More Love Fur Dogs

Stella Captivates Audience

It is too easy to jump to the conclusion that the on the rise pet pampering trend is due to the upperclass societies such as the North Shore of Chicago.  It was easy to assume that the three privately owned pet stores within 10 minutes of each other is because it is the community that will pay for the services. While as I mentioned in my blogpost "We Love Our Pets" that it is true that there is a bigger market for it here, pet pampering is a trend all over the country. 

After further thought I remembered the dog that plays a bigger role than some of the other characters in the cast of "Modern Family", a hit ABC show. The show is about the typical modern American family, believe it or not. The dog is a French Bulldog named "Stella". The attention on the dog has grown immensely over the course of the show and has even starred in an episode. Stella has become a favorite and has even made her way into her very own article in People magazine.  

Stella in Bed

The purpose of the show is to remind viewers of their own family and memories. It is so successful because it parallels our own families so much and allows us to laugh at ourselves. By adding Stella into the show, she reminds viewers of their own pet. The dad starts off not wanting the dog but later ends up being her best friend, she gets a fancy collar, she sleeps on the bed--all things that could easily happen in many families. 

While pets are of huge importance in American families, things are very different in other countries on the pet-front.  When I was in Peru a few years ago there were raggedy mutts everywhere, ownerless and scrounging for food. This was the norm in Peru and in many other countries alike. My reaction to the wandering dogs in Peru alone showed me how much we as Americans value our pets. As a kid, every time I saw a dog wandering without an owner within a few feet was a time to play rescuer, check its tag, and return it to its home. In Peru, we were warned about petting the dogs because of potential disease and infection. What has led to the difference of the value of pets in different countries?

We Love Our Pets

Shopping Dogs

Less than a week ago,  I was walking through the mall and what I saw only half caught me by surprise; two white lap dogs in their very own stroller were shopping with their owners. As I thought more and more about pet society in America, countless examples of pet pampering popped into my mind. Dogs and cats on planes, shopping, in hotels--pets are nearly everywhere we go and their value is only increasing. 

Not more than two days later while I was driving past the familiar shops in my local town, an addition to the bunch caught my eye. "Love Fur Dogs", the newest addition to the area is has moved in less than a mile away from our other luxury pet store, "Noah's Ark". Some of the fancy pet products such as doggie froyo advertised at this store in particular were brought to my attention in Callie's blog post written earlier this year. The addition of this pet store is far from necessary but due to the choice of location, it is likely to be of use.

New Pet Shop in Town

According to Time Magazine writer Dan Hirchhorn, Americans spent "a record $55.7 billion on their pets last year" and are likely to spend even more in the coming year. One comparison that Hirchhorn gave was that Americans spent $10 billion more on their pets than Germany did on its defense budget last year. This figure goes to show the values of different countries and the money that America, not just the northshore, puts into their pets. 

Nearly every home I walk into there is a dog there to greet me, or a cat curled on a sofa somewhere. In my own home, my dog has his own chair with a blanket on it strictly for him. We perceive him as nearly human and is pampered to a great extent. It is peculiar to investigate the rise of pet spending in America especially when taking into consideration the growing economic inequality gap. The most probable explanation for the increase of pet spending is because pets are a sign of wealth. The pug, for example, was a breed that was for royalty because they are such lap dogs. The increase of spending comes from American's desire to be in the upperclass secret society by faking their way there. Why do you think pet spending has been on the rise in America? 



http://time.com/23451/pets-dogs-cats-spending-americans/

New Trier News

In the past two weeks, all of the graduation festivities for New Trier's seniors have been in action. Starting off, the most popular school newspaper of the year came out. It was the issue which declared every senior's next four years. The issue is a New Trier tradition which advertises and shows off its graduates. Going through the pages and searching for the most selective schools names seemed to be the mindset of many juniors. I started to wonder whether this advertisement was a theme specific to New Trier or whether it is more of an American theme.

