"Welcome to Diverse TV"

The Screen Actors Guild on Saturday night was able to acknowledge and praise something that the Oscar’s won’t be able to…. they celebrated diversity. Many of the winners squashed the #OscarsSoWhite controversies and uniformity by bringing home several big awards. British actor Idris Elba took home two SAG awards for his performances in Beasts Of No Nation and Luther.  He was accompanied by the cast of Orange is the New Black, Uzo Aduba for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor, Viola Davis for her performance in the TV series How To Get Away With Murder and Queen Latifah for her acting in Bessie. It was wonderful seeing diversity celebrated and rewarded.

Are people finally taking diversity seriously? In light of the backlash for lack of diversity in the Academy Awards, voters were clearly sending a message. They are voting firmly for diversity on both the big screen and the small screen. People must finally be getting tired of white dominance in movies, TV shows and more. I for one am excited to see this change and hope that we can continue to infuse diversity in acting in the future. This is a positive step towards change.

Food stamp change in North Carolina

Food stamp change in North Carolina concerns advocates for poor

This article discusses how a new Food Stamp policy change in Winston-Salem could cut as many as 110,000 people from the Food Stamp program as a result of changed requirements. The new requirement entails that people work, volunteer, or attend educational training for 80 hours a month. If this requirement isn't met, the person is cut from the program after 3 months.

This will surely impact the lives of many poor people. Forcing them to work 80 hours in addition to their likely already busy and hectic lives is a big change. People have responded with furious complaints about the time frame they were given and about the fact that they weren't given any "next step" with this new plan. This plan will be interesting to keep up with as it gets pushed through legislation.

RGMWFU

Test post for class

#WomenNotObjects

Madonna Badger, a former advertising executive, knows how influential ads that rely on sex to sell products can be. She helped create super sexy Calvin Klein ads that featured a buff Mark Wahlberg and scantily-clad Kate Moss.

Now Badger is attempting to create ads that don't objectify women's bodies. She created the hashtag #WomenNotObjects and a video of ads that feature women as objects in various advertisements. Badger is appealing to advertisers to discontinue using images that uphold negative stereotypes of women.

Below Badger discusses #WomenNotObjects She said her work honors her two daughters who died four years ago in a fire.

#OscarsSoWhite protests lack of diversity, spurs change

When the 2016 Oscar nominations were announced almost two weeks ago the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite resurfaced for the second consecutive year because all of the nominees in the major categories were white.

The hashtag trended nationally as African-Americans and others lamented the fact that actors, directors and writers of color were not recognized for their work for the second consecutive year. Celebrities including Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith called for a boycott. 

Others highlighted the fact that the voting Academy is 94 percent white, 76 percent male and the average age of voters is 63. After the #OscarsSoWhite protest Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is black, said the Academy would change its membership recruitment to increase diversity.  

It seems that the conversation that #OscarsSoWhite started which noted the lack of diversity in Hollywood sparked change within the Academy an in the entertainment industry.

The latest cover of Variety, one of the oldest and most respected Hollywood trade magazines, addressed the #OscarsSoWhite controversy with a pretty compelling cover of the latest issue of the magazine which features the Oscar in white instead of gold and the coverline "SHAME ON US."