Wrap up, more Adams & LaKay

So class on Wednesday was interesting to say the least.  When I was at work on Tuesday a co-worker showed me the cartoon and asked me what I thought about it.  I just stood there kind of staring at it for a while not able to form a sentence.  I finally managed to sputter out that I wasn't sure if it was really bad, or good.  He, a black man, just looked at me with his head tilted to the side and asked in what way could this be good.  The only thing I could think of is that it will bring more attention to this issue.  I wasn't sure if it was a racist cartoon, or a cartoon about racism.  Either way, I would hate to think that the artist of this cartoon will get kicked out for sharing her opinion.  We all have the right to say, think, and draw as we wish; it was after all in the opinion section.  I hope that she can (to some point) remain anonymous to the public to prevent further backlash.
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The last couple of Adams Chapters I read were really frustrating to me.  Although they were really interesting, it bothers me that we still have to fight for equality.  I found chapter 84 to be one of the most interesting.  Ellen Goodman wrote about how gay adoption plays a role in her life.  I know some religions will not suport this, but I was not aware that Mitt Romney filed a bill to grant religious exemption to discrimination laws. (I do not follow politics THAT closely, so maybe I'm behind a bit.)  Goodman raises the question that if you give a church permission to discriminate against gays, what will come next?  Discrimination against race and religion for people who want to adopt?  Now there are 16 states working to pass laws tha ban gay adoptions.  I feel like we are taking a step back in our society with these laws.  The 2000 Census estimated 250,000 kids were being raised by same sex couples.  Same sex couples are just as capable of raising a family as a heterosexual couple! 

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I wrote about LaKay in one of my earlier blogs.  She is a young girl with cerebral palsy at a school in the Houston area and recently fell using her walker.  Now the school district wants to take away her walker and put her in a wheelchair

Here is the Today Show clip and story:
http://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10910817-school-bans-girl-with-cerebral-palsy-from-using-walker
This is a petition, sign to support LaKay, I know I did :)
http://search.proquest.com/socabs/docview/61592054/135C5EB2B3D520EFCF7/6?accountid=7118


HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!

Women in the Advertisement World

After reading chapter 66 of Adams, it reminded me of some topics we went over in one of my sociology classes: the media and it's use of the female body.  Everywhere you look there are advertisements, there is no way to escape it.  However, the ads you see on television now are getting a bit more risque. 
For example one night I was watching the Oxygen channel and fell asleep watching tv.  I wake up in the middle of the night to them selling sex toys on tv!  (sorry if I'm making any of you comfortable, but just throwing this out there.)  Could you imagine how awkward that would be if one of my family members happened to walk in and see that?  I know I would be thouroughly embarrassed.  You're probably thinking, "So, what, it is the middle of the night."  And I would agree; however, it also gets weird when your watching television with your mom and all the sudden a trojan or KY yours and mine commercial comes on the screen.  Especially if there is a kid in the room with their head tilted to the side trying to make sense of what just happened. (Come on, I know I can't be the only one weirded out by this.)

Ok, back to my original ramble about body image.  Everybody knows it and there is no use in denying it that sex sells, but does this really need to be taken to the extreme?  One advertisement (that I thought I would never see again after Paris Hilton)  is the Carls Jr. commercial.  Seriously?  You think looking at a half clothed women makes me hungry, let alone want to eat one of your stinking burgers? Heck no! (just in case y'all havent seen it, it's below)  Any time it comes on TV I can't imagine wanting to eat their food, but yet I bet their sales have increased.

Another thing that is blown extremely out of proportion is the way women look in magazines.  Models, celebrities in photo shoots, they all get photo shopped when they look perfect in the first place.  The young women who read these magazines, (I'll admit it I read Seventeen and Cosmo girl) wish to look like these women who are now completely fake.  In my sociology class last semester we watched a documentary, Codes of Gender. (available at the Fine Arts Library, I recommend it!)  It talked about how women place themselves in ads to look vulnerable, or how they rely on men and are the submissive character when photographed with males.  To appear vulnerable women touch their face, cant, and have the weird neck bend.  Some of their positions are so awkward, you know it can't be comfortable.  The documentary even went on to discuss how males ALWAYS have to appear dominant or rugged in photos or else it is considered gay advertisement.  For example you will never see a man holding his face or akward poses like women.  They always stand strong, trying to get the dominant or mysterious look. It was last semester so I can't remember all of the details, but I highly suggest you check it out.

This a few years old, but if y'all haven't seen it already, it is really eye opening.

