1. According to Du Bois, the significance of what he calls the “sorrow songs” is that it is a root of all the American Music, and it is also a way to learn about African Americans’ past and how they were treated. The songs Du Bois mentioned tell us about the feelings and conditions of those who were enslaved. These songs are passed down from generations to generations, constantly reminding us the history. He also described that American music, which he means the songs created by white people, are inspired from those sorrow songs of Africans and therefore it has a deep root down to the American culture.

2. In my opinion, out of all the songs featured in this chapter “You may bury me in the east” is the most significant because I can clearly see their desire for freedom as they are waiting to hear the sound of trumpet which is most likely representing the glory. The song also mentions “wings and fly away” which probably means that the condition they are in right now is so awful that they start to desire death in order to gain true freedom. This song clearly states in the lyrics  the African Americans’ suffering and their desire.

As Damon Krukowski stated the quote, he is arguing that nowadays even our approaches to art such as music are being controlled by the media, and we may not be able to reach a music or artists that are beautiful and talented just because they are not sponsored. In the beginning of the “Power” episode, Krukowski told that he sometimes visit record stores not to find the music he wants but to find musics he hasn’t yet discovered. He can also meet variety of people with different taste in music and therefore you can get more knowledge of music as well as the relationships with people. By using online to purchase or search music, we are unlikely to meet new taste of music because the internet will observe and analyze your searches or purchases and give recommendations based on those informations. Internet does all the searches for you and therefore we are unable to determine whether the music fits for our taste.

I agree with Damon Krukowski about how digital microphone does not provide as much proximity as analog microphone, however I believe that does not mean we don’t experience intimacy over the phone. Krukowski points out that “the sound of our voices on the phone has gotten worse with the switch to digital… no matter how close we hold them to our mouth, there is no proximity effect on the cellphone, everyone sound just as near or just as far as everyone else.” He explains that the voice we hear over the phone only delivers words, not much of the surroundings and therefore it loses intimacy. However, I believe that we can still experience intimacy through the tone of the voice. Even over the digital phone, we can tell wether the person we are talking to is happy, sad, concerned, and etc. In addition digital microphones enables us to connect to people all over the country, such as our family members. When we live in the distance a simple phone call means a lot to us because we get to easily have a contact with them and maintain great relationship.

What I thought was most interesting is that not all the sounds are pleasing to everyone, and we all have different preferences. Some people like the sound of nails tapping the table, some people dislike them, and other people has never felt ASMR. It is interesting to think about what might cause those preferences and wether it is related to their past experience, or maybe it is just the way their brain functions and contains the sound differently.

I think I can relate a lot with Damon Krukkowsi’s idea about how we are privatizing the public. When I used to get on the train everyday to go to school or go to shopping, most people are staring at their phone and either listening to music, watching a video, or reading a news. I often noticed that since people are not aware of their surroundings, they don’t realize when an elderly or pregnant people get on the train and therefore they don’t give up their seat to the people who need it. I myself often wear earbuds too on the train even when I am not listening to anything because sometimes when you are not doing anything some random people starts talking to me and often times they ask for money and things so I get a little scared, so I try to pretend like I am busy looking at my phone and cannot hear anything. I also feel like not many people are talking to each other so even when I am on the train or bus with my family or friends, we just keep quiet often times and just stare at our phones until we get off.

In the introduction to his book, seeing through Race, Martin A. Berger argues that photographers and editors, especially white, are more likely to select photographs that portray white to black violence rather than peaceful marches and protect in order to draw more attention to the papers and gain more white supporters by making them feel secured. I agree that the media often depict the violence against blacks, such as the death to George Floyd, in order to draw sympathy from the readers, especially whites, because it makes them feel less concerned and threatened which motivates them to take interest and get involved.

According to Berger, “publicity” influences people to believe that buying the products they are offering will make their life better, that they will be more glamorous and wanted by everyone. It is significant because even though it is clear that buying one product will not change their lives significantly, they believe that it will make them richer and they would be ambitious about the money, even take out a loan which make make them poorer than they are right now.

In the video Berger argues that oil painting is based on the owner’s wealth and possessions, which are often given to him at birth, while publicity pictures portrays the way of life that we hope to have yet have not reached yet. These differences are important because while oil paint seems unrealistic to many people and does not make them want to have that life, publicity pictures manipulates people to believe that if they spend a little money and acquire the products, they can because exactly like a model in the magazine or on the TV. Even though both of them are only a fantasy to many people, pictures seem realistic to the consumers.

One of the dreams that Berger offered was the “skin dream.” Skin product advertisements targets consumers who desire a smooth and beautiful skin. By showing the models using skin products and improving their beauty, and by promising that it will make everyone beautiful, the consumers will believe that only if they could afford the same skin products that models use, they can have their dream skin and have a better, wonderful life.

In the 1972 BBC television project “Ways of Seeing” John Berger argues that female nude portrayed in Renaissance painting is constructed to please and satisfy men, rather than representing freedom and nature, and same argument can be used in the representation of women today as well. Nowadays, everyone can easily post, view, and comment any images through media. It may seem as if people are posting the pictures of their everyday life without thinking anything, to show the natural beauty, yet in reality most of the pictures are constructed the same way renaissance paintings are. When a woman wants to post a photo of herself, she doesn’t simply take one photo on her phone and post it. She has to wear a make up, set up her hair, wear trending clothes, even set up the objects around her properly. After setting up everything, now she has to take many photos, with different poses and from different angles. From there she carefully looks at each photos and choose the best one, and she can finally post one picture after all these effort. Of course, not all women goes through all those steps and efforts, but when they do they tend to get more positive reactions or comments because that is the ideal images that satisfy the viewers. Women nowadays still do not have much control over their images in the media because she has to think about what people want to see, what kind of pictures would please the viewers, typically men, or no one will be interested in her.