Hello Blog...

     So I thought I'd make a blog post just for the heck of it. At the moment we are reading Into the Wild and I am actually enjoying the book quite a bit. I think the whole mystery as to what McCandless's motivation was is definitely a component of this book that keeps me going. I will say though, I have always found it a little hard to follow Krakauer's writing style since he will sometimes go off into these separate descriptions and stories and I kind of get a bit lost while reading because my mind wanders. Other than that I think that this book is actually really interesting and a good book for us seniors to be reading at this time of the year. A lot of us are pondering what it is we are going to do after high school, some are going to college or trade school, but I know there are a lot of people who crave for this adventure after high school; and this book definitely is an eye opener into just how much of an adventure/journey some of us could experience. It also gives us some warning as to what not to do and how not to be stupid on any potential adventures we might embark on.

     Speaking of after high school, any one else so ready for this all to just be over? I thought I had senioritis before, but now that I am both 18 and a senior (like a lot of us) it is becoming harder and harder each day to pull together some motivation to get to school. It's crazy to think, though, that just yesterday we all were entering our first day of 7th grade worried because it was middle school (no recess!!) and now we are just nearing the end of our entire high school career. I TA for a 7th grade class and I always laugh a bit when I over hear them talking about who's dating who and the current drama going on in their lives because in a matter of seconds they'll be in high school months away from graduating and all that drama will be so irrelevant. Leaving high school seems to be a fresh start, you can be who ever you want to be in the real world and that is so exciting. Anyways, that's all for my thoughts at the moment...just thought I'd share.

AF: Off the grid!

AF: On NPR today>>the rise of fake meat

Everybody recognizes that our meat consumption is just not sustainable.  So is fake meat the answer?  Will the food scientists come to the rescue?  If we can make meat in the lab, then gee, that frees up lots of land water, feed, and cleans up the environmental problems inherent in feed lot life.

Is it really okay?

Meat production is a tricky topic due to the fact that many people worry about the morality of the situation. I personally think that it is something that must happen in order to sustain staggeringly growing population. However, i do believe that there should be some sort of good in their life prior to their death.
Animals in the food production industry have a life filled with misery and sadness. They must be pinned up in an undersized cage all day, while their bodies grow at an exponential rate, their bones hardly able to support their own weight, and most likely have a sickness of some sort. Then, they must reproduce and watch as their young are taken away from them, as they too will meet the same fate as their parents. If this isn’t discerning and doesn’t make you want to change your lifestyle, you should read what goes into the ingredients that goes in hot cheetos- you’d be surprised.

Bumble bees.

     Bumble bees, an insect that causes severe pain once stung. I've been stung five times by a bee, and for those of you who haven't been stung, let me tell you guys that it hurts like hell. The first instinct I get when I see a bee, is to run away and try my best try not to cross paths again. There are cases in which I just want to kill them right then and there because I'm scared that there's a possibility that I can be stung again.
     However, I came to the realization that bees are more important that I've ever thought. They are amongst the smallest things in the our world, yet the most influential in the agricultural world. Bees contribute their source of power which is getting into flowers to collect pollen.
     Bees are responsible for more than half of the fruits and vegetables we eat. They allow flowers to bloom and grass to grow. Furthermore, according to Marla Spivak, more bees continue to disappear each year.
     My question is, Would life be sustainable if bees were to extinct?
    I think life would be sustainable, for while at least. The human population would depend too much on animals and other sources of food in order to obviously survive. But the thing is, fruits and vegetables are the main food groups in which we get our nutrition from and are considered the healthiest.
     Overall, I hope bees stop disappearing because they are desperately needed on Earth.

Bees

I was talking to Brett Savage today about bees, and I told him how I think that bees are dying because they're dumb.  Now, I may or may not think bees are dumb, but I did have a good reason to think that.
I left a bowl of water out for the bees to drink because it was pretty hot outside, and when I went to check on them, I saw that they had all drowned.  I'm not sure if that makes me a bad person or not... :(  Anyways, the other day (Last Wednesday to be exact), I saw a bee drowning in a bowl of water (I didn't learn my lesson from the first time, oops :c ).  I rushed over and took it out, and luckily, I saved it.  I was super happy that I had actually saved the life of an endangered insect.  But then I thought, "why would the bee land in the water if it knows it can't swim?"  Also, why would a bee sting if it knows it's going to die?  Do bees actually know that they're going to die when they sting people?

Since we're talking about bees, I thought it would be appropriate to tell a bee joke.

What's a bees favorite novel?







The Great Gats-bee! 

Soylent

Most of the problems in our country revolve around food whether it's too much or too little. Obesity is a huge problem in America and even if we could fix the problem, I don't think people wouldn't want to. A man named Rob Rhinehart invented a powder mixture of everything the body needs to survive. All you have to do is add water. This could save malnourished children in other countries or stop over eating here. Rob says that he's never felt healthier and he has lost weight. Losing weight may concern doctors, but if that's the biggest concern then this should be mass produced to save people. It's not going to be popular because it's tasteless and takes the fun out of eating, but the fun of eating got us into trouble in the first place. This should be about survival, especially for starving people all over the world. 

Food Inc.

Food inc.  didn't shock as much as it probably should have. i guess that it was because i am kind of used to hearing about chemicals and other things that have been added to our food that probably shouldn't have been. i mean... i'm going to keep eating though. i like chicken. i like processed food. i like fast food. sure, i would like to be a person who can say that i eat healthy, but then i'd be a liar. this is the type of food that i was brought up on, and is the easiest thing to get. if the healthier food was made more available and accessible, would i eat it? yes...because its there. i'm a human vacuum.

This paper

i have to admit that this paper is difficult and is driving me insane. its has gotten to the point where  i feel like i am done, but i haven't met the word count or page count. i'm pushing myself to figure out what to say instead of reiterating what i said three paragraphs ago. i have to admit that i've pushed everything else but this paper to the back burner and its made me fall behind in other classes, buts its made me come to realize that i will never learn how to time manage. procrastination, to me, is like some  type of permanent personality trait of mine. there is something in the universe that has labeled Uchechi a "true procrastinator", "the OG"

This research is rather frustrating and also very interesting. I like the idea of looking up thugs and learning something new of your own of a topic of your choice. In my opinion it's pretty cool and I am learning a lot of new stuff! However it is also very frustrating. Every article has almost the exact same thing as eachother and it's hard to get new information. and then. I get worried that some of the thoughts I have from prior knowledge I'll get marked down for plagiarism. But all in all, it's interesting and a fun paper to be writing

Unhealthy foods

I watched a Ted talk video talking about how school lunches are so unhealthy. In Coopers voice presentation she discusses the concern she has for the students and what's given to them everyday. Study's show that the foods kids are given are just as bad as eating out at a fast food place. She wants to teach kids how to eat healthier and actually make healthy food appetizing. Organically grown and regionally grown foods is what she recommend many parents to buy, but the problem is organic foods are quite expensive for some family's to afford especially in a large house hold. About 70% of antibiotics are in our meats, and kids today are now consuming roughly five pounds of pesticides a year. Foods that we think are healthy for us is actually harming our body's, causing many kids and adults to be ill. The government doesn't really seem to care about the kids and the foods they allow them to eat, because facts show about $35,000 tax dollars are to maintain a prisoner and only $500 dollars are for the food given to kids a year. She blames the junk food and fast food advertisement because they manipulate children to want unhealthy meals which leads to an unhealthy diet. How could we fix this problem?

i like food

I watched Food Inc. in ninth grade so nothing in the video was really a surprise to me. Most people start feeling a certain way about the food they eat after watching this movie, but I think after watching it a second time, I'm still going to eat it. The food we put into our bodies is truly disgusting. There's so many random things we can't even pronounce added to everything and the treatment of the animals we get our meat from is horrible. I'd much rather eat something organic but it's so much more expensive and I'm stuck eating the "bad" stuff. I mean it tastes good right? That's all that really matters to me. I don't think I'll be dying any time soon due to the food I eat. The only thing that sketches me out is fast food. I'm not 100% about what is real and what isn't, and I hear things all the time on the news or I see things on Twitter that make me question what goes into these "burgers" or "chicken" nuggets. I haven't consumed much fast food in my lifetime, though, so I think I'll be alright. 

