Blog #20...that's all folks

"Girls rule and boys drool" used to be one of my favorite things to say.  And in the case of the chimpanzees the author discusses in the beginning of the passage, that statement is definitely true.

I have to admit by just reading the title I assumed this passage would not be focusing on females, but it did and I thought it was very interesting and well written.  The author's writing kept my attention throughout the reading.  Partially because the topic of alpha females makes me feel empowered and because the author's mix of facts, rhetorical questions, and predictions kept me wanting to know more.

Personally, I think it's great that more females are in college. Considering the fact that not too long ago education wasn't even an option for women. And it makes me angry that the author is arguing that the academic and occupational gains by women in recent years have come at the expense of men.  If women are rising in education and the work force it's because they are working their butts off to do so.  Maybe college admissions is letting more girls in than boys, but then within the schools it's not the girls faults that more of them graduate with degrees than the guys do.  Maybe the men should work harder.

Now I guess because I am a girl, I'm biased. BUT, to be honest I don't see a problem with the future holding more college educated women than men.  With women occupying more prestigious jobs and everything...maybe we'll finally have a female president one day.

Blog #19

Oh the "Guy Code".  It's the reason they act the way they do, or the excuse for their secrets.  No matter the definition behind it, it will always be a guy thing....and according to this reading, more specifically, a straight guy thing.

I found it really interesting that when prompted, a college age girl simply stated that as a woman she can do and be anything she wants.  She referred to different celebrities with different jobs and said she could be any one of them if she so pleased.  But when a man is asked what it means to be a man, it's a whole different story.  There is a set of rules or a 'code' one must follow in order to truly be considered a man.  To be honest I found the "Real Guy's Top Ten List" in the reading to be insanely stereotypical, and in my point of view, though most of it is true, I think men have been able to stray from it especially in the past decade or so.  I definitely know a lot of guys that have no problems sharing their feelings and don't mind being sad or crying about something.  I also think that the media and advertising have a huge affect on gender roles in society and the male roles in movies and on television now a days are much more sensitive and open to something such as asking for directions.  Of course you still have your superhero and macho men characters, but there are quite a few lead roles on TV shows such as Scrubs, CSI, Psych, etc. that show men with emotional sides and occasionally even shedding a tear or two.

I agree that it makes sense that boys are more prone to depression and being diagnosed with ADHD.  Growing up in a world where you hide all of your emotions and don't let anything out means all of these feelings are being locked up inside which is unhealthy and can lead to a great deal of confusion.  Turning to anger and violence seems to be the only way for them to let go of anything, but it only hurts themselves and the people around them.

Blog #18!

"A Boy's Life" by Hanna Rosin was a very interesting story.  At my age I can't even fathom being a mother, let alone a mother dealing with a child who wishes to be the opposite sex.  I had no idea that children that young could know deep inside that they identified with the opposite gender, I thought that was something people figured out as they grew up and went through puberty.  I actually admire Brandon for being so courageous and forward about his feelings and who he wanted to be at such a young age.  
It makes sense that Hanna Rosin struggled so much as a single mother dealing with her son because of where she lived.  In a small, secluded town, there aren't other adults or children like Brandon, let alone any knowledge of transgender people.  It wasn't until her mother showed her a video that explained the terms gender-identity disorder and transgender, that Hanna realized that this was a common situation.  I was personally stunned when the article then stated that she decided to buy a computer so she could Google the terms and learn more about the topic.  Clearly, she didn't just live in a small town, she lived in a very conservative and secluded area.  The Trans-Health Conference that she attended with her ex-husband and son exposed them to many other transgender people and helped them cope with their situation.  They were finally accepting to the possibility that Brandon could grow up as a women and maybe even be a mother. 
I'm not sure how I feel about the hormone blockers.  If you decide to give them to your child when they are too young to understand, then they don't have a say in what is happening to their bodies.  Even if at a young age they identify themselves as the opposite gender, they are unaware of the changes that their bodies will go through during puberty and if you stop that from happening then they'll never experience it and truly know and understand why they want to be the opposite gender.  I guess if you're a parent in this situation and your child is miserable as the gender they were born, then maybe it's a good idea.  Especially if later in life it would save them a lot of money to get surgery.  If I were a parent of a transgender child, I'm just honestly not sure what I would do regarding blockers and other drugs.

