"Don't be such a girl"

I'm going to try to make this a somewhat short blog. I'm half asleep already and have burnt half of the dinner. I finished my favorite book associated with this course, FFF. I love this book so much, as I have said a few times before. So, anyways, chapter 10 kinda made me mad.
First, I was mad at myself. I visited my sisters farm this weekend and as I watched my nephew load wood for the wood stove and do other farm stuff I actually thought 'man, he's really all boy.' Then, in my head, I yelled at myself for thinking that. I can load wood and do other farm duties. I'm not "all boy."

Next, I was mad at the chapter. The sentence "Especially now, in a world where what it means to be "a man" has the potential to damage both men and women." I've lived this and it damaged me. That one sentence just made me so mad. It brought that night back and it was horrible.

A lot of this reminded me of my final project. She related a lot to what some men believe women should be like. She mentions how Asian women are considered real women because they stick to the traditional gender roles and that this is what men really want in life. They also don't want to grow up. Now instead of providing for a family and having a good job, you have to forever be looking out for the ladies, taking in the game with the guys and drinking all night long.

Now, men should be included in the feminist movement. I think they're a vital part. How are we ever really going to reach equality if we don't have the support of the other side. Like Jessica Valenti said "We can't have a fully successful feminism if we're missing half the population."

As for chapter 14. I loved that. It was such a great ending including the tips. It was something I needed too. I had the same thought many times while reading the book; 'what am I supposed to do with all this information?'

You should  be happy to know that I'm passing this book off to my 16 year old sister. I'm hoping she loves it as much as I do.

From Chastity to Chaz

AOLS headlines have been keeping up the recent sex changed of Sonny and Chers daughter. I'm not a very big fan of them but the headline from the article caught my eye.

Here's the link for you to read.

http://www.popeater.com/2009/11/19/chaz-bono-gma-good-morning-america-interview/?icid=main|main|dl2|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popeater.com%2F2009%2F11%2F19%2Fchaz-bono-gma-good-morning-america-interview%2F

An Unexpected Role Model

With the assignment we are doing in class I decided to fill my little of free time today looking up feminist role models. Pippi Longstocking. Not at all what I would think when I think feminism. Sure I read her when I was little, I may have even dressed up as her for Halloween, but thinking back it was just a character. I didn't believe that she was really a feminist role model until after I read an article about it. Here's a excerpt:

There is a sign in a shop window in the small town where she lives that reads, “DO YOU SUFFER FROM FRECKLES?” Pippi doesn’t. She is not interested in the anti-freckle cream on offer but nevertheless goes into the shop to make her position clear.
“No, I don’t suffer from freckles,” she declares. “But my dear child,” says the startled assistant, “your whole face is covered in them.” “I know,” says Pippi, “but I don’t suffer from them. I like them. Good morning!”

And here's the link.

http://www.sweden.se/pippi

FFF Pop Culture Gone Wild

My conversation with my boyfriend before writing this blog:
Me: Would you say I'm hot?
Him: No
Me (after I gave him the 'oh buddy you just made a big mistake' stare): why not?
Him: You're cute, but that's better than hot.
Me: What do you mean?
Him: Well, cute is datable and hot is hit it and quit it.

If these hot girls are just purely for 'hit it and quit it;' and they know it; what is even the point of the extra make up, the short skirts and breast implants? Women do it because it's horrible to be the 'ugly' girl. Women are trying to be perfect for that one night, to be accessible. Short skirts are accessible and that's just what men are looking for.

Women need to start living for women. I know that I've been in the spot of making myself look better to get a guys attention. But, I've also been in a relationship for three and a half years. I know how amazing it feels to have someone look forward to see you in the morning, so matter if you have bed head and bags under your eyes. I think there's a better chance of a guy being disgusted by the one night stands morning look then the boyfriend of three years. I know it's hard to listen to someone say that you look beautiful when your whole look just doesn't look for you. Pop culture is something that every woman tries to live up to, but it's also something that hinders are ability to love our real self. I real self under the layers of make up and the too short skirts in our closet. The real jeans and t shirts us. We need to look past pop culture and love our true selves.

Designer Vaginas: Worth the Pain?