Fast food

After watching the movie food inc. It really got me thinking. In our society today their are so many people eating fast food it's not even funny. They are killing more and more cows, pigs and other animals each year. Just to be able to keep up with our eating habits. Honestly it disgusted me how they make all the burgers that get distributed out to fast food places. In sort of made me not what to eat at any anymore. Seeing how their are just so many things mushed together to make a burger is pretty Nasty.

Ew

Honestly the food system today sucks, like bad. After watching the video and now for me actually working with food it kind of disgusts me. People care more about profit and selling rather than the goodness and quality of the food. It is gross! I work in a restaurant and sometimes watching the cooks cook the food, I don't know why but it's gross to me. They don't clean the stove for a new meal and they have everything all together. They use the same gloves they did when they touch the raw meat, it is just really gross. I hope one day people can stop being so greedy and actually start to scare about people's health. 

Health Kickin'

Is it just me, or did the whole country recently decide to go on this giant health kick? The last couple months, maybe even years, I've noticed this craze of staying "fit and healthy" attack social media. Obviously not everything on social media defines what happens in real life, but its very pronounced. Scrolling through Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, whatever it may be, all I see are organic food recipes, how to clean eat, Herbalife this, Herbalife that. And in no way is that bad! Seriously! Its about time one of the most overweight countries in the world start taking care of themselves, but I can't help but wonder where this came from. Is it the peer pressure, inspiration, or notice of future consequence? Or maybe a little mixture of all of those?

Admit it, you're willing to spend 8 bucks on an acai bowl and drive 45 minutes to take a hike. I mean...sometimes these ideas don't just pop into our head (most of the time) but you saw it on Instagram and felt inspired. "Inspired" as in: you thinking, " Hey that looks cool. I wanna do that and maybe take cooler pictures."

Anyway, not sure where I was going with this, but just wanted to share the idea that maybe we all wanna be a little bit healthier and go work out a bit more because other people influence us to! Never a bad thing.

Politics of Food

Reading these articles and writing my research paper, has shed a new light on food for me. I’ll probably never look at food the same way again. However, I will most likely still keep eating it. I’ll just be more cautious of what I eat now. I cannot explain the amount of disgust I felt when I found out how they were treating these animals and what they were fed. I have always wanted to change my eating habits, and I think this just may have been the push I have needed. What I do not understand is why healthy food is a lot more expensive than junk food. I should not have to pay more to eat healthier. It also disgusts me how major fast food and junk food companies care more about their profits than people’s health. We, as the American people have to change the demand of food. 

After watching the movie Food Inc. and reading all these articles , I've come to see food and animals in a completely different light. After watching the movie I was so disgusted with the way animals were treated that I went pescatarian. And these articles are right about us. We don't think about how our food got to us and what the animal went through. After learning about this unit , I've changed my lifestyle and I think that's when you know you've learned something about yourself. We're all changing and trying to find ourselves. I believe this unit has done that just for me. When I'm older I want to have a locavore lifestyle and know where my food has traveled from. I believe everyone can be healthier by just buying more local and organic food. 

Organic Foods

     So, I have had an avocado tree in my backyard since the day my family moved in. It's always just been there though and we always had avocados. I never really noticed, until I got older, how kind of cool it was because while everyone had to go out and buy avocados from the grocery store and I could just go in my backyard and get as many as I needed. This unit has me really thinking about just how much people pay for groceries and how much money we could all save if we started our own gardens and grew our own food. Not too mention all the chemicals we would spare our bodies if we did so. It's crazy how much chemicals are used to keep our fruits and vegetables "fresh" for the supermarket. Now, I'm not saying that I'm all of a sudden going to eliminate Pavilions from my daily life, but I do think that everyone should start making a slow transition into growing more of our own foods to save some money. I was having a conversation with my mom the other night and I mentioned to her that in the next couple months I want to start planting some vegetables in the backyard. Not sure how it'll keep up since I'll be working and in college, but I think it would be a nice past time that would allow me to keep some of that money I'm making at work lol Anyways, that's all for this post.

Food...

     I have been really slacking it with the blog. Anyways, this whole unit on politics of food has been really interesting. I absolutely love to cook and I definitely think that we have forgotten about the joy you can get out of eating a certain dish. I mean how many of us sit in class and during this unit began looking up foods we love? And how many of us sat there getting all excited about food and getting hungry? Food is a universal language, it really is. One of the things that you can for sure experience whenever you travel, is the different foods each country and each culture has to offer. Creating food is an art that some people even make a profession. Too many of us have forgotten these things. We now run into the kitchen to grab something quick that we can just scarf down so that way we can get back to whatever show we were watching or whatever homework we may have. Enjoying your favorite dish is one of the little things in life that a lot of us have misplaced and have forgotten to make time for. I suggest everyone go home, make your favorite meal and just sit down and enjoy it whether you're alone or if you're with people, just take 30 mins to taste your food and think about all the ingredients that it took to create the flavor that is sitting in your mouth. Life moves so quickly and we all need to slow down and enjoy as many moments of it as we can. That's the two cents that I got out of this unit.

I Want My Own Food Garden

This unit about the politics of food has definitely inspired me to start growing my own food in the future when I get a house of my own with a backyard. All of the chemicals the food industry implant into our foods are really concerning because they can cause deadly diseases like cancer. It is not fair how we have to pay the price with our health and life to meet the industry’s goal of making everything efficient, cheap, and fast. Besides my concern with health, I want to grow my own food garden because I have always been interested in gardening ever since I was young because of my grandmother. My grandma would plant all kinds of vegetables around our yard in the Philippines. Gardening can be fun, relaxing, and a good workout. I particularly remember the time when my grandma planted pumpkin seeds and bitter melon seeds because I love pumpkins and bitter melons. Waiting for the first flower to bloom was exciting. Bitter melons are, of course, very bitter but my grandma knows how to cook it in a certain way to make it not as bitter and it’s delicious! I also know how to cook it myself but too bad not many people like bitter melons; it’s healthy for you! Other vegetables she grows are tomatoes, limes, and she also grows fruits such as dragon fruits, mangoes, bananas, guavas and more. And if any of you are still confused about whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable, the answer is: tomato is a fruit scientifically, but it is considered a vegetable when it comes to cooking. If you want to know more about why tomatoes are technically both fruits and vegetables, the link is down below.

"Is a Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable?" - Oxford Dictionaries (US). Oxford University Press, 20 Feb. 2015. Web. 01 Apr. 2015. <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/words/is-a-tomato-a-fruit-or-a-vegetable>.

Thoughts on Food Inc.

Watching how they treated animals in the Food Inc. documentary just made me really angry and sad. Nothing deserves to get treated like that.  It's horrible because they are being treated like that just because no one wants to pay extra money so that the animals can live a more enjoyable life style.  It really shouldn't be that difficult to give the cow a quick death, and the same goes for pigs because I can't see why it is necessary to squish the pigs together until they die.  Also, I feel bad for the animals because they have all those drugs pumped into them to make them bigger faster.  The fact that those chickens could not walk around much was horrible to watch, and it just goes to show how bad these chemicals are for them.  I can understand from a buyers point of view that we don't want to save as much money as we can, but I think I would pay more for meat if I got to know that it lived a nice life and a had a quick death.