Blog #17

I was absolutely blown away by "Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meaning of Gender" by Aaron H. Devor.  I have never once thought about how we learn, as young children, to identify ourselves with a certain gender and how long it takes for us to understand what gender to associate ourselves with and how our culture defines gender behaviors.  It takes a long time for us to understand gender anatomically, because at a young age children recognize the genders of people around them on the basis of role information, like clothes or hairstyle instead of physical attributes such as genitalia.  A section of this article that I found particularly interesting was when the author described a study where young, school age children were given dolls and asked to identify their gender.  The majority of the children identified the dolls correctly but on the basis of their hair length or clothing style.  17% of the children identified the gender based based on their primary or secondary sex characteristics.  I think that is truly amazing.  It goes to show how much our culture affects us as young children before we can understand concepts from a more scientific standpoint.  This could also be why many people have trouble accepting that some individuals dress like the opposite gender, according to social norm.

Blog #16

"The End of White America" talks about similar points that "Deconstructing America" discussed, that the white race is soon going to be a minority.  I think for some white people this freaks them out because they are used to being the majority or "superior" to other races.  Throughout the United States history, whites were the ones in charge and there were always more of them than any other race.  Today, the U.S. is much more diverse and your 'status' as a U.S. citizen has to do with your social class and nothing to do with your race.  And in a country that aspires to be post-racial, it is interesting that people are scared or worried about the racial percentages in the U.S. changing so that almost everyone could be considered a "minority".  "We can talk about defining ourselves by lifestyle rather than skin color, but our lifestyle choices are still racially coded" (Hsu 510).  However, we are going into a more diverse world where culture is something we are creating in our own image, and many races can be apart of one culture.
I found that "The Crossing" relates to "The End of White America" because both of them deal with metaphoric lines.  "The End of White America" deals with "the color line" and "The Crossing" deals with the "border line".  For Martinez and many other Mexican Americans, or Mexicans trying to get into the U.S., the line means a lot of things.  Abiding by the line means abiding by the law, but that may not be the morally right decision depending on the person.  Martinez struggled to help a man with diabetes; he couldn't drive him over the line because he would get arrested, but at the same time he wanted to be able to help him cross so he could have a better life.  And Martinez didn't want the man to walk in fear of him not making it due to his medical condition.  So he notified Border Patrol and the hoped the man would be okay and would be able to cross the border eventually on his own. The quote from this passage that really stuck out in my mind was "I tell myself I did the right thing. I tell myself I did the wrong thing. I tell myself that every decision on the line is like that, somewhere in between" (482).

Blog #15 Deconstructing America

This passage was pretty overwhelming and made me question some of my beliefs. I always thought that America was heading in the right direction by becoming more racially, ethnically, and religiously diverse, but according to Buchanan there are quite a few downsides to this.  The one that stood out most to me was the statement that "the greater the diversity, the greater the mistrust".  It's weird for me to think that in this day and age people only feel that they can truly trust those of their own race, I feel like that just disproves how far we have come and that we have been able to move past racism in the extreme sense that it used to be. And then what I found to be very interesting was the long list of all of the horrible events or laws in this country's past that all revolved around the subject of race. "Racial diversity has been the most polarizing issue among us" (469). The Civil War, Dred Scott, riots in L.A. about Rodney King, assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.; it was all about race. And Buchanan questions if whether opening up the United States to the whole world is a good idea because of how many issues this country has had regarding race. I sort of see his point but at the same time I disagree. I think it's good that we are becoming even more diverse and that no one race will be the majority. Yeah it'll take some getting used to, but eventually it could really benefit us and make us a more well rounded people.

