You know what I'm obsessed with? Word cloud technology. Word cloud technology analyzes any block of text and increases its size based on how frequently it appears. As the site Wordle.net allows you to create your own beautiful clouds, I decided to analyze two of my assignments from the Understanding Media Studies course - the Intellectual Autobiography and my Literature Review - to see what a cloud would say about my interests. "Bernays" (Edward Bernays, the legendary propagandist), "American," "propaganda," "public," and "media" are the major standout terms. Hmmm....

To raise awareness about climate change and the urgent need for action, a group of pranksters called The Yes Men hatched an elaborate media hoax that included a faux edition of the New York Post with real facts about climate issues. I am not well-read on these matters, so don't ask me about that. However, I'm all for using creative means to catch people's attention when they aren't expecting it. So if it requires me to play newsboy for a few hours and chase down cars to drop some knowledge and give a polite smile, count me in. (Additional photos by Angie Vargos)

Wow. This felt really good to do. The assignment, for my class Media Practices: Concepts, asked us to use the frame to decide what the viewer will see in an effort to interpret this quote from Trinh T. Minh-ha: "There is a Third World in every First World, and a First World in every Third World." I'd give away what I was thinking about each shot, but what fun is that? Your guess is still probably as good as mine.