#blogpost5

Blog Post 5 - Originally Noted on March 25th, 2023:

Walter’s character has quite the importance in The Watchman. Not only does he take on the role of Rorschach through the comic, but he also is an example of how individuals become who they are after trauma and the alter of themselves. In my original planout attached, I explain the importance of page 182 and page 204. 182 refers to Walter being abused by his mother, while 204 cuts to him being numb in front of questioning. Many might see this as just a backstory to look at, referring to how he got into his ways in the first place, but I see it as showing his coping mechanisms and allowing the reader to acknowledge what trauma can do to people. 

I refer to two hints to this, Walter’s facial expression in 204 and his mask when he is Rorschach. His facial expression as a child expresses significant emotion, he is young in 182, finding his mother with a man. In 204 though, it is like he is a statue when being questioned, dull and numb he seems to not be breaking down, but just going with it. Then with the mask, it depicts an inkblot test, the one’s one might be given and asked what they see (it has endless views depending on who is looking at it). 

These hints trace back to how Walter copes. Growing up he was abused by his mother, a dominant figure over him, so now he has built tolerance to not showing emotion; which is why there is barely any expression when he is being questioned by police and the man in front of him (again both dominant figures over him in that situation). 

As for his mask, we can see this again as a coping mechanism. He might not express emotion through his face, but his mask might allow him to combat that helps him get through his life. When he is Walter he is emotionless and numb, but when he is Rorschach, he has more motives, more aspiration for what he does, and no one actually sees who he is under the mask. 

Holding on until the end. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says: "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” In Sinners, Sammie was conflicted with his burning desire to play Blues, and the religious conviction that came from his father. Religion was seen as a suppression to Sammie; however, I have a different testimony to what religion means to me.

In Sammie's eyes, he couldn’t let go of his guitar, and music was his key to freedom. I have a flipped mindset. I believe that God is freedom, and the world is destruction. So I’ll tell my story Florence style, my guitar is my writing.

I can’t say I don’t relate to Sammie, as I remember growing up and dreading my long Christian sermons. I remember wondering why I constantly have to pray EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, the Lord felt like a chore, and my connection to Him felt completely artificial. So, I dipped my feet in the dark side to see if that would energize my soul. The world came with parties, cussing, drugs, and alcohol, and on the front page of that life, it seemed lovely. I saw myself feeling lively, I saw myself basking in the desires I grew up protected against. Every child needs to learn on their own, and oh, did I surely learn. 

I realized the front page of that world was all a facade, and behind those pages and smiles were pain, guilt, and internal torment. It was the best world, with internal dread. It was like with every party I went to, every shot I took, I felt my soul depleting from my body. I had to retrace my footsteps and go back to what I knew, the Lord. I did things a bit differently and went back on my own accord. I went to explore Him by myself, without force. I realized God was the freedom I needed in my suffering. 

Movie Review

Title: Iska

Year released: 2019

Genre: Drama

Iska is an indie film entry in the 2019 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival and has won several awards. The movie is about a grandmother named Iska whose grandson has autism. Iska is a very loving and caring grandparent to his 10-year-old grandson, Dongdong.

The parents of Dongdong ran away from their responsibilities, and his grandparents believed that the reason behind it was because their son was a special child. Iska always looks out for her grandson, despite her situation in life. She works in a photocopying station at a state university and also works as a maid for a professor. It was also depicted in the movie that they lived in a slum area where they had neighbors who always fought, and the whole neighborhood could always hear them arguing.

Aside from taking care of Dongdong and working to provide for their family, Iska has a husband, a tricycle driver, who abuses her and forces her to have sexual intercourse with him even when Dongdong is around. Not only that, Iska’s husband, whom she calls "Asungot", still has the nerve to have a relationship with a younger woman when he doesn’t even give anything to Iska for their daily expenses or even for his own grandson. As Iska goes on with her daily life, challenges continue to come her way, and she strongly faces each one despite how hard it is.

