Prompt 1 - article that deals with injustice
The article “ ‘Why Don’t We Have Any White Kids?’ ” by N. R. Kleinfield of the New York Times tackles the issue of segregation in New York public schools. The article goes deep into segregation at a charter school in district 17 called Explore. Explore is very segregated. It’s student body racial make-up is “92.7 percent black, 5.7 percent Hispanic, and a scattering are of mixed race. None are white or Asian.” These numbers are shocking, but not uncommon in New York City schools. New York has one of the most segregated school systems in the country. Having such segregated systems, is a problem, it teaches certain groups privilege and others that they aren’t good enough to be with the other group.
Having segregated schools gives kids a bad message and leads kids to believe that the world is just as segregated as schools are. Studies show that diverse school environments have positive effects on a students success in school “ Decades of academic studies point to the corroding effects of segregation on students, especially minorities, both in diminished academic performance and in the failure to equip them for the interracial world that awaits them. “The preponderance of evidence shows that attending schools that are diverse has positive effects on children throughout the grades, and it grows over time,” said Roslyn Mickelson, a professor of sociology and public policy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Our schools are still segregated even after several legislative bills to integrate schools have been passed.
Students in segregated schools are shamed for behaviors that are not typically used by kids of a certain race in a particular school. One of the top students at Explore charter school, Amiyah Young was shamed by her peers for using more complex language. They called her ‘white girl’ because of the way she talks. She feels as if the school were more integrated with white kids “I think they would stop calling me white girl if there were white kids,” she said. “Because my skin is a little lighter and I can’t dance, they call me that. Some of them can’t dance, either.” She continues on to say that if the school was more integrated she could talk the way she wants. “Other students speak street slang that she repudiates: “They will say to me, ‘You are so white.’ I tell them, I have two black parents. Do I look white?’ ” Having a more integrated student body will prepare kids for a more integrated world once they graduate, and expose them to other cultures.
Reading this article makes me reflect upon my own school settings. My elementary school was predominantly white. I looked back at some old class pictures to see what the classes were like, and I was amazed. My fifth grade class had one black kid in it. Other years were slightly more diverse, but there was always a majority of white kids. Continuing on to middle school my classes continue to be undiverse. Although there are typically more kids of color in spanish, there are still many more white kids than there are black. I have never had more than five black kids in any of my classes in any given year of middle school. This year’s class includes one biracial kid, but other than that I have no other kids with African American parents. I think that personally learning in settings that are dominated by white kids has not helped me. I feel as if being constantly surrounded by people of my own racial make up has given me the wrong idea about how diverse the world outside is, especially in some professional fields. New York City should try to integrate school systems to create a better learning environment for all kids.Students in segregated schools are shamed for behaviors that are not typically used by kids of a certain race in a particular school. One of the top students at Explore charter school, Amiyah Young was shamed by her peers for using more complex language. They called her ‘white girl’ because of the way she talks. She feels as if the school were more integrated with white kids “I think they would stop calling me white girl if there were white kids,” she said. “Because my skin is a little lighter and I can’t dance, they call me that. Some of them can’t dance, either.” She continues on to say that if the school was more integrated she could talk the way she wants. “Other students speak street slang that she repudiates: “They will say to me, ‘You are so white.’ I tell them, I have two black parents. Do I look white?’ ” Having a more integrated student body will prepare kids for a more integrated world once they graduate, and expose them to other cultures.
Article Citation:
Kleinfield, N. R. "‘Why Don’t We Have Any White Kids?’." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 May 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2014.
Prompt 2- Situations I observe in school/parkslope (my neighborhood)
- A girl takes a selfie, “You are SUCH a white girl”
- A girl wears a revealing shirt “She’s a slut, why would she put out herself like that?”
- A guy is afraid to try a risky activity with his friends “Don’t be such a pussy”
- A group of friends go to starbucks, and then shopping “They are such white girls WTF!”
