Representing America - American Literature AP - Blog

Hockey, Dance, and The Media

Analyzing one's personal view of gender is an incredibly complex task. I believe that American society, and the media in particular, have drastically distorted our views of gender. I think that when one considers the way that he or she (or neither, or both) examines one's relationship towards gender and sexuality, it is imperative to take into consideration one's geographical location, one's socioeconomic class, and the environment in which one was raised.

I hardly remember being a young child. For me, trying to remember my early childhood is like looking through fog, and I can occasionally discern vague shapes and figures, but I always seem to struggle to make out specific details. I often can't remember whether my recollection of an event is an actual memory, or a result of viewing photographs taken during that time. I was a shy, quiet kid, and although I played sports, I also dressed in a stereotypically girly way, and I often played with polly pockets and American Girl dolls. My best friend and I would often argue about who was girlier, and because she more more stereotypically masculine colors and was thinner, she always seemed to "win". Honestly, trying to get anywhere near my childhood mindset seems impossible. I can't fathom how I liked the things I liked, and looking back at how I acted often feels like a painful experience. My friends and I have jokingly labeled sixth grade as my "mean year", the year I was rude to my close friends and attempted to "be popular". I even bought a hoodie from Victoria's Secret's Pink line, and started dressing girlier. However, I also played basketball and, as a result of growing up watching my brother play hockey, I was passionate about hockey and could talk "with the guys" and my athletic tendencies also place me in the "average" category, whatever that even is. When I took up dance after a long break of many years, I took several different types of dance, including ballet. Ballet is considered incredibly helpful for building a foundation of discipline, strength, and technique that can significantly benefit one's ability to do additional types of dance. Yet, I felt like my friends would severely judge me, especially my best friend. I didn't want to be considered even girlier, so for many years I didn't tell her about ballet. Eventually, I couldn't avoid her finding out, and I was so humiliated.

Between seventh and eighth grade, for whatever reason, it was as if i woke up with a completely different perspective on life. I honestly don't know why my mentality altered so drastically. I just simply didn't care what people thought anymore. I was becoming a stronger, more skilled dancer and basketball player, I had a great friend group, I became a vegetarian,  the Blackhawks were doing extremely well (haha), and for whatever other reasons, I just gave up all interest in caring what people thought of me. I mean, I still wanted people to think I was a kind, intelligent, respectful person, because I wanted to be all of those things. But, aesthetically speaking, I didn't give a crap about anyone's opinions, and that mentality has only grown stronger ever since.

I also don't know why I've started to question my gender lately. Similarly to my drastic change of mindset during the summer before eighth grade, in the past few months, I have had the strong urge to be a guy. I've always preferred the athletic body type aesthetically, and because I've become so serious about dance, I've realized that it would be much more convenient if I cut my hair extremely short. I'm also striving towards minimalism, including owning a small wardrobe of a small amount of quality clothing, and so maybe I'm favoring sneakers and pants to skirts and more stereotypically feminine shoes because of convenience and necessity. Maybe I've realized in this past unit on Feminism that women still suffer from a lot of discrimination and societal judgement and expectations, and maybe I just want to feel the power that society often attributes to men more often than women. Maybe I'm just bored. As I've said, where I live, in a very progressive, accepting, privileged community, I have very few problems and I often feel like I have no right to complain about anything, and that there are SO many more important things to do and worry about than my gender.

A while ago, since I realized that mainstream media basically sucks, I would limit my relationship towards the media to reading a few sites and watching a few tv shows and movies that are high quality, respectable works, and that portray life in a reasonably honest way. I've considered cutting out media completely. But right now, I feel like the media can exist as a tool for creating positive change and improving one's emotional mentality. I watch shows such as Project Runway, that oddly enough represents an extremely diverse group of people who are so talented and passionate that their outer appearances don't have any relationship to their abilities. I look up to actresses such as Rooney Mara and Ellen Page. I listen to podcasts with awespome female comedians. I read RookieMag religiously.