Lastly,

Katie Hobbs, a representative of Arizona, is trying to pass a bill which would require advertisers to put a disclaimer on their advertisment if it was in anyway airbrushed.  I personally think this is a great idea.  Young women (teenagers-early 20's) are so impressionable.  Looking at thin women withn no imperfections is who most of those girls would like to be.  However if this bill was passed (which Hobbs thinks it has little chance, but is still trying) it would show the young women in our society that no one is perfect and we all have our flaws.  Below is the link to an AZ news article.  I encourage you to read it to find out a little more info.  Have a great weekend!

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/02/14/20120214arizona-bill-takes-aim-airbrushed-women-ads.html

School District Takes Away Child's Walker

Hey hope everyone is having a great week.  This is something one of my friends on Facebook posted yesterday and I just wanted to share it and get the word out there.  A school district is trying to prevent one of their students who has cerebral palsy from using her walker (that she has been using for the past two years) because it is not safe.  Listen to what this 'employee' has to say about it.  I just discovered it so I'll try to find more on it in my post for this weekend.  The music at the beginning (although I'm kind of ashamed to say it) I felt was just a sympathy thing, but the first steps are very touching.  I encourage y'all to repost this and spread the word.  In the comments below the video you can see people are already taking action.

3/23 Update: Already The Houston News Channels have got a hold of the story.

Fox Houston and Click2Houston.com

In just one day the video got about 8500 views so share it!

'The High Cost of Low Price'

Walmart.  What is there to say about it?  Before Monday I would've said something like, "I love Walmart!  Cheaper than the other places."  But now I have experienced something I will never forget.  I feel like the documentary "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price" forever changed my opinion of the store.

First off, I never knew anything about the changes walmart was making in communities.  To see the small 'Ma and Pop' stores run out of business was heart breaking.  These people built their business from the ground up and have been running it for generations!  All it took was one Walmart to pop up and these small businesses were immediately run into the ground.

When the documentary first started I was wondering why previous workers were agreeing to participate in this film.  Then I realized why!  Horrible benefits, no chance of promotion, poor work conditions overseas, and the fact that you can't even whisper the word union without your job being in jeopardy!

There are so  many things wrong with this that I can't even point out which one annoys me the most.  So I'll just list another.  The fact that their own employees can donate a total of 5 million dollars to help their co-workers is amazing.  Whats even more amazing is that the stingy owners of the company only donated $6,000!  Really? You are worth billions of dollars!  There is no possible way you can spend that money in one life time so why not give it away!!

I think we can all see how the issue of social justice ties into this.  With a multi-billion dollar corporation, how can you encourage your employees to use government assistance.  Kudos to the people who have taken their issues to court to fight this evil corporation.  I hope with all of those lawsuits that some type of justice can be brought to all these people who deserve much better.

So, after that long ramble I would like to say that from here on out, (technically since Monday)  I am going to try my best to boycott Walmart stores.  I know this will be extrememely difficult, but I do not want to support a corporation like this in any way.  No groceries, no school supplies, no health products, and no gas.  At this point I don't even want to be associated with a corporation like that.



After we watched it in class I went home and literally told my sister and brother-in-law every detail I could remember.  So now after sharing the knowledge my sister wants to see it to become more aware of these issues.   She also told me about another documentary, 'Food Inc.'  I haven't watched it yet, but you can expect me to report back on it when I do.  Here is a short preview of it if you're interested, have a great weekend!

The Debt for Diploma System

Chapter 31 of Adams caught my attention of the student debt problem and taught me some things I didn’t really know about, and some things that I can personally vouch for.

The GI Bill is something I have heard of but didn’t really know what it was, so let me make this short.  This bill was created to help returning veterans ‘readjust’ to the civilian lifestyle by providing money for education.  In 1948 veterans received an annual amount of $500.  You’re probably thinking, “So what, that’s enough money for rent.”  I thought the same thing until I read that back then that was enough money to cover almost a full year’s tuition at Harvard!  Another step forward for students was the Higher Education Act which extended benefits to those who are not veterans.  LBJ’s plan in this was to allow every high school student to go to college, no matter what their background by providing funding such as Pell Grants.

One section in this chapter gave some ‘cost-reduction strategies;’ one of them being community colleges. For two and a half years I attended a community college and MADE money going to school.  Tuition was very low, about $40 a credit.  So if you are a full time student taking 4 or more courses a semester, you’re looking at spending about $500 a semester on tuition.  Add in about $150-$200 for books and your still under $1,000 a semester!

