Media Meditation #2: LABADOOZIE

During spring break I went on a Royal Caribbean cruise, which made stops in Jamaica and Haiti. The port we stopped at in Haiti was in Labadee. After getting off the port, we were free to walk the many beaches across the coastline and enjoy a local drink called a “Labadoozie.” I enjoyed listening to the Haitian employees of the bar service as they walked around the beach saying, “LABADOOZIE- yummy, yummy, good for the tummy!” It is a phrase that I will probably now remember for the rest of my life and think about whenever someone mentions Haiti. The nice thing about cruises is that you can have everything charged to your seapass, which is connected to your credit card. Therefore when you go out to the ports or to various places on the boat, you do not need to carry cash. Whenever you want to buy something, such as a LABADOOZIE, you simply hand your seapass to the bartender or other service personnel. You can also set up a tipping account to your seapass so you don’t have to worry about tipping during your trip-all gratuities are added on for you. This is a great example of an aesthetic shift in our society today. Rather than carrying around cash or various methods of payment, you can use your seapass card (which you are required to carry around anyway) to purchase drinks and other goods or services.

The people in Haiti were very friendly and the culture was so rich. We explored the local market at the port where we looked at the many crafts the Haitians are known for. We were provided with a Haitian buffet lunch, which consisted of ribs, chicken, green salads, corn on the cob, pasta salads, and many baked goods such as cookies and brownies.

After lunch I had the opportunity to experience one of the most beautiful tributes to culture I have ever seen in my life. The show I watched was a mixture of Haitian dance, fire eating stunts, and gymnastics. The beautiful Haitian women dancing and twirling in their colorful outfits while two men tumbled across the concrete stage made for a magical show that was sure to trigger anyone’s limbic brain with the colors, movements, and music.

Photo by Amanda Osborne

Not to mention the fire-eater added a little suspense to the show, triggering the “fight or flight” of the reptilian brain. The fire-eater called volunteers up on stage and then asked them to place the fireball stick into his mouth. Watching from a distance, I could see them contemplating if they should stay or flee the stage.

Photo by Amanda Osborne

Watching this performance was an example of an emotional transfer for me. Watching the women dancing on stage with such passion made me appreciate the culture and passion for that culture that exist in various countries across the world. I had a better appreciation for the Haitian culture by watching the performance.

The dancers used timing during their performance to create certain emphasis on various moves. By doing a specific move at a specific moment in the music it can create a certain reaction or feeling than if it were to be performed with a different part of the music.

Cosmopolitan: Get Naked!

"Get Naked! 25 Fun Ways to Go Nude" is one of the headlines on the cover of the March edition of Cosmopolitan that is supposed to lure in women as they pass the magazine shelf in the store. Maybe they thought that "THE SEX QUIZ" in caps and bold would do the trick. Cosmopolitan, otherwise known as "COSMO," is said to be "the lifestylist for millions of fun fearless females who want to be the best they can in every area of their lives." For me, it is just a magazine of ridiculous surveys, polls, and lists that can make the time go faster while I sit in the waiting room at the doctor's office.

I feel like reading articles titled "10 ways to let a guy know you're interested" and "7 sexy must-haves" is a waste of my neocortex brain. However, one positive thing I find about COSMO magazine is that it is a model of the aesthetic shift from discrete to convergence. If this magazine did not exist and I was truly interested in everything that is currently in it, I would have to look at self-help and advice columns, read entertainment articles, look at fashion images, look ad advertisements for products, and read celebrity biographies all in different locations. Where as COSMO provides a little of everything in one location. One principle represented in COSMO is ownership. Cosmopolitan owns their magazine, but there are other people involved as well. Advertisement is huge when it comes to magazines. Companies pay COSMO thousands of dollars to place their ads in the magazine. They do so because they have faith in the magazine to reach an audience and therefore to have that audience view their ads. COSMO uses many different persuasive techniques to get readers to read their magazine. One is hyperbole. They use headlines such as "The most dangerous thing a woman can say yes to" to get viewers to want to pick up the magazine and see exactly what THE MOST DANGEROUS THING A WOMAN CAN SAY YES TO. The most used technique used my COSMO as well as most magazines is beautiful people. They use well known celebrities such as Beyonce, Drew Barrymore, Taylor Swift, and Julia Roberts to get the attention and interest of viewers.

Overall, I think COSMO is an informative, fun, interesting magazine for most teenage girls or young women. However, for me, I would rather not spend my time reading a magazine that seems to think it knows what turns my boyfriend on...