Response to Katie: "Mark and Shawn"

I agree to disagree with Katie. Though she didn’t exactly give a great deal of opinion but from what she did say I agree that the experience for these two men was substantial and they are not necessarily wrong to be upset with fraternities. Anyways. I think that people can do whatever they please to their own bodies. If you want to cut into your flesh with a scalpel to feel erotic and emotional then that is your business. However, even though I think people should do as they please, I think this whole body modification is ridiculous. Your body does not want you to do these types of things. It is just too extreme for my taste. Now I am a little hypocritical because I am not opposed to tattoos or piercings. Though I think tattoos that have no meaning and peircings that are in other places besides your ears are a little crazy too. Ok, to some the shock of being branded feels good, well personally I think these people need to see a shrink. I’m sorry if this sounds distasteful and judgmental, well that would be because it is. Putting stars in your forehead because you liked Star Trek as a kid, or cutting yourself to feel pleasure is disgusting. Get a hobby and draw a picture to express yourself. Wear a shirt saying, “Hey I’m GAY” if you want people to know it and not get you confused with some Fraternity idiot. This whole thing I find very upsetting because I find the body to be a beautiful thing unto itself, not embellished with unnatural scars or stretched earlobes. Just be who you are because that is who you are. You shouldn’t need to destroy your body from it’s natural state to accomplish self expression. Get a life people.

Fattness in the media....

I think our in class discussion on Wednesday was really interesting about issues with weight and what messages the media and such are sending to kids as influences. I think that it would not be such a bad things to stop glorifying women who are deemed overweight in the media as “just being themselves.” Because I do think that it sends a negative image to kids saying that it is ok if you are overweight and it doesn’t matter. However on the flip side I do also think that there are people who cannot physically help that they may be overweight. Some people are built in larger proportions and some people have slower metabolisms and other such conditions that make it nearly impossible to be thin. I really can’t make up my mind about the situation but it seems that instead of telling kids, yes, be fat, it’s ok, we should be telling them to get exercise, stop sitting in front of the tv and such. Kids should be able to be themselves and they should be happy, along with teens, and adults, but I have not met anyone who is overweight that is happy about being big. Some people accept it, but that doesn’t mean they like it. So I just think that this Meme Roth character may have some rightness to her cause. Criticize me if you must, but consider do you want your children to be unhealthy and overweight? I certainly don’t. Roth takes some extremes but her overall cause is not totally crazy.

Response to Cameron: Light vs. Dark

After reading what Cameron thought about this I also took some time to reflect on the issue of light and dark in terms of skin color. I am not one for tanning, or using darkening lotions to make it appear that I am tan or whatever. It isn’t natural. I am a firm believer in that natural is better. I think for special occasion and such, dressing up, wearing makeup, or thing like that are ok. But to sit in artificial light to make your skin darker does not seem right. Cameron talked about how being tan may look more attractive in our culture and how she used to use creams to make her appear darker but for what point. Do you really want to people to like you for your unnatural self. I personally would rather someone accept me for me and not a cream. I also look at tanning in tanning salons as very dangerous. Your skin does not want you to do it and it looks disgusting to me. A girl on my floor has been doing a lot of tanning recently and she is beginning to look orange and fake. I don’t know, people can do what they chose, as is the glory of America, but consider getting what you could have done instead when you are lying in a hospital bed with cancer because you wanted to be tan instead of natural.

So I just read the two articles for tomorrows class and I found them interesting yet quite boring. I do not consider myself a racist person in the slightest. I think people to think that other races are inferior or “bad” in some way are disgusting and should live in their own colony on a deserted island because to be honest with everyone, we were all muts at one point or another along the genealogy. Anyways…again, I’m not saying this trying to be mean or racist of whatever, and I don’t know what it is like to be black, obviously but it seems like all we’ve read in this class about black people is them complaining about themselves or white people. From what we’ve read it just seems like the authors think that all white people want black people to write about their hair. I could care less! I have a black friend who changes her hair a lot and it was interesting and she would talk about it some and I’d compliment her on it. Nobody that I know of asked her to talk about her hair in detail and all that crap that Pearl Cleage was talking about. I have nothing against black people and their hair and if they complain, however it does get annoying as a white person when I’m accused for everything wrong in black people’s lives. I didn’t think that I did anything and I apologize if I did.

