kwolfsheimer – Introduction to Digital Publishing

Neither Hair Nor Their Podcast

Neither Hair Nor Their Podcast by Jess, Kelsey, and Yina

Proposal:

One of the first symbols that we encounter in Americanah are Ifemelu and Aunty Uju’s hair. After Aunty Uju moved to America, she began studying and tested for her medical license. When Ifemelu is in America staying with Aunty Uju and Dike, she brought in the envelope that contained Aunty Uju’s results for her medical test. Aunty Uju immediately says, “I have to take my braids out for my interviews and relax my hair. Kemi told me that I shouldn’t wear braids to the interview. If you have braids, they will think you are unprofessional” (Adichie 146). Ifemelu immediately questions that fact that there are no doctors with braided hair in America and Aunty Uju responds with “I have told you what they told me. You are in a country that is not your own. You do what you have to do if you want to succeed” (Adichie 146). Aunty Uju is a perfect example of someone coming to America and feeling pressured to change the way they look to fit an “American standard.” She was told if she wants to succeed and get her residency then she needs to change the way she looks to fit in.

Stereotypes and criticisms of black and African American women are also often are based around their hair. Natural Afro-textured hair is seen as “unprofessional” or “nappy” in many cultures, which is an opinion based in ethnocentrism. In a study completed by Whitney Bellinger of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, the opinions of several African American women were recorded as to explain why these women worked to have “good hair” (Bellinger 67). “Good hair” was defined as that which has been chemically treated to defy its natural texture. It was found that women who treated their hair reported changing their hair for convenience, better opportunities, and because that is how their mothers did their hair; but those that did not treat it did so based on racial pride (Bellinger 67). In Americanah, Aisha immediately assumes Ifemelu wants dark hair attachments and snidely asks why she does not relax her hair. This attitude of “fixing” natural hair, which is held by many people all over the world, even natural hair stylists, exemplifies the stereotyping and criticism African women face for having naturally kept hair. Our medium will display the criticism African women face and demonstrate the societal pressure put on them through gossip culture and peer pressure to change their hair. The platform we decided to use is a podcast that will be recorded and edited with the digital tool, Audacity. We are utilizing this medium because it is the best outlet to examine the culture of gossip and stereotypes relating to culture and hair. In our podcast we will “interview” Ifemelu and Aunty Uju from Americanah. A podcast is a modern way of presenting and analysing certain topics and people’s opinions on those topics, therefore this outlet will be beneficial in creating a medium for the “opinions” of these characters to be expressed on the topic of hair.

Citations:

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah. 2013.

Bellinger, Whitney. Why African American Women Try to Obtain ‘Good Hair.’ University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Podcast/Visual:

Full Length Podcast:

Shortened version of Podcast:

Script:

Introduction (Kelsey): Welcome back to the “Neither Hair Nor There,” podcast. I am Kelsey and today I am joined by two wonderful Nigerian ladies, Ifemelu and Aunty Uju. Today we will be talking about discrimination against hair that doesn’t fit the “American standard.” Did you hear about the incident last year, in 2018, where an 11-year-old black student at a private Roman Catholic school in Louisiana, was asked to leave class? On her first day of school the administrators told Faith her hair didn’t align with their school policy resulting in her spending a lot of money to change her hair. When she returned to school the administrators said her braided hair extensions still violated school rules. This incident came after C.J. Stanley, a black 6-year-old boy, was sent home on his first day of school because he had dreadlocks. This happened the week before Faith’s incident (Jacobs, ”Black Girl Sent Home From School Over Hair Extensions”). Both of these kids and their families were extremely upset and disappointed about these situations. What are your feelings on these stories about discrimination against hair?

Ifemelu (Yina): These are very unfortunate circumstances. I am angry and upset that these young children would have to go through this kind of discrimination. Since they are young, they are vulnerable to think that their culture does not align with American customs and society. Instead of punishing them for their hair, school officials and teachers should be encouraging these students to have whatever hairstyle because it is a form of self-expression.