Not only does the treatment of animals make me angry, but just the industry itself.  I was really shocked when these companies were suing people for basically giving them bad publicity.  It just doesn't make any sense to me, because I am pretty sure our freedom of speech should protect us from this kind of stuff.  I would understand if they were suing because the person was telling a lie, but it most of the cases they were telling the truth.

FOOD

I never really had a particular interest in food or how it's made. In fact before this unit I didn't even know what the term "GMO" meant. After reading the articles and watching the films in class I am so shocked. It disgusts me that a company patented a seed and is controlling the lives of farmers. It's so unfair. It's upsetting that the farmers aren't even protected when they're the victims, because of terrible laws passed that support the giant food corporations. It's repulsive how the animals we eat are fed and taken care of before they are killed and packaged. It's saddening to me that some scientists support the abuse the animals face, and also the abuse farmers face. Farmers should not live in debt or fear as well. They do difficult work and are practically slaves to major corporations (like the company we saw in one of the videos, Tyson).
I know I don't eat the most healthy diet, but I didn't realize how bad it was. In fact I still don't even know the extent of the harm I put upon myself. I would like to eat healthy, but truthfully it's hard to fit in "healthy eating" to my lifestyle. My parents and myself don't have time to cook a healthy meal. In fact I don't even think my parents realize what they have been putting in their bodies...
This post is one big mess, but I think it's understandable. Here are the points I want to be made know:
1. Animals and plants should be taken care of wisely.
2. Farmers deserve to be treated better and the government should quit heavily supporting bad food companies.
3. Americans and people all over the world should be more educated on the matter of food.

The End.

8 Reason Why You Should Not Eat Mcdonalds

1) McDonalds supports the destruction of the Amazon forest, reason being is that the land is going to be used to grow corn that McDonalds will eventually use.
2) They are cruel to animals.
3) The food is unhealthy for humans.
4) It's bad for the environment
5) McDonalds processes about 500,000 pounds per day.
6) One hamburger patty is made from more than 1 cow.
7) A chicken sandwich will give you 2/3 of the recommended daily amount of sodium.
8)If you eat fries, a big mac and drink a super sized coke you would have to walk for 7 hours straight to burn it off.
"15 Reasons to Never Let Anyone You Love Near a McDonalds." EcoSalon. 22 Oct. 2008. Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
If you still want to eat McDonalds after reading this then just remember you're contributing to the loss of our forest, supporting obesity, and are okay with animal cruelty. I personally hate McDonalds ever since the 9th grade I watched the movie "Super Size Me" in health class and I never ate from there again. One part of the movie that really got to me was when the lady showed her burger that she saved from 1996 and it looked the exact same from when she bought it. The beef didn't rot and the bread didn't mold. Their would have to be some kind of chemical in the burger for it not to rot at all. It just isn't right, for it to look the exact same.

Food Crisis

I love food and I have never really questioned it until this unit. After seeing the video Food Inc. it made me realize how important food actually is and how it has such a big impact on our health. It really shocked me how badly they treat animals and how unsanitary it actually is.  Some people don't really eat healthy food because it's more expensive then fast and junk food. People aren't as healthy anymore. Even on tv you see commercials mostly promoting fast food. Of course they aren't gonna shut down fast food places and companies won't stop making chips, soda, etc. because they are making an extreme amount of money and that's what they mostly care about. In reality they don't really care for the health of the people. 

Food Politics

When we where watching Food Inc., the movie made me very sad and mad. But most of the time I was very mad at the way they treated and abused the animals. Yes I have heard about the industrialization of food and how it grosses you out, but afterwards people still eat it because the food looks normal to them when they see it in the market. The thing I don't understand is why do we have to rely on these food so much that it is causing problems? Why do people agrees with these things? In general it is because of people's greediness for money and that no matter what people create these pesticides for the better when really it is for the worse. Since our economy is in bad shape people rely on these things for their own good. With that there are more problems then before because we don't care and that people are so impatient with technology, so it makes these industrialization rely on speed then good result. So basically all this food politic is getting me really mad.

the root of the issue.

Humans have evolved as omnivores. So obviously we eat both meat and plant mater as parts of our diet. However now I notice that many people, myself included, eat more meat than they do anything else. The reasoning is that meat fill you up so you aren't hungry as soon after your meal. Also meat tastes better. so since meat is available, why not eat it right? Wrong.
 I almost did my research paper on the topic of why we humans need to get back to eating more plants. See the way it worked in nature before we developed farming, early humans ate what they could find and hunt for. so they didn't have meat to eat every night, they had plants. Berries, fruits, roots, edible leaves, wild vegetables, ect. They would go hunting but not always catch something or they would have to share it with their family groups or tribes or whatever. so the amount of meat they ate was minimal, on the other hand, the amount of plants they ate was substantial. Now however they is so much meat that we could, in fact, eat only meat if we chose to. There is so much that stores even have to throw some away because they can't always sell it all. Maybe if we cut down on the amount of meat we produce, we would have fewer problems.
Have you ever seen an obese vegetarian? I sure haven't. I'm sure there is one somewhere but I have yet to lay eyes on him or her. The way I see it is that fruits and vegetables can give us the nutrients we need in exchange for some of the meat we eat, and at the same time giving us essential fiber, vitamins and minerals. Now I am not an advocate of giving up meat. In fact I just had steak for dinner on Sunday. However I do think cutting down on portion sizes and replacing that meat with vegetables and fruits would go a long way in helping to reduce the issues that go along with commercial cattle farming and all the rest of it. And if you get hungry quicker after your meals, then shoot, eat an apple.

The Cause of All of Our Problems

When the terms climate change, food culture, water shortage, and air pollution come to mind, the only thing I can think of is how did our society let these issues arise. We went from being environmentally efficient about 300 years ago and now we are limited in our resources and it can all be traced back to one problem: overpopulation. Overpopulation has changed the world because it has multiplied the number of pollutants that enter the atmosphere, it increases the number of foods that must be produced, it produces more fossil fuels; if society is to deal with the many environmental issues that we face, I feel that limiting population growth is the best start. Most of the polluting and negative environmental effects are occurring  in Third World countries where population increase is the highest. According to a study the US makes up about 4% of the worlds population, but we use about 20% of the worlds resources while there are around 1 billion people in the world who go hungry and do not have safe drinking water. Consequently, by 2050 the Earth will need 50% more food to feed the new population when as of now we cannot even feed the almost 7 billion we have now. These are statistics that reflect the arising issue that can determine the fate of our future. I think it's crazy to think that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old and all the processes it had to go through to give us what we have today, but what it took Earth 4.5 billion years we are managing to destroy in just 300 years.

Veggie Libel Laws

Apparently the so called Veggie Libel Laws prevent anyone form talking about about the food industries to prevent drops of sales and such. Who ever does can be sued for millions of dollars. It sounds a lot like propaganda to me. Durning was in some countries you can be killed for saying anything bad about the person in charge and to me it seems as if we are heading that way, the food comapnies in the U.S alone have enough food to feed the hungry, instead they desied to stuff food down Americans throats for money. Though honesty I'd love for this to change I doubt they will. People would rather be happy then free and food makes people happy. For example the other day i was in line to buy a burger from the McD's and all i could think was "Every time I buy I vote" didnt stop be from buy the 2$ hamburger rather then the 5$ salade. Its sad how people in this world seem to care more about money then what is right.

