What does it mean to be media savvy?

• You are driving with your mom and you see a billboard for one of your favorite clothing stores.  All the models are white and super skinny.  Mmm.
• You have very curly hair, and you are flipping through a popular magazine for black women.  You don’t see many ideas for curly hairstyles.  Most pictures and ads have women with long, straight weaves.  Mmm.

If you have had these experiences and it made you stop and think, then you are on your way to being media savvy.  When you are media savvy, you stop and think about the messages that you are getting from media such as magazines, books, television, music videos, billboards, and video games.

Why is it important to be media savvy?

If you aren’t media savvy, then the people who create media can tell you anything and you will accept it.  Do you want to just accept what’s out there without question?  Of course not!  You get to make a choice about what you accept.

How can I get media savvy?

The first step is to learn how to take apart a media message.  So, get a magazine, find an ad, and ask yourself these questions.

1. Who created the ad?
2. Who was the ad created for?
3. What are they using to get my attention?
4. What message are they sending?
5. Who or what did they include in the ad?  Who or what did they leave out of the ad?
6. Why did they create the ad?

What ad did you choose to analyze?  What are they trying to sell?  Speak your mind!

As a part of "Writers Week" we are celebrating Maya Angelou. Ms. Angelou is a phenomenal woman. She has danced, acted, and taught all over the world. She has lived in Egypt and Ghana and speaks several languages, including French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Fanti (a West African language). But, she is most famous for her inspiring poems. She became famous with her poem "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," and the film Georgia. Georgia for which she wrote the screen play was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She has won several awards, including three Grammy awards. If you dream one day of being a writer, Maya Angelou is someone you can look up to. She not only writes great poems, but she is also an activist, which means she stands up and fights for what she believes in.

Below is an excerpt from her poem "Phenomenal Woman." We think it could also be called Phenomenal Girl.

Earlier this week on sunkissedgirlz.com, we featured Jaden and Willow Smith, the children of Jada and Will Smith. Young Jaden and Willow are ambassadors for Project Zambi, an organization that helps children in Africa who have been orphaned by AIDS. Click here to read about what these two siblings are doing to help.

AIDS is a disease that makes people very sick. It’s caused by a virus, called HIV, which is transmitted in three ways – through unprotected sex with someone who has the virus; sharing drug needles with someone who has the virus; and from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding (if the mother has the virus).

Condoms during sexual intercourse can help protect people from getting HIV, but many times people don’t use them. Some reasons include: not being educated about the disease, not having the money to buy condoms, not believing that condoms fit with the culture, and being forced to have sex. If a person develops AIDS, they will die without treatment and medicine. Because of this, there are millions of children in Africa and around the world who don’t have parents to love and care for them.

The Facts:

• In 2010, 15 million children will be orphaned by AIDS in Africa. That is, 15 million children will be without a mom and dad because both parents died of AIDS.

• 95% of the world’s children orphaned by AIDS live in Africa.

• 50% of children orphaned by AIDs are 10-14 years old, and 35% are 5-9 years old.

• Children orphaned by AIDS often feel angry and depressed because they have lost their parents.

• Children orphaned by AIDS sometimes have to work or beg in order to get food and money. This may prevent some of them from going to school and getting an education.

This is a really complex problem, but we believe that young girls have solutions to this problem. What do you think should be done to prevent children from being orphaned by AIDS? A large organization named CARE is helping to fight poverty and prevent the spread of HIV.  What is the first thing you would do if you were the president of CARE (like Helene Gayle pictured below)? Speak your mind!

Information for this article was found on Avert.org, Nextaid.org, care.org, Childrennow.org, and ProjectZambi.org.