Blog #14 (yes, we skipped 13)

It's interesting how Jame's mother had so much pride and was so overly protective of her children, that she was incapable of opening up to them and answering their questions regarding their identity.  I guess I understand, given the time period, that she wanted to keep them safe so she sent them to the white, Jewish public schools instead of the schools near by where other black kids attended.  However, I think it is because she sent them to white schools that they were humiliated and hurt more than they would have been if they had gone to the schools in their neighborhood.  The white students and teachers were very racist, and for James this was very hard to deal with.  He was constantly being pushed around at school and eventually found that his only comfort was looking at his reflection in the mirror and pretending the person he saw has a better life than his.  It's really unfortunate that he had to go through all of that and then come home to his mother who can't answer his question "am I black or am I white?".  Not because she doesn't know the answer but because she doesn't want to deal with it.  Though she is proud to have married a black man and had black kids, she is embarrassed to reveal to her children that her Jewish family disowned her and that she has a strong Jewish heritage.  I was angry with her when James asked what a 'tragic mulatto' was and her response was "you're a human being".  Jame's life is so convoluted and all he wants to know is who he is so he can be comfortable in his skin and be able to identify himself and all his stubborn mother can muster is "you're a human being".  Thank you captain obvious, he's a smart kid he knows he's human.  And all of this led to James being ashamed that his mother was white and he didn't want to be seen in public with her anymore.  I found this to be very sad, but I feel like if his mother hadn't tried to raise her children in a bubble full of unrealistic ideals, then that wouldn't have happened.

Blog #12 response to C.P. Ellis

I believe that Ellis would say is just as important as race in determining job placement and occupational mobility.  Even though Ellis was a white man, he was uneducated and very poor which made it almost just as hard for him to maintain a good job or run for a school board position as a black man. An example of his feelings towards this is on page 406: "But I could tell by his handshake he was lyin' to me. This was botherin' me. I know I'm a low-income person. I know I'm not wealthy. I know they were sayin': 'What;s this little ol' dude runnin' for school board?'" It was in these cases that he actually has more support from the black community than the wealthier white folks, despite his past. It was clear that it wasn't enough to be white, you had to have money and connections to win. 

Wednesday, April 4th Assignment - #6 p.461

Fredrickson rejects the claim that an emphasis on ethnic identity threatens the unity and stability of American society because he believes that the best hope for a cohesive society is a "cultural pluralism that is fully inclusive and based on the free choices of individuals to construct or reconstruct their own ethnic identities" (459).  A Euro-American backlash against ethnic diversity poses a greater risk according to Fredrickson because if society remains how it was with an overwhelmingly Euro-American population then ethnic diversity cannot be reached.  I guess a recent example of divisiveness would be the ethnic and racial diversity here at Hofstra.  Though we definitely have a diverse campus, it is still mainly white.  And people of the same race and ethnicity tend to congregate with each other on campus, making it easier to see the divisiveness between the different racial and ethnic groups.  But even though there is a separation, I don't believe that Hofstra or its students are racist.

# 11 p.371 question 6

Stephen Cruz was a very successful man who truly believed, or at least wanted to, in the American Dream.  Though he was a minority, he still managed to get jobs in the 1960's which he knew had a lot to do with the Civil Rights Act, but also believed it was because of his vast abilities.  As he climbed up the economic ladder, he realized that a lot of what goes on in the work force when dealing with who gets hired or fired, has a lot to do with racism.  Cruz, even with his optimistic personality, left his job where he was making fifty thousand dollars because he could no longer be "disillusioned", he couldn't work for people obsessed with their image and money because he knew he'd turn into them.

Cruz's situation is somewhat similar to that of Richard Rodriguez, who became so obsessed with his education and being the smartest, that he forgot about his family and his culture and left them behind.  Rodriguez eventually realized that being book smart isn't everything; you need your family, you need to stay connected to your heritage while venturing into other worlds, you can't bury yourself in books and hide from those you love.  After spending time studying in London Rodriguez returned home to be with his family.

Cruz is similar to Mike Rose because they are both very optimistic people.  They both knew that they weren't always in the best situations, but they made the best of it, tried to have faith in others, and made the right decisions for themselves.  They may have been stuck working with people who didn't care as much as they did, who didn't treat others with respect, but they found ways around it and in the end both of their situations worked out for them.

Gary Soto and Cruz both desired to have The American Dream more than anything and were willing to work for it no matter what it took.  The difference is that Soto wanted to be like the white sitcom families he saw on TV and Cruz just wanted to be respected in the work force for who he was by his white employers.  They both learned that the American Dream is somewhat of a myth and that they are actually more fortunate than they thought they were. 

