Naomi Ludlow | Staff Writer

While realizing the changes of media and technology, it is evident that our youth are the most impacted. The youth rely heavily on what they see on television or through other mediums to gain knowledge. The incorporation of children with disabilities in popular programming has recently increased which should encourage other networks to partake in this too.

Sesame Street has introduced a new character named Julia who has autism. This is a groundbreaking moment because it allows children with disabilities to have that representation. Not only will the children with disabilities be represented, but children without them will know that disabilities exist. They will look at their television screens and realize that when they see something like this in person, that it is normal. The mannerisms that Julia performs are typical of an autistic child, and recognition will, in some part, help an autistic child blend in more.

Stacy Gordon, the veteran puppeteer to play Julia, said, “Man, I just wish that kids in my son’s class had grown up with Sesame Street that had modeling [of] the behavior of inclusion of characters with autism.”

Gordon has a background of doing therapeutic work for people with autism and her son is on the autism spectrum. She is excited that children will now have an early understanding of what to expect from people with disabilities.

The character Julia is a 4-year-old girl who echoes what she has heard from her friends and has a low attention span. The other Muppets on the show normalize her actions to reflect the normality of having autism.

Julia will make her television debut on April 10 on various platforms where the show is aired, including PBS Kids, HBO, and YouTube. She will initially appear in English and Spanish in the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and Mexico and will subsequently appear in more languages in countries throughout the world later in the year.

The character was first introduced last year in books and other digital offerings. The company saw this as an opportunity to endorse the “See Amazing in all Children” campaign. The material is posted on a dedicated site.

There was a study conducted by Georgetown University to show the impact of Sesame Street’s new character. The study shows that the character helps families with autistic children feel more comfortable in community activities, and families without autistic children are more accepting with those that do.

All in all, Sesame Street has set the bar for introducing disabled children and should influence other stations/shows to do the same.

Aaron Worley | Arts & Entertainment Editor

Here’s a great plotline on paper: Daniel “Danny” Rand is a superhero who engages in martial arts techniques and special ‘chi’ summoning to defeat enemies. After over a decade-long stretch of being missing, he finds himself wanting to reclaim his family’s company. This sounds decent in theory, but he soon realizes that he is oblivious to one crucial bit of information: everyone thinks he’s dead, and seeing some man that comes out of nowhere who claims to be the presumed-dead individual surprisingly does not sit well with them. This is the start of the first episode of Marvel’s “Iron Fist,” which premiered on Netflix last Wednesday. The show serves as a blunder in the comic franchise’s Netflix adaptations, to say the least. Dissimilar to the fantastic “Luke Cage,” which was driven by both Blaxploitation and humor, “Iron Fist” shows neither one of those capabilities. Of course, no one expects the former element to be present, but there could have at least been a vintage Asian element added to the show, taking away from the fact that most fans argued for the character to be portrayed as an Asian-American.  This is only the surface of the cornucopia of issues regarding the series, however.

From the beginning, Danny Rand, played by actor Finn Jones, is not a likeable character. The homeless garb he wears can be overlooked, but he simply does not have anything in his voice, tone, or manner to give him likeable capabilities. When he first realizes that people are tentatively recognizing him as the lost man whom they believed to have died (who would have thought?), he stalely begs them to “Just listen.” There is not a personality behind this request, only a cheap delivering of lines through a boring and bland character. He does not add anything fresh to the superhero, and comes across as needy and completely devoid of drawing empathy from others. It would not be surprising if any viewers, who are, of course, already aware that he is telling the truth to start questioning it because they are not convinced by his acting. This can be forgiven by most people, though, but it does not take away from one of the most disappointing components of the series: the fight scenes.

Yes, there are fight scenes. No, they are not entertaining, exciting, or even properly executed. They feel slapped together and choppy, not flowing well together at all. With a closer look, it seems like the villains Jones encounters simply remain stationary while he proceeds to twist their already-outstretched arms or limbs. It really looks like they want to be attacked and overcome. There is no precision in their attacks, no swiftness, and no creativity in how they want to ‘take him out.’ “Luke Cage” was not reliant on fight scenes (if a comparison is drawn), but the story and background was gripping enough to lead onto those action sequences, making them all the more exciting. With “Iron Fist,” the character and baddie movements are thrown in there, only taking up time in the series in the most uninspiring manner.

Nonetheless, there are good moments on the show. Rosario Dawson plays an excellent role as a nurse-turned-martial artist, gripping the show with her stern dialogue and the ability to throw herself into the character’s role. Carrie-Anne Moss is fantastic as attorney Jeri Hogarth as well, adding to her acclaim from the other Marvel series “Jessica Jones.”

All being said, “Iron Fist” is a downright blunder in Marvel’s Netflix string. It is boring, repetitive, mind-numbing, and will ultimately make you question why you actually want to watch all ten episodes of the first season halfway through the first two.

Aaron Worley | Arts and Entertainment Editor

Trap music remains an important part of the music culture because of its distinctive sound. The content of the songs included in this genre is typically the same as other niches of rap, with drugs and money being the prime bragging points and Philadelphia rapper PnB Rock does nothing to make himself dissimilar during his latest project.

His first studio album, “GTTM: Goin’ Thru the Motions” fails to bring the insightful glimpse into his perspective that should be expected from a new rapper. The songs here aren’t anything special; they rely on the distinguishable sound of music that is trying to be singles, and are just made to be infectious amongst listeners.

