This is a 32 second video PSA for the No Kid Hungry campaign in America to raise awareness of child hunger. By using celebrity Jeff bridges, the campaign gained leverage and other celebrities joined in.

Exploring Anxiety and Depression

People suffering with mental illness face a huge stigma. Mental illness is the only disease that we blame the victim for. Is this because we can not see exactly what is wrong with the brain so we just do not believe it? In reality the brain, just like any other organ, can fall victim to disease. While we may still have a lot to learn about mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, psychiatrists and celebrities such as Demi Lovato and Robin Williams have helped shed some much needed light on a dark reality.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annaborges/20-feelings-that-sum-up-having-both-depression-and-anxiety#.jbXnGBX38

This week I looked for forms of communication within texts of my everyday life. I listened to radio talkshow about the Iowa Caucus, read articles about General Mills Cereal, and watched many commercial advertisements. These are three prime examples of how communication modes can vary across media forms. For example,  it is very important for a writer or speaker to pay attention to the linguistic sound of how a person hears or reads a speech. In commercials, actors use gestures in order to portray how they are feeling. Body language can help a lot when portraying a message. However, a radio talkshow host may be using gestures while speaking but since his audience can’t see that he must be very intentional in the way he speaks. For radio hosts, aural and linguistic modes are very important. This includes the pauses he takes for his listeners to think or the fluctuation in his voice to emphasize an important point.

On the other hand, while reading an article about the challenges General Mills is facing as society increases its health awareness, I noticed the included advertisement examples. The article also included ads by General Mills that use visual and spatial elements which are similar and help show kids that cereals such as Trix and Lucky Charms are fun. Bright colors are also visually important because it communicates fun and happy feelings.

While reading the article, spatial pauses such as page breaks and paragraphs were helpful. Spatial pauses are important because a reader is more likely to read an article if it is broken up in to visually manageable paragraphs as opposed to one large, never ending paragraph that consumes the whole page. The page breaks allow readers to better absorb and break up the information so that they can fully understand the message. All 5 modes of communication can be used differently or together, but all are equally important.