"Class in America - 2006" Blog #10

I don't think this essay suggests in any way shape or form that the wealthy are exploiting the poor.  I can see how one could argue that it sort of assumes it, but it doesn't openly state that the wealthy are using the poor for their own benefits.  One interpretation of the information that the author provides is that our society still has a lot of racism and sexism.  Basically if you're a female and you're not white then you're more likely to be poor than anyone else.  Opportunities for success highly depends on your gender, race, and the class you're born into.  I agree that in order to change this we would have to reverse our current trends and create policies that decrease the income gaps.

"Horatio Alger" by Harlon L. Dalton - Response

I found Dalton's claims that American society is far from operating as a strictly merit based system to be persuasive.  He based most of his theory on the Horatio Alger myth.  He stated that the myth "conveys three basic messages: 1. each of us is judged solely on his or her merits; 2. we each have a fair opportunity to develop those merits; and 3. ultimately, merit will out" (272-273).  Dalton gave several examples to prove that he believes that each of these messages are false.  He stated that if everything is really about merit, then that means it's not at all based on "pedigree, race, class background, gender, national origin, [or] sexual orientation" (273).  And if you believe in the myth of Horatio Alger then maybe you believe that that is true; but all of those factors play a huge role in our lives when determining how successful we can be. 

I found that one of his most interesting and persuading examples was when he was discussing racial discrimination, specifically about black people.  He described a situation where a student asked him how to deal with the fact that one of her professors had written a recommendation for her in which he called her "the best Black student to have ever taken his class" (273).  Because of her race there was a stereotypical view that she's not as smart, but she was very smart.  So why can't she just be the best student and not the best black student?

I did find Dalton's excerpt to be persuasive and thought that he proved his points well.  However, I do believe that hard work and perseverance can definitely get you places, no matter who you are.  All odds regarding race, background, and everything listed above will always be against you or for you, but you have to be able to look past that and decided what being successful means to you and work for it.

"The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara - Response

In "The Lesson", by Bambara, the main character Sylvia and her best buddy Sugar are good friends.  Sylvia can be a bully sometimes and is somewhat controlling, but they have each others' backs and do everything together.  They are both young black girls growing up in Harlem in poverty stricken families.  Due to their living situations they don't spend a lot of time at home and are therefore always looking out for each other.  Their school teacher, Miss Moore, decided to take them on a field trip to the city to go to F. A. O. Shwarz, a very expensive toy shop and tourist attraction.  She wanted them to realize that there are very wealthy people who can afford to buy a $1000 toy not that far away from where they live.  She wanted them to think about the lives that those people lead and how it isn't fair at all that they are so poor and don't have an "equal crack at the dough" (270).  Sugar understands this concept and speaks out about it to to her teacher and classmates and exclaims that "this is not much of a democracy if you ask me" (270).  Sylvia becomes very angry at Sugar for saying that, for giving into the lesson that their teacher wanted them to learn, for admitting out loud how less fortunate they are, for being right, for maybe wanting to do something about it. 

Sylvia and Sugar are similar to Teresa and the narrator of Para Teresa from "Para Teresa".  Although Teresa and the narrator aren't friends, they are also from the same ethnic and economic backgrounds, and they attend the same school like Sylvia and Sugar did.  Just like Sylvia, Teresa is a bully.  They are both ignorant, they both decided to accept that what they have in life is all they have and that they won't amount to anything better.  They are both scared; scared to stand out, scared to try harder, scared to be better because society tells them they can't be.  Sugar and the narrator of "Para Teresa" see the bigger picture.  They know that if they work hard for themselves and for their families, they could make it somewhere and live a better life.  They are more optimistic and don't let the bullying of their peers get to them.  They want to succeed to the best of their abilities and they aren't afraid.  They are the role models for Sylvia and Teresa.

Malcom X Experiment

After reading "Learning to Read" by Malcom X, I felt inspired to read even more and look deeper into what I read. It's truly amazing how he educated himself in a jail library.  His speech, handwriting, and language all improved significantly.  The assignment we were asked to do after reading this passage from his autobiography was to go to a random page in a dictionary, read it, and follow up on any words we don't know by consulting an encyclopedia.  Unfortunately, I'm dealing with painful shin splints and really didn't want to walk all the way to the library.  So I flipped to a random page in "Rereading America", the book assigned for the writing class, read and looked up a few words that I didn't know the meaning of.  The page that I happened to turn to mentioned Yosemite Canyon, a canyon I have heard of but don't know anything about.  I went online and looked up where it is and descriptions of the atmosphere, the water, and the geology of the area.  I learned something.  Not something I'm super interested in so I doubt I'll retain the facts I read for very long, but still I learned something new and all on my own during my own time.