The Politics of Food

I've never really thought about the politics of food before this class. I never questioned where my food came from because it didn't really seem to be that big of an issue to me. But now that I think about, food matters. It matters where our food comes from, how it was made, what was added to it, etc. So many people, especially in America, don't care about these things. As long as we have something to eat everyday, we're ok.

Wendell Berry says that the politics of food involves our freedom of choice, that it is important for us to still have choices. But what are we to do when our freedom of choice is taken away from us? What are we to do about all the terrible things that companies in the food industry do to animals just for the sake of producing food cheaper and quicker? How can we change everything that is wrong with the way that we eat?

AF: Food Politics Resources

You have articles by food giants (Pollan, Bittman, Waters, Berry)!  Read them.  Understand them.  Look for other things they wrote.

Look at the research database, Proquest.   When you access from home, your username/password is bellflower/bellflower.  If that doesn't work, try capitalizing Bellflower.   You are looking for SIRS Knowledge Source --> SIRS Issue Researcher  -->  Food and Nutrition or Food Safety.

Try Google Scholar.

Look at the "Chew on This" series at TED.

Look at a national magazine like The Atlantic Monthly, and search for "food."  Try this at the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal.

AF: The Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a very common assignment in college, and it is just what it sounds like it would be: your researched sources documented in MLA form, followed by a single paragraph of summary.  They are actually pretty simple and very useful.  Once, I had to do one of these with 17-20 sources.  You are doing five sources.  Even though it is only five, it will take you some time to do all of that reading and writing, so get to work.

The payoff:  if you do a good job with this, the substance of your paper will be pretty well figured out.  That's a huge chunk.

Here is a document to look at.

Here's an explanation on the Purdue OWL.

Note that the examples at the Purdue OWL have summaries that are several paragraphs long.

And here's the slide show I showed in class.

AF: Try this. This might work better

Access the LGC Self Evaluation document here.

AF: LGC Process Evaluation DUE FRIDAY. Download, print, complete, turn in.

AF: Verna Myers: How to overcome biases

This is what passion looks and sounds like:

The unit has been really interesting to me because me , being straight , never really thought about how others who are of a different sexual orientation has to go through. You think there's just straight , gay ,& lesbian when really there's so much more. Many people feel like they don't fit into any of the categories and that's okay. You never really realize how discrimination really hurts a person and how you can make someone's life so miserable that they want to end their own life. We hear so many stories about kids who get bullied because of their sexual orientation and end up committing suicide. Like when did it become okay for someone to hurt another human so bad that they don't ever think things are gonna get better? People need to stand up for themselves and to bullies because so many lives are lost. It's not fair for someone who's " different " to get treated differently than someone who's " normal ". As the years have gone by , the discrimination has been less but it's still there. Depending on where you live in the world you could be completely accepted or completely hated. I'm glad to say I live in a place where being gay or lesbian or any other sexual orientation is more accepted. I wouldn't want to see someone I know or love being bullied and tortured everyday just because of their label. There shouldn't even be labels because in the end everyone's just looking for someone to be with.  

yeeeah

Well, I don't really know what to write about and I feel like I don't have much more to say on these topics of language, gender, and culture. I almost feel like it has been beat to death (that's not a very feminist thing to say). All I know is I'm tired of talking about the negative.

I believe that some day a woman will be able to go out in daylight or darkness without the fear of being called out. I have faith that some day there will be no racism or stereotyping.

I don't know why I have so much faith in these things but I do. I read in Vicky's post how Nelson Mandela said that people were taught to hate, so they can be taught to love, and I hold that same theory. I don't know if the world will ever be perfect, but I can start a change within myself. I, like many others, am guilty of making a comment based on the stereotype of another, but I will try my best not to do so any longer. We all should make an effort that begins within ourselves.

Gender Struggle

While reading The Barbershop by Vershawn Ashanti Young, I couldn't help but empathize with him on the matter of fitting in. First, I feel that people in society as soon as they are in kindergarten make friends with people who are the most similar to them in an intellectual way, or in other ways other than race. As soon as these kids in society grow to be teens that is when I feel some people start to affiliate with people who are still similar, but more in racial ways. Being Asian I couldn't help but surround myself with Asian friends most of the time because I felt that in that circle I would be the most comfortable, but it turns out I was wrong and I participated in thing my conscience would never approve of and I wasn't happy at all. Much like Young who felt as if he was "split in two" I felt that way but on a lesser level compared to Young. People should have enough confidence to ignore the forces of society that coerce them to ditch their conscience.

being different in our society is a challenge. you can be different, but not too different. don't show that much skin. don't wear that bright color. a meat dress? really? even though we are constantly encouraged by the media to embrace who we are and own it, taking that step forward does come with a lot of ridicule. this is why i love people who push the envelope. Drag queens, fashion daredevils, and just people who are flamboyant and speak their minds and people who i admire. even when society tells them that they are wrong, they don't give a chicken's foot. i believe that is society is going to say that they want you to be different, they should be willing to accepts the different. no one likes a liar.

i have to admit that this section is the one that i have been most interested in since this ERW class began. ill probably remember reach for these articles in the future. from this section i have come to the conclusion that  gender discrimination will never go away. i'm not trying to be a pessimist or anything, but it is the truth. these gender roles have been deeply rooted in every culture all across the world for years, so some type of major event would have to occur to eradicate this type of thinking forever. i do believe that we will get close to equality, but it just won't be enough. there will always be something.

The Pregnancy Project

 

    The unit were currently in, Gender, Language & Culture opens up so many windows in which what we can talk about so I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about a movie I recently saw, on Netflix, called The Pregnancy Project.

    The Pregnancy Project, is about a seventeen year-old high school student who pretends to be pregnant for her senior project in order to experience first hand stereotyping.The main character Gaby, is hispanic and if I'm right a straight-A student. Therefore, She undergoes an emotional roller coaster being stereotyped by classmates, teachers, and even her best friends. There was an overall of five people, which consisted of her mom, boyfriend' best friend, teacher, and principal; who knew she wasn't pregnant, and they were required to write anything and everything they heard from anyone down in a journal. 

    Her peers would constantly make comments such as she ruined her life and her life was over. Sure, pregnant teenagers have made a mistake that will cost them a lot and change their lives forever. However it's going to be thier best mistake, because they gain the most precious thing in life, a child. Just because a teenage girl in high school is pregnant doesn't mean she can't have anymore career or life aspirations, it doesn't mean she can't go to college, it means that they just have to work twice as hard to reach their goals.

    I think it was truly amazing how much criticism pregnant high school student gets.  We all like to criticize people, however we don't think about the fact that these people being criticized are hearing what we say about them. You might not know the person talking down on you, but words hurt no matter who they come from.

Feminism Rant

For this post I'm just going to discuss feminism in general because I just feel like putting this out there.  I just have a hard time understanding people that are sexist.  My brain can not comprehend what goes through the mind of people that are like that.  It is just so unfair to all the women on this planet because everything we do is judge.  Even are school is going along with this type of sexist culture because of dress codes.  What our school is saying with dress code (specifically the dress code aimed towards girls like shorts and skirts) is that we can't dress the way we want because it is too distracting for boys, and if that is the case then our school needs to start teaching boys to stop disrespecting women all the time.  Also, I don't get it when women are the ones being sexist because they should be the ones backing up other girls.  I feel like lots of women look down on those women that are housewives because as long as she isn't being forced to stay at home, then there isn't anything wrong with being a housewife.  Lastly, another thing that bothers me is how much everyone expects women to have children.  Everyone always questions women that are older and don't have any children.  They think that they had sad, unfulfilled lives just because they never went through the "wonderful" experience of raising a kid.  It shouldn't matter if women decide to have children or not because having kids just isn't for some people.

