Wednesday, February 28, 2018
February Blog Post
“It can be hard to stand up
straight in a crooked room.” This sentence from Sister Citizen
by Melissa Harris-Perry really helped me see how a person
can be influenced and shaped by
their surroundings.
The visual of telling a person to sit up straight while they are in a
crooked
chair in a crooked room seems simple, but it’s really difficult
because they determine if they are
sitting up straight by looking at their surroundings. Some people
will figure it out and sit up
straight, while others will end up sitting crooked even when
they think they are straight.
Even if I can’t imagine myself as a minority due to gender,
race or culture in a certain situation,
I can easily image myself trying to sit up straight in a
crooked chair in a crooked room. It
would
be difficult because I am looking at everything around me to
make my decisions. Our
surroundings influence our actions
and behaviors, intentionally or
unintentionally, and we don’t even realize it is happening.
In addition, people need to be
aware that what they communicate about
something because it is creating or contributing to the
environment of others. In one of our
last readings “Between Speech and Silence: Reflections on
Accountability”, Ann Russo tells
about a white feminist standing up and speaking out about
minority rights, but she learned
she was undermining the situation and reinforcing the environment
of stereotype of minority
women instead of helping the situation. It is important to remember, we can influence
an environment just as easily as being influenced by the
environment. According to an article
in Mutual Responsibility, scientific research has shown that
if genes predispose a certain
behavior, but the environment doesn’t support it, the
behavior usually won’t manifest just like
the person trying to sit straight in a crooked chair. Another reading in the Law Library Journal,
has psychologists and other social scientists agreeing that
people are not always consciously
aware of what they are doing and why they are do things
because their environment is
influencing their behavior, just like the crooked chair in
the crooked room.
Links
http://www.mutualresponsiblity.org/science/3-ways-the-environment-shapes-
human-behavior
Feb Blog Post
February Blog Post-
Quoted from week 8 Rhetoric as Symbolic Action.
"What people communicate, and how they communicate it, has real effects on others and their perceptions." This sentence accurately describes what most people think is a fundamental concept but really not everyone thinks twice about what/ how they say something effects others. Like the other info in that chapter it talks about how there are many cases in which children go home crying because of the words of others, and potentially many commit suicide because of it. But on the flip side it does talk about the great impact that words can have on the world. Like the words of Martin Luther King, or Abe Lincoln, their revolutionary voices helped shape the world into a better place, and their ideas changed the perceptions of others.
Symbols are another way to portray a perception and to communicate their ideas, like in a sign during a march. For example the Women's March often has many signs and posters representing their cause for women's rights. They hold up signs to show others there views, and some that see it can understand their position and have their opinions change. Womensmarchla.org said that over 750,000 LA community members joined together to march for their cause. This got so much media coverage that thousands of people around the world saw it and that communication through visuals created an impact on peoples views. Communication has the ability to start great change or to destroy peoples lives. It is how we use it and what we use it for.
February Blog Post
A chapter that stood out to me when
it comes to communication would have to be Chapter 6, Identity and Perception. Who you are as a person and who people perceive
you as will ultimately decide how they communicate with you. A quote that stands out to me in the chapter
is by Chuck Palahniuk. The quote says, “Nothing of me is original. I am the
combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known.”
(Pg.100). The quote is basically saying that you are who you are because
of other people, how people have treated you and what they have done to you has
made you into the person you are today. I
can agree with the quote because I tend to move differently when people act a
certain way around me. That is why your perception
of others and others perception of you is so important. People perceive me as a hard working and self
motivated individual. They perceive me that way because of how I act around them and because of my
actions.
February Blog Post
“The words of public figures, as well as symbols of citizenship, possess the power to lead, reflect, inspire, praise, unite, confront, provoke and entertain.” This is the sentence that stood out to me most in this weeks reading titled “Rhetoric as Symbolic Action.” Many times I’ve heard people tell other people not to get offended about someone’s words. “Oh don’t be so sensitive” is a common phrase when someone takes offense to something someone else says. In the past presidential election there was a lot of language used that offended me as a woman, and offended many other people for several different reasons. So many people thought that taking offense to these words was somehow weak, or being sensitive. But to me, they are so much more than words, especially when a President or a public figure is speaking them. When Donald Trump accused Mexicans of all being rapists/criminals, he wasn’t just making a racist comment. He was making a movement in which it became okay to think or say that and call it politics. When a powerful figure speaks, their words become more than just language. Martin Luther King Jr. said many influential things in his life, and his words became a movement, they became passion, and they became his legacy. His words called others to action and made others aware of the issues at hand and his words unified a movement. Or what about Hitler. His words created a movement and a legacy, but for evil. His words dehumanized an entire race and had damage that reached far beyond just words. So that’s why it’s perfectly okay to be offended by words, because when those words are being spoken by someone with potential power, they can turn into something far greater. I went three years in a high school listening to rednecks make bad comments about women, and it was offensive, but never frightening. Because I knew that everyone else thought that these rednecks were dumb and they would never have an audience bigger than all their logging buddies and I could rise above what they were saying. But when someone like a very popular presidential candidate says something, it becomes scary because you know that he’s going to have a million people who agree just because of who he is. Words are not just words, especially when spoken by those in power. I think the reason this sentence stuck out to me is because it confirmed a previous belief that I already had about the power of public figures and words. The power of words is already in the hands of public figures, and I think because of that it is perfectly okay to find things they say offensive and call them out. There is no such thing as “overly sensitive” when we know the power of words.
