I agree with Graham and I also believe that my media literacy began in college. I have always been the type of person who has vocally expressed their own thoughts and ideas. However, I think that I was unaware of so many ideas dealing with critical thinking and media literacy before college. My media literacy began like many others in English composition and analyzing advertisements. I had always thought that advertisements often exploited women, but I was unaware to what degree. It was in this class that I noticed that these ads dehumanized women exposing only portions of their body and rarely their face. While in this class I realized the media through advertisements reinforces the United State's patriarchal gender roles. Demonstrating the idea that women should only look good and don't have much to say. My media literacy grew when I took a trip with the journalism college to view media abroad. This expanded my mind and helped me to view the media in the United States through the eyes of other countries. That experience has made me a critical consumer of American media. My media literacy has also expanded through my knowledge of technology and equipment. Since I now know how to film and edit different materials I understand the techniques used to relay the message to the audience. I now watch reality television and understand that it cannot be completely real because of the different angles the camera used in a particular sequence. Media literacy is a power tool to posses. But the scary thing is people don't realize how powerful this tool is until they are in possession of it.