To Compensate

So, I haven't posted in a while. You may be wondering why. I'm here to explain that.

I am a sloth. Pronounced "slowth", because I'm lazy in the British way. I just forget to do things and continually put them off until I elect Boris Johnson and that makes everything worse.

That is beyond the point. I'm here to talk to you about Dante's Inferno. Is it a comedy?

Obviously, yes it is, but that raises a bigger question; what is a comedy? We have the definition in the reference book. a story that deals with the internal affairs of a person (I'm heavily paraphrasing), but is that what a comedy is today?

Comedy is, in my (and in many others) view, an unspoken truth revealed to an audience by a performer. Take my lovely impression of Mr. Adair at a funeral. We all KNOW that that is what he would do, but you didn't know that you knew it until I revealed it to you.

This definition doesn't extend to everything as easily. My favorite movie, Mel Brooks's The Producers has very few unspoken truths revealed. It is more absurdist in some parts, and yet it is still hilarious.

I've waxed philosophic for long enough. What do you all define comedy as?

Inferno vs Justice System

I just realized that while talking about criminal justice system, we are also learning about the punishments of Dante’s Inferno. Coincidence? I think not!! The justice system is supposed to be about reform, but it is more about proving an example and punishing these people. This is similar to Inferno in that there a specific punishment for every type of crime, except, I like the Inferno a lot better for entertainment purposes. Although a life sentence may seem harsh to us, Dante’s Inferno lasts an infinity. It’s a never ending circle of pain and suffering for anyone who ends up there, but this may actually be more similar to prisoners than what meets the eye. People that end up with life long sentences or in solitary confinement often compare their lives to a life in Hell. They endure psychological pain and torment, and are often hopeless about the future. They can’t find purpose in this meaningless circle of prison cells and courtyards. All rights are taken away, and they wish for a better existence, just like the poor souls in Hell in Dante’s Inferno.

Keys to a successful podcast

Hey everybody! I hope you are all having a magical weekend. I know Sara is. Anyways... I would just like to share some tips from this website that I found with you all. The topic is “Keys to a Successful Podcast.”

The three biggest points I picked out to share with you guys are: be an expert on your topic, know your audience well, and be authentic. First off, being an expert on your topic literally means being an expert on your topic. You should know everything you are reporting about, unless it is subjective. Have all your facts right and sound as knowledgeable as possibly so that your audience trusts you. That leads me into point 2, knowing your audience. You must know who you are attempting to reach with your podcast. What people do you want your message to get to and why. Is your podcast for everyone, or is it for a person with a certain viewpoint similar to yours??? Hmmm??? Okay lastly, you need to be authentic. You must not try to act a certain way to look cool when making your podcast. Who you are is beautiful. You should want to be your own beautiful self as much as possible. So, when you’re in front of an audience, remain true to what you are. No, but seriously, don’t get microphone try and attempt to be someone you’re not. (I.e. in Sara’s case, funny. Don’t try to be funny Sara)

I hope these tips from the article help you all when you are making a podcast, because they are actually useful, unlike this blog post I just wrote. Jk please love me.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.timecamp.com/blog/2018/01/make-successful-podcast/amp/

I love you all lots,
Especially people with cute tiny ears,
Xoxo, Sophia

Does Finland really know what's up?

I watched this TEDtalk about prison reform (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8I749MuYbA) and the speaker, Jennifer Thomas, spoke about her time in jail and the amount amount of injustices she witnessed in just four months. She then compared the US prison system to Finland's and found completely different approaches we just so happen to be familiar with, retribution and rehabilitation. After watching this, I was curious and looked up the crime rate for both countries, and as expected, in 2002, 11.88 million crimes were reported in the US while Finland only had 520,194 reported. 

Here's what surprised me. Taking population into account, the US only has 41.29 crimes reported per capita, and Finland had a whopping 100.03 crimes reported, ranking in at #6 out of the 81 countries listed. So based on this evidence, is rehabilitation really the answer, or is it too good to be true? 

