Vagina.. Yes You Read That Correctly

Vagina. All about vagina. I'm actually happy that I chose this event to go to because it is something most people would not really think to go to. The event was on February 14; Valentines Day (AKA V-Day) which could be Vagina Day.

 

 The proud author of this monologue is Eve Ensler. She was born on March 25, 1953. She is an active feminist. This is her wikipedia page and her personal page.

 

Now Vagina's isn't something that people are screaming they want to talk about. Just like no one would wants to talk about gay and lesbians. "Safe Spaces" connects to this. One of the pieces of the script is "The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could" There is a girl that gives a detailed life story of her vagina. She talks about when she was 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, and 16. When she is 16 she goes to her neighbors house, a "gorgeous 24-year-old woman". They discuss kissing boys, and the girl says she does not enjoy kissing boys. They begin kissing and they have sex. The 24-year-old woman made a "safe space" for the 16 year old girl. Where she could actually talk about how she was feeling.  

 

This is a video of the The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could.

 

This is just one example of the deepest pieces of the monologue. Of course their are multiple funny parts throughout. Like the moaning scene. Where Brandy and I with the company of multiple other people were dying laughing at the types of moans that people had come up with.

 

Now you can watch this entire clipping or skipped ahead to 7:30 when the moaning begins. Now I have to warn you this is a little bit adult rated. But extremely funny. However now that I watch it a second time I realize that all of the authors we read in class would be horribly upset by the different moans that they let out. From the Jewish moan to the Irish Catholic moan.

 

 

If you EVER have the chance to see the Vagina Monologues live I highly suggest it. Even though it seems weird it is something we need to talk about. Women unity is not fair at all. As a women you are judged by multiple pieces of your body, making yourself nervous.

 

Currently I am reading the Vagina Monologues book. No, I was not looking for it. I simply was trying to find a book for another class and stumbled upon it so I highly suggest checking this out also.

 

Shor is Sure

Now, call me geeky but all I could think of as I was reading this document was this video.... Stick to The Status Quo.... Or not?

 

Shor explains how boring it is for students to "stick to the status quo". No one in the world likes boring, so why are we teaching our children and students that way? Being a student we know what boring lectures teach us... they teach us how to fall asleep in class and text/tweet all class without being caught. So how do we fix this?

 

Teach them something they actually care about. Make a math lesson interesting with circles by using car tires and paper plates.

 

By using real life examples, it helps show that these students need to know how to do these things in the future. Why need to know how to do area of a square? The real-life example is putting a rug in the room but not knowing how much you will need. Simple but interesting ways to teach. Problems like these connect to the Safe Spaces Document.

I personally believe I would have gotten more out of my education in the graded levels if I learned this way. But instead I learned how to smart talk myself out of situations and play candy crush without being caught. Now like usual I may have not “connected” this in the most perfect way, but I rather connect it to my life. I do NOT want to be that boring teacher with all worksheets. So I rather work harder to come up with more engaging lessons. That’s the type of learning that is actually needed.

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

So I had a blonde moment and forgot to hit publish after I finished.... Whoops :/
ANYWAYS; here is my post.


Just like every single reading it took me hours to think about and sit down to do it. However, I think I am starting to get the hang of it. Even though there is just one more post left.

My best friend (well ex-best friend) has a sister with Cerebral Palsy and her best friend has Down Syndrome. They both are the most loving people I have ever met. When we were younger I remember the point where we were doing the same work as her, even though she was three years older than us. Since I was having trouble learning the school actually would "hand us off" to another teacher to help us learn. I always felt less able, just because I did not have the speech that the other students had.

After this experience I worked hard on my speech with my family. Always pronouncing "R, S, T, Q" words. Now, no one would NEVER know that I did not speak in till I was 5, and even then I was not saying words "right". Connecting with Christine's story.

My friend's sister also connects to Christine's story with the motor skills part and with Becky. She gets a pay check every week for being a cashier in a small store in the government. Everyday she saves her money and on good weeks, she will even buy something special for herself. Her favorite possession is her IPhone and favorite movie series ever is High School Musical. Being just like Troy and Gabriella she has found true love.

