Bridging the Gap: The Voice of International Students Can Make A Difference.

 Nkechi Ndukwe          Feature Writing:  Bridging the Gap: The Voice of      International Students Can Make a Difference.

 Bridging the Gap: The Voice of International Students Can Make A Difference.

There is a voice on University Campuses and all around societies that is yearning to be heard.  This is the voice of international citizens living in America. Whether, a descendent of non-American lineage or the voice of a student that has moved from their home country to attend school in America, there is an importance of cultural enlightenment that traditional American student can learn from students with diverse cultural lifestyles.

As of June 2013, I became a participant in the Miss Nigeria In America Pageant. The Miss Nigeria In America Pageant is a cultural pageant for women eighteen to twenty-nine with the goal of collaborating Nigerian-American born women with Nigerian women that moved to the United States. Undermining the definition of the word pageant, Miss Nigeria In America participants are ambassadors for Nigerian culture, women’s rights, education, and health. This contest was not only about beauty, but also from my personal experience, I learned about what it means to be Nigerian as well as learning that I stand in the gap between Nigeria and America.

Although not a visible division, there is a cultural divide. American students are reluctant to learn about other cultures around the world. As a Nigerian-American woman, I know I must be a reflection of two cultures. Through the lessons learned, during the Miss Nigerian In America pageant, such as leadership skills, the most beneficial skill I learned was how to subtly embrace my culture without making people uncomfortable.

With the knowledge received from the pageant, I now decided to participate in Albany State University’s annual International Week 2013. As a four-year student, in attendance at Albany State University, my appreciation for my culture was regressed due to my need to socialize with my peers. With prior knowledge of international week, I did not participate in the activities until my senior year.  During international week, I felt comfortable speaking with my peers, of both American and of International origin, about the shamefulness and ignorance of hiding ones culture, because culture essentially shapes our personality and us as person.

As Miss Lagos in America, under the Miss Nigeria In America Pageant, Dr. Nnneka Osakwe and Instructor Maggie Emily offered me the responsibility of coordinating and hosting the International Week fashion show, under the supervision of Professor Sandra Washington.  Having this responsibility, I not only wanted to showcase my culture and the clothes that Nigerians and Africans wear; but also I wanted the international students to have confidence about their cultures and know that the only harm in not embracing the diverse cultures of the world, is not letting the knowledge of cultures to be heard.

As a Nigerian American woman, it is of importance that I share my culture to eliminate the ignorance of Americans has toward other cultures due to what the media portrays. The Miss Nigeria In America Pageant or International Week event such as these reflects the importance to embrace each other will surely rid the misconceptions of a superior cultural group. Society as a whole needs to realize though physically different, we share one planet therefore society must learn to share cultural knowledge; if society wants to learn to cooperate together then we need more international students that are willing to speak up for who and what their culture represents.

“Beats, Stepping, and Theatrics: The annual entertainment of Albany States Step Show"

KalaLife ©  Feature Story

“Beats, Stepping, and Theatrics: The annual entertainment of Albany States Step Show"

By Nkechi Ndukwe

October 18th, 2013 marked yet another unforgettable step-show planned by the National PanHellenic Council chapter of Albany State University. The popularity of step shows amongst predominately African-American collegiate students is a tradition that has become a rights of passage as generation after generation of college students, typically under a Greek Fraternity or Sorority, entertain an audience with various steps routines. It is appropriate for this type of event to be an annual event here at Albany State due to the hands on "Greek Life" amongst the students. This years Homecoming was no exception as three fraternities: Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, and Kappa Alpha Psi were participants as well as two sororities; Delta Sigma Theta and Sigma Gamma Rho, unfortunately not all of the fraternities and sororities were able to participate but the show delivered ample amounts of excitement.

The show began with the winners of this years "Battle of the Halls" a step-show that showcases the student of a particular dorm hall battling in a step competition, these students are not apart of the National PanHellenic Council. With the crowd warmed-up and ready for the show to start the judges seated as the show began.

The members of Omega Psi Phi performed with younger boys ranging form ages seven to eleven in a military themed event. Next were the men of Phi Beta Sigma taking a different approach they dressed in all black with their faces painted blue. Last for the men were Kappa Alpha Psi these young men dressed in bow ties and unbuttoned business attire taking a more sensual approach. After the fraternities performed that sororities entered the stage. Up first were the Ladies of Delta Sigma Theta, their them was a nursing home which added much humor to the event. Up next were the Sigma Gamma Rhos their deliverance was one very attention demanding. 

Overall the performances catered to the amusement of the audience once again the show held true to the cultural and tradition of a step-show. The winners of the event were the Omegas for the fraternities and for the sororities that Deltas. The crowd was pleased with the outcome of the event. Hopefully next years step-show will be as eventfully as this years. 

India a Dark Place for Women

KalaLife © Documentary Feature

“INDIA A DARK PLACE FOR WOMEN”

By Nkechi Ndukwe

Horrified by the brutal gang-rape of a medical student who was riding the bus home in Delhi, India. Twenty-eight-year old Radha Bedi traveled to India in hopes of finding the reason behind harsh female brutality in India. In the 2013 BBC documentary Radha Bedi visits the victim of the brutal gang-rape as she investigates the reason for gender segregation in India.

