Taylor Brockhoff

Taylor Brockhoff March Blog Post

During the month of March, the concept that was the most important to me was advocacy. Previously, I didn’t really think of myself as an an advocate, for anything. But after learning that we can be advocates through reflexivity and by beginning to realize how the system works for or against you, along with other ways, I believe I am an advocate for several causes.

Amy Arelleno advocates her belief through speaking up. In “Word Wielding Womb: Using the Body to Fight the War on Women”, Arellano uses her voice to express the oppression she feels as a woman in our society. Through her own autoethnographies, Arellano states the rights she deserves. While her poems are personal and stem from her own experiences, she doesnt write for sympathy. Arellano raises awareness for these relevant issues that can be overlooked. Through poetry she is not only able to relay facts and statistics to us, but forces us to become aware of her emotions and feelings about these oppressions.

Her poem “The Right to Family: Price of Parenthood” was the most striking to me.

“But a bill that thinks two loving people

Make unfit parents”

Through those two lines, she is able advocates for same sex couples that are loving and able to provide nurturing homes for children, but arent allowed to because of a law. She just wants the same rights as everyone that she deserves. Arellano as an advocate is helpful to trying to end the war on women. More people, especially myself, should have the courage to speak out and advocate for equal rights for all people.