Cody Young Loves College

For a an 18-year-old college freshman who’s attending school in Rhode Island instead of his home state Connecticut Cody Young is a pretty easygoing person. He’s currently studying Computer Technologies at Roger Williams University. In many ways he’s your average guy. He loves the Miami Dolphins and music with a good beat that appeals to his drummer’s ear.

When asked what his biggest challenge has been since he started college he had a hard time thinking of anything. Eventually though, he said “being away from friends, the girlfriend, family.” This isn’t surprising considering he has “awesome” parents, three younger sisters, two dogs, and a girlfriend of a year and a half. He continued by saying, “The first month was the longest.” But this is where his easygoing nature really shows itself.

“I went home after the first month for like, two days, and then when I came back here everything just started to click,” said Young. He admits that some classes can be a little difficult, but that’s no problem for this survivor. He even ended up overcoming being placed in a forced triple by university housing. Actually, he more than overcame it, he embraced it. “My roommates are now my best friends,” said Young.

Not only is Young close with his roommates but he also said that his entire floor is really “tight.” He lives in Cedar, a residence hall packed with freshmen to bond with. Again like your average guy, Young got closer to the people he lives with through playing basketball. An easy thing to do since there are courts right outside their door.

When it comes to Cody Young however, his easygoing nature isn’t really what makes him average; it’s what makes him extraordinary. He’s not only surviving freshman year, he’s enjoying it, which is not always an easy feat.

Bio

I was born on November 21^st 1990 in Nashville, Tennessee. This was very close to Thanksgiving and when my maternal grandmother came down from Vermont to be there for my birth my extended family got very upset because she was not home to make them a turkey dinner. I still get crap for that.

When I was eight my mom, dad, little brother, and I moved from Tennessee to Vermont to take care of that same maternal grandmother. Now, I have made yet another move to Bristol, Rhode Island so that I can go to Roger Williams University. I am currently a freshman.

When it comes to things that I like, well, I love music but I do not like to pick favorites. This is probably because I have a new favorite song everyday. Right now my day is not complete unless I wake up to “Up Up and Away” by Kid Cudi and fall asleep to another song of his, “Pursuit of Happiness.” I guess I cannot imagine myself ever getting sick of Fall Out Boy, and no, I am not emo. My favorite TV show of all time is “Gilmore Girls.” I am also currently, and possibly unfortunately, addicted to MTV. I also just love TV, there are a lot of good shows out there right now. Plus, I love movies. Some of my favorites are Julie and Julia, Slumdog Millionaire, and Juno. Reading and writing are a couple of my favorite things to do. I have only read a handful of novels that I did not like. I love magazines, my new favorite is Glamour. I have a subscription to Teen Vogue, but I am going to have to upgrade to real Vogue in a year when I turn 20, or else I would just be silly. My other main hobby is dancing. I do not dance at school but at home I did tap, ballet, and jazz. For a while I also took hip hop but that is only because I was competing and it was required. When I decided I did not have time to compete, I also decided I was too white for hip hop. I used to go to church every Sunday. I do not do that here either.

Besides babysitting, I have only had two jobs. My first job was working at a movie theater. It sucked. It was boring and I did not know what I was doing. I got fired after a couple of weeks. My only successful job was working at a day camp. I loved it. Unfortunately it was only two weeks long, so I did not exactly make a lot of money, which I could use since it is expensive to go to school here.

Back to my origins for a bit, my dad basically wanted to be a rock star. That did not really work out, so now he paints houses. He does own his own company though, and he is still in bands. My mom wanted to work in the theater, that did not work out either. Now she works for Weight Watchers and loves it. She loves helping other people and she is climbing the corporate ladder quite nicely. They met at college in Ohio and both dropped out, moved to Tennessee, and got married. I guess that is not a bad way to live.

Types of News Consumers

I remember that as soon as I read the little box about types of news consumers in the textbook I did not really understand where I fit in. It is true, I mostly fit under The Disengaged, but only because I can not specify which type of media I use more since I hardly ever consume news in a constant fashion for long periods of time. The only part of the definition I really fit under is that I am uninformed about current events.

However, I do not feel like I am completely "disengaged." Also, it is not that I am not interested in news, it is just that I am lazy. There is really no excuse for being an uninformed citizen but somehow I can not help myself, which is quite silly honestly considering I want to be a print journalist. I go through periods of time where I start the day by reading the Times just for idealistic reasons, and I hope that since I have started that back up again for this class the habit will stick this time.

2/2/09

One of the first topics we discussed in class today was Lasswell's Formula. I learned about different models of communications and how they have developed over time last semester in Introduction to Mass Media. The way Lasswell's Formula was explained in this class made it very clear. I feel like I will often look back on it when writing. I thought it was interesting that it was mentioned that we could spend the whole class talking about the "To What Effect?" aspect of the formula. One of the things I learned last semester is that when people were first coming up with communication formulas they did not even take that question into account. However, it is so true that the media effects the people in so many ways. It can be argued that the Lasswell Formula should be circular because the people also effect the media. This is one of those things that really could be discussed for long periods of time.

I have also seen the Magritte painting that we looked at in class before. However, I always forget what it means. It is a fairly complex painting for, well, such a simple painting.

On the topic of Waking Life I have a lot of questions. I think I will try and watch the whole thing sometime soon, especially because there are some things I do not understand about it. Is it a documentary, because the woman in the clip we saw seemed to be in some kind of interview. Also, is the whole movie made with the same technique or is that just to show that the main character is dreaming? It seems like a really interesting film.

The Dodge advertisement we looked at today is funny, although disturbing as well. While the caption "Need We Say More?" adds to the humor of the ad, it is certainly true that we do not need it to understand what the ad is saying.

Love Without Taking was also a really interesting film. Not only did it prove the point that people can communicate without talking, but it was also a well made piece from a filmmaker's point of view. I really enjoyed watching it.