While I was stumbing around the internet I was brought to a website that I often get sent to, MomLogic. Why i sent to this I don't know, but most of the times I do it works out for the best. Like tonight. The page I was sent to was uninteresting, so I clicked the link to take me to the Love and Relationships page. The title of article caught my; Designer Vaginas: Worth the Pain? My answer: Nope. Plus, it could cause major problems during childbirth, including losing the baby.

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.momlogic.com/2009/11/designer_vaginas_are_dangerous_labioplasty.php

Today sucks.

Last night I was sick and today I woke up feeling worse. The only rooms with mirrors is the bathroom and every time I go in I look at myself and say "Ugh, I look horrible today. I have bags under my eyes and my hairs a mess. Ew." It's not even that I look so bad, I'm just sick. No ones going to see me today except my boyfriend and he's sick too.

I hate this.

Teen Health - Plastic Surgery

I decided to look more into teens and plastic surgery. I googled it and found this website about teen health. I found three and the question 'Is Plastic Surgery the Right Choice?' particularly interesting. It mentions how much the doctors mentor the teens to make sure they are really ready for this big change. But enough, I'll let you read about it by yourself.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/your_body/beautiful/plastic_surgery.html#

Do you feel beautiful today?

I admit it. I have hated my body. I have despised it. I have dreamed and wished and hoped that I looked better. I have also been the person to stand in front of a mirror and vow that I will love my body forever more. But, I've broken it all of those time. I'm very much not alone in this feeling.

I'm not the type of girl that goes through the enormous pain to look beautiful. Sure there are those days that I do a little bit extra. Mascara. That's my secret. I never wear make up, except maybe a little cover up. But, if I slather on mascara I instantly feel more beautiful. I don't suffer for beauty, except for the occasional high heel.

I have three sisters, so I've been through the 'does this make my butt look fat?' and 'oh man, I need to diet now!' things so many times. My younger sister is the worst. She is incredibly skinny and I have been asked numerous amounts of time if she is sick. As far as I know she is not. She eats the most food I have ever seen, but gains no weight. It's incredible really. She also works painstakingly to look good. She is late leaving every morning because she has to add that little bit more make up or correct a loose hair.

I believe the reason for this 'I've got to make myself look amazing' is related a lot to what other people will think of you. I read Full Frontal Feminism, my favorite, on Sunday night. She mentions being called ugly.  This hurts. I've been called ugly and it seriously hurts. What a horrible thing to call anyone. It makes you think about what you've done to deserve that. It also makes you want to change everything about yourself. Jessica Valenti mentions begging her parents for a nose job. In all seriousness this is real now. A lot of younger and younger people are getting "jobs" done to make their self more beautiful. Teenagers are getting these as gifts. It's incredible. I wasn't ever directly told growing up, but I knew that it wasn't how you looked that counted. I feel like that's like getting a gift and being told it's the thought that counts. If it's the inside that counts why are Revlon, Cover Girl and all other make up companies making so much money from women who insist on making the outside look better?

You're all beautiful on the inside and outside. You don't really need make up or high heels. So throw on your favorite sweats and put your feet up. Believe me, you'll feel better than ever.

More than another?

When I'm bored and don't have a clue what to blog about I normally go to Yahoo Answers and see what people are asking. This morning when I realized I was super busy this week and forgot to do my blogs, I logged on to Yahoo Answers. I found a person asking "Are some women more equal than other women?" This kind of related to another blog I wrote asking if I could possibly be more monogamous than another person. The more info part of the question says:

For instance, the media will pay a lot of attention if a young blonde white woman is murdered by her father or brother. Yet if the same thing happens to a Middle Eastern or South Asian woman in the same country, the media is very quiet about it, if they pay any attention at all.

Does this mean that some women are more equal than others, or that some women are less equal than other women?

Feminists and equalists, please explain this to me...


I wouldn't say that women are more equal, but I would say that some women get a lot more attention. I feel like it's a media thing though. There's a typical person the media wants to show. Blond white women are popular, I don't know why. But, I've seen a lot of things with them. I wouldn't say they are more equal than any other woman though.

How would you answer the question?

In the beginning...