Response to Honor Code

I really disagree with many of the things Brooks talks about in Honor Code.  I am pretty biased though because my mom is a kindergarten teacher, so I know what she has to deal with.  But, this whole thing just sounds like it is trying to be an excuse for boys that behave badly.  You can't just blame society when you get in trouble.  One part that makes me mad is when they talk about "feeding him his meds" because it isn't like they just randomly give out medication to any kid that is hyper or disruptive.  The kid normally goes to the doctor and diagnoses them with ADHD.  Also, Brooks makes it sound like it's horrible for children who have ADHD to take medicine, when in reality it is not because hopefully the medicine will help them focus more which helps them do better, but it also helps the students out around them.  I also think that paragraph 13 is unfair because I interpret it as saying that we need to give disruptive kids extra attention to help them out, and while it is good to help them focus, it is also unfair to all the more mature students that are trying to get a good education.  From what I have heard from my mom, she ends up not getting to help out some of the smarter kids in her class because she has to spend so much time dealing with the really naughty ones. All in all, I don't think we should cater to boys or girls that are immature in school because the rest of the world isn't going to put up with them either so they better learn that they can't act like that and get away with it.

I found it in me

So I thought about this over and over, trying to convince myself to be able to put this out there. I even tried writing it in my essay but it seemed easier to just let it out here. But, I think that I found it in me to actually let it out. Although a lot of people already know and accept it for what it was, I dated a girl for almost a year. Talking about people against gays really started to make me upset. Watching the video and hearing about a guy that got killed just by walking a little "gay" was the most upsetting thing I listened to in class. I always think, like what if that was me? What if my friends and family didn't accept me having a girlfriend? I hide it for so long and I still do to new people that don't know me very well. It's not that I'm embarrassed because I'm not, i just don't like the feeling of possibly getting judged and to be looked down upon just by the person im interested in. I am so grateful and lucky to have so many amazing friends and family who knew about my relationship and never thought any different of me. Although it was and still is hard for me to just come out and say yeah I dated a girl, I'm proud I did, and I'm proud of who I am today. Whoever I decide to be with, girl or guy, I'll know who the true people are in my life, with who's standing by me in the end. 

Born this way?

I came across this today

and well...it was on Twitter so I'm not entirely sure on if this was a true Nelson Mandela quote, but nonetheless it caught my eye. I've heard similar quotes before on the similar topic and how it isn't genetically wired for anyone to hate certain races, religions, genders, etc. This allows me to question the basis of where these character habits find their origin. Its easy to blame the society we grow up with, where we are raised, our parents, our friends, and more because these are the environments and people we are exposed to. These people and environments are what shape us.

 What I have noticed though, is that it seems to be a lot easier for people to be mean than nice. Of course this doesn't apply to everyone! But this may tie into the idea that kindness is seen as weakness. Nobody likes to be seen as less dominant than the other, which may drive a person or group of people to find the need to hate others. This hatred was seen throughout history. Think about the different wars and genocides among the world. They were all mainly based around race, culture, and religion.

Anyway, just thought you'd all like to see this and hopefully respond!

This section in ERW a has really caught my attention. I like it because it really points out a huge problem in our society. People get judged for the smallest things by just walking how they walk or have a too high or low pitched voice. People are getting killed for something that is out of their hands. I'm also very interested in the whole sexism is a problem and how feminism is starting to become a huge thing, which is true. Women get looked down upon everyday. Were considered weak, and just the maid of the house pretty much. Girls and guys should all be equal. should all be free. Because we do live in a free world don't we? 

BBP#2

Now this blog post I just want to talk about ERW class as a whole. Although I hate the work, I have grown to love the class. Every time we get assigned something I just complain and automatically become stressed, but once I get something completed I let out a big sigh of relief. At the end of an assignment, I always find myself reflecting back on it, realizing it wasn't even that hard to begin with and I learned from it. Recently with this group assignment I was really freaking out. I already struggle with writing by myself and I was no where near prepared to write something with three other people. At first I thought it may be easy considering I wouldn't have to do as much work, but trying to stay with the topic and getting everything to flow was confusing and more difficult than expected. I had to rewrite my section a couple times because I kept feeling as if it didn't fit correctly. Now that it is over, I am extremely proud of the public service announcement my group put together. With a lot of revising, everything went together smoothly and now I am no longer scared of group writing assignments. I learned that even if you're super duper confused about what the hell you're doing, just go at it anyways because nothing bad can come out of it. 

Brooke’s Blog Post #1

Today we listened to a couple more assignments and I found myself really liking what Ally said in theres. Like specifically her part. She really summed up everything a woman goes through in a couple paragraphs. It's very true that society has this picture of a perfect, standard woman. But why? All this does is cause people to believe that that woman is what they must look like and if it isn't, then they are less than perfect. Anorexia, bulimia, low self esteem, low self-confidence, etc are all caused because of this. I do also agree with what ally was saying about ads and commercials. There's no need to have naked women everywhere. It's sickening that Carl's Jr. has to show off a woman's body to sell their product. It's really disrespectful in a way. I understand it's appealing to the eye and that's there way of grabbing people attention, but there are plenty of other ways to get people to buy your product. If the only way you can sell a burger is by almost having nudity in your commercial then the burger must not be all that great. I also really love and have always loved the idea of having realistically sized models. On social media im constantly seeing posts about this topic. In some magazines they show off "plus sized" models that are skinnier than I am. Since when has being a regular, proportioned woman turned into being plus sized. It blows my mind. What has society come to? 

Phylosophe

In Judith Butler's article "Phylosophe" she talks about how a boy was thrown off of a bridge and died just because people didn't like the way he walked. Why is it so wrong for someone to want to be who they are and not have to be afraid of getting bullied for it. People should not be put down for who they are or who they want to be. Also why do people care so much about the way others walk or talk? It is their life and they should be able to do whatever they please. It should not matter whether a boy acts feminine or a girl acts masculine but for some reason it does. I think that people refuse to except that the world is changing, 100 years ago it would almost be impossible to come out and say that you are gay or lesbian because it was just not allowed. Now even though it is not fully accepted in society people are more willing to accept you for who you are. Not saying everyone will accept or not accept you but society has gotten better. No matter if you are straight, gay, lesbian or whatever you choose to be there are always going to be people who will not like the person you are. It sucks that people have to put other people down, whatever their reasoning is. It is not right and should never lead to the murder of someone. 

Indirectness vs Directness

In our society women are automatically given lower status than men and are judged especially by the way they talk. It has been that way all through history, women are just looked down upon and judged which is unfair and wrong. Men are seen as powerful, as for women they are seen as weak and powerless. In "His politeness is Her Powerlessness," Tannen states that women's ways of talking uttered in a spirit of rapport, are branded powerless. Just because some women speak indirectly doesn't mean she is weak in anyway she may just be trying to not sound so demanding. I think that indirectness is powerful in itself; for example, if your girlfriend was upset with you and just gives you that look you know you're in trouble, it shows. She doesn't need to say anything except show it through her face expressions and the way she's acting around you. Men on the other hand are more direct, they would be direct with their words and yes it may seem powerful but indirectness is just as powerful. Do you think being direct is  more powerful or do you think being indirect is just effective? 

"A Girl LIke Me"

About a while back, I watched a movie on Lifetime that was called "A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story" which was about a transgender woman.  Gwen, who grew up as Eddie until around the age of sixteen,  knew she was different from a very young age.  Her mom and sisters would look at her oddly for wanting to wear makeup and dresses, but she didn't understand why.  When she became a teenager, she decided that she wanted to transition from male to female.  No one suspected that she was actually born a male, and she was not bullied.  At the age of 17, she was brutally murdered by four guys because they had heard that she had male genitalia.  They beat her up for 5 hours before disposing of her body.  They didn't understand her because she was different, so they decided to end her.
"We fear what we don't know."