Aunty Uju (Jess): I agree with Ifemelu, no child or person, black or white, should have to go through what these children had to go through. It is 2019 and we are talking about America, there should not be any discrimination still present. These children are allowed to change their hair if they feel like they need to do it, but they should not be forced to fit the American customs. Historically in America, hair has been a major factor in segregation. Certain hair types and styles appeared in culture as a divider between races. There is no longer segregation in America, and therefore discrimination based on hairstyle should no longer be ruled by anyone.

Kelsey: I agree, this is no way to raise our children in this country, we should be promoting individuality and not forcing everyone to be the same. Have you guys ever personally had a similar discriminatory experience?

Aunty Uju (Jess): Yes, I experienced a similar discriminatory experience after I passed my medical exams and began interviewing for residency. I was told that there are no doctors in America with braided hair and since you are in a country that is not your own, you need to do what you have to do to succeed. As soon as I found out I passed my medical exams, I immediately knew I had to take out my braids and relax my hair so I wasn’t considered “unprofessional (p.146) .”

Ifemelu (Yina): I also had a similar experience, however it was a voluntary practice. I had an important job interview and Aunty Uju and one of my friends convinced me that it would be better for me to straighten my natural hair (p.250).

Kelsey: Wow, that is very unfortunate. I am so sorry you guys had to go through those experiences. What resulted from those experiences? Did you change your hair when you felt pressured to?

Aunty Uju (Jess): I had to. Life had been made hard enough by having to prepare and pass all of my medical exams over again, I needed to do what I had to do to get into my residency. I was already facing an uphill battle and since my hair is something I could easily fix, I did it (p.146).

Kelsey: What about you Ifemelu? Did you change your hair?

Ifemelu (Yina): I did change my hair. I bought relaxer but it barely did anything to my afro. I followed it up by going to a professional hairdresser and she put more relaxer on. That time it burned my scalp. I remember that after that whole process, the hairdresser complimented me on my newly straightened hair and I will never forget her words. She said that my hair had a “white-girl swing” to it (p.251). When I left the salon, I felt sad because a part of myself was killed by those chemicals. That part of my identity was gone. However, I ended up doing very well with my job interview but I wonder if it was because my hair was straight and not in its God-given halo of hair.

Kelsey: From what I have read from your blogs, Ifemelu, it seems like you have been through a lot with your hair. What do you personally consider to be “good hair?”

Ifemelu (Yina): I personally consider “good hair” to be natural. Hair that has only been touched by natural products and worked with using natural methods. But I also believe that “good hair” should be defined by what an individual is confident in. For example, if a woman is more confident in straightening her hair, then more power to her.

Kelsey: What are some hair care recommendations you have for our listeners who have the same type of hair like you?

Ifemelu (Yina); After my incident with relaxers and burning my scalp, I realized that I would rather be in my natural hair. One of my favorite products is the Hair Now Now Hair serum that revitalizes your scalp, repairs any damages, and makes your natural hair longer and smoother. The second product I use is Dr. Miracles Feel It formula that can be used for relaxed, braided or natural afro hair. It builds the scalps and hair roots, helping you grow strong, shiny and longer hair. My favorite and easiest thing to do is sleep in a silk wrap.

Aunty Uju (Jess): I use many products, and wear silk wraps when I sleep. Since I am older than Ifem, I use Afrodragon, an oil that grows your hair quickly and is highly effective against receding hairlines and balding heads. Since I relax my hair, I also use is Shea Butter/Ori which moisturizes the hair and prevents hair breakage. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, reduces scalp irritation and heals the hair.

Kelsey: Thank you guys for being a part of the podcast, hopefully we can do this again soon!

Ifemelu (Yina): It was a pleasure to talk to you about this!

Aunty Uju (Jess): Thank you for having us!

Kelsey: If you liked our podcast today make sure to share it. Tune in next week for an interview with the hair stylist, Aisha, for her tips and tricks on how to style Nigerian hair.

Bibliography:

Bellinger, Whitney. Why African American Women Try to Obtain ‘Good Hair.’ University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

The data in collected in this study was recorded from several participants that were African American women and a few women of other cultures and backgrounds. This was done through surveying using open ended questions. This data, as it is opinion, is qualitative. There seems to be no bias, as the surveyor asks the same open ended questions to each individual and presents and analyses the responses. This study will be used to help us base our questions and responses on proper information as well as inspire our podcast’s interview questions.