While reading for my history class this morning, I came across the chapter summary for Women's Rights :

Women's Rights Activists
Putting their religious ideas into practice, women constituted the core membership of most reform groups, such as peace, temperance, and antislavery societies. Their participation taught them basic political skills, and in 1848, the reformers Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized an independent movement for women's rights. They launched their campaign at a convention at Seneca Falls, New York. The Declaration of Sentiments issued by this gathering charged that history was fraught with male abuse of women and that the goal of such injury was "the establishment of an absolute tyranny" over women. The Declaration went on to demand universal female suffrage. Although it was ridiculed, the manifesto laid the foundation for the women's rights movement. 

I thought this was pretty interesting. I haven't read much about womens rights in my history class, so I look at this as the beginning.

Womens Reproductive Rights

The article My Fight for Birth Control was particularly touching. I found it incredibly sad, but I know that's probably something that happens significantly less today than when this article was written.When a friend in high school had to go to Planned Parenthood, she asked me to go with her for she didn't have to go alone. I was a little nervous at first, as I didn't really know what to expect. The first room we went into wasn't bad; just like a normal doctors waiting room. But, the next one was probably one of the worst times of my life. My friend had to visit their pharmacy and go back with a doctor. The only seats left in the second room were two behind a woman and what I presumed to be her boyfriend. The woman was sobbing, she cried the whole time. Towards the end of our visit I heard her mention an abortion. I'm pro choice and I understood that this was probably best for them or they wouldn't be doing it, but it just ripped my heart apart.  
The birth control article relates a lot to Jessica Valenti's chapter If These Uterine Walls Could Talk, which also talks about reproductive rights. In this chapter she talks about a few different birth control options including Emergency Contraceptive (EC) and condoms. She mentions not being able to get birth control on college campus. If I remember correctly, we should consider ourselves lucky. VCUs Students Health Services lays out what they offer : http://www.students.vcu.edu/health/clinics/  . They even offer a link to www.arhp.org, which has an interactive tool to help you choose a method of birth control that is right for you. They ask you questions about your sexual activity and any other diseases you have had and you are supposed to print out your results and bring to the appointment with your doctor to discuss what your possibilities are. They also offer condoms that are available in their examine rooms.
I feel like our birth control rights are our options, but we must also help towards the birth control rights of all women for we will be able to have our own options. Like Jessica Valenti ends her fifth chapter: The only question is - what will you do?

Book

I know I'm a little late on this post, but I fell asleep last night. Anyways, here's a book review I found that looks pretty cool.
http://www.elle.com/Pop-Culture/Movies-TV-Music-Books/Book-Release-Girldrive

I just might have to buy this one...

Can someone be more of a monogamist than someone else?

While my boyfriend and I were out to lunch today I was telling him about the Womens Studies class I'm taking and for the millionth time how much I like it. We were discussing the audio clip that we heard in class and that led to the topic of monogamy. He said I was of a monogamist than he was. I feel like because we are together in the relationship and have never strayed from each other, that we are equal. I don't understand, what could make me more monogamist than him? I don't exactly remember what we talked about after that because I was thinking 'what?' and totally tuned out. Maybe I'll take this up with him later to see what he meant.

Women's Rights in the Middle East

I may be naive, but I never knew that women in the Middle East had as many rights as they do. I know that sounds horrible.I guess before this class I never bothered to learn about their rights and probably would have never read this article if it wasn't assigned. But, honestly I'm glad I read it. It gave me a new perspective so to speak.
The first part that hit close to home was the education part; the "proof of unchastity" as a valid reason for expulsion.This is absolutely ridiculous! I'm studying to be a teacher, so anything related to education is very important to me. I cannot even begin to explain how wrong this is. I'm sure any girl who reads this understands what I mean. Even if a girl was seen walking with a guy, they were tested. Can you imagine if this was to happen now in the United States?! There would be a significant reduction of the student body in almost every middle and high school in America. Luckily in 2002, this was banned. Hopefully for good!
The second part that made me angry was the North and South Yemen part. I can't decide whether I feel worse for the Northern Yemen women or the Southern Yemen women. Southern Yemen women actually had a chance with the change in laws about marriage and divorce laws, but then they were taken away. I feel bad for them. But, on the other hand, you have the Northern Yemen women who see a glimmer of hope in what's happening in the south, but then quickly see what they could have had fade away again.
It's like that for many of the women in the Middle East; they see the one glimmer of hope and then see it taken away. But, fortunately, the increase in women's groups there and the changing of the attitude towards sexuality are changing what they have grown to know. Let's just hope it's more than a glimmer of hope this time.

