Tue
Jul
22
Talking about Obama’s cartoon…
Today, July 21 I went to Students Commons at 10:45. I found a girl, her name is Jaclyn Chmielewski. She looked like waiting for a person, and I approached to her and asked if she can talk with me. I asked: Are you student at VCU? She said yes I do. I asked what are your major?, She said mass media. According with her major I proposed to talk about Obama’s cartoon in last cover of New Yorker. She didn’t see the cartoon. I described to her the cartoon. And when I was talking, she was surprising. I asked what her opinion about it. She said that the carton is controversial, and she thinks that The New Yorker wants to influence the voters’ opinion because is election time. She said that the satire is the way for talking something indirectly because the magazine cannot say directly. She spoke about the freedom of press, but at the same time she thinks that is necessary some guide lines. I asked about the guide lines because I didn’t understand the significant. She explained to me that “guide line” is a kind of control or framework. The freedom of press is not absolute, they need some limits. For example: the press cannot hurt to people, respect the identity of people when they don’t want appear their names in news papers. She concluded that she is surprised because the New Yorker couldn’t publish the cartoon of Obama and his wife Michelle. Finally I asked if she wants that her name appear in my blog on Tumblr, and she answered that I can do it. Thank you Jaclyn.
I think it’s great that you approach people on campus to talk about current events. I wish all international students would do the same.
I’m a little confused by what you wrote: “She concluded that she is surprised because the New Yorker couldn’t publish the cartoon of Obama and his wife Michelle.” What do you mean by the “New Yorker couldn’t publish the cartoon”? They did publish it, didn’t they?