- I visit my elementary school P.S. 321 and I see almost no minority kids
- I see that there’s only one kid in my class with a parent that’s a person of color, my class is mostly white
- I look in my neighborhood and see how much even it has changed since I was a kid because of gentrification
Today in pop culture a term that has become very popular is ‘White Girl’. I hear the phrase white girl thrown around a lot, even directed at me. I decided that before responding to the phrase ‘white girl’ I had to get a grasp on what a technical definition of a ‘white girl’ was. I looked to Urban Dictionary, a dictionary filled with definitions of phrases used in pop culture today. The definition I found to make the most sense was; “White Girl (noun) - A ‘white girl’ is usually defined as a caucasian [but also other races] teenage girl who is observed with the following traits: has an unhealthy obsession with Starbucks, desperately hits up her friends for likes on Instagram, overuses emojis, has a put-on ghetto dialect, takes a million selfies and deletes 99% of them, and enjoys crushing on a new boy every week. There are many more traits but to list them would be redundant. Be careful as they evolve constantly. One week they might love nutella, while the next they’ll disown it.” While there may be some element of truth in the ‘white girl’ phenomenon, why does society feel the need to label people so specifically, and how does labeling people ‘white girl’ affect them?
The phrase white girl makes me aggravated because I think that placing a label like ‘white girl’ on someone limits how they are viewed. For me there is something really wrong with the term white girl, and the problem starts with white. Saying white associates the term ‘white girl’ with being caucasian, but the term ‘white girl’ is supposed to be about the activities teenage girls of all races commonly partake in. I feel like it also confines young female white teenagers into being ‘white girls’. The next issue with this phrase is the girl part. One doesn’t have to be a girl to enjoy activities such as taking selfies, or drinking starbucks. Boys, and men can do all these activities, yet the term is ‘white girls’. Our society often separates what women and men can do in fear of women being too macho, or men being too girly.
My final issue with the term ‘white girl’ is that it is making assumptions. Just because I enjoy occasionally going to starbucks, I take a lot of selfies, and I have an instagram account, it doesn’t mean I identify with the ‘white girl’ category. I personally would rather be labeled for positive intellectual, and personality traits and qualities. By calling someone a ‘white girl’ it might limit what one will think of them. If being a white girl will mean someone thinks that I’m superficial because I take selfies, than that is a category that limits me. The term ‘white girl’ is a term that is said often, but it’s said with no thought of what its impacts are.
Prompt 3: Interview
Matthew Gartner
C: What is good about our world?
M: I think that it’s really good that life evolved from non-life and that sentient life evolved, and that humans became capable of making jokes, and making other people laugh. They’ve done studies on the remains of early humans, and based on those studies they can tell how much humans died because of violent acts. And it was a high percentage. I’m glad that that doesn’t exist as much as today with the exception of ISIS. I’m glad that the quality of life has improved, and that the poverty levels are getting better. Glad that there is progress in the feminism movement, even though there is a lot of things that have to be done. I think there’s progress in the direction of justice and decency. And there’s a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of decent people who are making the world better every day in small ways and big ways. And that’s an amazing thing. People in small ways every day that people go to work to make the world better. And you don’t have to be hugely special to make a difference. And when a lot of people make small differences it adds up to being a big difference. There’s also people who help the world to make a better place is by having kids and trying to raise their kids to be good people. It’s pretty amazing that you give up a big chunk of your life to get people going in the world, and make all kinds of sacrifices for their kids.
C: What is unfair about our world?
M: We just don’t live in a fair world, so the unfairness goes in every direction. Here’s one way the world is unfair half the people in the world have above average intelligence, and half of the people are below. Is that fair? Some people have x, and some people have 2x and some people have 10,000x and some people have -3x. Often people are so deeply wrapped up in there own issues and their own problems and their own suffering and it’s hard for them to connect with other people. And their suffering becomes their whole world to them. I think it’s really wrong that there are so many different levels of economic advantage and disadvantage. And there are rich countries, and poor countries and the life you can live in each country is really different. I think that there are a lot of people who are very fundamentalism in religion, and they would like to bring us back to a world that isn’t as modern. And people don’t believe in women having equal rights. And they don’t believe in science and what is true in the world. Also another thing that is really another major bad thing that is happening right now is that we are not paying attention to our planet. They’re not thinking about the implications of 7 million people. We’re using fossil fuels, and burning coal, and ruining our atmosphere.
One of the interesting things Matthew brought up was how poverty, and growing up in a country that’s not as economically prosperous can affect your opportunities in the world. I think that part of the root of this problem is that kids who come from low income households have the idea that because they don’t have a lot of money they can’t achieve great things. I also think that society greatly favors people who come from more rich backgrounds. The people who have power in this world are rich, and they therefore make the system work for them. In addition I think that growing up in poverty can be harsh on children, and it leads them to believe that the world is just as harsh so that they can’t have nice things.
