Sunday, February 23, 2014

Safe Spaces: Hyperlinks


Reading the article "Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth" by Annemarie Vaccaro, Gerri August, and Megan S. Kennedy really made me want to research some stories online about LGBT issues. I attended public schooling so the issue of religion and gay marriage was never spoken about in the curriculum. It was common to see LGBT couples walking in the hallways together and they were treated as everyone else. Though it wasn't as common to see as straight couples, people were accepting as far as I know. I had never heard any issues regarding LGBT couples in my high school. I decided to research some schools that did have issues with this topic, public and private schools. What I found were stories that really broke my heart. It really is awful to see how un-accepting some people can be. It was nice to see that some people were able to over-come their struggles with bullying and suicidal thoughts with help of friends, family, and support groups.


The first article I found was on a website named aclu.org which brings up many rights issues including LGBT. I found a story about a young boy, only a freshman in an Ohio high school, who was bullied for being gay. He was beaten and treated poorly by other students during school. The worst part, the principal of the school and even the teachers were no help and did not support him.
Here is the article: https://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights/victim-lgbt-bullying-ohio-school-tells-his-story

The next website I found was really interesting to me. It is called wegiveadamn.org. It is a website regarding the Give A Damn campaign and it's full of information supporting LGBT equality. It has information on the campaign itself, LGBT issues, personal stories, a blog, and a store! I got a chance to read a lot of personal stories about people who were discriminated at work, school, by friends and family, and the military. There were gay marriage stories and also stories on hate crimes. The blog was full of stories like that too. It really was interesting to read and learn a little more about. And i love the idea of the Give a Damn campaign!
Here's a link to that website: http://www.wegiveadamn.org/

The article Safe Spaces really relates to the websites i found because it definitely shows how important school has an effect on LGBT students. Teachers and administrators need to support their students no matter what. If they don't, they shouldn't be teachers! It is so important to make school a safe and welcoming place for all students to matter what race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. No student should feel out of place or feel like they are in danger. A teacher should be aware of bullying and know how to stop it. They should also recognize when there is an issue regarding LGBT issues or race issues. I really enjoyed this week's reading Safe Spaces, it has really helpful information.


Sunday, February 16, 2014

"Aria" Argument




In the article "Aria" by Richard Rodriguez, the author tells his own story about having to learn English at a young age, and how it affected his childhood and his life today. As a young child, Rodriguez attended Catholic schooling that was very strict about teaching English as a child's public language. The author felt as if he had to make English his public language and that Spanish had become his private language. But even after a while, in the Rodriguez house, Spanish was not even the language they used at home to each other, it became just a part of their past. Rodriguez believes that because they chose to only speak English, his family has grown apart, because they are now able to go out with confidence and meet new people and take part in other activities. Rodriguez argues that although his family may not have such a strong connection anymore, becoming fluent in English has also benefited his family in greater ways. 

In this article I believe that Richard Rodriguez is arguing that although the idea of assimilation causes a person to lose their private individuality, they are able to gain a public individuality that will help them to be successful. The author explains that by choosing to learn English and use it as his only language, Rodriguez and his family lost the close private connections they had with each other when they stopped using Spanish. But at the same time, he is arguing that by becoming fluent in English he has achieved public success and a confidence in himself. Rodriguez's main point in this article was to explain that the loss of his private individuality helped him to gain a strong public individuality. 


"So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by 

becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the 
achievement of public individuality." (39)

This website helped me to make sense of this quote a little more:

http://writingallthesewords.wordpress.com/

Sunday, February 9, 2014

The Silenced Dialogue: Quotes

  




"Other People's Children"

This was definitely not an easy read but what I think Lisa Delpit's main argument in this reading was about the education of colored children, and how white people control the idea of it. Also kind of going along with the other readings from last week, how white people become sort of oblivious to the power of control they think they have. For me, reading this article connected back to last week’s reading by McIntosh about "white privilege" and gave more reasons on how it is ignored by society.

"I'm tired of arguing with those white people, because they won't listen. Well, I don't know if they really don't listen or if they just don't believe you" (1)

"When you're talking to white people they will want it to be their way. You can try to talk to them and give them examples, but they're so headstrong, they think they know what's best for everybody, for everybody's children. They won’t listen; while folks are going to do what they want to do anyway." (1)

"They wear blinders and earplugs" (2)


These are just three quotes Delpit provides that brings me back to the idea of "white privilege" that the McIntosh reading talks about. To me, these quotes are just questioning why white privilege exists. These quotes are concerning to me because it sort of makes me wonder why people can't open their eyes to what they are doing. Education in schools should not be any different depending on a person’s skin color. Also, what is taught to students is also questioned. Again relating back to the McIntosh article about how we are taught American history and how the country was made by white people. Education should be about all races. Delpit's article states how white teachers do not accept or are not open to the ideas of a colored teacher. What's the difference? I just don't understand the way some people think. Anyways, I'm not sure if anything I wrote really relates to this article, but it has been a long night, and that's what I got out of it.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Reflection

"I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems
conferring dominance on my group"
                                                                         -Peggy McIntosh

^ Exactly how I felt before reading this article. The reason I chose this article to write about was because it really began to make me think of the meaning of "white privilege" and what that term means to me. Most of the points that Peggy McIntosh made are relate-able for me but I have never realized that before. She made me think about how everyday situations in my life could possibly be very different if I was a different race. There were a few numbers on McIntosh's list that really caught my attention:

6.When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization", I am shown that people o fmy color made it what it is.
12. I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes or not answer letters without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.

26. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color that more or less matches my skin.

These three points that were made in this article stood out to me the most. They really made me think about how different my situation is when seeing or dealing with these examples on an everyday basis. I can go to the store and buy cover-up or band-aids and know for sure that they will match my skin color. I can swear, wear what I want, and write what I want and get judged on my personality, but not on my race. And lastly, the fact that I have been taught that the people of my color have made civilization what it is today. This is what really makes me realize how unaware and oblivious people can be about the idea of "white privilege" because it is apart of their everyday life, not because the chose it to be that way, but because that is how society just is, which it shouldn't be.


Morgan Freeman on Black History Month: