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A few interesting things have been happening in the past week or so as life continues as normal at Penn State for the last half of the Spring semester. 

 Last Tuesday night I went to a drag show! Whilst attending a drag show is not the kind of thing I’d really had any desire to do before, this drag show was actually for an assignment in my communications class!  Every fortnight we have to write a report on a “ multicultural learning experience” we’ve had by attending events around campus that challenge our perspectives or introduce us to a new culture.  A guy in my class is actually a drag queen and he invited the whole class to his upcoming performance, so me and a few friends in my class went along. 

Honestly my expectations of a drag show were completely blown away – it was so much fun! The drag queens were all massive divas - dressed to the nines in six inch heels they performed to Rihanna and Beyoncé and the crowd lapped up every second of it. There were a few interesting moments, such as when one queen rubbed whipped cream all over herself or when another starting making out with a member of the crowd whilst performing but I feel this was all part of experiencing the drag community! I would definitely go to another drag show in the future that’s for sure. 

 On another note last night I went to hear Marty Baron, the executive director of the Washington Post speak about the ethics of journalism.  Described as one of the best newspaper editors in the world and featured as one of the lead characters in Academy Award winning film ‘Spotlight’, having the opportunity to hear him speak was awe inspiring. 

Marty Baron who came to speak at PSU

Baron talked about the concept of Fake News and ‘alternative facts’, an idea being tossed around by Donald Trump ( and his followers) at the moment that credible news sources like CNN are purposely not reporting the truth.  Baron talked about how the “alternative to facts is not ‘alternative facts’, it is fiction”. Facts are facts and anything that is not a fact is simply not true!

Similarly he talked about ‘fake news’ and the rise of alternative media outlets being given major opportunities to report on national politics.  The Christian Broadcasting for example is now being granted the first questions in press conferences, ahead of media conglomerates such as the Associated Press. Recently the White House even banned major news outlets such as BBC and the New York Times from even attending an informal press conference.   

In light of the shock presidential election he also talked about the need to diversify the news room with reporters from all walks of life and the need to report on issues from areas all over the country – not just the relatively liberal and well off north-east.  I think this is an issue the media in New Zealand should also be aware of.  Much of the mainstream media in New Zealand focuses on issues in Wellington and Auckland, whilst the regions including my home Hawkes Bay are largely ignored.  People in Hawkes Bay and other small areas don’t read the news because media outlets like Stuff don’t write about issues that relate to them.  The media in New Zealand could certainly improve on reporting on regional issues –such as poverty and health instead of yoga classes in Wellington or million dollar homes in Auckland. 

Okay sorry, so I realize I’ve gone on about this and it doesn’t really have much to about studying abroad but I’m just so interested in these kind of issues !

Anyway aside from these events life has been rolling on as usual – studying, working and hanging out with my friends makes up the day-to-day on goings at Penn State. The upcoming weeks are going to be jam packed with exams and assignments and hopefully the on-set some warmer weather (but seriously, when is the Pennsylvania winter going to end ? ) .