Caldwell, Paulette M. “A Hair Piece: Perspectives on the intersection of race and gender.” Duke Law Journal. 1991. https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3147&context=dlj

This article is about a woman’s perspective on the intersection of race and gender. In this piece, the woman recounts specific events when she has either witnessed or have learned about discrimination because of a woman’s braided hair. The woman, Paulette M. Caldwell, who is a law professor at New York University, recounts experiences of discrimination within her law career and when there have been specific instances in law cases where hair discrimination is shown. She continues on in the article about hair is a form of self-expression, specifically for black women because it reflects a “crossover” from the world of segregation and colonization to the mainstream of American life. This article is credible because it is in Caldwell’s point of view and she writes about her experiences as well as discrimination that is written in history through court cases. We are using this article to further explain discrimination in society.

Jacobs, Julia, and Dan Levin. “Black Girl Sent Home From School Over Hair Extensions.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Aug. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/us/black-student-extensions-louisiana.html.

Discrimination still exists in our country. The most recent cases of discrimination have been against African Americans for how they wear their hair. Just last year, in 2018, Faith, an 11-year-old black student at a private Roman Catholic school in Louisiana, was asked to leave class. The first day of school the administrators told Faith her hair didn’t align with school policy resulting in her spending a lot of money to change her hair. When she returned to school the administrators at the school said her braided hair extensions still violated school rules. This incident came after C.J. Stanley, a black 6-year-old, was sent home on his first day of school because he had dreadlocks, the week before Faith’s incident. Both of these kids and their families were extremely upset and disappointed about the situation. The kids don’t even understand why they aren’t allowed to come back to school until they change how they look. This article was found on the New York Times. The New York Times is a left center publication. In the article there doesn’t appear to be any bias, since it is just stating facts using unbiased statements like “asked to leave” and “turned away,” referring to the administrators making these students leave. If this article was biased they could have used different word phrases like “demanding they leave” and “yelled at.” We used this article to be the introduction in our podcast. We start the podcast by introducing this recent case of discrimination which is the bridge into a question and answer session with Ifemelu and Aunty Uju.

Peed, Mike. “Realities of Race.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/books/review/americanah-by-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie.html.

This article was found on the New York Times, which is a left center publication and showed no signs of political bias in the article. This article evaluated the book Americanah, so it was more of an opinion piece. The author of the article, Peed, gives a quick summary of the book Americanah and gives his interpretation of some of the major themes in the book. Peed thinks Adichie did a great job creating a worldly and geographically precise, as well as a hugely empathetic novel. He points out that the main question in the book is what is the difference between an African American and an American African. Peed gathers from Adichie’s novel that an African American is a black person with several generations before them living in the United States and is pleased that they are from a country that gives international aid rather than receiving it. An American African is an African newly emigrated to the United States, where in their country they didn’t realize they were black but in America that is the only Adichie uses some of her personal experiences and has one of the main characters, Ifemelu, embody the experiences. Peed thinks Obinze fails in England since he was deported but thinks Ifemelu thrives in America because she was seeking authenticity. Peed notes that one of the most important moments for Ifemelu in America is when she refusing to straighten her hair even if that meant she would receive rude comments from the natives. We used this last point from Peed about Ifemelu refusing to straighten her hair in America to develop our topic of discrimination against hair in America.

Walton, Nikki. “About Me.” Natural Hair Care | Curly Nikki, My Hair Story, 11 Oct. 2008, www.curlynikki.com/2008/10/my-hair-story-pt1.html.

The webpage CurlyNikki.com is a blog created by Nikki Walton, a black woman from the United States who grew up with insecurity issues due to her hair. She grew up with family that took proper care of her hair, but as she rose to adolescence, she began to have an obsession with straight hair. During her college years, Nikki had to leave her hair natural often as she did not have as much time or ability to straighten it. She began to have an intense struggle with her hair and self-esteem. Eventually, Nikki began to find some comfort and confidence in her natural styles and even looked to online blogs about natural curly hair to learn how to care for her hair and accept it.