The meaning of ‘infectious’ is probably not the definition expected. However, in this concept, the songs are mainly ones that will garner a reputation for being played at parties just because of the popularity.

“Attention,” the opener of “GTTM” starts the album off on a weak note and feels forced with a mechanical techno beatThere is nothing to learn from PnB in this track; it does not come off as something that would be replayed, but as a bragging song for him to get the chance to brag about his material possessions. Wiz Khalifa is featured on this track but does not save the song, despite his best efforts. The chemistry is odd; it never existed to begin with, and pairing two artists who sound as awkward as ever together usually never works out.

The ignorance and excessive simplicity of the lyrics in this project are also a low point. Lines like “Off weed off lean/I don’t ever stay sober” and “Diamonds dancing/you can see my s*** like blu ray” on “New Day” feel like a backwash of everything trap music has ever been, and the three topics they love to include.

The other problem with this track is that it does not even sound pleasing and even irritates at times. The point of the track was to generate hype around it as a song that would be catchy and ‘hard’ so it is confusing what route or audience Rock wanted to attract with his method for accomplishing this.

There are a few moments when the album shines, nonetheless. “There She Go” serves as a rhythmic track that makes great use of auto-tune to describe a woman Rock is supposedly chasing. “Selfish” actually draws empathy out of Rock’s situation, as he wants a girl all to himself. The vocals work here, make their purpose clear, and give Rock interesting material to work with.

If someone listened to this

project all the way through, they would very quickly notice that a majority of the songs revolve around love and heartbreak, but not in the traditional sense. The times where this actually comes off as genuine end up sounding fresh and unorthodox compared to rappers like Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz.

While not a groundbreaking album by any means. “Goin’ Thru the Motions” is sure to please people who could really care less about subject matter. Maybe after all, that was Rock’s purpose from the start.

Naomi Ludlow | Contributing Writer

The African American Film Critics Association believes that 2016 has been an amazing year for black actors and films. This year’s black films are the start to potentially put an end to #OscarsSoWhite. The co-founder and president of AAFCA, Gil Robertson, said, “The studios and major film distributors really gave it to us this year.” 2016 represents an all-time high in success for black cinemas, and all cinemas in general.

The success ranges across genres including comedy, drama, romantic thrillers and documentaries. Films include “Ride Along 2,”starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, “When the Bough Breaks,” and unexpectedly “Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween.” Success is expected for films “Fences” and “Hidden Figures.” The stars of “Hidden Figures,” Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae, are all possibilities to landing a nomination for high honors.

Co-founder of AAFCA, Shawn Edwards, said, “It has truly been an unapologetically black year in the industry as filmmakers brought to life some of the culture’s most fascinating stories and subjects with bold storytelling perspective.” Amplifying the stories of the black community contributed to the outcome for this year’s film success.

The hashtag, #OscarsSoWhite, originated on Twitter by April Reign. Reign is a former attorney and managing editor for BroadwayBlack.com. The hashtag was used to call out a need for diversity industry-wide. As a result, the film academy has invited the largest amount of diverse people for membership.

This simple hashtag has an incredible amount of power, for it leads to eminent black films. The co-founders of AAFCA are sure that the recognition will be given to the actors and directors for this year, but aren’t sure whether the diversity will stick for years to come. Also, they are concerned whether the diversity will extend to other minority communities. They are hopeful, though, and are aware that change will soon come.

William Ricks | Staff Writer

It might’ve felt like years since we’ve heard a complete project from MC superstar J. Cole. Well, it has been, almost two years to be exact. Cole has stayed busy though, making rounds on his tour and dropping his talents as a feature artist on many tracks, more famously his self-titled interlude on DJ Khaled’s Major Key album. He also dropped a project with his other Dreamville collaborators, Revenge of the Dreamers II in 2015.

That satisfied his fans for the moment, but the more heat J. Cole has been dropping, the hungrier his fans become for a complete project from the superstar rapper. He announced at the 2016 Meadows Music and Arts Festival in New York City that this would be his “last show for a very long time.” so fans had the expectation that Cole was in the studio working on a platinum worthy album.

Many followers of Cole have had his last album, 2014 Forest Hills Drive on repeat for the last couple years, which isn’t a problem as that album was great, going platinum with no features. (With no awards to show for it, which is ridiculous.) Fortunately today fans have gotten the wish they’ve been asking for, a J. Cole project is on the way.

Via iTunes, J. Cole’s project is up for pre-order. The project titled 4 Your Eyez Only, has 10 tracks with no titles or any info on possible features on the tracks. (I mean does he really need features?) This album is expected to drop on December 9, 2016, the two-year anniversary of his last solo act 2014 Forest Hills Drive. J. Cole has high expectations for this upcoming album but if anyone could meet or exceed these expectations, Jermaine Cole is your guy. The reaction to the news is generally the same, excitement.

Twitter has exploded, everyone placing the fire emojis in their tweets resembling how hot each track will be, and some fans believe this is the Christmas miracle they’ve been asking for. As we countdown until the clock strikes midnight on December 9, it’s best for every other rapper to call it a year, as J. Cole took over the month of December in 2014, and he plans to do it again ending what seems to be a quiet year for him with a huge and much needed bang.