After some quick research, the statistics that I came across were quite literally jaw dropping. According to www.classroom.synonym.com, in 2011 68.3% of high school graduates enrolled in college but nearly half of those kids were enrolled in a community college. PBS then revealed to me that only 40% of working-aged Americans hold a college degree. In striking contrast to these stats was our school newspaper. Only one (two if I missed one) graduate is attending our local community college, Oakton where as everyone else will be attending college, university, or taking a gap year.

It turns out that the college binder sitting on my desk which reads; "College is not a prize to be won, it is a match to be met" is truly a New Trier or maybe on a more general scale, an upper class motto (see my education inequality blogpost). This phrase has always bothered me, ever since my parents placed it on my nightstand. College to me is a prize to be won, it is what we work towards but that in itself is an upper class theme. Many Americans do not have the money to attend such selective pricy institutions. Growing up, college has always been an expectation. Dinners and run ins with family friends--the question nearly always arises; "where do you want to go to school?" or "where are you looking?" The New Trier theme of college expectations leads to further questions of class divides.



http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/percentage-americans-college-degrees-rises-paying-degrees-tops-financial-challenges/

Handwriting is Lost in Surging Technology

This morning, the front page of the science section in the New York Times sitting on my kitchen table caught me by surprise. The issue that I had written about just a month ago turns out to be a bigger deal than I previously believed. “What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades” by Maria Konnikova pays particular attention to the difference between handwriting versus typing but also addresses cursive versus print. Through a variety of studies, Konnikova concludes that writing by hand increases the proficiency and speed of reading and the ability to retain information. Further research revealed that the messiness of handwriting, the difference of each letter you write, triggers the memory. In addition to the benefit to all people, it can particularly benefit kids with dysgraphia and alexia, diseases affecting the brain and ability to read and write. Since cursive and print affect different areas of the brain, each are beneficial in their own way.

Contrasting to the beneficial affects of handwriting are the negatives of typing. According to Konnikova, typing “may diminish our ability to process new information”. This goes to say that taking notes by hand is much more beneficial than typing them. When I tied this into New Trier, it is interesting to see how iPads are being incorporated into the school. Many kids are already using their iPads to take notes and next year, every student will have the option. While the technology advance seems to be what New Trier is striving for, is it really worth it to take away the benefits of hand writing? 

The image that Konnikova chose to put with her article (left) was very interesting because of the color changes and the overlapping. The black and white side at first seemed to be the equivalent to the keyboard but the actual keyboard in the photo over laps both the black and white side and the color side. In addition to this, the print is on the black and white side where as the cursive is on the color side. The division is clear but what is its purpose? Where do print, cursive, and typing all lie?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/science/whats-lost-as-handwriting-fades.html?_r=0

When the Legend is Discovered to be a Myth

Last week the Stradivarius McDonald was sold at £27,000,000. For those who do not know, a Stradivarius is a string instrument made by Antonia Stradivarius, born in Italy in 1644. The instruments, only an estimated 650 of which still exist, are said to be the best instruments in the world. Typically, Strads are either played by the best of the best or owned by wealthy collectors since they are so costly. Internationally renowned viola soloist, David Aaron Carpenter, was chosen to play the McDonald for the auction. 

Stradivarius

After speaking with David about his experience playing the McDonald(view here), I realized that his feedback was expected considering it was a Strad. He raved about the tone and the quality of the viola; all he wanted to do was play the fine instrument again. I did not doubt his opinion at all and I still do not but after hearing NPR's raido story, "Is a Strad Just a Violin?", I started to think a bit more critically on whether the age of an instrument determines its quality and on a broader scale, how much of something's price and name influence the actual quality.

When shopping for a new violin, the age of the instrument is a huge factor, or at least it has been up until now. The older the better, and typically the more expensive. As I spent my time shopping for a new viola today, the oldest one from the 1700's turned out to be the least attractive in almost all of its aspects. In NPR's study, they did a blind test on master musicians by giving them a mask which blurred their vision and sense of smell and having them play many different instruments, some modern and some old. In the end, the majority of the musicians preferred a modern instrument over the Stradivarius and guessed which were old and new incorrectly. 