Nikki created her blog as to create a safe place for other women and girls like her to find tips for haircare and acceptance. Nikki and her work have been featured on dozens of talk shows and articles. She has become an inspiration to those facing issues with their hair and self-confidence. Her stories and work have inspired hundreds of other women to tell their stories of haircare successes and issues. This is why her blog is an important resource for women and the acceptance of themselves in a culture where they may be pressured to feel otherwise. This blog was used in our project as a baseline of information on black women’s experiences with their hair. This source gave us information on current trends, feelings, and styles of black women’s hair.

Proposal: Kelsey, Yina, Jess

One of the first symbols that we encounter in Americanah is Ifemelu’s hair. Ifemelu is self-conscious about her hair, so she visits a hair braiding salon to have her hair done and to also revisit a familiar culture. We chose these hair salon scenes because the hair salon highlights the culture of gossip and stereotypes. For example, in chapter one, Aisha, the hair braider who is working on Ifemelu’s hair says, “Igbo men take care of women real good… I want marry. They love but they say the family want Igbo woman. Because Igbo marry Igbo always.” Aisha is stereotyping Ifemelu’s ethnicity because she believes that the kind of men who are Igbo only marry Igbo women. In Ifemelu’s mind, she is criticizing Aisha’s close mindedness. Through our medium, we want to demonstrate the kind of gossip and criticism that is voiced in a hair salon.

Stereotypes and criticisms of black and African American women are also often are based around their hair. Natural Afro-textured hair is seen as “unprofessional” or “nappy” in many cultures, which is an opinion based in ethnocentrism. In a study completed by Whitney Bellinger of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, the opinions of several African American women were recorded as to explain why these women worked to have “good hair” (Bellinger). “Good hair” was defined as that which has been chemically treated to defy its natural texture. It was found that women who treated their hair reported changing their hair for convenience, better opportunities, and because that is how their mothers did their hair; but those that did not treat it did so based on racial pride. In Americanah, Aisha immediately assumes Ifemelu wants dark hair attachments and snidely asks why she does not relax her hair. This attitude of “fixing” natural hair, which is held by many people all over the world, even natural hair stylists, exemplifies the stereotyping and criticism African women face for having naturally kept hair. Our medium will display the criticism African women face and demonstrate the societal pressure put on them through gossip culture and peer pressure to change their hair. The platform we decided to use is a podcast that will be recorded and edited with the digital tool, Audacity. We are utilizing this medium because it is the best outlet to examine the culture of gossip and stereotypes relating to culture and hair.

Citation: Bellinger, Whitney. Why African American Women Try to Obtain ‘Good Hair.’ University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Visual Representation

This picture portrays a lot of things. It captures how many people are waiting to receive asylum and become legal immigrants. It also shows how eager people are to learn about the United States, since she is reading a magazine titled “Learn About the United States” while she is waiting.

Adult Education Services For Immigrants

The scholarly article I found was titled “Immigrants to the United States and Adult Education Services.” The work was done because there aren’t enough adult education courses, like English as a second language (ESL), provided to immigrants. The work was done by evaluating and researching issues and statistics related to immigration in the United States and adult education classes as well as using personal experiences from immigrants themselves. A result that was found was that undocumented immigrants have a harder time taking advantage of the few courses that are available because they need proof of citizenship to attend these classes. It was also found that classes, especially ESL, are extremely important for immigrants because if they are not proficient in English, they end up with low-wage jobs, unable to acquire new skills and new jobs, and denied equal access to health and other services. The work also portrays how organizations like social service agencies, community centers, and especially churches and libraries are the places that support and provide resources, like adult education services, to immigrants.

Since this was a scholarly article there wasn’t much bias present. The main bias I saw in the article that makes me think it is left-center is the fact that it brings up the Trump administration in a negative connotation, without facts. One line that stuck out to me for this was “Unfortunately, under the Trump administration, the conditions for undocumented immigrants are rapidly changing for the worse; they are likely to experience increasing persecution and discrimination” (Larrotta). Since this article was written in 2017 and cites most of its information from 2015 and some from 2016, I felt like this was more of an opinion addition to the article, rather than facts. It doesn’t use any evidence to back up the claim and the Trump administration had only been in the white house for a year before it was published. Other than this bias, I thought it used a lot of evidence and research, rather than interviews, and they cited a lot of references to back up their background information.

Works Cited: Larrotta, Clarena. “Immigrants to the United States and Adult Education Services.” New Directions for Adult & Continuing Education, vol. 2017, no. 155, Fall 2017, pp. 61–69. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/ace.20241.