Dance has also actually helped me forget about sexism and gender. I am completely in lvoe with contemporary dance, which is basically whatever style of dance you want it to be, and emphasizes the emotional movement, in relationship to song lyrics. When I dance, I forget about how I look. I am free.

Women Action and the media

Women and how their bodies were portrayed  in the media. This one blogger is upset and outraged about how women's bodies are portrayed in the media. So this blogger is outraged by this particular magazine called Sports Illustrated. In Sports Illustrated they the famous edition called the Swimsuit Edition. This part of the magazine shows women in little swimsuits showing there bodies from head to toe. Now this year the magazine really outraged females because in its famous Swimsuit Edition the model was posing nude in the middle of the winter. The model was white, had blond hair, had blue eyes, and a perfect female figure that everyone wants. 

Since this is a sports illustrated magazine then the target audience is obviously males because men watch a lot of sports and buy these types of magazines. So the editor decided to put in this swimsuit edition so that guys could look and enjoy women's bodies. Which depicts women as beautiful sex objects. On the flip side men are not the only target audience. When women see or view these magazines then the magazine sends out a message that women should look like the models in the magazine. Of course that is the image that women take from the magazine. The women who are the models in the magazine are terrorised by the media because they are putting a bad image in women's minds that they have to look like this models and when they can not look like these models then they are view in society as ugly. So society puts them at fault for these types of image.

I agree with this blogger because it was right on the money. She really explained her argument well and she was right about everything. The editor of this magazine put this swimsuit edition for men to view and idealize women and then on the other hand it puts the ideal in women's mind that they have to look like the models and if they do not then they are doomed by society.

Respecting Black History Month

As we all know, Black History Month is coming up, and I have decided to take a closer look into MacNolia’s piece “In Service.”  I would really like to understand/appreciate the bigger meaning of the poem.(so if you have anything to say go ahead and share.)  

The setting is in Akron, Ohio, 1948, in Dr. Wittenberg’s  POV.

When looking at the time period, blacks were discriminated against and considered inferior. From being forced to America in the 15^thcentury to the civil rights movements, abolishing discrimination was a huge struggle for African Americans. I believe MacNolia set this poem during this time period for a reason. This was an era of terror for the black race. Even though discrimination was rough, some good things did happen, like Jackie Robinson being the first African American in the MLB. (Etc)

Wittenberg’s tone in this poem just illustrates how mocking and petty whites treated blacks back then.

“Come over next week and bring                                   

Some laundry—we’ll show you what                                    

She can do. She can spell

Any word you can pretty much

Think of: although—at least,

I’m not sure—I don’t believe

She knows what they all mean.”

 

MacNolia enforces a blatant mocking/ ironic tone here to show how poorly she was treated as a human being while working for these people. She has Dr. Wittenberg talking to us as if he was talking to another benevolent man about her, which seems to be bragging; however, to me comes off really as insolent and mocking towards her abilities. This poem represents a lot about the black’s situation during this time period.

Great Gatsby

So far The Great Gatsby has been an interesting and mysterious book. It takes place along time ago, but I feel as if the book was written in this time of day because of all the parties, lies, and decit. I am a fan of Gatsby because he seems to be a nice person, but he is also very mysterious. I think Daisy should be with him and not Tom because Tom obviosly cheats on her. Gatsby would treat Daisy way better than Tom does and he evidently loves her more than Tom. I found it ironic how Gatsby threw all these parties in the hope of Daisy attending one, and finally when she attended one, she didn't even like it. I could tell by her personality that these parties are not her kind of scene because she is a very delicate, polite young lady. I also liked how we saw a different side of Gatsby. When he was going to meet Daisy the first time after five years he was so nervous and became a totally different person. This made me feel sympathy for him cause you could tell he really loved her. Then after they had talked for a while, he became the old Gatsby again.

Libya, Hummus, and Pimples, Oh My!