Cosmopolitan

I was thinking about what I should write my third blog about this week. I thought I'd check out my Cosmopolitan magazine to what somewhat degrading things are on the cover. I love that magazine, but I think that you should be yourself on a date instead of making sure you say 'what he's dying to hear during a date!' A recent article title... While I was flipping through the October 2009 issue I found an article called Abducted By A Monster, which was advertised as How She Outsmarted a Brutal Rapist on the cover. I read it and it scared me. So much in fact that when the phone rang I jumped. I was going to copy the link for the article on here, but I can't find it on their website. But, while searching for it I found this, http://www.cosmopolitan.com/advice/tips/obama-stance-on-womens-rights?click=main_sr . Not exactly what I was looking for, but I had no idea about his issues on this. I thought it would be good to post. Anyways, I have the magazine with the article if anyone wants to see it.

Gender Equality

Talking about Yahoo Answers in class the other day inspired me to check out some of the questions on the Womens Studies page. I was reading and answering questions when I came this one : what happened to the traditional gender roles. Because I've always wanted to be a housewife, you know taking all day to get ready for my husband to come home, slaving over a really nice dinner, cleaning everything, I thought I should check it out. I didn't bother to answer because I found one answer that I was more focused on. Jas B said:
Traditional gender roles treated women as second class citizens.

You can call it traditional gender roles but the reality was that this was the oppression of women.

As another person has said women realized during the second world war when the men were away fighting and they had to work in the factories, as engineers and mechanics and all the other jobs which had been traditionally men's work that they were just as capable and they liked the independence it gave them to earn their own money.

Then after the war when women were told to go back into the homes, they decided there was more to life than babies, dishes and happy husbands. They felt that their contribution to the war effort had been forgotten and realized how constricting their lives were.

Women got sick of being treated as second class citizens and demanded changes in society and to all the laws which did not treat them as equal to men.

God had nothing to do with it. it's about equality.

The last part relates to a on going conversation between the other people. Anyways, this made this about a book I got from my grandma. It's Emily Post's Pocket Book of Etiquette. It was published in 1965. I find it absolutely hilarious to read. The majority of the book it dated, but the information is helpful. Part Fourteen is the last part in the book, but the first part I read. Page 462: A Happy Marriage. The last two sentences of the third paragraph of The Wife's Part is my absolute favorite line, just because it's so bad. ' And the wife who sees her husband off to work in a dirty bathrobe, with hair uncombed and face unwashed, send him off with a thoroughly unflattering picture of her in his mind. He may find his neat, efficient, pretty secretary more appealing than his unkempt, uncaring wife!' What a horrible thing to write! If your ugly, expect your husband to be cheating on you with his secretary. Ugh.

I went on to read The Husband's Part and one paragraph stood out to me. ' The husband that keeps his wife company in the kitchen while she is finishing the dinner preparations and gives a helping hand with the dishes after dinner, rather than retiring to the TV set or his newspaper, will find himself more repaid by his appreciative wife.' This is like what we talked about in class. Are we (women) supposed to sleep with a guy because he buys us dinner? So, are we supposed to 'pay' our husbands for actually helping us out in the kitchen?  I thought a relationship was a partnership, a team, not I'll help with the dishes only because you'll have sex with me for. I think if I ever had a guy say that to me, I'd drop the dish rag then and there and those dishes would never get done.

After reading certain parts of this book, it made me realize this all has come a long way. There's more to life than having babies, keeping husbands happy and doing dishes.

"Rape Schedule"

When I read this chapter of Full Frontal Feminism I was astonished. It also made me quite scared. Who do I know that would do something like that? I don't even want to think about it.

