According to Du Bois “sorrow songs” play a big part in American American history. Sorrow Song is a musical composition that spoke of the suffering of enslaved Africans in the United States. These songs intended to allow the lyric poet to express the feelings of a people who were subjected to unjust treatment”. During slavery, African Americans were treated badly and unequally. They have been through so much, therefore, “sorrow songs” was one of the ways they could talk and express their feelings about their lives and the mistreatment they have been getting. These songs are significant because they show and tell the reveal the truth about slavery and how much black people suffer throughout their lives.

The song that I find most significant is My Lord What a Mornin’ by Harry Belafonte. This song expresses the hope that every slave was asking for. Waking up every morning asking and begging God for things to change “No more grief and pain for meI heard from Heaven today, Yes, my Lord’s gonna set me free I heard from Him today”. This song makes me so emotional and the voice shows the pain and fears they had every time they wake up.

In the way of hearing episode 5, Damon Krukowski illustrates how the development of the music industry has changed. Music is available everywhere nowadays but back then people used to get CDs and other related music from record shops. Apps like Spotify and Soundcloud have made it easier for people to listen to music and some suggestions that people might like. What I also think  Krukowski is trying to say is how the big companies have power over us and our interests, when they use algorithms, which collects personal data. Companies get the advantage of us by collecting these data and give us more suggestions that can be close to the kind of music we might like. After all, he pointed out how beautiful the record shops were and how they were full of information and knowledge about songs and artists. Entering it feels like entering a different world without the need of taking your personal information.

 1- Digital microphone and analog microphone are different and both give a different sound effect. According to Krukowski “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.” I agree with this because analog is a wave which recorded or used in its original form, therefore, its more clear and close to reality, for example, audiotapes, old televisions while digital are the opposite and it’s not clear as an analog microphone for example phone that are provided now. Krukowski worries about how digital listening, threatens the quality of our listening and attention. However, I still think that sounds through the phone are good and we are able to recognize the person’s voice or his/her emotion through it. 

2- the New York Times article “How A.S.M.R. Became a Sensation” illustrated how A.SM.R became so popular over the past few years and how much it helped people with their stress and anxiety. It became one of the most popular videos on youtube which shows how much people like it as i stated in the article  “A tingling that spread through her scalp as the camera pulled back to show the marble of the earth. It came in a wave, like a warm effervescence, making its way down the length of her spine and leaving behind a sense of gratitude and wholeness.” A.S.M.R gives a really relaxing and calm feeling that benefits many people. I personally love to watch A.S.M.R. because it makes me feel relaxed and helps me go to sleep quicker than usual. 

Technology nowadays is becoming a tool for people to avoid things they don’t like. on the podcast “Ways of hearing” Krukowski and his guests illustrated how people get disturbed by the noise of the city and try to avoid these noises by using their phones and earbuds to created a whole new environment that is suitable for them. I always see people walking with their eyes on their phones and with their headphones on all the time. As Jeremiah Moss said “a private kind of bubble in which to move through public space”. Earbuds became a tool for people to avoid everything around them. They tend to avoid everyone and be in their own world, especially on the train or crowded places, they’re always are minding their own business and try to avoid communication with others. I strongly relate to Krukwoki’s idea because My home country was quiet and barely a car pass by, but when I first came to New York it was so hard for me to adopt because it was noisy and crowded, therefore, I always use my phone to avoid eye contact with people since it makes me uncomfortable and using earbuds helps me avoid all the noises around me especially if I have to go out early in the morning theses helped me create a more relaxing environment.

Throughout history, editors and photographers have played a big role in how we view society as a whole. News and journalists are the only people who can give and shows the truth of what is happing in the world, however, you can never know whether what you are seeing is the whole truth. In” Seeing the Race”, Martin Berger reveals how during the 1950s and 1960s photos of black people during the civil rights movement were used for comforting white people. Because most of the editors and photographers were white, they tended to show black people as the victims and can’t fight for their rights. Berger stated “ In depicting whites in charge, the photographs allowed white viewers to feel secure, and therefore more amenable to change, and in illustrating blacks as victims, they encouraged white sympathy for blacks, and hence more support for legislative action” However, they never showed the strong side of them. their perseverance and the protest to get their rights. I agree with Martin Berger because this kind of strategies still happing in social media today. For example, the death of  George Floyd where they only showed the violence that black has been causing in some protests and spread it everywhere but they never showed the other peaceful protest. This needs to change. The media need to cover what is happening and show everything 

1. According to Berger, how do “publicity”–what we would call advertising–images influence consumers and why is this significant?

Publicity is the act of showing what we can have if we buy it. it makes people believe that they need these products in their life and if they have it, it will make them feel that they are special and become part of them. This is significant because it makes them acknowledge that they are part of that group.

1. As he compares oil painting to publicity (advertising) photography, Berger argues that oil painting “showed what the owner was already enjoying among his possessions and way of life;” “it enhanced his view of himself as he already was.”  Whereas publicity pictures, “appeal to a way of life that we aspire to or think we aspire to.” Why are these differences important? What do they reveal to us about the production of images for publicity?

These differences are important because it shows us how publicity works and how they manipulate people to get the product. During the oil painting, glamour did not exist during these times. Instead, what did exist was elegance, authority, and grace. The oil painting shows how the person is living as John Berger states, back then your social position was determined at birth as opposed to what you wear and how you look. However, publicity has a purpose. They try to get u to believe in certain products and think that their life will be better.

1. Choose one of the “dreams” he offers or thinks of your own. How does this dream offered by advertising use imagery to manipulate consumers?

Berger introduces 3 main dreams. The dream of “later tonight”, the “skin” dream, and the dream of a “faraway place”.  The skin dream shows advertisers promise people to get better skin or be like a model if they use this product. They show how after using this produce ur skin change and give you the beauty standards that everyone wants to achieve.

Throughout history, Women only considered how they appear to men and how they see them. When oil painting became popular in the west, painting naked women become something common and refer to it as a piece of art. However, Berger argues that women were only an object for male viewers she said that being nude is to be seen naked by others and not seen as oneself but as an object (whereas being naked is to be oneself). women were only seen as an object for other males to see and enjoy their body. One of the women in the program states “I cannot identify with them … enormous breasts… whereas with photographs you can feel that – nearly all the paintings are ‘idealized’ so very unreal with any deep down image that I might have of myself or of any deep down pleasure … I can admire them as paintings but they mean human beings to me” However, i believe that women today are not objectified the same way as in Renaissance paintings. I believe Women nowadays have a lot more power over their images in the media.they the ones who decide if they want to show their bodies or not. They have the right to say no. Yes, i think sexuality plays the same role in images of women today as what Berger describes. However, the difference is that the women who have the choice and no one else.