Divas in Black: A Storify Article

Ever since I was a child two things were always evident, I love to sing, and I love to be the boss.  It seems I spent the better part of my youth immersing my imagination with vision of fame and stardom, and above all total artistic freedom.  My dream was to graduate high school, and somehow become the next Whitney or Mariah.  The kind of vocalist with the chops to sing the phonebook with ease, yet still remain classy, glamorous and somehow ”down to earth.” In the two years after leaving high school, Whitney Houston was experiencing her personal problems, Mariah Carey her “breakdown, ”my favourite group Destiny’s Child after a very public and very nasty break-up, was evolving into a musical aesthetic that did not interest me.  My idols were falling.  And thank God for that.  Whatever the personal stories of these individuals, these ebb periods of their public lives made a profound impression on what it means to famous, and what it means to popular.  Also what it means to be an entertainer, and what it means to be an artist.  As I disposed of my childhood ideals, I began to replace them with what believe were healthier ones for me.  That in the words of the great Puccini aria “Vissi d’Arte” I wanted to live for art, and I wanted to live for love.  In order to do that, I had to discover the art to living my life. When I began singing, I started in Gospel, then R&B, then Jazz.  Upon hearing that Mariah Carey had been vocally trained by her opera singer mother, I thought classical training was the sure way to get to do that "whistle thing" she does.  On my way to emulation, I found myself conflicted with the traditional paradigms I had honoured all this time, because now they were holding me back.  I wanted new challenges, new experiences to breakthrough my personal barriers to unleash my  self, and then I discovered Opera. The beauty, the clarity, the rigor of it excited me.  The history engaged me.  Singing it released me.  I can and still sing all the genres I began with, but Opera has given me a new appreciation for the gift of the voice, and that I am called to share it with others.  I think this is the beauty of music and that is why I chose to do this Storify article on the great music of Verdi, Wagner and the amazing voices they helped define.  Hopefully, someday, mine will be defined as greatly as theirs. 

Black Women in Opera

Don't Shoot the Messenger! Give him a Blog instead.

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            In response to my last post, my blog colleagues all touched some factors that affect the validity of “the news.” Becky from Psyched About Music!  Began with a couple of quotes from Alfred Hermida, “(journalists establish) jurisdiction over the ability to objectively parse reality to claim a special kind of authority and status" and that social media subverts this "monopoly on the provision of everyday public knowledge" (2012) (Parenthesis mine).  At first I took issue with this statement thinking it put journalists in an elitist light, but recant.  Journalists do take jurisdiction and from that glean their authority and status, as journalists.  It follows that, regardless of any “Ron Burgundy” image we have in our minds, journalism is a skill and those who are especially good, have made it an art. Therefore, however wonderful it is that social media allow full access to all types of news everywhere, many times it is the “art of journalism” that make this access possible and tangible.  That said I wonder if this “subversion” Hermida speaks of really exists.  Perhaps it is more the “evolution” of journalism he speaks of, instigated by the fluid and participatory nature of the web.  Now more than ever, the journalistic standards are higher because verifiability of so much information is fair game. 

            David from Picture of Interest lamented at the rise of the Gossip column/blog. People are fascinated with celebrities and by celebrity culture, that one needn’t be talented as long at they have the money to spend time with celebrities.  Who ever heard of “celebutante” before Paris Hilton?   Even the term comes from “debutant,” a social institution that is essentially the beginning of a life of a kind of “local celebrity” for wealthy youth.  No matter the veracity, Gossip blogs and publications serve the purpose of reporting on celebrity culture, which is based on illusion. I know it sound convoluted, but then it is.  So when is news just gossip? In this case, the news is in the façade, not the facts.  The information is rarely if ever relevant to the goings on of our everyday lives. Never the less, the public engages.  In my opinion, displays a near tragic state of our social psychology. What would happen if we put that energy into ourselves? Into our own dreams?  This indulgence on speculation can diminish the need for truth in our personal lives.

            Finally, Meg from Animated Films expressed how think the majority feels about social media and professional journalism, that one augments the function if the other.  This I feel is the more balanced perspective.  Journalism, both good and bad existed well before the Internet, and it would likely continue as long as we as human society have stories to tell and information to share.  This is in part why I think blogging has become a new forum for journalism.  It allows one to be authoritative, without the limitations and politics of working within a bureaucracy.  While social media allow many voices to be heard, there is something to be said for choosing the life of the messenger, instead of just a moment.  The discipline of journalism does have place in our new media landscape.  Better still, it has many places.
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References
Alfred Hermida (2012) TWEETS AND TRUTH, Journalism Practice, 6:5-6, 659-668, DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2012.667269

The Rumour Has it

Personally, I rarely engage in the journalistic opportunities that social media offer outside of observing.  I believe there are plenty of people who are passionate enough to inform the public of what is newsworthy.  The extent I wish engage the process usually lies in sharing some kind of news I find socially or politically impactful to my peer group.  However, I have noticed that perhaps for the first time in history, people are actually in charge of the news as opposed to just being the in news.  Journalists used to rely on finding the next big story.  Social media have made the search much simpler by bringing the news and newsmakers to the forefront sooner.  Yet, I don’t actually believe the line between authentic journalism, and word of mouth is as blurred as is suggested.  Journalists are still charged with the expectation that their facts are verified and truthful.  Members of the general public do not receive such pressures.  In fact there is a whole new genre of quasi-journalism that has come out of this, gossip columns.  Gossip columns have now evolved into gossip blogs.  The aim of these websites is to inform people of rumours and perhaps ultimately, the veracity of these rumours.  Many of these sites began as celebrity fan blogs that grew into fully functioning websites with “journalistic” undertones.  These are not to be confused with tabloids, which do not rely on public response to the accuracy of their claims.  Gossip sites and blogs exist as means of interacting with the fan base to undercover the facts amidst all the rumours.  They find rumours, quotes, and news stories, and then speculate on what it all means or at least what is coming next.  Unless the truth comes out of the proverbial horse’s mouth, one of the next best sources are, you guessed it, official journalism outlets such as the Associated Press and celebrity journalists like Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters, and trusted network news outlets.  This exchange is very much in keeping with measures many traditional new organizations are taking in order to stay relevant in the Web 2. era. (Bruns & Highfield, 2012, 4.1).  Still, perhaps the biggest source of instant newsworthy content has become Twitter where celebrities often publicly post their own comments and content.  The Gossip genre has contributed to what Dahlgren (2012) calls “civic cultures” He describes these as follows, “In a nutshell, civic cultures comprise those cultural resources that citizens' can draw upon for participation.  Moreover, in the modern world, the civic cultures operate to a great extent via the media (Dahlgren, 2012).”  Social media has given the public new ways of engaging the world and each other.  The journalism has inevitably been affected, by given rise to new genres.  With the example of the entertainment Gossip site, we see journalism as an effort for cultural exchange developing them at rapid pace.

References

Dahlgren, P. (2012). Reinventing participation: civic agency and the web environment. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations. 4.2, p27.

Bruns, A. & T. Highfield. (2012). Blogs, Twitter, and breaking news: The produsage of citizen journalism. pre-publication draft on personal site [Snurb.info]. Published in: Lind, R. A. ed. (2012). Produsing Theory in a Digital World: The Intersection of Audiences and Production. New York: Peter Lang. p15-32.