Article #2: ‘Category 5’ Immigration Crisis

The second article I chose was “It’s a ‘Cat 5’ Immigration Crisis: Nielsen,” found on Fox News, which has conservative views. The work was done to inform the public on recent news regarding southern border control in the United States. This work was also done in an interview, but wasn’t a question and answer session, as well as recounting things that had been said previously. This article was created because there is a crisis at the southern border. The interview with Nielsen came after comments from ex-Obama administration officials publicly agreed with President Trump’s assessment that there is a crisis at the southern border. The work addresses President Trump’s actions in regard to the southern border crisis like threats to close the border and declaring a national emergency at the border in February. It also brings in research and facts that show there were 4,000 apprehensions in one day alone the prior week and more than 76,000 migrants detained in February alone. This is the highest number of migrants being detained in 12 years. The work also shows how Mark Morgan, who served as the head of Border Patrol in the Obama administration, is putting politics aside and agreeing there is a crisis at the border, as well as admitting the entire immigration system is overrun. The results of the work show that there is a crisis at the border and both political sides need to come together to develop a plan of action that both sides agree on to help combat the overrunning of the entire immigration system.

Article #1: Screening of Documentary

The article I chose was “Q&A: Alexandra Shiva, director of documentary on Syrian refugees, screening film at McDaniel,” from the Carroll County Times which is biased toward the left since it is a subcategory under the Baltimore Sun. This work was done to learn more about the film director, Alexandra Shiva, and her film that was screened at a local college. The specific purpose of the documentary they were discussing was to show the type of conditions and obstacles Syrian refugees go through, even when they come to America. Shiva displays how she chose to do the documentary because she thought pictures wouldn’t share the stories enough and do them justice. Shiva portrays how hard it is to pick one story they followed because they are all unique and eye opening. She even states in her interview, at the end, that she doesn’t know how these refugees do it, she can’t even imagine moving to another city in the United States. The article I looked at was done by a question and answer interview between a Carroll County Times employee and the film director, Alexandra Shiva. The documentary they were discussing was filmed and followed many Syrian refugees. The documentary finds that what these Syrian refugees go through is not easy, especially since they have to do things like try and learn a language, find a job, and learn how to parent their children in a completely different culture. Shiva also found that most of the refugees came here for their children to have a better life and there were a lot of refugees that wanted to go home, but couldn’t. She also found that the biggest hurdles for the refugees were language and cultural differences.

Connecting the Ties with Hernandez

Carlos Hernandez had a lot of good advice for our class. A main topic he addressed was digitally publishing work. He mentioned how long poems take up too much space in print form since you are paying for the white space also, but when you publish digitally the price is minimal even if it is a long poem. He also mentioned how you are able to interact with writing on a digital space so that is another benefit to publishing digitally instead of on print. Another thing he talked about was his inspirations. He mentioned how one of his inspirations for one of his poems was a painting and how the painting made him think of how they “would do whatever is necessary to keep living.” He also mentioned how somethings happen in your life that you want to capture and record and majority of the time those are the hardest things you can go through. He also gave recommendations on how to get a writing career started. He said that you should start publishing now to get your name out there. If you submit to a publishing company, they may reject you, but they will also tell you what you could work on for next time. He said to keep submitting work to publishing companies because there comes a point where they will want to publish your work. Carlos also said to attend conventions and build your network because it is all about who you know. I think Carlos coming in to talk to us was beneficial because students in the class who want to pursue a career in writing now have an idea of where to start and begin planning for their career. Him coming to our class also helped connect our class to real world publishing, to me at least. It was cool to hear an author talk about how he get published both digitally and print and how we could start doing that today if we really wanted.

Stevenson Partnership with AWE

My idea for the grant starts with a representative from Stevenson University going speak with Asylee Women Enterprises’ director to see what their biggest need is before the semester begins. Depending on what their biggest need is, Stevenson will offer a service scholarship to one person in the needed department. The grant will then pay for one class in full (normally around $600 for a class) for the recipient of the scholarship and in return the student will need to provide assistance at AWE at least 2 hours a week. An example of this would be if AWE’s biggest need was for legal assistance, Stevenson University would offer the scholarship to a legal studies major. The student chosen for the scholarship would then have to teach classes or help individuals with legal matters relating to immigration during their 2 hours per week at AWE. Another example would be if their biggest need was for teaching English. Stevenson University could offer the scholarship to an English major or a teaching major, where they would have to teach English during their time spent at AWE every week.