I have a confession to make. Although I have always tried to avoid celebrity obsession, I used to watch a significant amount of late night talk shows, Conan and Chelsea Lately in particular, on a regular basis. (I sometimes even recorded them and watched them later...) Now, a main reason I watched both of these shows is because I liked that Chelsea Lately features a lot of standup comedians, and Conan sometimes features cool bands, and Chelsea Lately in particular is directed at mocking celebrity culture - however, I knew that I could have been doing other, more worthwhile things with my time. Having watched many celebrity interviews on these shows, I became aware of a basic, disgusting formula, one that I was reminded of when I read the superb story "Kitty Jackson Opens Up About Love, Fame and Nixon!" In Jennifer Egan's novel A Visit From The Goon Squad: talk show hosts (the hour-long late night ones are all men, by the way) sit down with actors, most often young, white females, and they spend a creepily long amount of time complimenting these women on how amazing they look, before they ask them generic questions about their lives. First these actresses will express how grateful and honored and surprised they are by their fame and success, and how unreal it feels, and how lucky they are, and blah blah blah. The celebrities will attempt to sound unique and individual as they tell personal anecdotes that make them seem relatable and human, such as how they're also going to college (always prestegious ones), or how they're terrible drivers, etc. Then they'll promote their most recent film or tv show, and show a clip of a scene. All the while, the hosts pretend to sound surprised and interested, and I wonder how many more interviews these hosts can sit through before they pull their hair out, strand by strand.  I guess it depends on the size of their paychecks. (hopefully Conan doesn't do this, his hair is beautiful.)

However, David Letterman's been doing late night shows for decades, and he's still as creepy and faux-surprised at celebrity anecdotes as ever, and he's still got a fair amount of hair on his head. But how is this possible? It's because of the same reasons that I used to watch a lot of late night talk shows, sometimes on DVR, and sometimes on YouTube, as a pathetic and unhealthy means of procrastination from homework and studying for finals (talk about a shame memory).

Only occasionally will I get genuinely excited about the actors being interviewed, such as Ellen Page, one of my few celebrity girl crushes, whose film work, while interesting and high quality, is far less important to me than her environmental activism. I don't care much for her late night show interviews, in which David Letterman apparently forgets that he's already spent several other interviews asking her about her childhood in Nova Scotia and her house that used to be a brothel, and so he repeats the same dialogue all over again, to an audience that hopefully hasn't watched as many late night interviews as I have. What draws me to her is her passion for environmental activism. I could listen to her talk for hours on Bill Maher about her efforts in bee preservation, and observe her apparently orange-tinted hands, which I found out about in the YouTube comments under basically all of her interviews, which she got from eating so many orange vegetables. 

However, we don't get to hear about these things in late night talk show interviews or on standard celebrity news websites. Instead, we get tricked into thinking that we care bout the boring annecdotes and gratefulnes of these actresses and actors, young, beautiful, white ones in particular, such as Anne Hathaway, who, yes, is talented, beautiful, and seemingly very kind and polite. Some of them, such as Anne, admit to the ridiculousness of it all. George Lopez pointed out to her a few years ago in an episode of his now-cancelled talk show that hundreds of news stories were written about Anne's "geek-chic" style  after one public outing in which she donned a pair of black rimmed hipster glasses. After she claimed that the glasses were worn purely out of necessity after her contacts broke, Anne criticized all the media attention, sarcastically saying "Libya-shmibya, I'm wearing spectacles!" This moment, while small, held for me a bit of hope - hey, here's one celebrity who understands. Maybe I can count on her for intelligent interviews? But I can't. In a later interview, on Chelsea Lately, she mentioned her vegetarianism, and I thought, oh, hey, maybe she'll talk about animal rights? But then she just complained about how all she'd been eating lately was "kale and dust" to fit into her "terrorizing" catsuit for The Dark Night Rises, and then did an interview with Allure magazine, in which she complained some more about how her extreme diet of hummus and radishes led to, wait for it, A PIMPLE! 

