The Most Powerful Photos of 2011

Saw this link on Facebook and had to share. Some of these are so painful to look at, some terrifying, some infuriating. Overall, it doesn't look like we've had a very good year. Almost made me think that maybe the world will end if things keep on the same track.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-most-powerful-photos-of-2011?sort=posted&z=2NNLJ6

GMMD409 Case Study 2: Transmedia

Transmedia is a developing form of storytelling that involves several parts of a story on different platforms. It is a very broad definition, but the point is that there is no set formula. Through transmedia, an author can take advantage of the many mediums available today: print, web sites, video games, videos, etc. This is different from crossmedia, which uses different platforms for the same content or just extras as an afterthought. Instead, each platform can have its own unique content, utilizing the advantages of each.

Users can acquire as many or few pieces of the story as they would like to personalize their experience. In the case of Michael Grant’s BZRK, people can buy the print book, then download a free app which gives them the option to buy each piece of additional content separately. Transmedia goes beyond a fictional story in a book, and creates an interactive world.

The possibilities are nearly endless. With a story, songs that a character is listening to can be made available, an alternate reality game, and maybe even eventually a social networking profile for each character, can be offered as parts of the story.

Somebody posted a link to this news story on Facebook and it's wonderful. I only see bad parents in the news most of the time, and its sickening. It's nice to see a story about a good, loving mother. Normally I'm constantly adding to the list of things I would never do or teach my future children. Finally, I can add to my list of parents who I wouldn't hate to be like.

"Lessons from Sharing the Story of My (Possibly) Gay 6-Year-Old Son"

On August 16 I learned what viral meant.

I wrote an essay about my oldest son and his love of a popular gay television character, Glee's Blaine, and how this crush led to him telling me he wanted to kiss boys, not girls. I naively posted it to a blog, thinking some fans of the show might think it was cute.

Within 24 hours it had been reposted and "liked" over 30,000 times on the blog's website. It wasn't long before messages started flooding in, other websites began posting it and people were commenting. The response was overwhelming positive. What I thought was a simple story about my kid and our family had clearly stuck a chord with a lot of people.

It also made some people uncomfortable. Of the criticisms, the most common is that my son is six years old and doesn't know anything about sex. While I fully acknowledge this may not be the end-all-and-be-all to my son's sexual orientation, I object to the idea that being gay is only about sexual acts. Our emotions and feelings, our attractions and compulsions, all contribute, not just our body parts. If my son had a crush on the star of iCarly, I doubt people would be saying he was too young to have those sexual feelings towards a girl. I think they would think it was an innocent schoolboy crush, which is exactly what it is.

Plus, for every comment I've read saying my son is too young, I have received multiple messages from adults saying "I knew when I was little, too."

It got me thinking and after awhile I started to feel like I knew this big secret that shouldn't be a secret at all: Every gay adult used to be a gay kid. It's not as if all children start off as straight until some time later when someone flips the gay switch. We are who we are from the very moment we are born.

The horrible and hate filled words of the Michele Bachmann's of the world take on a whole new level of disgusting when picturing them being screamed at a group of kindergartners and first graders. They are unnatural. They are sinners. They are going to hell. They are dirty, wrong and sick.

These people would tell my innocent little boy (who currently wants to be a fireman-ninja when he grows up) he is the biggest threat the American family... because he wants to kiss boys and not girls.

The reality is they are pounding these words of ignorance and hate into the ears and minds of gay children every day. And those children are hearing them. I know because many of those kids are now writing to me. Kids as young as 14 have sent me messages. So many are scared children, who sure as hell did not choose this for themselves, living in fear of their family finding out because they know full well what their mom and dad will say. And they tell me they wish I was their mom.

I want to keep all this talk, all these lies, all this hate, away from these kids. Of course, there is an inherent problem with that. We can't pick out the gay kids simply by looking, and behavior isn't a clear indicator (some little straight girls are tomboys, and some little gay boys love their monster trucks). The only way we can truly know someone's orientation is if they tell us, which for some doesn't happen until well into adulthood.

So the solution is obvious to me. Keep it away from all our kids. It's my responsibility as a mother, as a human being, to stand up and say "No more." No, you are not allowed to say those things in front of my children, not unless you want to deal with me. Because I will not allow any of my sons to be viciously attacked without seeing me defend them. They will never have to doubt for a second exactly where their parents stand, and never have to live in fear of who they are.

Because since August 16, I have learned that hate is the virus we all need to be worried about.