This was shocking to me and very hard to believe. As the radio story speaker addressed, it is a disappointing study that musicians don't want to hear. Although it is relieving that you don't have to spend $45,000,000 to get the best instrument you can, the legend of Strads is something that you want to believe in and I know that personally I still do. Because I know that many people don't  particularly care about string instruments, the study can be put into a different setting with almost anything. If a name is passed around so frequently and the price is so high it is nearly impossible to prevent that from influencing you're own bias. How much of what we believe to be true comes from our own opinion versus the legends and prices of items?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/05/09/310447054/episode-538-is-a-stradivarius-just-a-violin

Two Secret Societies

This past weekend I spent several hours listening to the motivating and congratulatory speeches at my brother's graduation from the University of Madison Wisconsin. The speeches were well done but it was hard to stop from zoning out--that is until I heard a phrase that we had been discussing in my American Studies class. One professor who happened to be an alumni told the class that graduating from the University of Wisconsin Madison and becoming an alumni is like "joining a secret society". While the professor did not say anything more on the matter of "secret societies", I could not help but draw some parallels to the Great Gatsby. 

One of the characters, Daisy Buchanan is and has been in the top tier of the upperclass for her whole life. When she is talking with her cousin, Nick, who is upperclass but not to the extent she is, she "asserted her membership in a rather distinguished secret society" (17). As a class, we came to the conclusion that this secret society consists of old money, people who come from generations of wealth. The secret society in the Great Gatsby is one that Gatsby himself is never able to become a part of no matter how many parties he threw, how much money he earned and money he spent, or how well he dressed--he was never able to quite find his way in. 

Gatsby's failure of attempting to make it into the secret society is evidence that this secret society and the Wisconsin Alumni secret society are two different ones. Even though Gatsby attended Oxford, he could not join yet all you need to do to become apart of the Wisconsin society is to graduate from the school. Although the eliteness between the two societies differ, they also share much in common. The most obvious aspect in the two is money. To be in the old money secret society, you must come from generations of wealth. To join the Wisconsin society, you need the money to pay for four years of tuition. The Wisconsin Alumni secret society also accepts people who don't come from money by granting scholarships where as old money cannot be given and cannot be earned. 

It is clear that the two societies, Wisconsin Alumni and Old Money are two distinct societies but where do they cross? Is the Wisconsin Alumni secret society strictly Wisconsin or is it a college graduate secret society? 

Education Inequality

Through my junior theme research on income inequality, I have found one of the most contributing factors to be America's education system. It is not the total mess that I began to belief in the start of my studies. The problem isn't the quality of education in general, it is the gap between the schools in wealthy areas and in poorer areas.

Walking through New Trier, there are kids on their own iPads, at least 100 computers in the library alone not to mention the ones in science rooms, labs, and offices, an endless library of all the recourses we could ever possibly need, and a unbeatable staff that is there for what seems to be our every need.  New Trier, a public school, has all these yet other schools in the center of chicago, not more than 30 minutes away, lack books. This gap of material and recourses between schools is to me one of the biggest problems.

In addition to the material difference comes to difference of teachers. The teachers at New Trier at are a much higher level than other schools not only academically but also in a way that encourages the students to pursue academics and get excited about school. In "So Rich, So Poor", Peter Edelman addresses education in a chapter. He makes some claims and gives statistics that are almost too dire to believe. He calls the less regarded schools that cater to inner city poor kids "dropout factory(s)", the kids simply do not see the payoff of going to school. It almost seems to be that the staff pushes the students out of school instead of helping them achieve their academic goals. The teachers suspend kids for "discretionary offenses" that weren't really discretionary. For example, speaking out in class would not lead to the suspension of a kid at New Trier but it may in another school. The statistics show that 23% of kids who are suspended end up in Juvenile Justice where as only 2% of the rest end up in Juvenile Justice. Although this 23% is not a huge percent, is is 21% more that teachers could be keeping out of jail.