I don't know if our culture's obsession with celebrity life will change. They mean different things for all of us. For many of us, it's not really about the celebrities themselves at all. For some, they're a temporary escape, a fantasy, a glimpse in to lives often much more glamorous than our own, a chance to pretend that we're not at home in our sweatshirts and fat pants, balancing chemical equations, making dinner for ungrateful husbands, or cleaning up baby spit-up, but on red carpets, receiving prestigious awards in tight, expensive dresses. For others, when we hear of bad celebrity behavior, it assures us, whether all that accurately or not, that we don't regret our decisions and our life choices, and that although we may have made mistakes, we're not as fucked up as those guys. I am proud that I have and continue to eliminate unhealthy and unimportant media sources, such as many websites and tv shows, from my life. Someday, hopefully, maybe, I can help or inspire someone else to do the same. But I will allow myself to watch an occasional episode of a late night talk show. And when I do, I'm reminded of Anne Hathaway, and I imagine her saying "Gaddafi-shmaddafi, I had that cat suit". 

Skins

One greatxample of Post Modernism in TV is a show called skins. It has a UK version and a US version. The show is based on the life of several teenagers who are infatuated with the life of parties, drinking, smoking, and drugs. This is not like any regular show on TV and is reccommended for mature audiences only, but once you watch it you can never get enough. It reflects post modernism because it shows the daily lives of these teenagers, and unlike in usual tv shows, when you expcet an happy ending, there is only something worse to come.For example, one character named Syed was flunking school, and his parents were going through a divorce. His father was way to hard on him, and his girlfriend was cheating on him. He was possibly going through the roughest time in his life, and at the end of an episode when usual all the problems are resolved, he comes home to his dad dead on the couch. This shows how in reality therere is not always a resolution to every situation. Every episode reflects post modernism and I really reccomend this show because it is addicting.

Horses and Bayonets

The final debate before the election was held, and in my opinion Obama takes the win again. It seemed to me he was as aggressive as the second time and he knew how to get his facts and points across. On the other hand, it seemed to me as if Mitt Romney had not put in his best effort, and handed this one over to Obama. For example when Romney congradulated Obama in the killing of Osama Bin Laden he said you cannot however solve all the problems by killing people. He then contradicted himself my saying his plan was to find the bad people and kill them. Romney did not seem as aggressive, or his usual outspoken self. He even told Obama that the debate was not about attacking him. Although, as usual, he still based his arguments on attacking the president.

    Even thought the topic of this debate was foreign affairs, everything seemed to lead back to the problems of the economy. For example, Romney mentioned how since Obama has been president the amount of people on food stamps has increased. I think that the president and governor were trying to get their last words in, and win over the last undecided voters before theh election coming up. It is undeniably evident that both these canidates are well educated men. But I think Obama would make the better president because he knows where he stands and is true to his words. I feel as if Romney always changes his position on certain topics as Obama has called him out for. In the third debate, Romney even agreed with Obama on Iraq, and said Obama brought us back from the brink. Also, Romney is always to busy bashing Obama to tell his plans to make the country better. All in all, Obama was the clear winner for round three and Americas best choice as president.

The Face No One Can Resist

Recently, we have been talking about pathos, and how it is the appeal to emotions. When I am arguing with my parents, or trying to persuade a friend, the best way I can think of to get them on my side is the famous "puppy dog face". This pathos because it causes the audience to feel sad for you and it hurts their heart that you are hurting so they eventually are persuaded your way. Although he is not a puppy, Puss-in-Boots from Shreck is a master at this face. Everytime I watch Shrek and he makes this face, I never fail to say the words "awwww". It makes me just feel sad for him and want to give him anything this wants. I bet if Obama or Romney made this face at the end of a speech they would instantly recieve more voters.  

What the deuce?

Oskar Schell is a very curious, intelligent, and sometimes rude young boy. He kind of reminds me of Stewie Griffin from "Family Guy". Although Stewie is only one, he is beyond smart for his age, just like Oskar. Both characters are very curious, and could tell you everything about anything. Stewie’s famous catchphrase is “What the Deuce?” Almost similar to Oskar’s “What The…?!”

One thing they also have in common is the order they love their parents. Both view the dad as the best parent. Stewie even goes as far as trying to kill his mom every episode. Although Oskar still loves his mom, she comes third in his list of people he loves, with his dad being first.