So why is this still an issue? In Rhode Island we have the playground imPOSSIBLE dreams, made so children can play together in a handicapped playground.

Literacy With An Attiude: Extended off Jen's

So I had an extremely hard time with this reading and was waiting for someone to post something so I could do an extended comment on them and Jen's was the first one up. Now I know like it sounds like I just used her post but she actually did a really good job with her connections.

 

Extended Comments:

 

So Jen also states at the beginning of her blog post that she had some issues understanding the theme of Finn. Personally I think that saying "Stop that and do your work" is but harsh. There must be better and less rude ways to say this. Something along the lines "please stop what you are doing and do the work page".

Jen attaches this to Delpit which I think is a great connection. I personally saw multiple other connections.

“America would have no poor, just rich, richer, and richest” Amazing Grace

“Some minorities feel they have been wronged by mainstream Americans and that ‘acting white’ is a betrayal of their people.” Rodríguez

“People can become conscious of injustice and inequity, and through disciplined, focused, and strategic action, they can bring about change” Safe Spaces

“People who have the power to make changes are comfortable with the way things are. It takes energy to make change, and the energy must come from the people who will benefit from the change” Service Learning

These are quotes from Literacy with an Attitude with the connection afterwards.

 

My final note is “This was based on the observation that schools have learned how to educate the children of the gentry and how to ‘handle’ children of the working class-those who had been handled in school themselves.”

 

            

FUNNY or OFFENSIVE?!?!?

 

 

View Points??

Brown v. Board of Education

 

Connections:

"most Americans believe that a racially integrated, ethnically diverse society and educational system is a worthy goal..." (Brown v. Board Website)

Sorry but I have to say I call B.S. on this quote. What I really want to know about this quote was the statistics behind it. The race and culture of the people. Lets connect this to Mott Haven. The children in this city in New York have seen, heard, and most likely done more than any child. These children have seen people get shot, siblings dying of diseases, and their parents fighting to just get a roll of bread on the table. If most Americans really believe this they need to come sit in our class one day or go to Service Learning with us.

"Denial of problems" "White people deny everything" (Video 2)

I find this funny actually, this comes from two white people. One an interviewer and one a writer. These people have most likely never looked at the world. These people are the "type" of people that do Service Learning for the political aspect. They are still going to get into their 25 grand car and drive up their driveway to see their wives with two kids about the eat dinner. (Yes I realize that this is exactly what "Safe Spaces" tells us not to believe). But look at the bigger picture, they CARE and GIVE some of their love but they still are not at the doorstep of the Board of Education laying down the facts.

On ABC Family their is a show called "Switched at Birth" I never realized how downgrading this show is, I always thought it was great and uplifting. "Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us" really still impacts everything I do, say, or watch. It probably always will honestly. In this television show there are two girls that were switched at birth. One got "lucky" and ended up being a part of a White family and going to private school while getting everything she imagined. The other got placed in a Latino family, and actually became deaf at the age of three. If she had good health care she could still have the luxury of being able to hear and talk "normally". Right now in the show Daphne the deaf switched has many lower-class students switched into her school.

 

 

Here is one video of the show. I personally can connect this with White v. Black, Hearing v. Deaf. These people like being deaf. It gives them identity, perspective, community. And "hearing people do not know themselves"

 

"Schools are no longer legally segregated, but because of residential patterns, housing discrimination, economic disparities and long-held custom, they most emphatically are in reality" (Article)

 

Why Help?

Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer join together and write about the politics of Service Learning.

Reflection:

The part that I connected to most in this document is when the speak about the three different domains. These being moral, political, and intellectual.

Moral

"In the moral domain. service learning activities tend toward two types of relationships. Relationships that emphasize charity we will call "giving." Those that aim primarily to deepen relationships and to forge new connections we will call "caring." In caring relationships, Nel Noddings asserts, we try to consider the life and disposition of those for whom we are caring. We attempt to "apprehend the reality of the other" and then to "struggle [for progress] together." In so doing. we create opportunities for changing our understanding of the other and the context within which he or she lives."