In order to even out this education gap leading to a lower income inequality gap, students in these less fortunate schools need a sense of effect and reward. Something to show them that school is beneficial to them. In addition, it is necessary that recourses and technology is spread out more evenly between schools.

Is America Plutocrazy?

Recently, I came a cross an article by Michael Brenner with overwhelming evidence that America is not a republic but a plutocracy. Although it is clear that the author of this article was very opinionated, I could not help but find the mountains of evidence persuading. He seems to address every aspect of a plutocracy and how America fits into that category, he goes on for pages. To challenge your view of what America calls its government, read this article. 

Throughout my research for my paper I have come across a common problem of billionaires lobbying and paying for campaigns. As Robert Reich says in "Inequality for All", it seems to be that in these  days you can "buy your own president!" Once a billionaire funds for a certain campaign, that candidate is in moral debt to them. The billionaire will have control over them or at least some of the decisions they make in office. After searching for Obama's lobby reform, I found that Obama is trying to combat this aspect of the plutocracy. In his words, he "will not drown out the voices of the American people.” Although his efforts to end this issue have not been as successful as he expected, the simple effort shows something about both sides of it. 

When Brenner addresses the end goal of a plutocracy, he says it is to "legitimize itself by fixing in the minds of society the idea that money is the measure of all things." This point was the one that mainly made me question my own views. In this country, prices are on nearly every item and based on what you can buy, you might as well have your own price tag. Is America not a materialistic nation? Does wealth not determine your class and how much you are worth? Although I was reluctant to think that this was true, I could not deny it when looking around my own neighborhood. 

Taking into account the opinions of Brenner and matching it up to reality was hard to do without doing an immense amount of individual research on America. Still, Brenner left me questioning the society I live in and whether it really is a republic, or actually a plutocracy.

Cursive Pushed Out of School, Into Summer

What are you doing this summer? Did your school neglect to teach you cursive in grade school? Take Cursive Boot camp this summer! 
As I was browsing the many different flyers put up on the bulletin board in the local Caribou coffee shop, I noticed a brightly colored one for a cursive summer boot camp taught by a District 36 teacher. In order to enforce the teaching of cursive to future generations, this teacher has decided to devote a summer to it. 

Earlier this year, the teaching of cursive was up for debate. It is no longer a requirement in 45 states in the US as it previously has been. While at first thought this does not seem to be a huge deal, there are many benefits to cursive other than being able to write in the fine script.   There are also major biological and psychological benefits. 

An article on "psychology today" that showed that the thinking level in studying cursive is increased and that cursive has improved students reading level greatly, especially in dyslexics. The hand movements required in cursive are constantly changing where as in handwriting there are single strokes. In addition to reading and thinking level, cursive also increases hand eye coordination. In contrast to the difficult task of writing in cursive is typing on a computer; what we seem to constantly be doing. It is the same motion of punching the keys of the letters we want, very little thinking required. Although learning to type without looking is mentally demanding as well, it requires a different kind of thinking. 

In addition to being biologically beneficial, the practice of cursive is also psychologically beneficial. As I remember, learning cursive was incredibly frustrating. I could never get the right amount of humps on the m, the right shape to the r, and some of upper case letters were nearly beyond my comprehension. Putting it all together was something I never thought I would achieve. By mastering each letter on its own, and then slowly forming words and my name, I learned how to write cursive and I felt as proud as I will when I turn in my final draft of my Junior Theme. The perseverance and self disciple instilled into students are traits that are crucial to the success of them later on in life.

While I do think that cursive should still be taught, I think it should be enforced in grade schools. Not in a summer "boot camp" that is an extra expense. Public schools are already being payed for by our taxes and those taxes should be going towards the teaching of subject that will improve the child's thinking. While I may rarely write in cursive now, I would argue that the most important benefits of it is the process of learning it. 