They both are also very rude and blunt. Sometimes their jokes and comments can come off a bit as racist or offensive. Some of them may be unintentional, but a lot of them are slightly aware of the offensiveness, but they both still insist they are not racist. 

Desperate Housewives: A Feminist Critique

 

The ABC series, Desperate Housewives depicts the lives of five women struggling to maintain the stability of suburbia. Wisteria Lane, where each housewives lives may seem to be a prim and proper neighborhood yet is full of deep and dark secrets these women hide behind their conservative facade. Throughout the course of eight seasons, these women have proven that they are capable of anything ranging from being a nurturing mother, to murder. Though at first I did not notice, this show reinforces the stereotypes made through the media to an extreme degree.

If you haven't seen this show before, some of the main characters are Lynette, Gaby, Bree, and Renee. Lynette who is a mother of five children is a stay at home mother. Bree like Lynette is an accomplishes business owner who prides herself on her home and cleanliness. Both of these women represents the stereotype of the domestic wife and mother. Gaby, who is a former model prides herself on her personal appearance and her outward beauty. She represent the role of the sex object. Finally Renee, the newest character to the show is a New Yorker who has recently moved to the suburbs. She recklessly sleeps around with many men and is known to be a cougar. She represents the stereotype of a seductress. The show presents three stereotypes of women: the wife/mother, the seductress, and the sex object. Desperate Housewives reaffirms to its viewers the stereotypes that have been implanted in contemporary media and lacks to show the true agency women have over their lives.

Both Bree and Lynette are stay at home mothers, who face the challenge of balancing the task of maintaining their social status and the welfare of their children. They portray the roles of the wife/mother by sacraficing their individual dreams to support their families. Throughout the beginning seasons of the series, Lynette could be seen to challenge stereotypes through successfully attaining a high management position at her job by hard work. Yet, when her husband needs her to be more for their children she is faced with the desicion to give up all her hard work for her home. Instead of showing agency and  defending her years of hard work, she surrenders her achievements for a broom and an apron and leaves behind her job. 

Gaby and Renee reaffirm the stereotypes of the sex object and the seductress. Renee who constanly reciceves criticism for her promiscuious ways. As an older women she dresses provactive, and is not afraid to speak her mind. Unlike the other women in the community she is constantly bringing home different men from bar and various other places but never acheives to have a stable relationship with a man, until later in the show. Once Renee has tamed her ways, and the viewers might actually think that stereotype has been broken, it is once again promted when Bree takes on those qualities. 

Desperate Housewives is not a feminist show. Its characters strengthen societies views on gender roles and stereotypes. By captivating its viewers through a male gaze, women are further encouraged to sustain their gender roles. Even before a person views this show, the name Desperate House wives objectifies women. Unlike, feminist films the women in this show do now show the freedom of agency in their lives. 

Becoming a Feminist Critic

For this week's blog post, you should visit one of the following sites:

The F-Bomb ("The FBomb.org is a blog/community created for teenage girls who care about their rights as women and want to be heard. All young feminists who are just a little bit pissed off and very outspoken are more than welcome here." -- learn more about them).            

Rookie ("Rookie is a place to make the best of the beautiful pain and cringe-worthy awkwardness of being an adolescent girl. When it becomes harder to appreciate these things, we also have good plain fun and visual pleasure. When you’re sick of having to be happy all the time, we have lots of eye-rolling rants, too." -- learn more about them)

Feministing ("Young women are rarely given the opportunity to speak on their own behalf on issues that affect their lives and futures. Feministing provides a platform for us to comment, analyze, influence and connect." -- learn more about them).

or

Women, Action and the Media ("WAM! connects and supports media makers, activists, academics and funders working to advance women’s media participation, ownership and representation. Our work is part of an advocacy movement for gender justice in media." -- learn more about them)

On our own blog, write a post that defends, challenges or qualifies the argument made in one of the posts you've read (make sure you *link* back to that post -- and feel free to quote from it as well). Don't forget to give your post a category.

