:)

i loved class on tuesday !!

i also really enjoyed reading the "most rascist disney characters" off of tiff's page. the one that surprised me the most was sebastian singing about slaves. i never noticed that before and now that i sing the song, i get it haha

Talking Points #4

Christensen: "Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us"

Premise:
~ myth
~ race
~ difference
~ stereotype
~ Disney
~ cartoons
~ character portrayal
~ children
~ television
~ "secret education"
~ change
~ inequality

Argument:

Christensen argues that the media spits out a "secret education which soon becomes the foundation for the way young children believe they should live their lives.

Evidence:

1. "Our society's culture industry colonizes [students'] minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream. This indoctrination hits young children hard. The 'secret education ... delivered by children's books and movies, instructs young people to accept the world as it is portrayed in these social blueprints." (126)

2. "Many students don't want to believe that they have been manipulated by children's media or advertising. No one wants to admit that they've been 'handled' by the media. They assure me that they make their own choices and the media has no power over them - as they sit with Fubu, Nike, Timberlands or whatever the latest fashion rage might be." (128)

3. "As Tinker Bell inspects her tiny body in a mirror only to find that her minute hips are simply too huge, she shows us how to turn the mirror into an enemy... And this scenario is repeated in girls' locker rooms all over the world." (136)

4. "Because we can never look like Cinderella, we begin to hate ourselves. The Barbie syndrome starts as we begin a lifelong search for the perfect body. Crash diets, fat phobias, and an obsession with the materialistic become commonplace. The belief that a product will make us rise above our competition, our friends, turns us into addicts. Our fix is that Calvin Klein push-up bra, Guess jeans, Chanel lipstick, and the latest in suede flats. We don't call it deception; we call it good taste. And soon it feels awkward going to the mailbox without makeup." (136)

Other Stuff:

This is, by a mile, my favorite article so far. I agree totally with Christensen. Until I read this article, I never actually realized how stereotypical and brainwashing the media could be. I never noticed the "secret education" being spat out at children without their knowledge. I can see advertisements being this way, but definitely not Disney movies. I guess I was always just naive. I have been a Disney fanatic ever since I was little, and being old enough to really see what points are coming across in those movies kind of breaks my heart. I never once realized the point that Cinderella makes about the stepmother and stepsisters and how they are always put across as being mean. That whole idea comes from the Cinderella idea. Also, I always loved the Cinderella made with Brandy, Whitney Houston, and Whoopi Goldberg. That movie gets the minority idea across. The beginning of the first line of this whole article is my favorite and it is absolutely how I based my life. "I was nourished on the milk of American culture: I cleaned the dwarves' house and waited for Prince Charming to bring me to life; I played Minnie Mouse to Mickey's flower-bearing adoration..." (126) Me. The end. Growing up in a Disney-crazed home being a "princess", I based my life upon how they live. Reading this article, I came to the realization that I may have needed all my life, and that is to live life the way you are and not as others live theirs (especially how lives are put across in the media/or in my case Disney movies). I always thought that the "Disney" life was the perfect life, but in reality, nothing is really perfect. Finally, I agree 100% with my last point of evidence when Catkin writes about Cinderella and the Barbie syndrome. Being a teenage girl I have lived this first-hand and we do become "addicted" to "the belief that product will make us rise above our competition..." (137)

Talking Points #3

Dennis Carlson: "Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community"

Premise:

~ privilege
~ gayness
~ education
~ normal
~ community
~ disease
~ modern
~ America
~ life
~ suicide
~ harrassment
~ identity
~ voice
~ individuality

Argument:

Carlson argues that public schools do not educate children enough on personal identity, whether it is race, social class or sexuality, and because of this, homosexuals and other "abnormal" identities are kept hidden.

