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week 7

 In our class discussion today, I enjoyed talking about the self vs the other. It made me really think about the way I view my own life. This weekend, I went to go visit my brother in Washington DC! He is a freshman at Georgetown University and I got to go see my mom for the first time since the summer, I really missed her (and I guess my younger brother to hahaha). I had only been to DC once when I was about 15, I think I've really changed since then, and so did my memory of the city. I loved getting to walk around, shop, eat, and explore the city he calls home. Some of my favorite activities I did in my short trip there was visit the Native American museum, the Library of congress, and see all the monuments. I go to go to the steps of the Supreme Court which was especially cool because this semester I am taking judicial politics, which is a whole class on the Supreme Court. I liked getting to see what I learned about in textbooks with my own eyes, because to be honest, that class...
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Week 6 --- The Talented Mr. Ripley

 This week, after the rainy period, I am looking forward to some better weather! It was my partner Lauren and I's turn to take on the presentation this week. I thought all my classmates before me did an excellent job and I knew I had to have some big shoes to fill-- they were all great and interactive. Personally, I loved watching The Talented Mr. Ripley. I told my mom I was doing the presentation and she mentioned it was one of her favorite films, I can see why! I thought the cast was great and the Italian scenery was magnificent. It made me really want to go. The plot was also super interesting and the whole movie was super engaging. I thought it was thrilling enough without it being scary.  It was intriguing to analyze Tom Ripley as a character and connect it back to the class relating to truth and scamming. It was hard to hate him as a character even after he did many messed up things.  I also had a great time meeting with my partner Lauren, she is really great! We bo...
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Werewolves

 I found the Werewolf articles quite interesting. During Halloween time, when the weather starts to get cold and rainy like today, and I watch the Twilight movies, I always think of werewolves, but never the 4,000 year old history behind them. I think that the werewolf became a legend and a terror because during the time, people lived in a world shaped by superstition, political clashes, religion as a source of fact, violence, and a belief in things like the devil. I think this relates to the witch trials because when things happen mysteriously without an obvious reason or when bad things happen in general, people need a cause or a reason to blame others for the problem. Similarly, legends of werewolf superstitions led to a witch hunt, and I thought the idea of Bisclarvet was interesting. Just like the "witches" in Salem, accused werewolves such as Pierre Burgot, Michel Verdun, Giles Garnier, and Peter Stumpp were tied to magic. I had no idea 30,000 people  were executed as w...
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Week 5-- the wave

 The Wave (Die Welle) was the most interesting film I have seen (well at least clips of) in a very long time. I have always been curious about history of Germany (I have taken World War II history classes in the past because of my interest). It is different to think about how other countries teach about and discuss this sad part of history. The question we talked about in class is, can this happen again? I hope not, but after watching The Wave, it was so easy for a group of people to follow similar characteristics in such a short amount of time, blindly, without realizing the harm that they were doing. This film really offered a unique perspective on how we as a global community need to be careful so that history never repeats itself. I also thought this film connected to scamming in a way because those that were vulnerable were more susceptible to joining. The ending of this filmed completely shocked me. I thought it was thought provoking and unique. This is a film I haven't stopp...
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Week 4 -- phishing

 The thing I found most interesting from our class discussions were the types of phishing. I had no idea how many different types there were. In specific, the most peculiar type was quishing. I had never heard of quishing before but I think it is so innovative-- it's the scam I think I would most likely fall for. A QR itself if just a scannable code, there is usually no writing or anything, in contrast to a scam website where you can see the URL and scan for spelling errors ect. In a QR code, there are no other obvious details of what could be attached. I am so used to just scanning a QR code, whether its a menu at a restaurant or a class attendance sign on. However after learning more, from now on, I will be more careful about what I scan. I thought the class assignment explained this too. The other group created a fake scenario where there was a sign at TCU that said to scan to fill out an interest form for the concert coming up. There are already so many signs and QR codes aroun...
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Week 3 -- Deepfakes

 This week has been one of the busiests in my college career thus far... but we are pushing through! I liked learning about deepfakes, although the topic was frightening to me. I realized with the advancement of technology how hard it is to determine what is real vs a deep fake. I thought the presenters did a great job of informing us on the topic. I liked how Anna Buesos shared a paper worksheet where we had to guess which is real and which is fake, none of us got it right. The presentations and TikToks that were shared especially baffled me because I genuinely could not decipher what was real and what was fake, it really made me think about the topic of this course, True or false, I DON'T KNOW! hahaha I also liked making the Deepfake of you dancing. I hope you also got a good laugh out of it, and your wife as well. It was scary how easy it was for me too do that for free. Now imagine if I was using a paid program or had any programing skills and time.... crazy! Deepfakes like the...
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Week 2-- Propaganda and Dr. Enos

 I survived the second week of class! My favorite part of this week, and perhaps one of the most memorable lectures I've listened to was the presentation from Dr. Enos. It was so interactive and fun, I felt I really learned a lot! His magic tricks and analogy about baby Mia really stuck to me when learning about propaganda. I loved how he mixed aspects of psychology and philosophy with real-world examples. It really made the material stick in my mind. I find it so interesting how easy it is for propaganda to turn into reality and how quick people are to believe things, maybe without realizing they are doing it. I know understand that propagandists play into emotion, urgency, and your feelings to get you to believe what they want and make it seem like it was your idea such as the card and numbers trick.  It makes me wary of propaganda in my own life. Maybe not propaganda in the way I used to think of it, for example in WWII, but in what I see on social media and the spread of f...
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