When reading about the "rape schedule" my first thought was I don't have one of those, but really the more I thought about the more I realized I do. First, I have extra locks. My doors came with just a bold, but my dad installed extra chains and a peephole on both the front and back doors. All my windows, with the exception of my bathroom one, has a lock on it. I don't want to turn out liek the woman in the hypothetical situation. My keys are dropped in my backpack when I leave my apartment, but the second we're released from class they're in my pocket. I try my best to stay out of the allies. Sometimes that's very hard though. If I have to walk I always talk on the phone. I read once that it would be better to not talk on the phone, but I just feel safer doing it. I normally call my dad or older sister, but I always tell them which ally I'm in just in case something happens. I also got the gene of being overly aware from my dad which makes me watch everyone I walk near just in case.

I don't think the rape schedule is such a bad thing. It's better to keep an eye out and make sure you get home alright. You can lock your doors and know your safe, that you've made through another day without being raped. You can take self defense classes ( the VCU police offer one for free!--> http://www.vcu.edu/police/rad.html) and you can buy pepper spray to try to ward off predators. It's up to us to protect ourselves and it's up to us to learn us much as we can to not only protect ourselves, but to help others that have either been hurt already or help educated others.

Other note: I sell Avon and before I started selling I had no idea how much they funded to help not only Breast Cancer, but Domestic Violence too. We sell a Empowerment necklace and bracelet. All the money is donated to the fund against domestic violence.

Guide for Hiring Women

I was stumbling around the internet and came across this 1943 Guide for Hiring Women.

http://i28.tinypic.com/2ih75hg.jpg

Two Sexes Are Not Enough

Before I started reading this, I only thought that there were two sexes and that everybody had to fit into one of the two categories. You're either male or your female. I never really thought that we needed anymore and we couldn't possible have any less, so I never thought about it.
My best friend got pregnant right out of high school and we would often discuss what we thought the sex of the baby would be, so during a lunch date I thought I'd ask my boyfriends opinion. Our conversation went something along the lines of this:
"So, Bryan, let's take bets on the sex of Laurens baby. I think it's going to be a boy. What do you think?"
"I think it's going to be a hermaphrodite. What do I get if I win?"
I thought his answer was ridiculous. Babies are girls or boys. Blue or pink.

It wasn't until I read this article that it really made me think. There doesn't have to be just two sexes. There are so many different types of people in the world, we can't all fit into only two categories. I think it would be sensible to open the world to different possibilities and open arms to include everyone. Opening the world to numerous sexes will eventually lead us closer to equality, maybe not fully but creating more than one will be a giant step in the right direction.


( We both lost the bet. Mikayla Paige was born on November 11, 2008.)

DQs

I was reviewing chapter 7s intro before making dinner tonight and thought of some questions.

Why do you think birthrates are declining in numerous parts of the world? I would have thought the opposite...

I thought about the Learning Activity on page 380. It asks you to conduct interviews of dorm mates or people around you. I only have me and my boyfriend right now. I'll just answer. It asks who you consider family. Well, I consider first my parents, sisters, cousins, etc family. I had a best friend growing up who became family, like another sister and her family became my family. When I started dating Bryan he quickly became family. After I met his family and spent more and more time with them they became my family. We don't all live together, that would probably be one cramped house. My dad took care of me and my family, but my mom was in charge of the financial well-being because she was the bread winner. I'm not so sure how to answer the extended question family. We (my immediate family) are attached to our extended family.

So, can any of you answer the questions for we can compare?

Ok, I ran out of time. I have to make dinner.

Sometimes You Have to Use What Your Momma Gave Ya

To fill the random voids in my day I normally spend time on the internet. Today while filling a void I stumbled upon this story about one awesome woman. Introducing Blenda!

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/blenda.html

Divorce Rates and such in Virginia

So, a few years ago my parents separated. They are in the process of divorce now. I never knew much about divorce, I think I had only two friends growing up whose parents weren't together any more. So, it really wasn't something I had to think about. Their separation was very bad on my sisters and I, worse on others, but still bad. So, considering this is so relevant in my life, I thought I'd look for a website to answers on page 388.

