing - so difficult not to get distracted with e-mail and other web browsing. Was it really easier to focus pre-web??? I think I could have finished my assignments this week-end and have done other things today, but instead I'm having to cram the last minute - ok, if I weren't blogging, maybe I could get more done...
1. Define, compare and contrast the following terms:
Education
Advertising
News
Propaganda

When is education and news not propaganda and why in your opinion?

2. Define, compare and contrast these terms
Erotica
Indecency
Pornography
Obscenity
Hate speech
Dangerous or harmful speech

3. What are the potential benefits and harms of excessive media ownership concentration and control? What is adequate and/or appropriate media competition in a marketplace of ideas? In other words, what is the right mix of media types and ownership? What measures of fairness or democratic principles ought to be applied by government and/or by self-regulation?
4. What are your hopes and fears regarding the state and quality of democracy, including such values as freedom of speech and press, liberty, justice, privacy and civil liberties generally?