3rd Quarter Slump is REAL

Grades fall, blog posts are yet to be written, hours are spent half doing half dreading your homework, and studying becomes nearly impossible. It's third quarter slump; the time of the year that everyone seems to struggle with most. The months go by quickly, buried in the work load that seems to be piled on, and before you know it grade printouts are on their way and I am still five blogposts short, stressed beyond belief, and lacking infinite hours of sleep. To make things worse, siblings start coming home from college on break and envy builds up as I watch them sit around doing absolutely....nothing.

Third Quarter Slump is a term that I started hearing back in freshman year but I was not expecting the drastic jump of my grades. By third quarter, students should be used to the homework load and how to deal with it but this is not the reality of the average highschool student. Yet as I am up late every night doing the hours of homework that are not showing the affects that I want on my grades, I have to wonder whether it is the teachers loading on harder and larger quantities of work, or the students lacking motivation. Has my work ethic really changed since the start of the year?

The pattern of my motivation throughout a school year has become clear to me. I start the year of ready to go and organized in all of my classes. First quarter and second quarter are strong and steady and somehow, my motivation and work ehtic is not put at risk to my daydreams of summer and being somewhere, anywhere warm. Third quarter is when this starts to change; the weather starts to change. Even a hint of sun, a change from the fierce cold days, changes the way I work. Realizing this, I have found that the main perpatrator behind the fearsome Third Quarter Slump is the motivation of the students.

Although I admit to a change of my own work ethic, I cannot believe that the change of grades is a result of the motivation of students alone. In addition to the change of mindset in the students, there is also the factor of expectations. By third quarter, the bar is set and students are expected to keep improving to be able to keep up with the class even as the level is raised. Although students should also have intellectually grown enough to meet these new standards, the new challenges seem to be much more difficult then the previous semester.

As we stumble through the finish line of third quarter into spring break, the significantly lower grades beg the question; what is the cause of Third Quarter Slump, the teachers or the students? As we go into fourth quarter, why are students able to get back on track after being in the grasp of the Slump? 

Early College, Because the World is Waiting

Did you know you can start college next fall, before earning a high school diploma or even taking the SATs?
According to the recent invitation I received from Bard College at Simon's Rock, you can drop out of normal highschool and start college now. That is if you are in 10th or 11th grade and have the money to afford it. "Why wait?" the appealing brochure questions. It is the "only college specifically designed for students ready to tackle college early, without finishing high school." 

As desirable and tempting the idea of going straight to college is, I had to be realistic. The truth of this program is that all of the fees add up to a grand total of $59,108 annually. Four years of college already adds up to a hefty amount so to pay for an additional two years of college before college is unnecessary. In comparison to the average college tuition at $22,203; this early college is on the higher end of crazy tuitions. 

By having such an expensive tuition, the program is only accessible to some people. Maybe people living in the north shore of Chicago, or other wealthy suburbs. If only a small group of people can afford the program, do they still send their brochures out to everyone? To what extent can admissions target a certain group of people without crossing a racial or class line?

Not only does the program target a higher class, the brochure also clearly targets prospective students. On one of the pages (left), they took a page from a standardized test and filled in the bubbles spelling out "Over high school?". By doing this, they are appealing to high school students by showing a mutual disliking for standardized testing and showing empathy. Instead of making me want to attend to early college even more, it turned me away. Although a creative choice and design, it made the program seem unprofessional. In addition it made it seem like an easy way out, like cheating your way out of high school. 

It was interesting that they chose to target students rather than parents; aren't parents the ones that would be paying the tuition? If they appealed to parents more rather than students, they would be more effective in recruitments. What does making students the target say about their power over their own parents? 

