March Blog

Nikael Miller
March Blog Post
03/30/2017

The reading that stuck with me the most in this section was definitely the collection of poems written by Amy Arellano. Last semester I took a literature class that focused a lot on the dissection of poetry so that we could better understand it from new perspectives. Using the techniques that I learned in that class, I was able to really dig into this collection in a way that helped me gain a new respect for Arellano's work and the oppression of women that she was speaking on.

Of the four poems that were included, there were two that resonated with me more than the other two. The first one that grabbed my attention was her poem titled, "Mississippi Burning aka Personhood Amendments". This particular poem was in regards to the right (or lack of) to have an abortion if a woman chooses. There were a couple lines within it that really made me think more deeply about my own beliefs on the subject. I grew up in a very, very conservative town in Idaho. I have always been on the more liberal side of views in comparison to many people within my community, but because of the total domination of certain views, I have not had a lot of opportunity to really question the subject. Almost everyone within my town is white, Christian, and heterosexual. Since coming to college, the diversity has been a huge breath of fresh air. When reading this poem I saw ties to religion that were super eye opening in regards to my overall reaction to this poem. For example, a couple lines within it read, "You are asking voters to redefine life/ play God with the definition of creation/ not created of clay or rib/ instead created of ballot". Being a Christian myself, I understood the trouble behind the argument against abortion that she was referring to. While most Christians do believe that abortion is "playing God" and a form of murder, the government/state outlawing it is hypocritical of this argument. The laws are saying that it is "playing God" to get one, yet isn't it "playing God" if the law makes the decisions for other people when it isn't their life?? Since when is it the government's responsibility to make sure we are on good terms with Him? In my opinion, it should be to each their own and if you believe in some form of life after death, then you can face God for that decision when you get there and if you do not believe in those ideas then who are we to enforce His rules upon you. It may be time for the law to take its own advice and "quit playing God" and instead just focus on making sure that no matter what a woman's decision is, it is done safely. Especially when a large majority of the people wanting to outlaw it are men, who will never truly understand what it is like to be pregnant.

The second poem that hit home with me was the one called "The Price of Parenthood". This one discussed the obstacles that same sex couples face when wanting to start a family. Like I said above, where I grew up for the first 18 years of my life, there was literally zero diversity. My high school had a total of 81 people in grades 9-12, and while the school district tried to start a LGBT club, there were only two people in it. While I am completely all for "love is love", I cannot honestly say that I have the emotional understanding of the horrible things same sex couples have to go through just to get the same liberties that heterosexual couples get every day. This poem changed that for me. The emotions were so easily felt and just by reading it I was able to gain so much more understanding of the lack of options that they have when trying to have a family. The fact that we still have lawmakers that are denying orphaned children to a comfortable, safe home purely because they do not want children to live in homes with two same sex parents makes me insane. How in the actual hell do we sleep at night knowing that there are people that are willing to take innocent children out of an awful situation and we aren't allowing it!? It would make both parties in the situation feel so much more complete. The couple would get the chance to be parents like many of us dream of from an early age, and it would give the child the loving environment that they are most likely not getting in an adoption center somewhere. If it is a win-win for both ends, I have no idea how some people truly believe they are doing the right thing by either making these laws or not making the efforts to fight them. This poem was such an eye opener for me in the best way possible. Also, the statistics about same sex couples being more likely to molest a child are B.S. Below are some more positive statistics to remind us all of the capabilities same sex couples actually bring to the table as parents.

http://www.livescience.com/17913-advantages-gay-parents.html
https://www.lifelongadoptions.com/lgbt-adoption/lgbt-adoption-advantages