For me, the movie opens a whole new perspective for each of its viewers. It shows real-life situations of people who are suffering from poverty and also situations that not a lot of people understand. They demonstrated in the film how hard it was for people who don't have much in life to carry on with their lives, especially when they are already old, easily become sick, and don't have any financial support for their daily expenses. Physical and sexual abuse were also depicted in the movie; it was shown how Iska was abused by her husband, and there was a time when she couldn’t even fight back. Iska even has hypertension, but she continues to work because she needs to provide for her grandson, and that situation can be seen nowadays as well, where people who are already old still have to work or sell products in the streets, even when it's hot outside. The movie showed how strong and loving Iska was—for the way she fought when she'd had enough and for the way she loved Dongdong unconditionally, even when Dongdong couldn’t reciprocate it.

After watching the movie, I felt emotional because what was shown in the movie is what you can actually see in the real world. Also, I had some realizations. First, we should appreciate everything we have, no matter how small or big it is, because other people struggle just to have the life that you take for granted. Another is that people who are in similar situations to Iska do not have the voice to speak out for themselves because they are less fortunate. Less fortunate people are in the situations that roar the loudest, yet they remain unheard by many, and in the movie, it was depicted how activism helps them exclaim louder as they demand change.

In Itinerating Europe: Early Modern Spatial Networks in Printed Itineraries, the Itinerary is explained. The Itinerary is explained to have been a list of cities and the distances that it would take to arrive to those cities. From there it grew to be more of a travel guide, and some innovate even further and included fold out maps. The term grew to include other things such as charts and maps. These itineraries made information on travel to many different places knowledge that was easily accessible. These itineraries were responsible for defining mental maps early on in Europe. There is a case described here that the Dutch did not create itineraries for Spain for a while. The result of this was the populus feeling like they were more distant from Spain than they actually were. This is due to less itineraries, being able to read about the routes to Spain less. One would not think that reading about a place less would make it feel further away, but spatial memory is a very fickle thing. The itineraries had a magic of their own. They existed alongside maps, not opposed to them. They worked together hand in hand. The map showed physical distance and the topography of the region. The itinerary showed the abstract of the landscape, it captured the nuances of the trail and the significance of every landmark. What was most important about these itineraries was that they were accessible to the masses. They were easy to get a hold of.

One can tie these ideas back to Arguing with Digital History:Patterns of Historical Interpretation, as this article talks about digital history and digital humanities and the ways that these topics should be approached. Getting a project seen is all about the level of inclusivity you build into the project. First off, the range of a project to reach common people (and plenty of them) is tied to how accessible the project is. This ties into the Itineraries mentioned previously. Both subjects show the importance of keeping information at the forefront of people's minds by keeping them very accessible. Digital history/digital humanities shows a modern version of what was experienced long ago with itineraries. This article also makes a good case for being careful with the way a project is presented. It is better to introduce a digital project as a map analysis or textual analysis rather than pointing out the specifics of the project first. If you lead with the project being in a certain area of the world, then you may find that you have unknowingly excluded people and diminished interest in this project.The way one introduces a project to the public is very important in the digital humanities to get the appropriate reach that is desired. 

28 January 2023

Communicating and connecting with people, particularly in business, is all about comprehending the needs, behaviors, and expectations of the target market. According to Engineer Bronson, rather than viewing your potential and existing customers as a group, it is critical to understand them as individuals with distinct perspectives - who they are, and how your products fit into their lives.

What is customer segmentation, and how does it work?

Businesses should segment their customers based on their shared characteristics in order to develop, nurture, and sustain strong relationships. This will help us understand how to position ourselves in the industry, how to personalize our marketing efforts, and how to meet their expectations.

Customer segmentation is the process of classifying customers based on their shared characteristics and similarities. This can include geographical and demographic factors such as age, location, and income, as well as psychographic and behavioral factors such as why people shop and how they shop.

How to segment customers? 

After establishing that we are part of an existing market, we dug deeper and examined our own customer population and the subsets within it. We asked ourselves the following questions about our target customers – who they are, what they do, and what they want – and see how they tie together. 

Then, as a follow-up to the initial interview with our target customers, the group members classified our target audience. As a result of this activity, we were able to tailor our marketing strategies, ensuring that our target audience received the application they desired. For instance, it should be user-friendly for those who are not technologically savvy, for costumers such as Pia; it should include discount and sale offers for shoppers, such as Albert; and the application should display prominent mall amenities such as restrooms, particularly for visitors to Cagayan de Oro City, like as Aubrey.