Newspaper Page Text
e Spelmcm Spotlight
VOLUME XVI NO. 10
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MAY 1, 2002
Images of Women in the Media holds class at Market Friday
banner hung over Lower
Manley daring people to re
sist the negative images of
women that are portrayed in
the media. In front of the
book store there was a “Trail
of Truths,” which was com
prised of numerous adver
tisements that were almost
impossible to decipher what
exactly the ads were selling,
except for sex.
There was a “Naked
Woman’s Body Truth,” that
had common derogatory
phrases attached to her spe
cific body parts. By the post
office a “Mirror Mirror
Truth” station surveyed and
challenged students to find
their true self-image and not
the media’s images.
male and marie artists.
The presentation raised
awareness and was well re
ceived by students and
faulty. Many people volun
tarily participated and held
conversations among each
other and with group mem
bers about the issues.
According to the group
members, the majority of
negative images of African
American women were
found in black publications
such as Vibe, Sister 2 Sis
ter, The Source and Es
sence.
“It used to be that the white
man was oppressing us, and
now it’s a shame that once
we got a hold of tools such
as magazines and films, we
By: Lana Smith
“Truth or Dare: Are you per
petuating these images? We
dare you to resist them!”
That was the theme of Mar
ket Friday on April 19,
2002.
They made you aware and
they gave you a dare. A
group of nine student's from
the Images of Women in the
Media class made students
think twice about their
choice of music, the images
of women in the media and
question their true self.
With fluorescent posters ev
erywhere and magazine
clippings of half-naked
women on the ground, stu
dents couldn’t help but to
stop, look and wonder what
was going on.
“We wanted to really catch
people’s attention, but ap
proach it in a way that we
wouldn’t be nagging them.
By putting the harsh and
bold images on bright pa
per and posters,, it made
them voluntarily look,”
said Shayla Arline, a group
member.
What started out as a small
group assignment from
their professor Dr. Tarshia
Stanley, to. gather students’
opinions on images of
women in the media,
turned into an enormous
project and immense effort
to make students aware of
the negative images they
might be perpetuating.
“Initially the group was
supposed to present for a
class assignment, but after
working together we real
ized we wanted to really
raise consciousness about
how the media subcon
sciously affects what we
do in our daily lives. The
project then became a part
of life for us instead of
just a grade,” explained
Christina Williams, a se
nior group member.
The presentation, directed
towards both women and
men, consisted of several
“Truth” stations. A large
In addition, there was a
“Truth Music” station where
students guessed how many
times an artist degraded
women in a specific song
and then listened to the song
to see if they were correct.
There were also “Body
Poster Truths” and “Truth
Handouts” that included sev
eral statistics about the im
ages of women in the media
and song lyrics by both fe-
started oppressing and de
grading ourselves,” said
Samantha Chamblee, a
group participant.
The Images of Women in
the Media group dared to
make people aware and
they succeeded. The ques
tion that still remains is
what are you going to do to
resist the negative images
of women in music, maga
zines, television and films?
Impetus; an improvisational comedy performance
by Clanci M. Cochran
Campus and Local
Quarles Auditorium
probably never before saw as
much action as it did on April
16, 2002.
A dozen students,
dressed all in black and bare
footed, were blasting dance
music, dancing and jumping
around, blowing bubbles, and
singing at the top of their
lungs.
To the untrained eye,
or the audience members, it
looked like mad craziness and
pandemonium, but the wild be
havior is what this group calls
“warming up”.
Impetus, the campus
improvisational group, is made
up of Spelman and Morehouse
students who are interested in
the performing and acting and
are not afraid to act a little
silly while perfecting their
craft.
The team was cre
ated by Crystal, a
Spelman student
who attended a
performing arts
high school and
felt as if Spelman
should have an
improvisation
group to give stu
dents an unique
way to express themselves.
Impetus started in the second
semester, holding meetings
every Tuesday night for an
hour.
The word impetus has
many meanings, including: a
driving force, impulse, and
the tendency of a moving
body to keep moving after
the force which has kept it in
motion ceases to act. The
non-stop laughter of the au
dience proved that Impetus
lives up to their name.
The practices paid
off; their first performance
showcased many perfected
acting exercises. The group en
couraged the large audience to
have a seat on the floor-“to get
the full effect.”
Everyone was handed
a blank piece of paper
where they were in
structed to write a line
from a movie, song or
play, which the improv
group acted out later.
After Crystal intro
duced herself and the
players, the show com
menced. For almost
two hours the actors
showed their talents by pulling
words, actions and emotions
right off the top of their head.
Some of the “games” that the
players performed were Re
turns, Freeze Tag, Genres,
Stop-Do It Again and Hitch
hiker.
“The games are fun to
play but hard to make them
funny,” says Terrence Young,
one of the players. “We have
to rely on impluse-natural en
ergy created when we work
together.”
The audience showed
their appreciation and support
by laughing, clapping and
cheering the group on.
Mironda Sneed, a first-year
student from Spelman, was
pleasantly surprised. “I
hadn’t planned to go,” she ad
mitted, “but I’m glad I did be
cause I really enjoyed my
self.”
Impetus is one of the
AUC’s best kept secrets. Be
sure to check them out in the
years to come.
ii
the tendancy for the body to keep
moving after the force which has
kept it in motion ceases to act.