As far as commenting is concerned, you'll get credit if you comment on the websites above or on one of your classmates' own posts.

The Bride of Blackenstein

Due to many stereotypes that have developed in society, the image of many races, has been corrupted. These racial stereotypes that began towards African- Americans in the pre civil-war era, have continued to develop and mature into the minds of everyday Americans. Snl is commonly known for spoofing, and over exaggerating this stereotypes of many races, especially in the skit below featuring Nikki Minaj.

 

A few months ago when female rapper, Nikki Minaj was the musical guest on snl she poked around with many racist stereotypes of African-American women. I must admit the first time I saw this clip on snl I laughed because it is such an exaggeration of the African- American women. However, this clip further embeds stereotypes that black women are bossy, demanding, and obsessive with their physical attraction.

When the Blackenstein character asks his bride a simple question, she responds in a bossy and harsh attitude towards him. Also using the stereotype that black males cannot find a job. This part exaggerates that black women have no tolerance, and are are demanding. Further throughout the video, more of these stereotypes are portrayed. These examples of stereotyping are funny because they partially are true, but these stereotypes cannot be used to fully define any race. 

These stereotypes of not only the black race, but all races have been around so long that we no longer know the truth of an individuals character. Instead, of actually getting to know the character of a person we "judge a book by its cover" and categorize them with the different images society has formed for us. 

 

10 Items To Finish On Top

Watch this video before reading!

 

Superbowl ad's are always trying to outdo each other, trying to have the most comedic commercials of them all. This FedEx commercial tries to entertain their audience by listing out the top ten criteria to make a successful commercial. It starts off with "1.Celebrity", saying if you have a celebrity in your commercial everyone else will buy it because of them. Then it goes down a list, "2. Animal 3. Dancing Animal 4. Cute Kid" and so on. 

The fallacy used in this commercial Non Sequitur. The overall meaning to this ad is because you have all these things listed in our commercial, you will have a successful commercial. There are no others options to choose from in this commercial but the one's presented. Many other brands have presented good ads that include non of the following yet have became very popular and effective. 

This fallacy was used in a comedic way in order to capture the attention of millions of viewers watching the football game, yet it nonetheless is still a misconception. 

Breathe In, Dead Soldier. Breathe Out.

First off, I really really like this book. My favorite book of the year hands down.

I mean, yes, my squeamishness comes out in full force during many stories in this book (Ted Lavender, anyone? Curt Lemon? BABY BUFFALO?) but still. I can feel this book.

And I don't mean "feel it" like "Hey man, I totally feel you", but more as if there is a tangible presence to this book, and it's taken up residence in my lungs.

Breathe in, Vietnam. Sunshine demise and baby buffalo and blood in my mouth.

Breathe out, Tim O'Brian. 43 years old, a writer who still breathes in as a soldier and out as a father who tells his nine-year-old daughter that of course he didn't kill anyone.

Breathe out breath out breathe out.

And alright, yes, I admit I might have read ahead. A little. Or a lot, maybe: I finished the book.

And I can only think "Well damn."

Because what about all the soldiers we're still sending out?

Are they pulling their brothers out of trees, peeling them off the dusty, explosion-riddled road, digging them out of a sloppy, mushy shitfield in the pouring rain?

Probably.

Are there men out there like Tim O'Brian, who don't really want to fight but they do it anyway, because they'd feel like they were betraying everyone they know but themselves if they didn't?

Absolutely. 

I've been reading a lot of war stories lately, and I gotta tell you, I cry. At all of them. Sob my eyes out like there is no longer any rainbows or unicorns or happiness in the world. None.

I cry like a five year old who has just been informed that Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny have all been heartlessly massacred.

And I wonder what would happen if the head honchos, the men and women who start the war but send others to end it, would they feel like a different decision is in order if they read one of these books?