Essay #2

I'm feeling a tad uneasy about this essay. I have brainstormed and thought a great deal about it and yet I still cannot come up with a starting point or anything really to talk about for that matter. I chose to do the third topic because it seemed to spark the most interest for me but it is still a challenge. I also decided to focus in on body image, and even more specifically, body image in women. However even though i have some ideas and thoughts about what to write about I am just feeling as if anything I write will have already been written. To me it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to write about stuff that has already been way over done. Everybody already knows that we live in a superficial world where women in general are not secure about their physical self and wish to be different. Everyone knows that women think a lot about their body image and have a lot of pressure to be beautiful and what not. Even now when I'm writing this it just seems like bla bla bla. I just don't know where to start or how to make what I write sound better and more interesting. I just feel like it has all been done and I don't want to add to the rubbish of worthless writing about topics that have already been tirelessly written about. Bla...bla...bla...

Response to Dan: Transforming

In reading "The Other Body: Reflections on Difference, Disablility and Identity Politics" by Ynestra King, we get a very intimate look at the life of a disabled person. I thought her writing was very powerful becuase it was obvious that she felt very passionately about the subject. The idea that being disabled has become an identitiy is one that we don't normally consider but I feel that she is right. We don't often take into consideration the handicapped when going about our daily lives or even in the examples she tells us, who we see socially. I thought the story she gave about the woman in the wheelcahir who wore provacative clothing was very interesting because she said how it was clothing not "suitable" for a handicapped person. Things like that we don't normally consider but she strikes it right on the mark with how people would react to a situation like that. I thought her last line was the best, saying that disability is the only one that can happen to anyone in an instant. This sentence struck me beucase it is true how fast our body and our lives can change. The transformation that King talks absolutely exists because even after all the characteristics that make us unique, we are still human and we are still identified by how we look on the outside.

Response to Brianne: March 17th

I agree a lot with what Brianne talked about in this post. There are people out there who will do just about anything no matter how it will hurt others. After finishing Freaks I liked how the film did turn the term of “Freak” and made the normal looking people the “freaks” because of their attitude and actions towards the other performers in the Sideshow. I also liked how Brianne made a connection with teenagers and how they act. However, I would disagree and say that the actions she talked about like being “vicious for no reason to someone who is different either to hide the fact that they insecure, or to get a laugh” are not solely denoted to teenagers, but to all ages. I haven’t come across an age group who has not fallen victim to the torment of treating people who are different with less respect than they deserve. It doesn’t really make sense why someone would treat someone cruelly just because they are anatomically different, because technically we are all anatomically different from one another. In that respect we are all the same because of our differences. Oh how I love to be all philosophical. Yes.

Response to Kit: "The Masculine Mystique"

I wish I had read this before I had made my previous post, however this will complete my requirements for the week, so what the hay. I was glad to read the thoughts of someone who felt the same as I did. I liked how she talked about her journalism days and how her teacher told her “interviews weren’t real writing” and she can now see why. I hadn’t even thought that perhaps some of my confusion did arise from how the writer would mention Stallone’s actions and such, but it did make for a very mottled composition. I also really agreed with her last few statements. “Overall, I liked the idea of this piece. It was thinking outside the box. It had an interesting message in relation to stereotypes, gender roles, and the male identity.” This is some of what I had wanted to speak to in my earlier post but I can never seem to get my ideas out in just the way I want. So I was glad to read that other people felt as I did after reading the piece.

Sylvester Stallone

This piece about Stallone was interesting. I was very surprised how smart he sounds. I mean his vocabulary is rather extensive, I didn’t know a bunch of the words he said. I thought that was cool just because people in his realm (macho-wacho men) are stereotypically “stupid”, but Stallone wasn’t like that at all. He had real determination in his responses to Susan Faludi. Some of the things he said were kind of what I would expect. Just the stuff about he is a stereotype and people only see him one way and see men certain ways and bla bla bla. Anyways, I would have liked to hear him talk about how he is different or maybe talk about his life as an action hero. He made it seem like being who he has been for the past 30-40 years has been bad and a bad influence. However I believe that a person of his celeb magnitude holds a lot of power to shape young minds. I mean yes, his movies all pretty much involve the decapitation of people and shooting up stuff and whatever but he could still try to show young men and boys what it takes to truly be a hero. I don’t know. I didn’t always understand what he was talking about in is responses. It did seem a little scrambled and random, but overall it was interesting but kind of boring. I just feel like his responses weren’t the most clear compared to other interviews I have read. I’m not trying to take away from his intelligence, but I just didn’t necessarily understand what was going on at all times. I don’t know…