There are definitely benefits to an unsystematic self-education.  For starters it's very open and you're free to look up and learn about what interests you and to continue to follow those interests.  And if there is a certain subject, like science, that you enjoy, you can spend more time deepening your knowledge of that subject.  Self-education also provides a stress free environment where you don't have to feel pressured to be perfect or get something done by a specific date.  And when you are less stressed, it is easier to retain new information and enjoy learning it.  However, an unsystematic education also has its drawbacks.  When learning new information and concepts it's good to be able to discuss it with others, especially people who are experts in the field.  That's why it's good to have a teacher and classmates, or other aspiring learners, to be educated with.  Also, school systems make sure that all students are well versed in all subjects so that they can be versatile and have skills that will help them in whatever truly interests them.  Both unsystematic and systematic education have their pros and cons, so maybe combining aspects from the two would better serve students today.

"The Achievement of Desire" and "Para Teresa" - Response

Richard Rodriguez, author of "The Achievement of Desire", and Ines Hernandez-Avila, author of "Para Teresa", had very different attitudes towards school and family when they were children.  They both did very well and succeeded in school, but they were motivated in different ways.

Rodriguez separated his home life and his school life at a very young age.  He was inspired, at first, by his older siblings who were good students to do well in school, but then he became obsessed, in a way, with becoming smarter.  He was a very eager and anxious student, and once he realized that his parents could not help him with his homework and that he found himself correcting their grammar from time to time, he became ashamed of them.  He started to completely ignore his family at home and would spend all of his time reading books.  He was inspired by his teachers to constantly strive to be better and he was inspired by his parents' lack of education to strive to be smarter.  What he eventually realized though was that he had lost his sense of family and his sense of culture.  School changed him.  Years later, after going to school in London, he decided to return home to his family to be with them.

Hernandez-Avila worked very hard in school, and was made fun of and questioned by her Chicana peers as to why she tried so hard to be a good student.  Her peers asked her why she thought she was so great and if her goal was to be a teacher's pet, but she simply stated that she did "nothing for the teachers" (208), she did it for her family.  She was motivated by her desire to prove to her school that she was not inferior, but equal.  She wanted to work hard to represent her parents and grand-parents who worked so hard and supported everything she did.  However, she understood the viewpoint of her Chicana peers who were against the system because she knew they were scared and grew up thinking they must not conform to the 'others'. 

Both Rodriguez and Hernandez-Avila felt cultural tensions between their lives at home and at school.  The difference is that Rodriguez became so involved in his schooling, that he separated himself from his family and lost the sense of culture he had before he started school and Hernandez-Avila worked just as hard so that she could represent her culture and her family.  The same amount of work led them in very different directions because of their personal motivators. 

"I Just Wanna Be Average" and "Idiot Nation" Response

Michael Moore, author of "Idiot Nation", said "even if there are two hundred million stone-cold idiots in this country, that leaves at least eighty million who'll get what I'm saying - and that's still more than the populations of the United Kingdom and Iceland combined!" (128).   Moore argues that the American people lack intelligence because they don't read enough and aren't taught history in school.  He repeatedly says that they are ignorant, especially political figures, because they complain about children not doing well in school but they don't support the school system with up to date books and certified teachers.  This explains the attitudes of Mike Rose's friends in "I Just Wanna Be Average" because they know that they aren't receiving a good education and therefore aren't likely to get high paying jobs when they graduate, so they don't feel like trying.  They just want to blend in, be average, get by, and move on.  They accepted that they were placed in a very low level curriculum where the teachers barely even know what they are doing and are not the least bit inspiring.  I think today there is this new idea of being successful and being intellectual; they aren't necessarily related.  This makes it so that a lot of American teens are okay with being intellectually average because they can still strive to be a reality TV show host or a movie star or a salesperson.  I think that the school system today has become so convoluted in the way that they separate students into groups depending on whether they are "smart" or "dumb" because it has led to students not learning anything interesting or useful that will help them exercise and expand their minds as well as help them to succeed in life.  Being okay with being "average" shouldn't be acceptable.  We need to strive to be the best people we can be and the school system needs to support that.