Entrepreneurship: Where to Begin?

I learned a lot at the career panel. John Dinkel, owner of Dinkel Business Development, LLC. Has over 25 years of experience in business development. John started his business after his sister-in-law died of cancer and decided life was too short. Some key tips on how to start a business Dinkel offered are start working your network now and talk to as many entrepreneurs as you can, get as much advice as you can and work as hard as you can, but be humble. Chris Daley, owner of Whirlaway, launched his communication agency in November 2018. Daley’s key advice on how to start a business are build relationships, connect with people on LinkedIn, focus on your strengths, but know what your weaknesses are, and it is all about the quality of what you know not the quantity. Andrew Murphy, owner of Flying Frog Publishing, has a highly successful 16-book series of fun fact titles. Murphy’s tips for starting a business are you need to hustle and put your name out there. Elizabeth Trimm, branch manager for the largest home city Enterprise Rent-A-Car branch in the Baltimore Division, decided to start her own branch since she is a single mom and was making more money than her bosses at her first branch. Trimm’s top three tips on starting a business include knowing what your “why” is, set short-term goals that are achievable, and don’t let anyone get in your way. Andy Brown, owner of a frozen pizza manufacturing company, Eat Pizza, graduated from Stevenson in 2012 and also owns Capitol Music and Andy’s Pizza in Tyson’s Corner, VA. Brown’s advice is that no matter what you are going to need to be able to sell your product or business and that you are going to need to work harder than before. Last on the panel was Garrett Pfeifer. Pfeifer, owner of Maryland Brand Management, stepped into the family business of clothing manufacturing. His advice was never be worried about what people think about you, making the first sale is tough and takes a lot of work, and you just have to go out there and promote your business.

The event was connected to our course in a couple of ways. First, students in the course may have a career goal of digital publishing, so this helps introduce them to the world they eventually want a career in. Secondly, in the course we are going to be helping AWE with their website or something related to digital publishing. By attending the event we were able to learn the ins and outs of what a good business is so that way we can incorporate those tips and advice into our project for AWE. My career goal is to be a labor and delivery nurse; however, I may continue my education to becoming a Nurse Practitioner or Physician’s Assistant and open my own practice. If I open my own practice, I would need to know how to start my business and how to get my name out there, which was addressed in depth at the career panel. I also currently have started two side businesses with my fiancé, so hearing their advice on how to develop or businesses more has definitely helped on where to go next.

Money or Patron?

The website lirs.org for the non-profit organization, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) was analyzed in depth. The non-profit organization was designed to help refugees and immigrants escape the life-threatening conditions of their home country. For a full analysis, the audience, purpose, context, author and genre were analyzed to determine if the website effectively or ineffectively promotes LIRS and their mission. The website for LIRS is ineffective because of the lack of videos, pictures, color and more resources for the people they developed this service for, refugees and immigrants.

The primary intended audience for the LIRS website is donors and volunteers. In the top white navigation bar, all the tabs are written in blue, excluding the last tab which says “DONATE” and is an orange button. The orange button is the only color above the scroll line on the landing page.

On the landing page, the “DONATE” button is the only color.

This directs your attention straight to the donate button which show it is geared towards donors. There are also various pages which directly transfer you to the donation page also.

Also, under the “TAKE ACTION” tab, there are different pages dedicated to volunteers and how you can become a volunteer. The second intended audience is refugees and immigrants. There is a resource tab on the top navigation bar geared toward refugees. In the top right-hand corner, there is also a link for “Loans Customer Portal” which is a source where refugees to get loans. If refugees were the primary audience, the site would not be in English or they would include translation options. The primary audience consists of donors and volunteers so values they hold include helping others and donating time and money to make a difference in immigrant and refugee’s lives. The author is able to appeal to these values by showing sparsely how volunteers and donors can and have helped the immigrants. The secondary audience includes refugees who Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service are trying to help since they value America and want to escape from the conditions of their home country. The author appeals to them by showing they give out loans to help get refugees and immigrants inaugurated in America and also manifest ways that they are able to succor refugees and immigrants throughout the website.