Here is the paragraph written about the moral domain. It explains how service learning is based on two things: caring and giving. In my opinion I believe that these two do not also go together. Many individuals do care for each other but do not to have the power to give. When many people can give, so they do so but do not really care. This brings up the political domain.

Political

"In the political domain, the intentions of those promoting service learning activities draw from two different assumptions about political socialization and what it means to be a citizen. Those who focus primarily on charity believe that, to be properly educated in a democracy. students must undergo experiences that demonstrate the value of altruism and the dangers of exclusive self-interest. They stress the importance of civic duty and the need for responsive citizens. Volunteerism and compassion tor the less fortunate are the undergirding conceptions of political socialization associated with this vision.  The second notion of political socialization reveals fundamentally different assumptions about the requirements of citizenship. Those promoting this vision of service learning hope to move students toward participation in what Benjamin Barber refers to as a "strong democracy.  "They call for a curriculum that emphasizes critical reflection about social policies and conditions, the acquisition of skills of political participation, and the formation of social bonds."

What I see here is that the politics of things force people to do service learning and community service. In my high school we had to do 5 hours each year to graduate. People spent weeks procrastinating it and not doing it. Or even worse filling out the paper work and faking the attendance. Now, my city is a pretty fortunate city from the side the school was so I just could not understand why my classmates could not just give five hours of their time to help someone.

 

 

 

Intellectual

 

"In the intellectual domain. a service learning curriculum can further a number of goals. The ability of a service learning curriculum to foster authentic, experience-based learning opportunities, to motivate students, to help students engage in higher-order thinking in contextually varied environments, and to promote interdisciplinary studies has led some, such as John Brisco, a leader in the field, to label service learning "the Trojan horse of school reform." The service component may help us get the support needed for implementation, he argues, but its real impact is seen in its ability to promote powerful learning environments."

This is why it is important for high school students to give back. To learn there is more out there than just your city. That people are less fortunate than yourself. I also believe that every person on this earth has something that's unfortunate in their life. Either its a loved one dying of a disease, not having food, shelter or rent, or having a family or people to just talk to. Everyone on this earth is fortunate and unfortunate. It should be your own personal goal to show your fortunate and help others.

http://www.edutopia.org/poll-schools-require-community-service

^^^^ READ THE COMMENTS


Disney: Dumb, Inequality, Sexist, Numbing, Expected, Young

ARGUMENT:

    Linda Christensen argues that "Our society's culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream."

     Christensen argues that young society is manipulated early by things such as fairy tales, cartoons, and toys. She then says that this early learning stays with those children into adulthood and the problem doesn't stop; it is in all media, advertising and surrounds us in our everyday life. Christensen argues that analyzing these themes can "develop their critical consciousness...(and) move them (the students analyzing) to action." She wants her students to not only critique these cartoons but to also just become aware of the "secret education" and how powerful it really is. She first begins by asking the students to look at themselves and how it has affected them. She says that no one wants to believe that they have been wrongly taught but it is so obvious that they have. Once the students can become aware of these problems she then wants them to imagine a "better world, characterized by relationships of respect and equality." After looking at all of these issues in all media types, pulling out examples and relating it to everyday life, she then "create(s) the possibility for action." Once the students formed strong opinions about these issues they were able to create projects that could each about what they had learned. This made their projects real and meaningful, these issues are not just in the classroom they are in everyday life so this gave the students to opportunity to think about something, form an opinion and take action to try to make a difference. Linda Christensen makes her point, to not be manipulated and allow these stereotypes to become just accepted knowledge. In order to not do that she suggest becoming aware of the issues first and foremost, then analyzing them in order to form an opinion, and finally take action in order to create change. Christensen however made me question Disney's ways and somehow happened that multiple Disney movies were on ABC Family this morning. I watched Dumbo and saw this scene, which actually surprised me.