Do you think maybe, that if people who felt like war was necessary to solve whatever problem they have, do you think if someone made them read these war novels, this book, The Things They Carried, would we maybe get somewhere towards convincing the world just what a stupid idea it is to go out and shoot at people, and get shot at, and die, and watch your friends die, ( "Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast, but it's a killer grenade and everybody dies anyway. Before they die, though, one of the dead guys says, "The fuck you do that for?" and the jumper says, "Story of my life, man," and the other guy starts to smile but he's dead.")...

Will anyone care at all? Will anyone try their damndest to make a dead soldier breathe again?

 

Will anyone listen to the breathing of a dead soldier? 

Is one celebrity's baby bump really killing America?

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a possible presidential candidate for the Republican Party, recently criticized Oscar-winner Natalie Portman's pregnancy because she is not married. During a radio interview last week Huckabee said "it’s unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of out of children wedlock." He argues that Portman sends a distorted, unrealistic message to the women of America and that in reality, "most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care."

While some of Huckabee's statement may be based on a little bit of credible statistics, Jos from Feministing points out that the bigotry and injustice here is pretty obvious. Mike Huckabee along with many other Republicans want contraception inaccessable and abortion illegal and government assistance to the poor stopped. Well what if by some strange impulse of sexuality a woman is to get pregnant? Is she to get married? Well that sure is Natalie Portman's highly publicized plan. She is getting married to her child's father, with whom she has been in a stable, long-term relationship, and she's wearing a ring. What else is she supposed to do? Should she cower at home in shame and not carry her situation with happiness and acceptance? Should she not go out an accept one of the highest honors someone in her profession can recieve? If you ask me, Natalie Portman is a role model.

Louder Than an F-Bomb

It is impossible to persuade someone who already agrees with you.  Persuading the disbelievers is the only way to advance your ideas.

With respect to the F-Bomb blog, the female writers have fascinating thoughts but they speak to the wrong people.  I am sure that men read this blog, and maybe, on occasion, some chauvinist stumbles upon the website.  I do believe, however, that the majority of people visiting the F-Bomb already support the feminist movement.  

Women need to progress their ideas through the internet, but creating a website that women read, women write on, and women support, does not make enough noise.  Women clearly want equality for women and men.  The only problem is that many men don't.  Therefore, now that women are on board the modern feminist movement, the movement cannot remain exclusively female.  

Rather than post a blog entry on the F-Bomb (which can still be somewhat useful), why not craft and submit a column to The New York Times?  In this morning's paper, The New York Times  featured an article entitled "Girls and Boys Together".  Women should shoot for publishing articles like this.  Millions of people could read about the feminist movement every day if women moved from the blog to the mainstream media.

While sharing ideas on a blog provides a great way to generate thoughts, women need to take a step towards expanding their audience to the people they actually need to convince.

Let's Not Blame the Media

Yesterday, I was discussing our feminism unit with my mom. Our conversation went something like this:

I of course believe in equal rights. But I was reading the blog Mr. Heidkamp showed us, and they had an article about how sexist a Swiffer commerical was - in part because it depicted a woman mopping."

My mom replied, "I think that you're fine with feminism and just hate that they blame the media."

It was like the "lightbulb" moment of a psychotherapy session. I like TV, and news, journalism - media as a whole. It annoys me when people blame the media for things. Sure, it over exaggerates news all the time. They lie, and are biased. However, I feel that people should try to be aware of this themselves and look at the information they are being sold. I always ask myseld, "Do I buy this?"

To be fair, the article was also talking about the sexism behind a woman being in love with a mop. And here's me answer to that: Advertisers know their consumers.

In 2006 (old, but the most recent statistic I could find without hacking into Proctor and Gamble's computer system... which I lack the knowledge to do, and not because I'm female) Swiffer's parent company spent $3.5 Billion on adversiting. You could feed 29,166,666 hungry children in Africa for a year with that much money. They don't throw that money away. Big companies hire the best advertisers they can get and a lot os research goes into what they put out there.

The ads reflect what pleases Americans. I'm sure that they had many, many test groups watched and responded to the commerical before it was put out. They liked it.