"Against School" by John Taylor Gatto - Response

"School has done a pretty good job of turning our children into addicts, but it has done a spectacular job of turning our children into children" (154).  This statement is what really stood out to me in Gatto's article.  He truly believes that our forced school system has a lot less to do with education and more to do with making sure that we are trained to become an obedient labor force that can't think for ourselves.  After reading this article several times, it dawned on me that Gatto is right and I agree with what he had to say.

According to Gatto, there are six unstated purposes of public schools. 
1. The adjustive or adaptive function
We go to school to learn how to react a certain way to authority and do exactly what we are told.  This takes away from our critical judgement/thinking and causes us to believe that it doesn't matter if we are learning something interesting or not as long as we're doing something.
2. The integrating function
Schools conform children to make them all alike.  They make sure that they dress and speak similarly, taking away from their individuality.  This makes all of the children more "predictable" which makes it easy for those who wish to manipulate a large labor force.
3. The diagnostic and directive function
Students' "permanent records" determine their proper social role.
4. The differentiating function
After their social role has been determined, children are trained to be successful only as far as their social role merits, and not any further.  So if you're a "bad kid" with a not so great permanent record, and say you struggle with math, you'll most likely be placed in the lowest level math class.  Then within that class you won't be challenged or pushed, you'll be taught just enough to get by at that level.
5. The selective function
 This refers to Darwin's theory of natural selection as applied to what he called "the favored races".  Schools categorize students into groups.  The ones that are "unfit" receive punishments and poor grades enough that their peers see them as worthless, inferior, or not worth their time as far as forming relationships of any kind goes.  From first grade onwards, teachers have made it so that the good kids are recognized and make it out of school and the bad ones get washed down the drain.
6. The propaedeutic function
This is in place so that a small group of the children will learn to become the next generation of "caretakers".  They will be taught how to manage the forced school system and how to watch over a population of dumbed down people so that large corporations and the government can "proceed unchallenged" (153).

It's weird, and somewhat challenging, to take a step back from everything, everything I've learned from grades K-12, and really examine the system as a whole.  Gatto asks in his article if school is even necessary.  And by school he doesn't mean education, of course education is necessary, but is forced schooling for 12-13 years really necessary?  Probably not.  But this is the norm, this is what we are used to.  Going to school for 9 months a year, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.  That's normal.  And when I thought about it, from day one I learned how to react and respond to authorities in what is considered the socially accepted, appropriate way.  And we just accept it, I accepted that that is how I am supposed to act and I never questioned it.  And that's sort of what they want, they don't want us to question what we are taught.  Just accept it, regurgitate, get a good grade, and move on.  Now to be honest, I enjoyed most of my school years, especially high school.  I liked most of my teachers and made a lot of life long friendships with my peers.  I took more interesting courses as I got older and through those classes I was able to discover what I'm interested in and what I'm passionate about.  And all of those positive things could still have happened without all of the strict and sometimes bizarre rules that my school enforced.  Our society is so used to the public school system and it is so engrained in our brains as being something that is necessary that I don't think we'd be capable of getting rid of it or changing it drastically.  But small changes should definitely be made, such as giving students more freedom to think for themselves and express themselves, and then we can go from there.  We should still go to school, but as Gatto stated we should be able to "manage [ourselves]" (155). 

"What is Marriage?" by Evan Wolfson - Response

I found it somewhat peculiar that Wolfson chose to use the court case Turner vs. Safely in this excerpt.  After reading the introduction, I learned that this excerpt was going to be about gay marriage and gay people gaining the right to legally marry.  In the beginning Wolfson describes how marriage is a mutual concept that all countries around the world share and its many meanings.  I thought that section was entertaining and well written; it kept me wanting to know when he would introduce the concept of gay marriage.