APs: They Make You or They Break You

As course planning begins to wind down, the familiar echo of Juniors frantically asking friends and classmates how many APs they're taking begins to quiet down as well. Still, the forms are being finalized as they make their way through the final stages to be turned in.  There is little doubt in anyone's mind that there is a major discrepancy between the faculty and the students when it comes to Advance Placement courses for senior year.  While many teachers advice students to lessen their course load for senior year and think more practically, it's hard to accept this information when college decisions are lurking around the corner. 

It is commonly said by siblings, parents, and counselors that taking AP courses helps the start of your college life immensely. There is no denying this. It is also commonly said by teachers and advisors not to overdo it, it will kill your senior year. There is also no denying this. Hearing both these sides so frequently leaves students in the middle as good as we were before hearing anything at all although, it does cause us to think a bit more then just checking the boxes and filling in the numbers.  

While I was sitting in the car on the way to school the other morning, I noticed that the familiar murmurs of my mother's morning dose of WBEZ had actually sparked my interest.  The topic this morning had been AP courses and the AP tests in particular, how... fortuitous. I had been having at least one talk daily about the AP choices in the past few weeks, why not listen into this one as well? What caught my attention in particular was that Illinois had received the highest AP test scores in the country.  

It is one thing to take into account a school such as New Trier's averages alone but it is a another thing to take into account a whole state. It is obvious that the students at New Trier are very hardworking and are up for the AP challenge but it is also obvious that taking APs is highly encouraged and nearly expected be parents. As just one school in the state, what sort of effect could New Trier have made on the average scores of Illinois? 

Where are these test scores coming from? We are constantly being encouraged not to overload our schedules but is it really doing anything in the decisions we end up making? Was the fact that we were being advised to lessen our AP course load somehow affecting the way students enter these courses? 

The Olympic Wars

The Olympic Games started thursday with a bang; an intriguing, cultural opening ceremony, eye catching figure skating, and skiing off such high jumps and around such sharp turns it made me sit on the edge of my couch. 

Every 4 years the games are thrilling and entertaining to watch but what I didn't know was what sort of security goes into it all. From several different articles I have read, there have been several different threats targeted towards the Sochi winter Olympic Games. One of the precautions to these threats that particularly caught my attention was the "toothpaste bomb threat". The united states airlines banned any toiletries being taken on flights to Russia. Rather than the under 3.4 ounce in a plastic bag rule, flyers cannot take any toiletries. 

In addition to this toothpaste bomb threat, there has also been a Turkish Hijacking. The plane ended up landing in Istanbul rather than Sochi because of this and is now being searched for explosives. From the hijacking to the toothpaste bomb threat and all the other threats in between I couldn't figure out why people are going to such extremes to attack the games. Whether the threat is towards Russia or towards all the countries being represented there. The games are the only time that all the countries can really come together and agree but yet, that cannot be true of there are people trying to attack the games. 

Not only are there the threats to the games going on but just on the edge of the Olympic games is a real war zone. It is "a simmering, murky battle between increasingly radicalized militants who operate in the shadows of society and a security force that can be brutal, even when lethally effective." It is one of the longest running conflicts in the world and yet, the games are still being held right on the edge of it all. It is the first time in history that the games are being held in such proximity to a war zone, and while Russia has spent much of their money into enforcing security, should the games be taking place here? Is it safe?

President Obama has been in "constant communication" with the russians about keeping everyone safe and from a USA Today article, it is clear the he and Putin are on the same page about the security of the olympics. It is also clear that they are confident in the security of the games. According to DW article, Russia has gone to the extent of "deploying over 100,000 police officers, soldiers and secret agents" to protect the Sochi games. In addition the Russian authorities have nearly set up the defense of a war zone. The defense to a fortress with surveillance everywhere and rocket launchers prepared all over. 

It is clear that proper safety precautions have been taken to protect the games from any terrorist actions but even so, should the games be taking place on the edge of a war zone under so many threats?