I found a website called DivorceSource.com; they have any different pages connected to their website and have tips at the bottom of the pages such as "Divorce Tip: #71 Women who are suffering from domestic violence should always have a safety plan in case of extreme emergencies."

Pretty interesting website and probably something I'll refer back to later.

http://www.divorcesource.com/info/divorcelaws/virginia.shtml

sad

Monday night was karaoke night for me and a group of my friends. I didn't sing thought. We hung out at Bogart's and watched people do karaoke and my boyfriend and I were put in charge of finding songs for our friends to sing. After they closed at 1:30 am, a few of us decided that we were hungry so we decided that 3rd Street Diner would be amazing then. I love this place. It's so delicious. The waitresses are really nice and the people that run it remind me of my family. The waitress we had I've seen there before. She took our orders and brought us drinks. While we were eating she randomly came over . "You all know those rowdy guys that were sitting here when you came in?" she said pointing at the booth next to ours. We all answered yes. "There's this kind of gay guy at the bar and they were pouring beer on his head and being mean to him." I was mad. Very mad. I still find it really hard to believe that people can be that mean to someone. Part of me wishes that those guys were still there for I could pour beer on their head and when they get mad and yell at me, I would just say "I'm pouring beer on your head because your different than me, your a man and I'm a woman. How does it feel, huh? Pouring beer on his head just because he's different than you. That's terrible and now you know how it feels." My vision of what would happen goes further than that, but I would probably end in me getting arrested. Unfortunately I can't do anything because it happened before we were there. I wish there weren't people like that in the world.

"honey, can you do the dishes tonight?"

This week I was particularly drawn to the paper on housework, mostly because that's like 75% of my life now. So, this stuck very close to home. I have an apartment in Richmond, a rather nice one too, but really I stay with my boyfriend. I haven't stayed once at my apartment since I moved here. Sure, I "visit," I grab some lunch there or watch TV, but I always end up back at his place.
Today is Tuesday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my days off, but today was anything but. Last night I went to bed at 3:30am. I woke up at 10:00 am, as asked by my boyfriend. I told him to get in the shower and I got everything of mine together to go back home. After his shower I made pancakes for breakfast and we hurried to leave for the car didn't get towed. We went to Walmart. I bought only a few bags full, mostly food because I really will be staying at my place this weekend. Only because he's going home. We drove back and I carried his many, many bags up stairs to his apartment and put the cold stuff away. He said he'd put everything else away, which he did. We drove to my apartment and while he sat in his car I carried my five bags of groceries, large very full basket of laundry, back pack and whatever else I had up my wooden, pretty broken fire escape. I stayed there while he went home to do whatever he does when I'm not there. My bet is he played video games. I unloaded my stuff into my disastrously messy apartment, thinking the whole time that I need to clean. I eventually walked the long 3 1/2 blocks back to his place where I washed dishes (yuck!) and swept the floor with the new broom he bought me. Later I cooked dinner for us. He was nice enough to grudgingly say yes when I asked him to do dishes.
This brings me to my point. In the paper the author mentions something about the fight that ensues when it comes to house hold chores. So, is it easier to bypass the fight and do the work yourself or is the downtime really worth the battle? My answer: don't fight. What do you think?

So I have an Idea...

I was flipping channels a few months ago and came across a show on some kids channel called Handy Manny. I miss heard and what I heard was Handy Mandy. This made me excited because finally a portrayal of a girl that is handy with tools and such. But, of course I was disappointed to realize I heard this wrong. So, I have a plan. First, I'm going to find out what network it is on. Next, I'm sending an email or real mail depending on what I can find on the website. I want to know why it couldn't be Handy Mandy. I'll update you with a copy of my letter and any thing I hear back from them. This should be interesting...

As for the White Priviledges Paper...

So, I read some of this today. I say only some because I was flipping through and saw a list and had to read it. I started highlighting what I could answer yes to. I feel slightly bad that I could answer yes to 36 of the total 54. That's 66%.

:(

A Blog Post with Extra Questions, kind of a rant...

When I started reading this Oppression piece, nothing really sank in until I read her definition of press. It's kinda a random place for it to start to stick, but something happened. kind of like an eye opening experience.