Jean Kilbourne

This is just a thought I had about the essay that just never really came up during the class discussion. I was thinking that yes, advertising has become an especially obtrusive way of using women and turning the perception of women any way the advertiser wants to. However, I found it interesting that throughout the 1900’s women have strived to get equal opportunities, and to be seen in the public and to not be shut down by society. The sexual revolution in the 60’s, women wanted to show off their bodies and not be ashamed. Well…the times now are just an exploited version of what women wanted in the first place. I just think it’s funny that in ways this is what women wanted, we wanted to show off. Advertisers are just showing real life in a blow out of proportion way. Women continually use their sexuality to entice men, or manipulate; however when that is put up on a billboard all heck breaks loose. I’m not saying that I don’t get offended or think that exploitation of women in advertising is right, and I do believe that in some adds there are connotations of sex, abuse, violence, and what not, but I do think the people viewing the media especially women have kind of asked for it. We got ourselves here. There is no blame but look back in history and see how it dictates how we live now.

If possible I might want to explore this phenomenon further in a paper if the topic comes up or is able to be used. I would like to research how women have progressed in advertising and society in general.

English Class/Teachers

I have been in a fair amount of English classes, which the number is now up to 6 ½ since seventh grade until now, my second semester of freshman year in college. Over these six or so years, not much has changed. At the beginning of the class the teacher tells you, just speak your mind, no answer is wrong in a discussion. So time and time again, when the class is discussing a book, article, piece of art, what have you, I always say something and soon come to find my throat is being jumped down by seven of my peers and sometimes me teacher. So apparently you can’t speak your mind, and you especially cannot voice an opinion or just raise questions that may be deemed wrong. Generally, I can sneak around and say enough to get a “class participation” grade, but not to so much to be attacked. However, when people say something that I disagree with, or something I feel so inclined to argue about or ask about it suddenly becomes so wrong. Even if I am only asking a question which doesn’t reflect my opinion people assume that it is and say if the topic were racism then I must be a racist or Nazi or whatever. The only thing I guess you really can say in class discussions is what the teacher wants to hear. Forgive me for trying to ask something new and speaking my mind. I shall not do it again.

Just Walk on By

This piece was really interesting in that when it first began I thought the male writer was going to rape or violently harm the woman her referred to as “my first victim”. As I kept reading I realized that Staples was merely talking about being looked at as a stereotype. I have recently been thinking about similar situations. Staples talked about how when people especially women meet men in streets alone at night the hairs on the back of their neck rise and stand straight up. No matter what part of town they are in. I am wondering how to act myself. Should I always be kind to people I meet on the street even if they look suspicious and like they are thinking bad thoughts. Should I say hi? I don’t want to seem like I am racist or rude, but I also do not want to get raped. The thing I like about Staples piece is that he seems to understand that women may not be racist but are just worried because of the stereotype that certain black males represent. He understands that it isn’t him they are scared of necessarily, it’s the idea of what he potentially represents depending on is clothing or whatever. I ask again, what are women supposed to do. Follow our intuition to get ourselves out of situations and perhaps offend a black person? And they person doesn’t even have to be black. If I run across a beefy white male at night on a fairly deserted street, I’m going to get nervous. It is just one of those situations that will never stop because you can’t tell a person to avoid wearing clothes he likes or don’t take walks at certain times or whatever else. But if he doesn’t want to be looked at as a potential rapist then maybe he should. But I do not want to tell a person what to do. It’s their choice. I just don’t know what to do and I like how Staples talks about this issue a little bit.

Essay #1 Workshop

I really liked having the time to get with other students and hear their feedback about my essay. I have always had trouble sharing my writing with people other than my mom or people that I am really comfortable with. It was tough to share some of my more personal experiences with people where all I know about them is their name. Though I think it is good for me to open up with more people and let more people read the things I write. I am simply very self-conscience and it’s hard to hear if someone didn’t like what I wrote especially when I write poetry. However, this past class when people commented on my piece they seemed to like it. It definitely helps boost my depleted ego and self-esteem. I also had fun reading what other people had written about in their essays. I mean it is always fun to give a little criticism …haha just kidding. But it is good experience to be able to read other people’s work and make comments on it.