February Blog Post
I decided to write about Manda Hicks on her experience being a soldier. Her story was interesting to me because its her personal experience of being a solider. Its about her experiences being a female enlisting in the military. The struggles that she went to in order to prove to people that she can do whatever she wants. I am a firm believer that if you work hard and stick to your goal it will get you places. I always wanted to join the military but I wanted to make sure that a graduate with my Bachelors first.
"Being a female soldier is reveling in a different world
where merit matters and you can become a leader.
Being a female soldier is a lot like being a soldier, most
of the time, but sometimes, it isn’t.
Being a female soldier is being called a cunt in basic
training and a dumb slut after you are promoted to non commissioned
officer.
Being a female soldier is listening to the Colonel that
works in the same room chortle about sexual harassment
allegations involving Arnold Schwarzenegger, crowing
“That ugly bitch is lucky he touched her!”
Being a female soldier is having the same Colonel notice
your reaction, and say
“Don’t you ever glare at me like that again, do you
understand?”
Being a female soldier is having to tell that Colonel “Yes
sir.”
Being a female soldier is learning that there is nothing
you can’t do,
only things you don’t want to do,
and things that people won’t let you do.
Being a female soldier is being in charge of men.
Being a female soldier is having people of color in
charge of you.
Being a female soldier is performing a type of drag. And
liking it.
Being a female soldier is competing and winning.
Being a female soldier is handing flowers to the incoming
commander’s spouse—regardless of the gender of either of
you.
Being a female soldier is the same as being a male soldier"( Hicks, 463).
This quote about Manda Hicks stuck to me because its her personal experience being a soldier. She was treated just like everyone else. She didn't get special treatment because she was a woman. Manda Hicks went through a lot just to get where shes at today. I like how she stated that being a female soldier is reveling in a different world where you can become a leader. Becoming a solider is a hard role to have because you are serving your country. A lot of people look up to you and you never want to let anyone of them down. Reading Manda Hicks story made me realize that she is a fighter and will fight for what she believes in.
February Post
Isiah Moore
Blog #2
Harris-Perry – “Sister
Citizen”
A
quote from the Crooked Room that I would that really stuck out to me was, “They
act like they don’t know that black women are the backbone of the family. We
keep things together. The man may be the head of the household, but we are the
backbone and the backbone has got to be strong.” (Harris-Perry)
When
I read this reading by Harris-Perry this quote of the book really stuck out to
me because I felt connected with what the author was saying. My mother is
African American and she is a single mother. Growing up she was the man of the
house and the backbone, to this day she is still the sole provider within my
family. Within the reading of the “Crooked Room,” some names or myths about
black women are “gold diggers, “overly demanding,” and “argumentative,” which I
disagree with every statement. When I see these sayings about black women I
think of my mother, the only word that comes into my head is independent,
hardworking and self-driving. Black women in families are the strongest and
leaders and helps their children down the correct path. Any mother at that,
women are the backbone of the families, doing so much that goes unnoticed.
Tyson Maeva - February Post
“‘What
is it like to be a female soldier?’
Well,
it is making the unintelligible intelligible. It is going where you don’t
belong. It is being who you are not supposed to be. It is creating new meaning.
It is so many things that are never expected, never articulated, and I insist
that you understand my experience on my terms. I insist that my narrative be
mine.” (Hicks)
The
last couple lines of Hicks’ reading really hit me deep when reading. While I
have a basic understanding of what she went through, I did not experience what
feelings that she talked about. However, in my own life, I have had my share of
questioning myself and my self-worth. Being Samoan is a big deal to me. I feel
pride in my culture and saying that I have Samoan blood running through my
blood. However, I did not always feel like this throughout my life. Growing up,
I tried out for an All-Star rugby team. The tryouts had two different age
groups working together. There was a Samoan kid trying out for the older team
that was a great athlete who was very well known through California. Being
excited to be around him, I went up to introduce myself and say that I was also
Samoan. He began speaking Samoan, which I unfortunately do not know how to
speak. When he realized I did not know what he was talking about, he asked if I
was even full Samoan. I shook my head embarrassed. He walked away from me
saying that half-bloods are not real Samoans. Reading Hicks’ experiences in the
army brought me back to this situation in my life. We both shared times where
people are telling us who we are or are not and what we should or should not be
doing. However, while it did hurt and make me question myself at the time, I
could care less about it now. The phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones,
but words will never hurt me” are only true if you do not allow peoples’ words
to hurt you. Listening to what people say is something that Hicks’ and I have
not been able to avoid, but letting those words shape who we are is something
we both refuse to let happen.
I
also identified myself as an athlete. Ever since I was in grade school, I was
always involved in at least one sport a year if not three. Entering high
school, my two goals that I needed to achieve was to graduate high school and receive
a full ride scholarship to a Division I football program. Throughout those four
years, I busted my butt working out and studying film to create the best
version of myself I could. Fortunately, I was able to earn multiple
scholarships before my senior season of football and commit to Boise State. At
the end of my senior season, before I was able to sign any papers officially being
accepted into Boise State, I tore my ACL. My world crashed right before my
eyes. I was thinking to myself that Boise State was going to pull their
scholarship from me, just like all the other schools did. I did not know what I
was going to do. This was the first time that I could not call myself an
athlete. Losing that part of my identity and my dreams created a time of
depression for me. I lost self-worth and did not think I was good at anything
else at that point in my life. Luckily, through months of rigorous rehab and
training, I was able to make a full recovery. However, many athletes around the
world are not able to bounce back like I did. For anybody who is going through
the same situation that I did or if anybody knows someone who is, I have found
a link that goes more into depth about what high profile profession athletes
have went through after giving up sports.
http://believeperform.com/wellbeing/life-after-sport-depression-in-retired-athletes/
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