Media refelects our society's values and preferances. We should think about what we take in, and not blame the media for putting out seeminly (or overtly) sexist things. We should be more worried about society's acceptance and favortisism towards the things that the media refelects.

EDIT: If you care about women, show your support by coming to V-Day on March 18!

Great Gatsby: My Professional Opinion

I really liked The Great Gatsby.

Well no that's not exactly true. I really liked the last three chapters of The Great Gatsby. I've got to say, the book didn't really catch my attention up until the "Myrtle-gets-run-over-and-dies-horribly!" part of the book. After that, it was FANTASTIC. 

I feel like virtually nothing happened in the first, oh, six chapters of the book. It was simply kind of... stale. Very stagnant, as though everyone were trying to accomplish something specific to only them, and by doing so ground the entire operation of life to a halt. And then their issues catch up to them, and everyone ends up dissatisfied, or dead. But it was very dramatically carried out, the way everyone got their not-so-just desserts, and I think that was the primary reason for my fondness.

Though I must admit, I'm a sucker for pretty writing, and those last couple of chapters were nothing but.

 

All in all, my Professional Opinion is that one should slog their hardest through the beginning of the book, and much of the middle, because the payoff at the end more than makes up for the stagnant beginning.

The Protruding Nail Gets Hammered- A Reflection on Individuality

Throughout this semesters reading, I (and, evidently, my peers) have noticed a strong theme of individuality in each of the texts.

However, I feel like you can interpret this individuality in two ways, strange as that may seem. Each of the strong characters of our readings, prime examples being MacNolia, Hester, Douglass, and Holden, all seem to both benefit from, and be absolutely destroyed by, their individuality.

Hester, who is able to grow stronger under the weight of the blazing "A" and the scathing eyes of the village, is also worn down by the very existence of Pearl, and by Dimmesdale's untimely end. She retreats back into the edge of the forest, the most distant possible place while still being "inside" the town. Hester is able to assert her individuality, but it leaves her old, weary, and alone.

MacNolia was able to express her originality by being a highly intelligent black child, and an intelligent, strong, and capable black woman. However, by standing out, she draws the fear, disregard, and hate of her racist world. 

Douglass is much like MacNolia, a brilliant black individual with an insatiable thirst to gain a higher education, and to be free. But though he had proven himself to some Northern abolitionists, he still causes fear and anger to strike deep into the hearts of Southern slave owners. No one really knows what to do with a slave, former or otherwise, who can think for himself. He becomes an oddity.

Holden, whose brash and oftentimes irritating personality isolates him from his peers, is certainly a unique individual. His life views are so different from those of everyone around him, and he seems to simply slip through life without a set destination. But this also means that he has virtually no one and nothing he loves, and almost no one or anything to love him in return.

So I wonder- is being an individual such a good thing after all, when it often times seems to be tainted with loneliness and isolation? Should we follow the American ideal that individuality is the thing to strive for?

What about the Asian idea that interdependence is the way to go? That individuals are to be contained is the common way of thinking, and there are two sayings which translate this sentiment well: "The Protruding nail gets hammered", and "The Crying bird gets Shot".

So, which is truly better? A unique lifestyle, no matter how lonely or isolated you are? Or is it best to keep your head down and work with the group to a goal which benefits everyone?

Coming of Age

On "The F-Bomb", there is a post called Coming of Age, by Shira and Dina, about women in the Israeli Armed Forces. The post talks about how many Israeli women consider joining the army to be their duty, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Women make up one third of the Israeli army while in America, women represent twenty percent. That's a considerable gap, but when women are still seen as needing a man's protection, does the number of soldiers really matter? "Israelis, mainly boys, spend their high school days planning their future in the army in the same way Americans study for the SAT's." Most boys want to go out and be heroes, whether it's in Israel or America, while many Israeli girls want to be a "jobnick", someone with an office job, in order to be close to home.

I do not think that the country matters, or how many women are in the army. I think women will always be seen as someone who needs protection. It has nothing to do with the roles we play or the jobs we take, there will always be something, or someone, out there that projects that.