 

 

 

So this made me look up the definition of roustabouts. And I realized that they are calling themselves unskilled. Now I don't know about you but I think building a circus tent in the rain with elephants is pretty impressive.

 

 



   The part that aggravates me is that these movies were produced in 1930-1950. Disney would not put a movie like this in production today because of the outlast it would begin. If you watch 100 Dalmatians you can hear people saying stupid and dumb multiple times in different contexts. Now Disney has to make sure the kiss between Troy and Gabriella in High School Musicals are not to long in case someone will say it enforces that kissing is okay. Sometimes people think to deeply about these things and I think Linda is one of those people. Many people in our class grew up watching these movies and singing the songs but I think were okay now...

 

Do people really think this deeply about six princess.... There is so much hatred about Disney movies yet they are one of the biggest movie producers. I really want to know what the class has to say about this picture.



LGBT

Safe Spaces is a book written by Annemarie Vaccaro, Gerri August, and Megan S. Kennedy. They show the importance of making schools and communities welcome the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, and Transgender youth.
 

REFLECTION:

The pages in this book made me think more than any of the documents we have read before have. It Made me think of every single scenario I was ever in with someone that was not straight.
Ever since I was a little girl my family raised myself and my siblings as good American Catholic citizens. My religion is against any talk of this sort, which is not fair in my belief, because I have always been told God loves each of us. Just today actually, at the end of mass during the announcements arborist announced he will be taking a break and will be back in three months. And then he said "also please stop all of this gossip". And at that moment I knew why he was talking about. He was speaking about the accusations that he is gay. Which made me think about where else "coming-out" is an "issue".

At my high school they decided to start an diversity week the week before April vacation. At the time I really thought it was a joke. I mean my high school was roughly 99% white, middle class students. Never did I think that LGBT was an diverse issue. But then this boy "came-out" on Facebook. Guess how many likes he got... 159 likes. Absolutely amazing seeming Facebook is dead AND that no one wants to talk about the "issue". In my eyes there should be no issue. Everyone deserves the same respect.
 
I decided to do some research about other TV episodes for children have had a different family life than usually perceived. The only children television show recently shown was Good Luck Charlie. The show is made by Disney Channel, and they are getting many reviews; good and bad.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/disney-channel-debuts-lesbian-couple-good-luck-charlie-article-1.1603673
Honestly please check this link out its good. And make sure you read the comments underneath too see what other people's view points are.

"Aria"

"Aria" by Richard Rodríguez is an autobiography written by a bilingual male. His first language is Spanish and he later started learning and speaking English when he was seven years old and in a Catholic School.

Extended Comments:

For this post I decided to use Sarah Medeiros's post to agree with the ideas that she had.

I agree that Richard was making "his overall message is one of finding an identity in the world." Just as Sarah pointed out. I totally agree with her connection to the "Silenced Dialogue". But I also ask if "Aria" connects to the first reading we did as a class being "Privilege, Power, and Difference" I make this connection because Allan G. Johnson says how he has so many privileges being a male. But could Richard actually have more privileges because he DOES know how to speak two languages. Honestly speaking I personally struggle every single day at working trying to understand what Spanish speaking customers are trying to tell me, and envy the other employees that can switch so quickly and not even think about it. Also when people at work start speaking Spanish I start trying to leave the scenario or just smile and fix myself, always wondering if their talking about something about me... Putting me at a greater disadvantage I feel. Also in education many children do come into the classrooms speaking only Spanish, and the people that are applying for the job that are bilingual have a greater opportunity to get the job, and have a better controlled class. Just like how Sarah said "a comforting environment where he did not feel as though he was being judged or tested when trying to give a response."

Overall I give Sarah most credit for all the thinking that I did because of this blog post.... Here's her blog to check it out http://smedfned.blogspot.com/2014/02/aria-by-richard-rodriguez-argument.html and also check out the link she connected the blog to http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/The-Advantages-of-Being-Bilingual/