The overall intention for the LIRS website is to show what Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is and what they do, as well as accumulate donations and get volunteers. The website itself lead me to this conclusion because the website has a lot of “Take Action” and “Volunteer” categories, as well as a donation page. In addition to the orange donation button on the top navigation bar, under the “Take Action” tab there is an option to “give,” which includes donations, and under the “volunteer” tab there is another big button blue button that asks for donations also. There is a secondary intention of persuading immigrants and refugees to use this service instead of some of the other non-profits designed to help them. This is due to the “Loans Customer Portal” button in the top right-hand corner. Some of the other non-profits designed to assist them don’t include loans on their website, so this is unique to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services.

The Loans Customer Portal is located in the upper right-hand corner.

The big blue donation button under one of the volunteer tabs.

The medium of the LRIS website is the web. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service chose this medium because it is easily accessible, especially to donors or volunteers that have access to a computer, phone, tablet, etc. Being published on the web makes it easy for volunteers or donors to donate money or time no matter where they are. The main colors used on the website are blue and white. There are some pictures throughout the site, mainly of immigrants and refugees or a picture of the statue of liberty. Each page of the website has one picture at the top of the page. There should be more pictures and videos to display what these refugees and immigrants are going through, as well as the impact the volunteers and donors have on them. Readers can interact with this text however they like, but most common will be with a computer, laptop or tablet at work or in their house.

The author of the website is unknown but is produced by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is made up of a board of directors, an executive committee, at-large members from all over the nation, and staff leaders. This source is trustworthy because the company made the website, providing accurate information, links and pictures. The author of the website comes across as asking for money and volunteers rather than showing how they help refugees and immigrants. LIRS has a reputation of helping refugees and immigrants that are in danger if they go back home. This text works to alter the reputation because their website is aimed to make donations and acquiring volunteers. If their main goal is to help immigrants and refugees, they should make that more prominent when looking at the website. They could also include visual representations like videos of real volunteers helping, refugees and immigrants receiving items and care purchased from donations or even a translated video telling refugees and immigrants how they can use this program to seek asylum.

The genre of this text would be non-profit or humanitarian. It is a non-profit because they are ameliorating refugees and immigrants to escape the dangers of their own country and do so with the support of volunteers and donations. It is also humanitarian because LIRS is concerned with and working to improve the security, safety and health of refugees and immigrants. The website is like other non-profits because it is geared toward donors and volunteers. The website is designed to easily navigate to a donation page or a page where you can volunteer. On each page of the website there is one picture of a refugee, immigrant, leader or volunteer to give a visual representation of what this service does. It is also similar to humanitarian sites because the purpose of their organization is to promote the welfare of refugees and immigrants, which is the definition of a humanitarian organization. They include some visuals of the refugees and immigrants as well as some testimonies from previous refugees and immigrants they have helped to show how they have promoted their welfare and overall well-being.

To make the website more effective they need to appeal to all their audiences and viewers. Since the organization was developed to assist immigrants and refugees, it should be accessible to them also and not aimed unanimously toward donors and volunteers. Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service could offer a translated version of their website that would be more accessible to them. The

Example of one of the few pictures found on the website, faded out.

website also needs more colors, different fonts and visuals. A plethora of colors other than blue and white would be more appealing to donors and volunteers, as well as an average lay-person who comes across the website. Most of the pictures already portrayed on the website are faded, so there is not much color present.

Also, majority of the fonts need to be changed to a san-serif font for people with reading disabilities, like dyslexia, are able to read and navigate through the website easier.

Collage of the fonts found on the website.

Lastly, there should be more pictures throughout the entire website, as well as videos. If people are donating their time or money, they want to see where their money or time is going. If refugees and immigrants are deciding between taking a loan from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services or a different organization to help with their transition to the United States, they want to see what this service offers in comparison to the other ones. With these suggestions, the website could become more effective in reaching people with disabilities, refugees and immigrants, as well as attracting more donors and volunteers.

Citation:

“Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.” LIRS, 6 Feb. 2019, www.lirs.org/.