Why do we have to be molded?
Every person has their "type," so why do others (either out significant others/friends/ colleagues etc) want to morph us into something we are so clearly not?

Why can we only fit into two extremes. You're either a whore or you're a "lady," you either choose to curse like a sailor or be a "lady," you can do whatever is defined as bad or you can choose to be a "lady." Why can't there be middle ground? I consider myself in between the two, so I guess that makes me totally irrelevent along with the majority of all other women in the world.

The topic of cages. This paper came down to cages. Keeping us reduced to what we "should" be, what they want us to be. So, last question. Why do we need to either be a crazy escapee or a prisoner; why can't we be good law abiding citizens? (Because that would be boring, who would oppress us then? Oh, well, I'm sure they could find some other reason to oppress us.)

No Post

So, I'm supposed to write one more post tonight before class. But, I have no idea what to write about. I thought about it all day today, but nothing became of that... So, there's one less real post than theres supposed to be. Sorry.

Classism: then and now.

As a history major I think about history tons, so it's natural that I would relate what I learn to history. When I was thinking about the different neighborhoods where different classes live, I thought first about where I grew up and second about the beginning of Virginia. Kinda strange, but that's just how I think.

As I have previously mentioned, I grew up in a middle class neighborhood across from a higher class neighborhood. The higher class neighborhood was around a lake. Next, was the lower class neighborhood; a bit further past our high school. So, I thought about VA. Tobacco was the cash crop in VA and what did you need to transport it? Ships, which need water. Who lived around water? The upper class. Who lived further past them; the middle class and lower class.

Question: What's really changed?

Time for New Rules

What's the one place on the Monopoly that you always try to own? Boardwalk. Why? Because when you own it and others land on it, you make massive amounts of money. You make others lose their their places, hotels and houses. You are in a "higher class" when you own Boardwalk.
What's wrong with owning Baltic Avenue ("lower class") or New York Avenue ("middle class")? They make less money, especially if you can't afford to own all of the properties in that set.

So, enough about monopoly rules. Real life, that's what we have to worry about. We don't pay, if we can actually afford to pay, rent in monopoly money. We have to work our butts off to pay for anything. We meaning the Baltic Avenue and New York Avenue people. We can't always afford college, which results in a job that makes less than expected. ((Major side note- Take teachers for instance. They go through so many years of college, just to do a job that pays no good amount of money at all. They deserve to earn the most in my opinion. The first advice I got when I said I was going to study to be a teacher -"You don't do it for the money."))

We need to break these bonds that hold us in the class that we were born into. We ideally need a classless society where everything is equal. But, maybe I just dream too much. We need to start from the inside, break barriers in your community now so maybe in the future people can actually move forward.

Go on, start the change.

Thoughts on "Tired of Playing Monopoly?" or not...

I don't know why I'm so interested in the classism writings. I guess it's because it's something I know first hand. I read this article yesterday and finished it off this morning. I have a lot to say about it, but knowing tomorrow is Tuesday and I don't have classes I thought I didn't need to do anything else today. But, I was wrong and I have a blog due by 3am. That's not going to happen because I'm at my boyfriends apartment and I'm not about to walk 3 1/2 blocks alone in Richmond at 11:10pm to get my textbook. So, I guess I'll have to do it when I get home tomorrow. Which sucks cause I was kinda looking forward to it... :(

Chicken and Peaches Make the World Go Round

Today while I was supposed to be folding the laundry I didn't fold two days ago I was instead reading over the blogs that people have written. Much better than folding laundry if you ask me. I was struck my my relation to Professor Hollidays second part of her first post. Kitchens. I, like her, love them too. It relates only to the fact that I love to cook. I'm actually way better at baking, but that really has nothing to do with this.

Let's start with the fact that the reason I live in the apartment I live in is because of the kitchen. I took one look at the kitchen and said "this is it," went to the bank and gave the landlord the money. The three apartments I looked at before had closets in them bigger than the kitchen. This one has no closet but it has a nice open kitchen. It's beautiful. The first thing I found most important to buy for my new apartment? A new knife set. Very important. It sits proudly on the microwave I haven't used lately because my stove gas was finally turned on (YAY!).

