Hello fellow readers, I was assigned a group project within my Popular Culture class that I really had a great time being a part of. I met some amazing people in this class and created great friendships with my group members. When the assignment was first explained to us, we had no idea what we were going to do. We spent a day brainstorming until one of us just decided to rant about a law that was put in place by the state of Alabama that prohibited women to go through an abortion. We were all so upset and just began ranting about the situation and sharing all of our thoughts and opinions. After our discussion we knew what our topic was, but we were unsure on how to present it. We knew abortion is such a controversial topic and we did not want any of our audience members to get offended by what we had to present. At first we wanted to make a podcast and present it to the class, we decided not to because we really wanted our audience to engage in the presentation. If we had done a podcast I do not think we would have gotten the same level of engagement as we did with our actual presentation. So we finally decided to present our topic as a talk show.

We knew that our topic was going to be a difficult one, it is a very sensitive subject to a lot of people and we really tried our best to be open minded. We wanted our talk show to be unbiased and provide a variety of differing opinions. Since our major conflict was to avoid offending anyone, we really wanted to make sure our research was correct and that we had all of the facts on our side. We provided a visual aide to back up our facts and main points and we also each had speaking parts in our talk show which I really liked. We were all included and what I think is really cool is that my group was very diverse. We all come from different backgrounds and even as a group member I was fascinated in what my partners had to say. We all shared the same opinions on the Human Life Protection Act/ Alabama Abortion Ban. That is why I think we truly tried our best in researching and backing up our argument with factual evidence. I thought it was really important to bring up what has happened in the past with Roe v. Wade (which this act goes directly against) because history always seems to repeat itself. Which leads me to think about why we never learn from past behaviors.

Our talk show went better than we expected. I was very nervous because I did not know what kind of feedback we were going to receive and I really just wanted to get our point across without offending anybody or causing any verbal aggression. Serena did such a great job conducting the talk show and having our audience ask questions and just state their opinions. I was so surprised by the audience and all of their opinions. I sometimes forget we live in such a liberal state and I am also so happy that we can actually talk about these issues without judgement.

Group 1: I loved group one’s topic. It was very creative and informative that I am really interested in trying the herbal medicines they discussed. I also really liked how they presented their topic. The idea of making it a card game was so cool and I really enjoyed it. I liked how the game was set up as well, it was a great idea to introduce the herb and have the audience guess which card it was. The artwork on the cards was beautiful and I really liked how everyone has a speaking part. They were very prepared and clearly did their research on their topic.

Group 2: This groups topic was very creative, they discussed Portland’s culture and what they enjoyed about the city. I am new to the area and am always finding really fun and new things to do here every single week. So when this group did their presentation I was very intrigued. I really like how they all had their own focuses on what they look forward to in the city. They also shared a few cool places that I really need to visit. They also shared upcoming events that the audience may be interested in.

Group 3: Group three did such an amazing job! I really loved their topic it was so thoughtful and very informative. They talked about Portland State’s resources and how they have used them in the past. They made a podcast which I thought was so cool. They all shared their thoughts and passed experiences with the resources they used. They also talked about the importance of making students aware of the resources they are provided with. Overall I really enjoyed their presentation and thought it was super helpful to those who live on campus and can actually take advantage of resources like the food pantry.

Group 5: I was very impressed with this group and their presentation. Group five talked about consumerism. They made a newsletter about consumerism that was really cool, they passed out a few copies in class. All the group members had a chance to talk about their main concerns about mass consumerism. They made me think about being mindful about what I buy because I may not need or use it. They also talked about how mass consumerism is also bad for the planet and leads to pollution which we are all trying to prevent.

Group 6: Group six talked about the effects of social media and how younger generations may feel about it. The presenter decided to interview her little sister on how social media affects her and I thought that it was such a cool idea to actually interview someone from that age group since they will be the most technology based generation. Group six also made a very detailed blog and posted it on tumblr for everyone to see it. I really liked this presentation and think it’s so important for everyone to love themselves no matter what they see online.

Group 7: Group seven did a podcast on culture appropriation and provided examples that I had never even heard of. They defined the line between appreciation and appropriation which is so important to understand. I liked how they all gave their point of view and also focused on specific instances in their podcast. I do think that they should have done a little bit more research on Ariana Grande and how they said she had zero ties to African American culture through her music. They should have explained that even though her song writers are African American it does not mean she is given a pass for acting in such a way. Other than that I think they did a great job.

Group 8: Group eight’s topic was very interesting and was a topic not many people like to discuss but it is in fact such a huge issue. They talked about minorities in hollywood and how they are often portrayed by white people. They provided different perspectives in their podcast and it was interesting to hear all of their differing opinions. This group was very diverse coming from different backgrounds which I thought was also very cool. This topic definitely needs to be brought up more but I can see why it is controversial in many forms.