  He decided to ease into gay marriage rights by bringing up another group of people who originally didn't have the right to marry; prisoners.  When the Turner vs. Safely case was introduced to the Supreme Court, they decided that "marriage is such an important choice that it may not be arbitrarily denied by the government" (94).  I believe that Wolfson's rhetorical strategy by sharing this story before he brought up gay marriage was to say 'so convicted felons who broke the law are allowed to get married because it's 'so important', but two people of the same sex who have never broken the law and are in a loving relationship can't?...how is that at all fair?  I believe that Wolfson definitely reached his readers with this approach; it was effective because it makes the reader feel even more sympathy for same-sex couples who don't have the right to marry.  I have to admit I was confused at first as to why the court case was being discussed, but once Wolfson made his point I understood his angle and what he wanted the reader to think about. 

Though bringing up the Turner vs. Safely case begs the question 'if convicted felons can marry why can't gays?', I'm not sure if it is completely relevant to the issue of same-sex marriage.  Gay people that want to get married are asking for the privileges that come with being legally married and starting a family with that status.  Prisoners, though allowed to marry, don't have the same rights as every other United States citizen because, well, they're in prison.  Gays are just like every other citizen in the US and they don't deserve to have less rights because of their sexual orientation.  I commend Wolfson for making a strong argument about this issue and though it may not be one hundred percent relevant, they way he introduced it definitely caught the readers' attention.

"8 is Not Hate: The Meaning of a Proposition" - Response

Jennifer Roback Morse has an interesting view on Proposition 8: The California Marriage Protection Act.  Her thesis in this editorial is that marriage is meant for a man and a woman because marriage is about procreating and all children should be able to have a relationship with a mother and a father.  And "that isn't hateful towards anyone" (83).  She also believes that the California Supreme Court "has greatly overstepped its bounds" (83) because allowing gays to become legally married contradicts what many religious groups believe in and they made it so that being opposed to same-sex marriage is considered "discrimination".  Morse states that voting yes for Proposition 8 is a way for the ordinary citizen of California to protest.  "They are not saying they hate gay people; they are saying the Court is out of control" (83). 

Obviously this is an extremely controversial topic.  I personally believe that if two people truly love each other they should have the opportunity to become legally married no matter what their sexual orientation.  However, I found Morse's editorial to be very persuasive; not persuasive in the sense that I would vote yes or no for Prop 8, but I thought she made many valid points that helped me understand her point of view and persuaded me to trust her.  I trust that Morse does not hate gay people, but that she struggles to agree with the Supreme Court and has a specific ideal of what marriage should be.  She relies on ethos, the customs, practices, and dominant assumptions of a people, to back up her thesis and appeal to the reader.  She explained that voting yes on Prop 8 has nothing to do with her views of gay and lesbian people, but her view of marriage.  She knows that there are people who dislike and discriminate against gays but that is not at all why she is voting yes.  I believe she valiantly proved to people who are gay that they shouldn't assume those voting yes hate them.  Homosexuality has been around for just about as long as human beings have been on this earth, but the concept of gay marriage is still fairly new.  Morse appealed to her readers' customs and practices by stating that marriage is for mothers, fathers, and children, because that is what they are accustomed to and is easy to accept.  She also relied on logos when discussing that allowing same-sex marriage could cause a lot of legal drama between gays and religious institutions.  Morse writes logically and has a confident voice that makes the reader appreciate her opinion and understand why so many people voted yes for Prop 8.  Considering my personal views on this subject, Morse's editorial really made me stop and think about whether I would've voted yes or no; and that shows how Morse as an author appealed to my sense of logic and emotion.

"Looking for Work" by Gary Soto - Response

Gary Soto's narrative "Looking for Work" was really enjoyable to read.  He is a very descriptive writer; I always had a vivid image in my head of the scenes he set.  And I always wanted to know what mini-adventure he would go on next.

I believe that the narrator is attracted to the kind of family life depicted on TV because it seems simpler and more 'put together'.  He views his family as disorganized, dysfunctional, and dirty.  He wishes his family could be more formal like the ones on TV.  However, when he brings this up to his family, they could care less.  It has little impact on them because they are used to their routine and how they live and don't feel the need to change anything or try to impress anyone.  Also ,they don't wake up early in the morning to watch all the TV shows that the narrator did.