Second, everywhere I go I have to look at the kitchen. I went to a party a few weeks ago and sat in the somewhat amazing kitchen the whole time. I'm boring, I know. But the bad part is that I picked apart what I liked and didn't. Sure it had new appliances, but there was hardly any counter space. Where would I put my mixer? This is what I think about. Weird.

My third thing relates to my parents. My mom worked all the time, so my dad stayed home and watched my sisters and I. He would cook and clean and do everything else in the house. I remember a few nights my mom would cook. That was just bad news. She had her "specials," but they still weren't as special as Dads food. (side note: I'm glad that my mom can't work a computer to save her life, because she would kill me if she read that!) My dad made amazing food. My mom was an amazing baker, but that was only for more special occasions. The smells that filled my house every night when my dad cooked were intoxicating. My favorite food, his chicken and peaches. Sounds disgusting, but it's fried deliciousness. Still to this day I have never been able to make it as good as his. I just don't get it. I follow the recipe perfectly, still nothing like his. So, really I think the point of my third reason was the show that it's not always the mom that has the nurturing instinct; they don't always cook and clean and take care of the kids. My dad did everything for all fourof us and will always do anything for us. I don't have any idea where I would be without him.

Kitchens are an integral part of our lives, not only for what they are meant for, but for the fact that they are so much more than what they seem.

Feeling older?

I went with my dad to surprise my sister at school today. Standing in the high school I graduated from in 2007 made me feel old. Then I thought about it. I'm not old at VCU but I'm old at home. I got old then I moved out. That's just what happens. It happened to my older sisters and it will happen to my younger sister.

At VCU, I'm not old. I'm just grown up. I do grown up things like laundry and dishes. I go to classes in hopes of graduating and getting a grown up job. Everything I do is grown up. And now I wonder what happened to that little girl that swore she would never move out of her house, swore that she would never get a job or swore that her parents would do her laundry forever? She now attends VCU, along with tons of others that swore this same thing.


Now, a comic. Random, I know. But, atleast it goes with my topic.

http://xkcd.com/150/

Why We Should be Quakers....

Yes, you read that right. Quakers. Like the guy on the oatmeal container. I found it surprising how equal the Quakers were, including being really progressive in women's rights. I first read about this in my history textbook and I was going to quote some on here because it explained it so well, but I forgot it in my apartment. So, now you get the link to wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaker_views_of_women

Plus, take a look at the "Testimony of Equality," pretty interesting for their time...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testimony_of_Equality

Am I Supposed to be Here?

Today for class I read FFF chapter 13, A Quick Academic Aside. Despite the fact that I love this book ( so much so that I leave it as the last thing I read, kinda like a reward), I found this chapter more boring than the others. One chapter I won't be interested in at all.
That was what I believed until I read the part about classism, something I really didn't think affected me until I read and related to the story she told. I'm going to talk about my boyfriend again, even if I feel like that's all I ever talk about. Bryan and the beginning of our relationship was what I thought about when I started reading the classism part.

We grew up together. We've gone to school together since kindergarten. We rode the bus together from the first day of middle school to the last day of high school. The only difference is that Bryan got off the bus in Lake Barcroft, the community surrounding our high school. Lake Barcroft has huge houses and a Association, needless to say you have to have money to live there. Which my family doesn't. I got off the bus in Bel Air, which is nothing like the Bel Air in California. It's middle class and all we have to our neighborhood is a newsletter that says who got married and who had a baby. In my mom's words Bryan and I are "from two different sides of the tracks."

My parents didn't go to college and don't have incredible money making jobs. I was always ashamed of this, which made me extra nervous when I had to meet Bryans parents. What if they hate me? What if they look down on me because my family doesn't have money? I've loved Bryan since third grade, what if I just don't belong in Lake Barcroft? I pushed my fears aside and met them. They loved me. They still do. I love them. They didn't look down on me then and they don't now. Actually, we are way more similar than I ever thought.

So, it makes me wonder why? Why was I so nervous to meet them? They really aren't any different than me. Money, that's all I was thinking about, the difference in wallet size. We are all just people and there's no changing that. The happiness I found with Bryan was free. All the money in Lake Barcroft couldn't buy that happiness.