Graffiti: First Time Appearance in the Northshore

The sometimes colorful, artistic and edgy art that litters the walls, trash cans, and streets of many lower class neighborhoods has made an appearance in the village of Winnetka this past month. This graffiti in particular does not fall into the 25% of graffiti that is gang related but the rest which is simple tagging; absolutely random. Although, this "art" is not the sort that people could look at and think of as artistic. It is the provocative sort; immature drawings and frowned-upon words.

When I first saw the graffiti, it was actually my mom who brought up the idea. She was shocked to see it; in her 18 years of living here it has never shown up. This got me thinking to what has changed in Winnetka that would conclude to this happening. After a bit of research I found that there were 20,000 more calls about graffiti in 2013 than 2012 in the city of Chicago. 2013 received 100,000 calls asking for the removal of the "art". I finally decided that maybe nothing has changed in Winnetka, it was just random.

If those 100,000 calls don't surprise you, maybe the $6.5 million dollars on graffiti removal in Chicago will. If we are spending $6.5 million dollars annually, why do some neighborhoods continue to have it around every corner, and on nearly every building? When I go to the city, or drive through other neighborhoods like evanston, graffiti is nearly everywhere. So much that the addition of a few more drawings would hardly be noticeable among the rest. You might see why the appearance of a bit of graffiti in the prestine streets of Winnetka came as a shock. 

First there is the amount that a specific neighborhood is willing to spend on the removal. Where would they rather put $6.5 million dollars annually, towards better schools and teachers or towards the appearance of the area? This is otherwise known as opportunity costs. In addition to the problem of opportunity costs, there is also the factor of what the people value. Typically, I would say that upperclass people care more about appearance, therefor they don't want to look out their windows and see the sometimes-but rarely, artistic "art".

The last factor is the amount of time that people have on their hands. The northshore has many stay at home parents who have time to call up the village and complain about the graffiti. In lowerclass neighborhoods, people might just be too busy to call. It may not even cross their minds. While this is a bit of a generalization, because of course there are many families in the northshore with two working parents, it does come in to play.

What sort of neighborhood stands for graffiti to be left up and more importantly, for how long? I didn't even get the chance to take a photo of the graffiti before it was taken down. It was up for three weeks maximum before it disappeared and the streets (actually street, there was only one small appearance) of Winnetka were back to their prestine state. 

 

Golden Globes: Fashion Show or Award Ceremony?

As seven o'clock rolled around last night, it was that time of the year again. Time to judge the dresses that the celebrities chose to wear and how they decided to wear it. Every since I can remember watching the Golden Globes was hardly about the shows and movies given the awards. The focus in my house has always been the fashion choices. Personally, I spent more time nominating the star's dresses than nominating the screenplay and best actor. Of course the introductions from Amy Poehler and Tina Fey were incredibly entertaining and seeing what I thought the be the best nominated was enough to keep me watching, the reason I actually watched many parts (rather then keeping it as background), was to see the thousand dollar exorbitant dresses and accessories. I began to wonder if it was just my house that was so invested in the star's dress. The answer to this I found in what surrounds the award ceremony.

6:00-7:00 is when the TV goes on, general background for whatever else people may be doing. This is the pre-Golden Globes show; when we get the first glimpse of all the stars walking down the red carpet. This year, E!'s coverage had 2.2 million viewers. Compared to the 20.9 million that viewed the Golden Globes; 2.2 million is hardly anything. While the viewers for the red carpet coverage was not as high as I had expected; I could not drop the idea.

Though the awards will always be the main part of the Golden Globes, the best and worst dressed will be soon to follow. When you search Golden Globes in google the third result is the red carpet fashion show, pictures of the stars will cover magazine covers and pages for the next month, and E! will have its usual show judging the dresses. While America may not have been as fashion obsessed as I had thought, the pressure on the celebrities to be the best dressed and the judgement of the way they dress is evident.

http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Es-Golden-Globe-Red-Carpet-Coverage-Draws-22-Million-Total-Viewers-20140113