The creativity behind this documentary is that a British born woman of Indian decent is exploring the cultural differences between how she was raised in a country with female independence and the suppression of women in India.     

Followed by a small film crew, Bedi roams the streets of Delhi to find an answer to the brutality of women in India. She visits hospitals and speaks with different victims of abuse.  Below is an example the brutality women in India endure, 

BANGALORE: A 38-year-old woman was brutally attacked with a machete in an ATM in the heart of the city on Tuesday, leaving her severely injured, police said.

The woman, manager at Corporation Bank, entered the ATM in which no security guard was present, to withdraw cash when the assailant followed her inside and brought down the shutter before threatening her with the weapon, police said. This documentary utilizes the Indian culture, music, and art to depict the rise and fall of women in India’s culture. This documentary is perfectly executed by having a combination educated historians and doctors that full explain the problems that this brutality  creates.

First feature story in your blog

KalaLife © Documentary Feature

“A Hip-Hop-menatary; Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest, the Documentary with rhythm”

By Nkechi Ndukwe

From Hip-hop's immense communal acceptance in the early 1980s to the current distorted image surrounding the industry today, this genre of music has quickly submerged the music market with pioneers of rap (hip-hop) who have changed the way people relate to music. Every generation has their handful of musical geniuses who trail-blaze a new way of style and thinking. Hip-hop fans universally experience their own trailblazers as well. No other group solidified their position in the hip-hop kingdom other than the infamous hip-hop group “A Tribe Called Quest.” Through an eloquent documentary, director Micheal Rapaport conveys a different form documentaries by fusing hip-hop and storytelling.

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest, is not a typical documentary. The editing technique along with the directors vision showcases the impact that hip-hop made on multiple societies during the 90s. Fourteen years after the group's dismantlement in 1997, July 8^th, 2011, became the day that director Michael Rapaport and group members of A Tribe Called Quest: Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jabori White graced fans with their critically acclaimed documentary Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels Of A Tribe Called Quest, an urban twist on biographical documentaries.

After watching Beats Rhymes & Life, the background history of who the four members of A Tribe Called Quest are allows for a better understanding of why the group became breakout pioneers during the era.  Being a Caucasian male director, Micheal Rapaport proves that A Tribe Called Quest has targeted audiences of multiple diversities. In 2013, VH1 aired Beats Rhymes & Life for fans of the group who could not experience the original debut of this urban classic documentary.  With its high viewer ratings, once again, documentaries such as this one show that music fans still appreciate documentaries as an elite form of art that goes beyond the shallow levels of standard films and television.
As a different approach to documentaries this film would favor a feature writer that is interested in music, it is important that the feature story blends the music groups history along with the techniques the director used to creatively tell the story of this shift in hip-hop music.

Feature Writing

Subject Description For Feature Writing

The Influence and Art of Documentaries:

The objective of my research is to prove the powerful influence of documentaries as well as documentaries evolution into an important art form of modern society. Proving that personal eyewitness of a subject matter through documentaries has a stronger impact on societies ethos, logos, and pathos in regards to life changing issues. First, it is important to describe the history surrounding film and how documentaries bridge the cultural gap amongst people. Then through my personal experience of creating my own documentary, I will explain that an affective documentary informs without being biased allowing the audience to choose their own opinion of the subject presented. This Feature writing will target both males and females as I will use examples of different documentaries that have assisted in shaping the modern culture. Examining both documentaries and features stories will show the relationship that each of the forms of mass media need; through a well written feature story people might want to watch a documentary. For example this article written in on NaturalNews.com eloquently describes the documentary Let Them Eat Grasswill,  (NaturalNews) There is a war being waged against real food - no, not the heavily-processed, chemical-laden garbage that fills the aisles of most major supermarkets today, but actual wholesome food grown on clean, family-scale farms across the U.S. And the upcoming documentary Let Them Eat Grasswill expose the aggressors in this widespread fight, as well as urge people like us to fight back and defend our constitutional right to choose healthy food. The film focuses on Wisconsin dairy farm Vernon Hershberger, who recently went to trial for the non-crime of providing healthy, unprocessed food to members of his private buying club. The Wisconsin State government went after Vernon, claiming he was in violation of state laws prohibiting the retail sale of food without a proper license, and tried to lock him up in prison for three years and bilk him for thousands of dollars in fines. But Vernon bravely stood his ground and fought back, and ultimately succeeded in stopping his state's bureaucratic gestapo from trampling he and his family's rights.

The author of this feature story does an excellent job at connecting the subject matter, which is the documentary, to the importance of the grassroots movement. My goal in this class is to evaluate and connect both documentaries and feature stories.

http://www.naturalnews.com/040623_Morninglane_Dairy_Vernon_Hershberger_food_freedom.html#ixzz2lWeQZYNN