I Am Poem Video Blog

Venus Boyz

I think by missing the first half of this documentary made me less understand the true concept that this documentary is trying to bring forth. Before seeing this film, I thought it was about solely "drag kings" but after watching the second portion of the film it really is about both drag queens and kings. What was interesting to me is that this is the first time i have actually heard the term "drag kings." I know there are people in the world who are women and dress up as men, but never gave them the name "drag kings." It amazes me how someone can be so ridiculed by society but even so, that someone doesn't conform to societal standards. This is similar to the other groups who are forced to conform to these standards but resist this. Groups such as, homosexuals, minorities, and others groups who struggle due to societal standards. This movie gave me a new out look on gender because I never knew there could be so many identities and in fact one shouldn't have to conform to any identity, they should be their own person.

Pressure To Be Someone You Are Not

In the story Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, the protagonist, Polly, had a lot of pressure to be someone she is not. When she was an adolescent, she played "boyish" games such as Marauders where she showed her fellow marauders rituals to become "brothers". Since she was young, the children around her have not separated by gender so they do not know the difference of sexes. So this is why it is not weird by societal for girls and boys to play together and think that they are of the same gender when they are that young. But when she ages to her teen ages, society forces her to be more lady like, so she is forced to wear make up, be infatuated with romances, and stand in the shadows of males. She tried to keep her childish and boyish ways but society (the boys and girls in her school) ostracized her because she wasn't lady like so she was pressured to be someone shes not in order to be popular and liked by her friends.

White Privilege

The numbers of the effects of white privilege that stood out to me the most were 4, 5, 28, 39, 50.

Number 4 stuck out to me because due to the stereotypes i have experienced in my life, i found this to be relatively true. In my neighborhood or the neighborhoods of my friends that live by me even though the people are nice it doesn't stick out to me that they are "nice". Sometimes i will be in a predominantly white neighborhood and if someone walks by and they don't walk to the other side of the street, they will usually acknoledge me and say hello. When I am in a predominately black neighbor, the usual greeting is a simple nod.

Number 5 stuck out to me because this happens to me all the time and I always wondered how it is to go through a store without being followed. I know I am often followed in stores and constantly asked stupid questions about what  I want or if I want help which to me is just a way of keeping an eye on me.

I found number 28 interesting because it is terrible that a person of color could possibly lose their job because they get in an argument with a white colleague. This applies to other aspects not just jobs. I feel like there have been many experiences in my childhood where my African American friends and I have gotten in trouble because the teacher sided with a Caucasian student.

I found 38 interesting because even with the stereotype of blacks being late to events, I pride myself on arriving on time or early to events so i do not follow this stereotype.

50 was interesting because if I do not know what normal feels like then who does. Is life of a white person "normal"? Who defines "normal" in society? This is very disturbing to me.

Affirmative Action

I agree with Cornel West's statement saying that "the elimination of affirmative action would only justify racial discrimination." By eliminating affirmative action it only causes another barrier for minorities to get past. If affirmative action was eliminated and colleges and other institutions picked solely the most qualified people for the the job or the school, then the race or the sex that is best at what they are applying for would flood the institution. In factory jobs maybe Hispanics would be the only people with jobs. Maybe with technological jobs, Asians would have all the jobs. In schools where it was athletically based, it would be majority black. In schools that are academically based they majority may be white or Asian. I do not think affirmative action is the best thing because races and sexes and other categories shouldn't get preferential treatment but because of history of such categories causes different levels of treatment and advantages over others so thus affirmative action is necessary

Maret Spaces Visual Essay Assessment

Take ONE hour to answer these questions.  This is not an essay; these are just public notes.  Write in phrases, go stream of consciousness – whatever communicates the most effectively in this amount of time.

1.    Describe with specific detail the group’s greatest moments in “creative collaboration.”  Refer to the “Creative Collaboration” sheet to see characteristics of when that is happening.  For example, did you achieve “flow?”  After doing that, describe the times when the group did not work up to its full potential.  How and why do you think these instances happened?  What principles of “creative collaboration” were not upheld that resulted in that dysfunction?

·         Good job coming up with idea, as a whole.

·         Discuss idea and following through idea

·         Trouble working as a group outside of class

·         Open to other participants ideas

·         Trouble with getting a concrete idea

·         Found it hard to complete the assignment with our given area

·         People did different amount of work

2.    If you think of leadership as an activity (not only as a characteristic), describe when you were trying to lead.  What strategies did you use and were they effective.  Describe a moment when someone else in your group showed strong leadership.

·         I tried to lead in the sense of the pictures and getting the best pictures to use for the powerpoint.

·         Even though the powerpoint did not look like I intended it to due to lack of communication, I had an idea at mind and took pictures to show the differences of race and gender and how this changes throughout the day. Since the team wasn’t on the same page this idea was not portrayed.

3.    Looking at the “Commitments to Self” and “Commitments to Group” sections of the “Creative Collaboration” sheet, what were your greatest challenges in being a part of this group?

·         I think the greatest challenge was formulating an idea from the senior lounge. There was not a lot of space and was only full during lunch so showing different race and gender topics was very difficult.

·         Also the lack of communication amongst our group caused problems as well.

Hip Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes

In the movie, Hip Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes, there is a chapter called "Bitch Niggaz" which really caught my attention. There are two reasons why it caught my attention. First, both "bitch" and "nigger" are derogatory terms used to downplay a race or a gender. These two words, though used in many peoples everyday language, are very hurtful to many people and can lead to a confrontation or even a violent encounter. Second, the word "bitch nigger" is used a lot in the Black rap community today. It is a term that has to derogatory words that add to create a more degrading term. For example, I was hanging out with my friends and one was called a "bitch nigga," one of my friends replied by saying "oohhh he called you a bitch...and a nigga...at the same time!" And even though this term is harmful to many, it is still used in almost every rap song talking about usually a male who is "weak" or "whipped" by a girl, as well as male who has no flaws seen by the rapper but is called a bitch nigger for lack of a better phrase.