This movie was based on a true story.

How is it possible that people can be so evil?  I will never understand why people feel the need to put someone else down and cause them harm just because they are different.  

I have grown up around homosexuals my whole life, and to be honest, I see absolutely no significant difference between a homosexual and a heterosexual.  The only difference is that they like different genders.  That's all.  Yet people want to shame and shun them just because they like different genders?  Just because they like different genders.

Although cases might not be as extreme as the unfortunate one of Gwen, things like this still happen.

 What do you guys think is necessary in order for there to be change in this world as far as gender roles and the lgbt community ?

Silence to Speech

I used to be a wuss. I think in part because I was home schooled more than half my life so I really never had to stick up for myself or anything of that nature. I went to catholic school finally from 6-8th grade and still it was a school with a little over 150 students in it so I got really close with all my classmates and there were no cliques or bullies, and we all had the same religious and ethical views, so again I didn't need to voice my opinions very much or defend myself. Then I came to Mayfair and I made friends pretty quickly. I thought I had settled in. I was quiet and shy but I saw no reason to believe that was a fault. If you had asked my to participate in Socratic Seminar during sophomore year I probably would have been one of those people who didn't say anything. However about the time near the end of junior year I kind of realized I was being a pussy. I really let people walk all over me and I just followed the crowd, never being different. I honestly hated it. I did a mini overhaul of my life over the summer and I think I am definitely a changed person. My family and friends have told me they've noticed I've become more independent, outspoken, and unafraid to put myself out there. What I'm getting at is that I was pretty miserable when I was afraid to state my opinions and be "loud" (so to speak) with my actions because I was always nervous of being disliked; I suppose that always comes with going to a new school and it became a habit. But when I came out of my shell and started living without fear of people disagreeing with my views or worrying about what people thought of me, I was happier and people seemed to like me better. I guess its more fun to be around people who aren't worried about being 100% agreeable all the time. So I guess to all those people who feel like silence is the best route, think again. Because what ever you have to say, people will like it, or at least respect you for being bold enough to say it.

Racial Division

race²

rās/

noun

plural noun: races

1 each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics."people of all races, colors, and creeds"

◦ a group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc.; an ethnic group.

◦ the fact or condition of belonging to a racial division or group; the qualities or characteristics associated with this.

◦ a group or set of people or things with a common feature or features.

◦ BIOLOGY
a population within a species that is distinct in some way, especially a subspecies.

◦ (in nontechnical use) each of the major divisions of living creatures.

◦ literary
a group of people descended from a common ancestor.

◦ archaic
ancestry.

I guess I understand why a division between the genders is possible, but I can't comprehend where racial division came from. Even in the definition the word "division" is mentioned in three different meanings. Why is there racism and hatred amongst the people of this world? Why does the color of someone's eyes or skin make them worth more? Thankfully, in this country we aren't fighting racism as strongly anymore, but we are facing a root of that issue: stereotyping. There are stereotypes for being what is considered too ethnic, too white-washed, ghetto, and the list goes on. It upsets me how some individuals who are very into their culture look down upon those of the same race who aren't as educated or "ethnic". I really love that people are proud of their ancestry, but those who use it as a weapon upset me. Instead of making fun of someone for not knowing about your culture, teach them something positive about it. Instead of talking bad about someone who is "ghetto," look for their potential; they didn't get to choose the environment they were brought up in. Either way, we are all human. Stereotyping and prejudice is a battle that has been fought too long. Everyone is made beautiful and with the potential to be amazing. 

Hopefully this all made sense!

It's really sad how some women think their voices don't matter and how they can't reach out for help. Women are always silenced because of many different beliefs and it needs to come to an end. Women are beaten and abused physically and mentally. Victims of attacks need to realize their voice does matter and it can make a difference in someone else's life. Men believe they can speak to women in anyway and it's okay. Young girls are constantly being targeted and it's not seen as a big deal. I really liked how victoria , serrina , Brooke & uchechi added that little story into their essay because it's something we as young women face everyday. We are trained to defend ourselves and fight till the very end. I don't understand why young girls are seen as prey 10x more than young boys. Young boys do get victimized but it's not as common. Why do we have to worry about getting kidnapped or raped? Looking over our shoulders at night and always watching for that scary van creeping by , just shows how little respect men have for us. Women need to speak up because it just might save someone else's life. 

"Your silence will never protect you."

Silence is the state of complete absence of sound. We've all used silence at one point of our lives. However, there are some people in life that live off of being silent, people who depend on it. I’m sure people who find a comfort in silence know it isn’t right to hold things in, but they still do it.  

Many people find a comfort in being silent, they believe that by being silent there will neither create nor start problems. Audre Lorde's quote, "Your silence will never protect you," states that by one being silent, by holding all those thoughts, comments, questions, and ideas bottled up inside will get you nowhere, it won’t protect you. It’s dangerous to hold onto so much because reality is, it won’t protect us; in fact it will do the complete opposite, it will slowly and unintentionally harm us.  

Lorde infers that we should speak up. We should speak up because it’s truly the right thing to do, not because we feel pressured into doing so. By speaking up, we allow other people to get a different perspective and see a sense of purpose of what we don’t only feel, but a reason why we feel that way. If one doesn’t speak up now, they will eventually do it, right? Or will crumble to the ground holding everything in because “it’s the right thing to do”? At one point or another, we have to say what comes to mind, because holding so much in will only result in making ourselves miserable.

Reality is, words are like magic. Words allow us to make things happen by simply putting them together. So why is it that people are afraid to speak out? Why are women indirective and just can’t simply stop the silence and speak up? Why is it that men can be so directive, and don’t think before they speak?

Discrimination Against Women in Advertisement

Advertisements are seen everywhere you go. They can be seen on the internet, billboards, televisions, public buses, etc. Each person in America sees an average of 1,500 advertisements per day, these advertisements that we see everyday have a huge influence on our thoughts, attitudes, perceptions and actions. Young girls grow up think they have to be exactly like the models they see on Americas Top Model or the celebrities in the magazines/reality shows. This causes girls to follow the footsteps of someone famous which can result to them growing up to fast. Girls now days feel that in order to be called pretty they need to put on tons of makeup, wear clothes that show off their body, and talk with a flirtatious tone. Women's advertisements are making these girls think that if they grow up faster they will be liked more by society. I believe that their is a time for everything, when girls are ready to grow up they will but they shouldn't rush to be women at such young ages, they have a whole life time to become the woman that they desire to be. I hope this post makes some sense, my point is, is that we shouldn't allow advertisement to ruin the youth.

Is it a big deal??

So, as many of you know, I'm Filipino. For those of you who didn't know that...well now you do. But I was born and raised right here in California. If you couldn't see me, if you didn't know what I looked like, where my family was from, or how my home was run, you definitely wouldn't think I was Asian. For as long as I can remember, I've been referred to as a "white girl." My friends and family would tease me for being "white" and I still don't understand what that fully means or what it was supposed to be seen as.

I didn't know if it was supposed to be seen as an insult, classification, or just a joke. Nonetheless, I wasn't sure if I should be offended or if "white" people should be offended. I, along with them, have been stereotyped. I have been classified as a "white girl in an Asian body" because I held attributes that may or may not correspond to a certain culture. I am a cheerleader who enjoys listening to country music, drinking Starbucks, and wearing Uggs. Sometimes I say "like" too often or speak in a certain way...but I didn't know that these certain habits could be used in a way to identify who I was.