Nora Ephron’s writing is incredible. It’s kind of just a jumble of paragraphs about past memories and just random stuff. I like it. And as someone who is not incredibly bustful I can relate to her story. I have always been jealous of certain types of shirts, or dresses, and other clothing items that my sisters or friends, or just random women on the street can wear. I don’t think the piece was supposed to be particularly amusing but I found it very comical just thinking about her breast size being more of a difficult life experience then getting your period. I think I liked it so much because I did go through so many of the same experiences, minus the whole 1950’s thing. I am a tomboy who at times have wanted to be girly and be able to wear whatever I want and have been angry at the women who complain to me about having medium sized breasts saying how terrible it is. It’s hard when men will actually say that they wish that you had bigger breasts. Granted I have never thought about my situation as deeply as Ephron, however I feel like if I were to write something about my breasts it would turn out quite similar to this piece. I loved it, I don’t know why. I thought it was great for a woman to just come out and write about her body so bluntly. After reading this I want to research her and find some more things she has written, which is not something I say often after reading an assigned piece of reading.

The Body Collage

I am finding it really hard to get started on my essay. I am excited about writing it because it seems like a good topic and interesting to write about. Despite this I still am finding it very tricky to get started. I also have brainstormed a little bit and I’m also having difficulty on how to shift from vignette to vignette. I know that it doesn’t necessarily need to flow, but I feel like there should be at least a little connectedness and not just a big rumble of words all piled into sentences and paragraphs. I like the readings we’ve done because they have helped to give me ideas on how describe things, or how to transfer my ideas. I also am wondering if the essay needs to be really coherent or if it can go along with no real rhyme or reason. I’m also worried about if I can really come up with enough things to talk about. I guess I’ll just go for it and see what the peer editing does for my final draft. Last semester I didn't really need to write essays or think critically about things like this due to the classes I had which I think is part of the reason why I'm having so much trouble because I haven't written a real essay since my spring semester of my senior year of high school. I'll work on it and hopefully it'll be alright.

Free Union By Andre Breton

I really liked the way Breton wrote when comparing his wife to different things. For some of the lines he seemed as if he was trying to be romantic and sappy. For instance in the line, “Whose mouth is a bright cockade with the fragrance of a star of the first magnitude”. Whereas in other parts the writing was vulgar and not a typical way to talk about your wife, when he writes, “Whose waist is the waist of an otter caught in the teeth of a tiger”. Just the fact that he wanted to write a piece about his wife to me is wonderful. To have words put to paper describing your every inch of skin, your every flaw, and every mark of beauty. In ways it’s more romantic than a candle lit dinner with wine and flowers. If your man takes the time to critically consider your body, write it down coherently, and have it actually say something decent, I’d say you’d got yourself a pretty good catch. The writing was engaging and I wanted to keep reading. It wasn’t just another homework assignment, I really enjoyed the poem. It made me think of every woman and that it could describe every woman. Perhaps Breton wasn’t even talking about any particular person like his wife. Perhaps he was talking about all of us, all of us “whose rump is sandstone and flax…with the sex of an iris”.

Alice Walker Response

I really enjoyed the piece of writing and the style Walker wrote it in. I like it when writers can write personally about themselves, and honestly about real things like themselves. It’s really annoying when the only thing a writer can do is write some whimsical piece about battling mythical creatures in dark caves when it’s raining. It’s nice to see a writer write something meaningful. The piece also gave me some ideas as to how I want to write my own essay. Walker wrote in a kind of mixed up timeline, not all in chronological order. It seemed like she wrote whatever came to her mind next, which is the beauty of vignettes. You can do that and not seem like you’re writing like a kindergartners. Before I had even read “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self” I toyed with the thought of using time as a basis for my body collage essay. Time holds so many memories that people forget about and when they are forced to think acutely it usually brings up memories that have long been forgotten; which may or may not be a good thing.
Anyways…About Walkers piece, I just thought it was interesting how her parents did not take her to the doctor sooner, or how her brothers told her not to say anything. It makes me wonder what my sisters would have done in that situation. Well I’m being told to wrap it up so consider it wrapped.