A Hidden Life
In 2005, Jim West, Spokane’s conservative mayor, was publicly disgraced after a newspaper ran a series of articles alleging that he had not only engaged in homosexual activity but that he had committed acts of sexual abuse and misused his political office. This program explores the complicated story of West’s seemingly “double” life and raises uneasy questions about the distinctions between “personal” and “public” personas in the digital age.

Questions to Consider:

1. Are public figures held to a different standard with respect to how closely their public personas should mirror their private lives?
2. Do you think that digital technologies and social media make it easier or harder to live a “double” life?
3. Use Goffman’s dramaturgical perspective to analyze West’s story.

Growing up Online
Jessica Hunter developed an online persona for herself that bore little resemblance to the one she presented at school. Online she was known as model and artist, Autumn Edows. This program explores the reasons she created an alternate identity and how she feels about that identity. Her experience raises questions about authenticity and whether there is in fact such a thing as a “real” or “true” self.

Questions to Consider:

1. Explain Jessica Hunter’s story dramaturgically, in terms of the dynamic between front stage and back stage?
2. What techniques of impression management did she employ? Were there performance teams? If so, what were they and who comprised them? Can you find examples of accounts, aligning actions or cooling out?
3. Use the sociological imagination to identify the link between private troubles and social problems.

Breaking Down “Obama English”
The ways in which President Obama alters his communication style (code switching) depending on the audience and context is the subject of this video.

Questions to Consider:

1. What does it mean to “talk black”? To “talk white”?
2. Is one way of speaking generally considered more suited to the office of the presidency? Explain your answer.
3. Do you suspect that one way of acting comes more “naturally” than another? If so, which one?

The Do Not Enter Diaries: Ethan Z
The Do Not Enter Diaries (donotenterdiaries.com ) is a series of short videos in which teens offer tours of their bedrooms and explain the significance of their décor and possessions. In this video, Ethan Z shows viewers around his room.

Questions to Consider:

1. In this video, is Ethan on front or back stage? Explain your answer.
2. Do sites and videos like this blur the line between front and back regions? Elaborate on your answer.