The piece of evidence which best demonstrates my ability to achieve the ninth and final

learning objective of the communication discipline, to influence public discourse, is the first part
of the group project for my Sociological Imagination and The Wire course. In the show, The
Wire, many sociological issues are presented in the representation of the streets and police
organization in Baltimore. In this course, we were assigned readings which go along with the
issues presented in the show. One of these readings was a portion of Sociological Imagination,
by C. Wright Mills, where he discusses what the use of the Sociological Imagination is, being the
connection and distinction between personal troubles and public issues, as well as history and
biography. The group project for this course required groups to use the Sociological Imagination
to analyze The Wire and the issues that are presented in the show. For the first part of the project,
we were required to write a paper of at least three pages, analyzing season one of The Wire with
the Sociological Imagination. Instead of focusing on random events that occurred in the first
season that could be analyzed through the Sociological Imagination, as a group, we focused on
the gang structure and culture of inner city Baltimore. In doing so, we identified three main
issues presented by the gang structure and culture, being drug trafficking, violence and the
entrapment of youths in communities similar to that of Baltimore, which is depicted in the show.
The first part of the Sociological Imagination and the Wire project was chosen to
demonstrate my ability to achieve the ninth learning objective because of the impact the show
has on public discourse and sociological issues. This paper identifies the challenges facing
communities that are presented by the gang structure and culture depicted in inner city Baltimore
in The Wire. One of these challenges is the entrapment of youths and lack of education
opportunities available to the youths in these communities. The communication that takes place
between gang members, as presented in the paper, show the desire of the youths in the gang to

learn more about becoming successful, however, the communication always places this in the
context of being successful as a gang member instead of in society. By identifying these
challenges, framing and evaluating these issues in a communication perspective, and using
communication to respond to these issues, it is effectively influencing public discourse.
Therefore, this piece of evidence demonstrates my ability to achieve the ninth learning objective.