a letter from a special listener

The other day I received an email from director of our radio station saying that I got my first “prisoner’s letter”. Knowing that in the radio station people are always creative and fond of teasing and joking, I thought it was a joke. Or maybe it was a warning? Did they have the term “prisoner’s letter” meaning “warning”? Those were my best estimates of what the letter was talking about.
However, the next day, Amy told me that the “prisoner’s letter” was just a letter from a prisoner who listened to our show in the prison and later wrote to us. The moment I heard of this, I felt so flattered by his letter. I felt that I could make myself heard by people. This might not seem a big deal for any of my American peers, but to me, it is a really big thing.
Mr. Prisoner said something funny and cute to both Amy and I. I felt that I had a new friend, although we might not have chance meeting each other. The media connected us together in terms of our show. I felt relieved when people recognized what I did. In that case, I felt I was alive. It might sound weird, but that was how I felt when I was silenced.
Coming all the way from China to the US, I lost my past social network. Often times I felt I was silenced by the lack of connection with people in the States. All I knew was that I had to start a new life which included making friends, studying a brand-new major, and last but not least, making myself heard by people in the States. One of my idols on television is Winfrey Oprah, especially before she becomes so famous that people love talking about her weight loss. I admired her capability to make herself heard and understood by such a great audience that she could change people’s opinions on a variety of issues.
I felt powerful when I was a teacher since I could motivate my students to study hard. I helped them build up a good goal and go for it. To me, that was a medium to communicate my values and beliefs with my audiences---the students. Right now, I find a new medium---radio station, which belongs to practical mass media, that I can express what I think about life and music to the audience.
Under some circumstance when you “gain” something (not necessarily materialistic) from the media, you will really prefer the media. In my case, I would spend more time for the show and try to improve. That might be another application of Uses-and-Gratification Theory. ^_^