gLeeK

Why are TV shows about high school so popular?

You know what I'm talking about.

The most current (and favorable) example of this phenomenon is the hit FOX show, Glee. The hour long mini-musical episodes follow the trials and tribulations of high school life, seen through the eyes of the Mckinley High School Glee Club.

Like many televisions shows that have shaped American culture, Glee masks underlying adolesent themes into its witty characters and quippy one-liners. The pilot episode of the show tells the story of a jock that loves to sing (High School Musical, much?) but is too afraid to show his sensitive side.

Since then, the show has dealt with teen pregnancy, homophobia, stereotypes, racism, divorce, socioeconomic prejudice and other societal issues facing this great nation, all while breaking into song before every commercial break.

So what makes shows about high school so damn interesting?

Personally, I think it's the characters.

They're what keep me going, especially in Glee. I love a good male lead ( think: Derek Shepherd, Grey's Anatomy) and Finn Hudson, (played by Canadian Cory Monteith,) is no exception.

Hudson is a downright gorgeous, tall, hunk of a man, who says silly high school boy things and has a heart of absolute gold. He falls in love with the pushy, snotty, and downright selfish ( but ridiculously talented) female lead, Rachel Berry (played by Lea Michelle).

One of their best lines as a couple is:
Finn: You're a controllist.
Rachel: Controlling. Controlist isn't a word.

Alongside Hudson is another loveable male lead, gay teen Kurt Hummel (played by Chris Colfer), who is constantly dealing with issues surrounding his sexuality.

Hummel is a fiercely emotional, hilariously quotable dream of a teen, who sometimes gets in over his head when he lets his pathos- driven side take the wheel.

The previews for Never Been Kissed, which airs November 2nd, show Kurt considering switching to a more affluent (and what he believes to be) more accepting high school where an out, proud, and quite darling gay character attends.

Kurt deals with a lot of things that are on the minds of gay (and straight) teens today when it comes to acceptance, self confidence and knowing who you are.

Hummel is a shining example of someone who isn't afraid to be different.

The FOX hit is not a show about rich teens in Orange County or scandalous eleventh graders on the Upper-East side. Glee is about the insecure quarterback of the football team, and the president of the celibacy club who gets pregnant her junior year.

Shows like Glee that reflect pop culture are like time capsules we can take into our later years.

Remember Saved By The Bell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Boy Meets World? These are shows the babies of the 80's can keep for the future to remember the 90's by.

The cultural references in these sitcoms can transport us back to whatever cultural revolution that decade was in the midst of.

Glee is no exception.

MOW: The Social Network

You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.

These days, even my mom is on Facebook. My MOM. I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg ever planned on his mother "friending" him when he invented the popular social networking site in his college dorm room at Harvard University.

It seems like Mark didn't have much time to plan when he designed and launched The Facebook in 2004. According to The Social Network, Zuckerberg, (played by Jesse Eisenberg) along with his best friend (and later CEO) Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield), put the site together within a few month's of Mark's meeting with the Winklevoss twins about their idea "The Harvard Connection", a social networking site designed exclusively for Harvard, and the actual launch of the site.

The plot of the movie follows Mark, Eduardo and the "Winklevi" twins through the time line between the launch and extreme success of the site, to the legal action that ultimately took place between the four Harvard undergrads. The twins sued Zuckerberg for theft of intellectual property, and Saverin sued his best friend and former partner for cutting him out of most of his share of the company.

An interesting twist to the story is the role of Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake), founder of the downloading music site, Napster.

According to the movie, Parker met with Zuckerberg, convinced him to drop the "the" in front of Facebook and take the company and idea to California, specifically Stanford University.

Parker eventually sets up meetings with half of the investors in Silicon Valley to get Facebook off the ground financially, and drives Mark and Eduardo further and further apart emotionally. Eduardo is no longer involved in most of the business deals, and Parker worms his way in, both as Zuckerberg's friend, and as a shareholder in the company.

The entire movie is a flashback during the two trials the four men are facing. As the lawyers are conducting the depositions with Mark, Eduardo and the twins, the events take place in everyone's memories.

Zuckerberg is portrayed as an amazingly intelligent, slight social outcast with a popular friend and a great idea. His character gives hope to all men who didn't get the letter slipped under their door from the exclusive collegiate club, and who aren't on the university rowing team.

Here's to you Mark.

August, September, October...

Shasta Caverns!
One of Shelby's amazing international dinners!
The Study Abroad Team! I adore every one of these amazing people! Me and my Brit, Abby!
Top of the falls!
I ran into Ayaka on campus, and we took a photo!
All the fearless hikers!

So, I've been neglecting my blog! This has been such a crazy semester with working at Study Abroad, Starbucks, and my heavy class load. It has been the busiest semester of my LIFE!

It has been great, don't get me wrong. I LOVE my job at Study Abroad, and I'm taking two great PR classes, strategy and publications. Both are really difficult and time consuming, but I am learning a lot.

I have also had the chance to go to San Francisco with the on campus PR agency, Tehama Group Communications.

We have visited Mozilla in Mountain View, Gladow-Nead in the city and Kimpton Hotels & Resorts in the city. All of those companies have TGC alumni who work there, and they were all totally gracious enough to spend some time with us talking about their lives and their jobs.

I have been thinking so much about my future life in the PR industry. There are so many options! I know I want to work in San Francisco. I would love to go into hospitality PR (after going to Kimpton) or consumer PR. Most agencies in the city are in tech PR, which would be really interesting! I love my Mac computer and don't know what my life would be like without technology!

I have been working a lot with the program inDesign in my PR publications class. I have gotten to make a full color ad, a tri-fold brochure and some fun letter head designs! It feels to great to be learning a skill...besides learning French of course!

Speaking of French, I miss France! I miss traveling, and walking the streets of my beloved little town, Aix! It has been great to be home, but I am getting that familiar itch to travel! I know it will be a while before I get back to Europe, but I think about my time in France almost every day!

That's why I love working in the Study Abroad Office. It is so amazing to work with the international students!

For those of you who don't know, I am the coordinator for the Buddy/Mentor program at Chico State. This is a program where American study abroad alumni get paired with an incoming international exchange student and become their built-in friend! It is a great chance for both American and international students to broaden their cultural horizons and get to meet more people on campus.

It's a great chance for the international students to get opportunities to hang out with American students and really get integrated into American college life.

We have all kinds of adventures enjoying what I call the "splendor of Northern California". We hike, swim, eat, play and enjoy cross cultural communications.

I has been a great eight weeks. Here's to the next eight!