Furthermore, the country ranked last (smallest crime per 1000) was Nepal (0.368 per capita). Sanjeeb Regmi, spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General, stated that prisoners in certain districts of Nepal live under "inhumane conditions". Keeping that in mind, the country ranked first is Iceland (209.52 per capita). Iceland cells don't have locks, and all inmates have relationships with the officers. 

So now I'm confused. My morals are telling me rehabilitation, but the numbers are telling me retribution, so what do you guys think?

Iceland article:http://theconversation.com/i-deliberately-sent-myself-to-prison-in-iceland-they-didnt-even-lock-the-cell-doors-there-105257

Nepal article:https://www.msn.com/en-xl/asia/nepal/prisoners-in-nepal-are-living-under-inhumane-conditions-says-office-of-the-attorney-general/ar-AABogmW

NEW MOVIE

I am not sure if y'all remember exactly what my podcast presentation was about, so I'll give a quick reminder. I did a presentation on episode 96 of Criminal (In) Justice called Policing While Black. This was an interview of a man named Matthew Horace, who is African American male and is a police officer. He also is the author of a book called The Black and The Blue. This book and the podcast overall is about Horace's experiences being in two communities (African American male and cop). 
I was planning to go see a movie with my family this weekend and as I was looking through the options I see a movie entitled: Black and Blue, and I was very intrigued. I looked it up and read this summary (below) on a movie review website. 
"BLACK AND BLUE is a fast-paced action thriller about a rookie cop (Naomie Harris) who inadvertently captures the murder of a young drug dealer on her body cam. After realizing that the murder was committed by corrupt cops, she teams up with the one person from her community who is willing to help her (Tyrese Gibson) as she tries to escape both the criminals out for revenge and the police who are desperate to destroy the incriminating footage."
This movie is all about the issues that Horace talks about in his interview. Unfortunately, I could not go see this movie with my family because it is rated R (I have younger brothers), but I really would like to go see it. If anyone wants to go LET ME KNOW PLEASE! 
(ALSO it gets better........this movie was filmed and based in NEW ORLEANS) 

THE SHU… and more!!!

As we presented on our podcast this week, “The Shu” seemed to be the most popular one. The stories of people being locked away for years and years without much human contact, completely baffles me. This brings me to my point. If our class was so concerned with the topic of the unfair treatment in the Shu, then others must feel this way about it too. With that said, why is nothing being done? The Shu is one of the largest issues with prison systems, but nothing is being done or not fast enough??

On a completely different note, Brandon, Sophia, Jake, and I, were talking about death row in study hall last week. Somehow we began discussing what would be our last meal if we were on death row. We established that Sophia’s would be lobster, Brandon’s would be eggs benedict, Jake’s would be steak, and mine would be blueberry waffles. 

This sparked my interest on the real conditions and restrictions of the last meal on death row. I found that “Alcohol or tobacco are usually denied. Some states place tight restrictions. In Florida, the food for the last meal must be purchased locally and the cost is limited to $40. In Oklahoma, cost is limited to $15. In Louisiana, the prison warden traditionally joins the condemned prisoner for the last meal. On one occasion, the warden paid for an inmate's lobster dinner.” If it were up to me, I wouldn’t limit the price, but I would limit the number of items and how easily it could be obtained. They are already spending millions of dollars on the execution, what is another $100??

Hypothetically speaking, what would y’all’s last meal be?

Super cool YouTube vid!!!

A YouTube channel called Jubilee recently came out with a video about a group of people performing a mock jury trial. They discuss a real case involving a school shooter who’s our age, and they have to choose between sentencing him to life in prison or the death penalty. https://youtu.be/y5Du1Qht9Vg
A lot of “jurors” brought up different ideas we’ve been talking about in class and new ideas having to do with prison reform. But I’m curious; if you were a juror what would you sentence this 18 year old to and why?