Evidence:

1. "While public schools have long been viewed by progressive educators as embryonic communities that should engage young people in building a democratic community of mutual support and respect, gay people have for the most part been made absent, invisible, and silent within this community and at the same time represented as the deciant and pathological 'Other.'" (233)

2. "One of the effects of this closeting of gay teachers may be an overzealous effirt by gay teachers themselves to avoid any class discussion in which gayness may come up, since they presume that to be publicly 'out' at school would cost them their jobs." (238)

3. "To some degree, all traditions of culture and knowledge must be selective, even multicultural traditions, for the production of a text always involves a selection process in which something must be left out. Nevertheless, normalizing texts systematically exclude and neflect the culture of those outside the norm for the purpose of ratifying or ligitimating the dominant culture as the only significant culture worth studying. This exclusionary aspect of the construction of a selective tradition is particularly important in understanding how texts have worked with regard to gayness." (236)

Other Stuff:

To me, this article was a huge eye-opener. When I first started reading it, I am going to admit, I wanted to quit. But, as I kept reading, I became more and more interested. I never realized to this extent that it was so out of the "norm" to be even the slightest bit different. I mean, I knew being different in most aspects was abnormal, but reading this article showed me how. I never really noticed how gayness is never brought up in our textbooks unless it is in health class talking about AIDS. I always heard about it in health class but it never crossed my mind in any of my other classes because it was not right in front of me in my book. I think it is absolutley ridiculous that it isn't included in any of the public schools' textbooks. Now that i see this fact, I notice that we never really ever learned about any famous gay people. How American children are so blind about many major issues right in front of them is beyond me. We try to act so smart, but in all honesty, we probably don't know much about anything. All in all, I really liked reading this article, but I am unsure if my argument and evidence is on point.

Talking Points #2

Richard Rodriguez: "Aria"

Premise:

~ Spanish
~ English
~ bilingualism
~ children
~ language
~ classroom language
~ home language
~ conversation
~ family
~ education

Argument:

Richard Rodriguez argues that each person has two separate individualities; they have their personal individuality and their public individuality.

Evidence:

1. "What they seem not to recognize is that, as a socially disadvantaged child, I considered Spanish to be a private language." (34)

2. "What they understood was that I needed to speak a public language. So their voices would search me out, asking me questions." (34)

3. "They do not seem to realize that there are two ways a person is individualized. So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such as assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality."

Other Stuff:

I really enjoyed reading this article. It alot easier that past articles that we have had to read. I really liked how it was a first-hand account of Richard Rodriguez's life and how he had to assimilate into the American culture and language. This made it more and more interesting to read. It took me a little while to get into it, but as soon as I read, "Because I wrongly imagined that Englishwas intrinsically a public language and Spanish an intinsically private one, I easily noted the difference between classroom language and the language of home," (34) I knew I wanted to continue to read. That sentence just seemed to draw me into the article.

Talking Points #1

Peggy McIntosh: "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"
Salim Muwakkil: "Data Show Racial Bias Persists in America"

Premise:

~ women's studies
~ white privilege
~ racism
~ oppression
~ discrimination
~ status
~ whiteness
~ power
~ domination
~ hierarchies
~ advantage (white & male)
~ minorities

Argument:

Peggy McIntosh and Salim Muwakkil both argue that many people deny that white privilege still exists today.

Evidence:

1. Peggy McIntosh states, "Most talk by whites about equal opportunity seems to me now to be about equal opportunity to try to get into a position of dominance while denying that systems of dominance still exist." (6)

2. Salim Muwakkil states, "... many white Americans now believe that race no longer affects personal prospects of success or failure." This statement is backed up by, "[In 2003 a] study found that when white and black job seekers had the appropriate qualifications and experience for the position, whites were far more likely to be called back than blacks." (1)

3. Salim Muwakkil also brings up important evidence when he says, "These studies make clear that racial biases persist. Those who assert we've arrived at a colorblind society are blinding themselves to reality." (1)

Other Stuff:

I found these two articles very interesting. Salim Muwakkil's article brings up many important points about white privilege and how it still exists today (2003). Also, it backs up his argument very well with many points of evidence. I really enjoy how he uses statistics and facts to back himself up. I also really enjoyed reading Peggy McIntosh's article about white privilege. The quote she has at the beginning of the article, "I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in indivisible systems conferring dominance on my group," really explains how she was brought up with a different knowledge of racism than many other people. I also really like how she has the list of conditions of how her race (white) is very prominent and is almost like a "safe-zone" for her life. Compared to Delpit's piece, I thought that these two articles were very easy reads. I think that is why I liked reading them a lot more than i liked reading Delpit.

My First Post !

My name is Lauren and I am a freshman at RIC. I graduated from West along with like 8 other people in our class. When I am not in school I am either working at Uno Chicago Grill in Smithfield or at the English Muffin with Lindsey. I am really nervous to start my service learning on Wednesday because I have a kindergarten ESL class. I can't wait though !!!