Anyways, so what I was trying to get at was the question of is this okay? Is this okay to take certain habits and activities and pin them to a race or culture? Also...is this supposed to be offensive or just trends and jokes?

Ernestine Johnson

The video we watched last week of Ernestine Johnson, talking about "The Average Black Girl" was very inspiring. I was touched because many people have the perception of a black girl acting or looking a certain way but she says that the average black girls were the women who changed the nation and fought for their freedom. Johnson brought up a good topic when she said how when women speak proper they are told they sound like a white girl and I never really understood that because by saying that, does that mean all the other races don't speak properly? I think everyone has a certain way of speaking depending on who the conversation is with and where you are at because of course you're not going to talk to your boss the same way you talk to your friends. It's just different when you are talking to a higher authority or someone you don't really know. So to me it isn't that you "sound white" it just simply means that their is a way of talking in different situations.

Gender Culture

Men are different from women and are the same as women, but we are all human beings and males and females should be on the same level in society. This makes me questions why there is such a division. If you look at it in a different perspective, and view the world as a division of males and females you can see that not only is it humans that create such divisions, but even animals. Animals such as apes and fish and lions, have a division of males and females that is relatively similar to humans in our society. Even though this may be off topic I feel as if it proves a point almost that in nature it seems that the males are most often seen as hard working and powerful while women stay with the offspring and do female things. Although this is true and could bring up an argument in favor of male supremacists, there are also factors in nature where women are dominant, but do not express it in a showy manner as males do; for example, female lions tend to do all the work in a pride, but the males are the symbol of the pride and get all credit. Women do have a place in human society and nature, and can stray from the norm of what is expected because humans are evolving so quickly that even women are starting to gain on men.

Why there is division in everything?

I ask this question of why there is division in everything because that is the world we are basically living in. That they made this division to show us the difference between men and women. But since we are so diverse and very democratic in this country the gap is still there but many things are being proved wrong and changed. I like how they describe the use of different speaking towards us because it got me to better understand why these languages exist. I don't like it because this country is exist to be equal and in the bible it says that too. So why can't we just accept each other and why do we have to be separate with each other instead of being together? Sometimes I wish none of this exist because it shows that one will always win while the other loses and that there will never be agreements towards each other because of this difference we have. That is why there is so much trouble because these debates in this world about who is better. Therefore it will be better if this idea doesn't exist.

Gender roles contribute  to not only sexism, but even rape culture. Gender norms set up a standard which is indirectly imposed throughout school by not only adults but even children themselves. Children grow up with the gender binary system and are taught at an early how they are expected to carry themselves. For example girls are supposed to like pink and boys like blue. Girls like dolls and boys like trucks.  Our social system is set up for gender binary and heterosexuality. This definitely leaves kids who do not fit under those strict categories to feel cast out.  The truth of the matter is that gender roles cause more harm than good. This can lead to depression and causes a lot of unnecessary confusion. Going through puberty is hard enough it doesn’t help when society imposes these rigid guidelines for boys and girls to fall under. Gender roles limit how we think and essentially need to be eliminated in order for us to move forward as a society. Rape culture is enforced through gender norms especially for women. Women are sexualized by men, but are demonized by men if they act sexual. Girls from a young age are taught to cover up and to be modest. School dress codes enforce no shorts or bra straps for girls because it is “too distracting” for boys in the classroom. Ultimately girls are shamed and taught to be submissive whereas boys are getting a pass. Girls are also taught at a young age that if a boy is mean to them it means they like them. This encourages rape culture and again gives boys another pass. In order to end rape culture and a lot of problems within our society forced rigid gender roles should be eliminated this way our society can improve and growing up will be less confusing.

Gender Expectations

     As much as I rant about the sexist world that women still live in, I do recognize that men are faced with gender challenges as well. I'm not a guys so I can't really speak for guys, but because I am a girl I know and hear what girls talk about when they are with their friends. I know that girls also have unrealistic expectations when they are looking for guys to date or the "one". It seems apparently unfair that when girls talk about their perfect guy, people always encourage them to "not settle" which in turn only promotes that type of thinking. I feel that if guys aren't "allowed" to have unrealistic expectations for their significant others, then neither should girls. I believe everyone should have standards and not just settle for anyone, but I also believe that no one is perfect. You shouldn't base your judgment of someone solely on their looks. Looks are a factor because I mean, hello, it's the packaging that draws you in; but once you start nit picking little things like how much body a hair a guy should or shouldn't have or the type of hair that a girl should or shouldn't have in order to fit your standards, that's when things get out of control. People are people and no one is perfect, you just take whoever makes you happy and live a happy life with them. So, guys, girls, have standards but don't be as picky as Stanford, because sometimes, you miss out on really cool people if you do that.

**I hope this post made sense, I realize that I gave advice towards the end, but what the heck, this is a blog for thoughts and what not so there you go.

Gender equality

I think it's crazy to see that we are in the year 2015 and there still isn't equality among men and women. Women are still being judged, viewed and evaluated in such a harsh negative way. In a article I read it argued that men are instantly seen as powerful and since women have a lower status in society it makes them to be seen as powerless. It also stated that women feel like they shouldn't ask directly. Believe it or not I've seen this with my own eyes, where a man ask/demands the woman to do everything; for example, cook, clean, etc. while he sits back and relaxes. The woman in this case feels like she doesn't have the right or the power to speak up. In my opinion, this is such a bad way of living I wouldn't want to live basically under a rock where I couldn't speak up or do what I wanted. Men and women are both human beings so women should be treated and respected equally as men are. 

This unit

This unit has really got me thinking about why society is so focused on everyone else but ourselves. Society is just set up this way and most likely it will continue to act this way but in some cases it's just taken to far. In reality who are we to judge and evaluate someone based on how they act, choose to live or what they choose to do with their life. It shouldn't really have to matter to us; for instance, we've made mistakes and no one is perfect. It really isn't necessary for it to affect us and to have to get to the point where we have to judge and evaluate someone who we may not even know in such a negative way. It's pretty much pointless and unnecessary. 

My Interpretation of "The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action" PART TWO

Broken down gods survive

in the crevasses and mudpots 

of every beleaguered city

where it is obvious 

there are too many bodies

to cart to the ovens

or gallows

~

I think this means roughly "faith is alive in very few in a city too full of unscrupulous people."  It could also mean that very few people are able to express themselves in a place where there are so many people.  This interpretation supports the line "our labor has become more important than our silence" as meaning expression is more important than silence.

~

and our uses have become 

more important than our silence

after the fall

~

I think Lorde is talking about peoples' silence not helping them, more specifically, her realization of how useless silence is as she nears her death - "the fall."

~

Too many empty cases

of blood left to bury or burn

there will be no body left

to listen

~

To me, this line is comparing human life to an expendable resource.  Too much blood left to burn represents the untapped potential in silent people as well as the untapped potential in her life that her impending death will seal.  

~

and our labor 

has become more important

than our silence

~

She repeats this line to draw attention to the fact that we should all take advantage of the time and knowledge that we have on this Earth.  In other words, our labor - what we do on this Earth while we are alive - is more important than just living without asserting our own knowledge and vocalizing ourselves.  

Gender norms

When I read the article I learned that there is a difference between men and women. That this difference has caused the women to be judged negatively on the way they say things or express it. Since gender norm has a bigger effect on the women then men it has created this difference where the women use indirectness while men use directness. With this it shows who has more power in gender, language, and cultural. But what irritates me the most is why do we have to be judge so cruelly in the way we speak when involving gender norms? I just wish we can be more equal towards each other so there doesn't have to be this division in this world where we can't get along each other.