Luckily I was eligible to receive financial aid through FASFA, so I received the Pell Grant every year.  If I remember right it was around $3,000 to $4,000.  Every semester I banked almost $1,000, just by going to school! Include a part time job on campus and after a while I had a nice cushion of a savings account.  I decided to get my associates just in case I needed something to fall back on if I didn’t finish school, but in the end found myself looking at universities.  Once I transferred here to UT, I found out that grants were nowhere near enough to cover tuition, and let’s not forget books.  So like many of the other students here, student loans are a must to cover costs.  Just like the stories told in the chapter, I too, and most of you will have similar stories to tell of how long it takes to pay off the loans.

Racism & American Indians

Chapter 10 of Adams talks about 'the real problem with Indian mascots,' and how they are used all over, but many do not see the problem with this.  Coming from a school district who's mascot was the 'Braves,'  has got me thinking that I may have been a passive racist all of those years.  Reading the beginning of the chapter described my high school almost perfectly.

If you walked down our school halls on a regular day you could see our school colors and pictures of tomawak and Indian head dresses.  I remember our actuall mascot wore a large head dress with large feathers and beads.  I am not well educated on Native American history, but I'm pretty sure that the 'braves' or warriors, were not the ones wearing head dresses that a chief, or leader of the tribe would wear.  The name of our mascott was 'LaCoNaJo,'  the first two letters of the four towns that made up our school district.  I have no idea how someone thought of this name or why it stuck, but i guess someone suggested it and they 'thought it sounded like a native name.'  These two things alone show our ignorance of this culture.

On a Friday night the bleachers would be full of people showing their school spirit.  I was in the band and remember one song inparticular called 'On the Warpath.'  This was the song that would pump up the football players and everyone in the bleachers when we were down in the last couple minutes of the game.  The cheerleaders and  whole audience would be going with the beat of the music doing the 'tomahawk chop' with their arms.  As if that wasn't bad enough, this is even harder to admit.  We celebrated our school spirit all the time; even if it was during the National Anthem.  As you all know, the end line of the national anthem is, "and the home of the brave."  Well at every football game it was no surprise to hear the audiance, cheerleaders, and the football players shout out 'BRAVES!' rather than brave on the last word of the anthem. 

I don't mean to bash my school, and part of me still feels like this is just a mascot and a sense of belonging for a small community, but another part of me knows this is wrong and something should be done to change it.  But in a small town like that, who would be willing to change a tradition that is well over 50 years old?


On a side note, I want to share this article with y'all. 
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/02/14/20120214arizona-bill-takes-aim-airbrushed-women-ads.html   (Don't worry, it's just a short news article)
I heard about it on the radio and decided to look it up online.  This was one of the first google results so if you want more information on this you'll probably have to dig a little deeper.  I think this is an amazing thing that Katie Hobbs is doing and would like to know y'alls opinions, so comment about it. :) Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Another Zinn Rant

Although Zinn's readings are interesting, I can't help but question what I've learned about history up to this point.  To me his book is like 'the truth' of history; he is not afraid to give it to us straight or worry about judgement.  I found Chapter 7 (the reading on the Native American tribes and Jackson) to be just as interesting as Columbus; mostly because there was information in here that I never knew about.
In the beginning years of Washington's presidency, his secretary of War, Henry Knox, agreed that Indians were the 'prior occupants and posses the right of soil.'   And Jefferson as well said that Indians who lived within state boundaries were not to be messed with, and that any white settlers in their area would be removed.  However, this did not stop the white settlers.  They moved west past the mountains and within 9 years, outnumbered the Indians 1 to 8. 

In past history classes, of course I have read about Indian removal and their sufferings, but that's never really how I ever thought about it.  I would slightly like to blame television for part of this.  When I was younger, there was nothing I loved more than sitting around and watching westerns with my family on the weekends. (Strange, I know.)  While not all of the movies and shows were alike, I always got the sense that the Indians were the 'bad guys' for attacking the white settlers.  I always thought things like 'Why are they attacking?  All these people are doing is trying to pass through their land.'  Today I would love to have a nice house up in the hills with plenty of land around as my source of income.  No city noise, no nosey neighbors, just land all around.  And I know this is how the settlers felt.  However, they didn't realize that the land wasn't theirs.  The government had no right to set up 'Indian territories' forcing them to live here and not there while these new immigrants took over their natural land.

But over the years I am slowly learning the real truth.  Something Zinn opened my eyes to was the real Andrew Jackson and his Indian raids.  Jackson had a 'round about way' of getting what he wanted, but in the end we all know how it worked out.  It still amazes me that what I learned in grade school and what I am learning today about American history are two completely different things.