The narrator goes looking for work because he decides that he wants to become wealthy "and right away!".  He believes that if he gets a job he will be able to turn his family's life into one of the ideal lives he sees depicted on TV.  However, by the end of the story, the meaning of work has completely changed for the narrator.  He realized that he could be happy with his life and his family just the way it is and also that he truly enjoys helping people no matter the reward.  His attitude changed from seeing everything as not good enough to being zen and just enjoying what is right in front of him and all it has to offer.  He was no longer working to become wealthy, he was working because he liked it.

The mature Soto's thoughts on his family life back when he was nine are that it was perfect just the way it was and now he knows he was fortunate to have such a good family.  In the story he says "I tried to convince them that if we improved the way we looked we might get along better in life" (30).  In my opinion this suggests that now he believes that no matter how they looked or dressed, they would've gotten along just fine.

Food plays a role in this narrative.  Beans and tortillas were always for dinner; reflecting upon their Mexican heritage.  Also fresh fruit from trees in people's yards were highly valued and seen as 'treats'.  I thought it was interesting that for dessert they would go outside to pick a peach off the tree.  Soto compares this to a TV show where they have dessert on a plate, but ultimately he has fun going outside to retrieve his dessert.

The cast of supporting characters in this narrative contribute to the meaning of family within the story because they all influence his family life in different ways.  His siblings and friends are there for him to play with and talk to and remind him, in a way, how to have fun and just be a kid.  His mother rejects his ideas but at the same time is loving and puts a lot of work into caring for her family.  They might not share his perspectives but they all support him and work to maintain a familial balance.

Oxford English Dictionary Assignment: Opportunity

When I think about how I define the word “opportunity”, the first thought that comes to my mind is being given the chance to do something, anything, whether big or small.  You can be given the opportunity of a lifetime, you can get a job opportunity, or maybe you have the opportunity to steal your friend’s last cookie while they aren’t looking.  Regardless of what it is, usually when you are given an opportunity it is a chance to take action, generally for a positive outcome.  

The word “opportunity” comes from Anglo-Norman, French, and classical Latin meaning favorable circumstances, occasion to do something, advantageousness, or timeliness.  It was first used in the early thirteenth century in Old French.  “Opportunity” was introduced in Italian in the early fourteenth century. Therefore this word came into the English language through the process of borrowing.  

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, one definition of “opportunity” is “senses relating to favorable circumstances, position, etc.”  When observing quotes from different time periods in English using “opportunity” under this definition, I noticed a trend.  As the dates become more recent, the quotes have more to do with jobs, companies, and making money.  For example, in 1971, H. Macmillan said “the opportunity of acquiring half the shares in the Regent Oil Company-the other moiety was held by Caltex”.  Though, in earlier centuries, the word “opportunity” was used in expressions or to describe gaining or losing something.  For example, in 1659, N.R. Proverbs stated “opportunity makes a thief”.  And in 1773, S. Johnson said “the wind is now changed, and if we snatch the window of opportunity, an escape from this island is become practicable”.  Both of these quotes are witty sayings that show that opportunity creates options. 

Another definition that the Oxford English dictionary provides for “opportunity” is “the convenience, suitability, or advantageousness of a site or position, especially for being readily accessible”.  This definition was mainly used from the mid fifteen hundreds throughout the seventeen hundreds.  A good example of this is from Gibbon’s Decline and Fall from 1781; “Augustus, who had observed the opportunity of the place, prepared a capacious harbor”.  “Opportunity” in its contemporary form is generally not used with this definition.  Today, “opportunity” is used quite generously in the working world.  “Job opportunity” is a common phrase that one hears today is our society.  Sometimes one might say if you don’t take an opportunity you could run the risk of losing a business.  So the word opportunity in its contemporary usage is generally revolved around the working world.

Exploring the word “opportunity” will help me interpret the readings and discussions in this course because we observe how “other” is defined, and we are given the opportunity to look deeper into the different ways that people live their lives.  Knowing the true meaning and ways to use “opportunity” is important because the research we conduct in this course is going to provide us with the opportunity to be more open minded and accept change. 

 

Works Cited 

"Oxford English Dictionary." Opportunity. 3rd. Oxford University Press, 2011. Web. 3 Feb 2012.