My reaction to His Politeness is Her Powerlessness

I wasn’t really happy with this article. Why can’t men and women be seen as equals? I shouldn’t have to be subservient to a man. It’s 2015 and the gender norms are still in place, it’s time to move on. In “His Politeness is Her Powerlessness” Deborah Tannen stated that “[women speak indirectly, when they want something because she doesn’t feel she has the right to ask directly]” (2), that particular line I didn’t like. The reasoning for that is because if I want something I’ll ask for it directly; why should I have to sugarcoat the way I speak to sound more ladylike? Language shouldn’t divide us they way it does. If a woman speaks with authority then she’s seen as mean and extremely aggressive but if a man does it then it’s socially acceptable. That’s not fair, when will gender equality take place? Women and men should be treated with the same level of respect because they’re human beings. 

Division and Human Nature

This unit shows the division between people: the way they think, their sexual preferences, and the way they behave in different settings. Human beings will always judge people because it’s just in their nature. However, it just goes too far sometimes. In Phylosophe by Judith Butler, a boy was killed because he walked more feminine than most boys. Why does the way he walk affect anyone else’s life to the point where those group of boys felt like they had to rid him of the world? Everyone’s life would be a lot easier if people would just mind their own business. The way we judge people, creates a division between everyone. As people we should be a lot more accepting than we are because no one likes to be judged.

The barbershop

Our cultur has been divided without us even knowing it. In the article the barbershop it talks about how when she goes to her neighborhood she can act as however she wants. However when she goes to talk to a professor she can't. She can't just talk how she normally would because that would be inappropriate. She has to collect herself and become proper. Talk clear so he can understand her. Without her having to say things twice. To sum it up, were divided because when she was in the university she had to act differently than she normally would when she's in her own neighborhood. 

The Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts

Everyone in this world has some sort of bias or prejudice towards someone or something. No matter how adamantly a person may try to deny this, it’s true. Because of this bias, people get judged simply because of the way they walk, talk, act, dress, etc. No matter what you do or say, someone is always going to judge you for the most trivial of things. Humans are not perfect. We were never meant to be. But these biases have divided us.

Without even taking a second glance at someone, there are already a million opinions running through a person’s mind. And these judgments may never change, even if we take a chance to really get to know a person. As much as I don’t want to admit, I’m guilty of this too. We all are.

But we have to look past these things. Henry David Thoreau said, “It is never too late to give up our prejudices." We can be more accepting by just giving someone a chance. Stereotypes and prejudices only aid in driving people apart.

We are more than what our stereotypes and prejudices have defined us as. We are greater than the sum of our parts.

Yeeee

I wrote a little speech of my own regarding language gender and culture, but it wasn't specific enough to be used for the group essay so I decided to make use of it as a blog post. let me know what you think.  

Language, Gender and Culture, all three are defining aspects in who we are as people. Yet all three are also devices used by people to judge each other. All three are both gifts and curses, and all three are what we as a national, even global, community make them. Language and culture both affect each other, for a man from Georgia would not need to speak fluent Chinese in his hometown of Atlanta, however it would be a huge asset to someone who lived in Chinatown of San Francisco. Gender and Language are linked through the way men and women speak, both directly and indirectly. And lastly even gender and culture are connected in many societies where women are seen as lesser than men, and sometimes, though maybe subconsciously, they feel as though they “don’t have the right” (Tannen 3) to speak. All three factors are not only limiting to people, but ridiculous and unreasonable.

We are all judgmental in some aspects. We may not even know we are doing it but we do. We do this simply based off of stupid, irrelevant details such as clothing, speech, and the overall “look” of a person.  At Mayfair there is a hugely diverse culture. Teachers and students of all races, religions, sexual preference, and from different backgrounds, Mayfair has it all. Yet there is still judgment. Students make fun each other for their clothing choice or hairstyle even if they are just following their religion. We tear each other apart based on each other’s home life, how we talk, how we walk, or anything, any minuscule detail, which we can hurt each other with. I even hear students speak badly about the teacher who is hard to understand because of his strong accent, or the teacher who is a Jew, or who is gay. People secretly assume the special-ed students are dumber than they are. People write someone off based on what words they use, thinking that that boy over there couldn’t possibly have a bright future because he says “nigga” and he took Algebra 1 his junior year; yet they don’t know that same boy is a writer, a reader, a secret scholar. Trapped by the belief of others that he is destined to fail because he lives in a certain area. We constantly keep on the look out for things we can use against each other, while trying to minimize the amount of things we can be judged by.

 The fact of the matter is that we can’t help where we come from. Some habits such as speech patterns are too hard to break, and shouldn’t make a difference in how we view each other. I meet people every year and become friends with people who I would never have thought I’d be friends with before. People who I thought were annoying, people who I thought were too different from me and I who I couldn't possibly get along with. I’ve come to realize that its not just culture, language, gender, sexual preference, or anything else that makes up a person, though those do add to who they are. We are made up by who we are as people, how we care for our fellow man, how we see the world. The differences between us are minuscule when you take away the insignificant facts. We all have hearts, minds, and bodies; we all love and hate, fear and laugh. We are not our race, or sexual preference. We are not where we come from, not just the sum of our parts. We are not put here to tear each other down, not to mock and hate, not to jeer or discriminate. We are here to help one another. Fellow human beings, here to exercise our humanity. We are people put on this earth to help each other thrive. If the world could see this there would be no hate. There would be no injustice. There would be no such thing as racism, sexism, or discrimination. We would finally see the truth. We are the same, equal. We are human. 

Language.Gender.Culture.

      I am loving this unit because I have always been one to speak up about the gender differences between men and women and the expectations and limitations that are placed on women. I really feel that in nature, women got the short end of the stick; we are deemed lesser than men, yet we have more standards that we must live up to and I would love to know how it all started. Anyways, women are judged way harder than men are and they are judged in EVERY aspect of their lives. From their body image to the way they speak, there seems to be no wiggle room for girls to just be girls.

     First, girl are so heavily judged by their looks. Just the other day, I was at the gym with my friend and we were in this room where one of the employees was fixing a fan or something. Anyways, as we were stretching, I heard another one of the employees come in and start talking to the one fixing the fan. He started telling him about some girl he saw on one of the ellipticals who had thunder thighs and proceeded to lead his co worker friend out to where she was so he could see. That is a perfect example of this. Some girl who was just trying to work out and exercise was unknowingly being observed by these "men" who felt the need to then gossip like school kids about how she looked. There's a reason not very many women like gyms. They either get hit on by creepy guys or they feel they are being judged because they don't look like the girl on the advertisement for the gym. Young girls are bombarded with pictures of models from day one. We are almost brain washed into thinking that we must all be skinny with the flattest stomachs yet curvy and busty at the same time. For some girls that is not physically possible because there are just some things you're not born with. This just builds up insecurities in these young girls as they get older and become women.

     To get back on track, women also have standards on how they must talk. Deborah Tannen stated in her excerpt "His Politeness Is Her Powerlessness", that "if a linguistic strategy is used by a woman, it is seen as powerless [and] if it is done by a man, it is seen as powerful" (1). In this piece, Tannen is discussing how when women use indirectness, they are seen as sneaky and covert. She mentions that most women don't ask things directly because they feel they don't have the right to. I agree on a certain level with this. I don't think women knowingly feel they don't have the right to ask or say things directly, but most women are raised to have manners and to speak politely which in turn basically means to speak indirectly.

     I apologize for this post turned rant. Things like this really start to bother me when I get going. Anyways, I just think that we all need to recognize that there are still gender expectations that women today struggle with and it is something that needs to be fixed.

One person from each group: please complete this tonight