Room 611: Monday, June 5. 2023

Today's schedule is ABCD

A Block Legal Studies - Today we'll conclude the 2019 movie Just Mercy based on the life of Bryan Stevenson. Bryan Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama. The movie is based on his story and that of Walter McMillan (Johnny D). From a Voice of America Article More Innocent People than Previously Known Came Close to Being Executed, US Study Finds

In a new report, the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) said its examination of every death sentence handed down since 1973 – more than 9,600 in all – revealed that 185 death row inmates had been exonerated after being wrongfully convicted, 11 more than previously known. There have been 1,532 executions in the United States since 1976.

Equal Justice Initiative The Death Penalty

The Innocence Project

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Wrongful Executions

Death Penalty Information Center Innocence

B Block Criminology - Today we'll finish the 48 Hours Mystery episode on the Highway of Tears. From CBS:

You have some questions you need to work on:

What main story do you think Investigative Reporters Bob Friel and Peter Van Zant wanted to tell (Is it about Madison Scott? Loren Leslie? Cody Legebokoff? Colleen MacMillen? Pamela Darlington? Gale Weys? Bobby Jack Fowler? Ramona Wilson?) How can you infer that? How much of the episode focused on the actual missing women from the Highway of Tears? (Look at the Media Smarts article Media Portrayals of Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women)
Why did the show focus on Madison Scott first, Loren Leslie next and then the victims along the Highway of Tears afterwards? (Look at the article NEWSWORTHY” VICTIMS? Exploring differences in Canadian local press coverage of missing/murdered Aboriginal and White women along with the NPR article What We Know (And Don't Know) About 'Missing White Women Syndrome' or the New Yorker article The Long American History of “Missing White Woman Syndrome")
What audience do reality crime shows appeal to & why do you think so (think demographics - age or gender or social class or occupation - and Psychographics - personal attitudes and values like security or status or caring or exploration/growth) What can Uses and Gratification Theory do to help explain the audience for True Crime stories? What techniques did the editors and storytellers of the 48 Hours Mystery show use to get you invested in the story of the episode
What "values" does the 48 Hours Mystery on the Highway of Tears communicate to its audience? Why do you think the producers and editors framed the story the way that they did?

Maybe you could compare the CBS 48 Hours Mystery with the CBC / APTN show Taken: Highway of Tears

Some websites to help with your questions:

Time Magazine (article) "Murder Shows—The New Soap Operas for Women?" and "Why We Are Drawn to True Crime Shows?"

Washington Post (article) "My Favorite Murder’ and the growing acceptance of true-crime entertainment" and the My Favorite Murder Instagram site
Entertainment Weekly (article) "Confessions of a Court TV Addict"
New York Times (article) "Is True Crime as Entertainment Morally Defensible?"
Globe and Mail (article) "Our addiction to true crime has a human cost"
CBS News This morning (article) "Why women are fueling the popularity of true crime podcasts"
The Guardian (article) "Serial thrillers: why true crime is popular culture's most wanted"
Quartz (article) How “true crime” went from guilty pleasure to high culture
The Atlantic (article) The New True Crime
Vulture (article) "The Ethical Dilemma of Highbrow True Crime"...from the article

Network news magazine shows like Dateline and 48 Hours are somber and melodramatic, often literally starting voice-overs on their true-crime episodes with variations of “it was a dark and stormy night.” They trade in archetypes — the perfect father, the sweet girl with big dreams, the divorcee looking for a second chance — and stick to a predetermined narrative of the case they’re focusing on, unconcerned about accusations of bias. They are sentimental and yet utterly graphic, clinical in their depiction of brutal crimes.

Consuming Television Crime Drama: A Uses and Gratifications Approach

TV Insider (article) Why Viewers Love True-Crime Shows
Psychology Today (article) The Guilty Pleasure of True Crime TV True crime TV is addictive to viewers.
Martinis & Murder podcast Highway of Tears (Oxygen)
Oxygen True Crime TV Channel
Investigation Discovery True Crime TV Channel
Real Clear Life (article) The Current State of True Crime TV
Ad Age (article) You Are What You Watch, Market Data Suggests
What Your Taste in TV Says About You (interactive web)
Viacom (media company!) What's Most Important to Young Audiences
Viacom (media company!) Gen Z How Well do you Know Your Teen Audiences? (quiz)
CBC news (article) Highway of Tears murders probed by CBS '48 hours'
CBS 48 Hours Mystery "The Texas Killing Fields"...From Bustle "The Texas Killing Fields are part of a 50-mile stretch that runs along Interstate 45, between Houston and the Island city of Galveston, Texas, dubbed the “highway to hell.” There have been 30 bodies found in this haunted place since the early ‘70s" - This show aired the previous fall and again in the summer before the Highway of Tears was aired (on Nov 17, 2012)

AND...If you would like some academic reading check out "Theorizing Media and Crime" which is chapter one of Media and Crime written by Yvonne Jewkes.

OR you could check out the video on Agenda Setting and Framing to help with question #4 above

AND I loved the show the Newsroom...more on it when we look at the portrayal of women in crime media...but here's a discussion on what is newsworthy

C Block Human Geography - Today we'll look at the key question "Why Do People Consume Different Foods"?

The modern Canadian farm is mechanized and highly productive, especially compared to subsistence farms found in much of the rest of the world. This difference represents one of the most basic contrasts between the more developed and less developed countries of the world. In geography, arable land (from Latin arare, to plough) is a form of agricultural land use, meaning land that can be used for growing crops. Of the earth's 57 million square miles (148,000,000 km²) of land, approximately 12 million square miles (31,000,000 km²) are arable; however, arable land is being lost at the rate of over 100,000 km² (38,610 square miles) per year. Our soils support 95 percent of all food production, and by 2060, our soils will be asked to give us as much food as we have consumed in the last 500 years.

Countries With The Most Arable Land In The World
Earth has lost a third of arable land in past 40 years, scientists say
Our World In Data Land Use

Soil: The Foundation of Agriculture

Consumption of food also varies around the world, both in total amount and source of nutrients. These differences result from a combination of level of development, physical conditions, and cultural preferences. So today we'll try to examine these differences.

You'll need to work on the following:

Which of the three main cereal grains is most prevalent in your diet and why do you think that is so?
Compare world distributions of wheat, rice, and maize production. To what extent do differences derive from environmental conditions and to what extent from food preferences and other social customs?
How many kilocalories are in a Big Mac? You can use Google to find the answer. How does one Big Mac compare to the daily caloric intake of the average African?
Define undernourishment:
How much of the world suffers from undernourishment? Where are those places?

National Geographic What the World Eats
Our World in Data World Caloric Consumption
Canadian Geographic Mapping Calorie Consumption by Country
Government of Canada Daily Calorie Requirement Guide
Dons Nutrition Calculator
Peter Menzel Hungry Planet Food Portraits

D Block Physical Geography - - Today we'll continue our look at mid-latitude cyclones and we'll watch the Lightning episode of Raging Planet.