The poverty gap, is huge and it’s a problem because so many families have so much, but so many families have so little as well. The recession hit many places hard and some people are able to recover from it, but many aren’t. As our country lost money people lost jobs, and that was the case in many places in the world. Now the rich get so much more than the poor just because they have the positions in power. Our world is becoming divided instead of one unit working together. The division is everywhere, in where you live, go to school, buy your clothes, go to college, where you work… And the list goes on. There is so much division just because of ones income.
The poverty in the US doesn’t compare to the poverty in other places around the world. Some 3rd world countries are so poor and don’t have anything. We are so lucky in the US to have what we have, but we can’t stop with our country, we have to expand on a global scale. People with more money have more opportunities in this world because today money = power. That system is not okay, everyone should have the same chance for the same jobs in this world regardless of how much money you have.
Prompt 4 - Watching the news:
I watched ABC’s broadcast of the grand jury broadcasting of the decision if Officer Wilson should be endited.
I put myself in the shoes of Michael Brown’s parents for this.
To have your kid get shot, shot and then die because he was walking down the street. He died clean out no longer here with us dead. To be in that situation, each death all the parents hold their kids close, and pray that it won’t be them next. One after the other, as the world sits there and watches. There are brief periods of violence and protests but then it winds down, because no one, no one knows what it’s like to lose your kid until you lose them.
The man who killed our country goes without punishment, there isn’t enough evidence the grand jury says. Aren’t Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell and the countless others enough evidence? Look at the facts, look at the patterns, look at this country that we live in. There is so much protest, so much noise about this, but the media is focusing on the protest itself, but not on our boy Michael Brown.
Prompt 5 - interview:
I decided to interview my mom Madeline Rhum. My mom changes the world and helps people every day. My mother is a clinical therapist who runs her own practice. She truly inspires me because she works really hard and cares about her job, even though it can be really difficult and stressful for her. My mom also changes the world or my world on the parental front, she has been the greatest mom even though we fight a lot.
C: How do you help people in your job?
M: I help people every day with all kinds of emotional distress, I help them feel able to have better relationships with people in their lives, and feel more capable and confident in their work and their everyday experiences.
C: Do you enjoy helping people everyday?
M: Yes, sometimes it’s hard for me to keep myself emotionally present at times, and people are telling me about really horrible things they’ve endured. But I do like my work.
C: Why did you chose to do the work you do?
M: Because I had a strong feeling of wanting to help people. I’ve always been thoughtful of peoples feelings, and I’ve been emotionally there for them. But I really decided to become a therapist after I worked at a refugee camp in Thailand.
C: Do you think your job has ever saved anyone’s life.
M: Yes it has.
Prompt 6 poem:
Adrienne Rich, "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers"
Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
Aunt Jennifer's finger fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.
When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.
(You can find the poem at http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/rich-jennifer-tiger.html )
Interpretation and analysis of poem:
The poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich, is a clear representation of the feminist movement. Aunt Jennifer is doing her needlepoint, stuck doing a “woman’s job” or busy work with no intellectual value for her. She is weak, caught in a system where she has no power, but the tigers she embroiders are strong, representing her inner desire to be more than she is permitted by the world she lives in.
“Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;”
The tigers are strong and have no fear of what oppresses them (men). Aunt Jennifer doesn’t have the strength to break the system she’s stuck in so through her needle work she is able to break free.
The next grouping of phrases goes further into Aunt Jennifer’s situation. It leads the reader to see how being this feminine object whose purpose is to do tasks centered around the home life has made Aunt Jennifer’s life bleak.
“Aunt Jennifer's finger fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.”
This is showing how being a woman, and being married, just because that was a proper thing to do, has weighed Aunt Jennifer down. It has made doing things in the world hard for her, because she is surrounded by a world where men are superior, and they have much, much more power than women.
The legacy of Aunt Jennifer is just of a lady who does ‘ladylike’ things, and that is all she will get to be. Although the tigers will continue to prance representing her inner desire to fulfill her potential to be something more, she will never have that, because she lives in a world where she can’t be someone bigger. Her hands will still feel the burden even after she is gone.
“When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.”
Today in the world women still face inequality. We live in a world dominated mostly by male figures of power. We have come a long way, but society today says men are superior to women although they never have and never will be. The poem “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” by Adrienne Rich explores that women have been limited in their access to power through the metaphor of needlepoint. The metaphor of needlepoint helps us to see how society has limited what women can do. The tigers show how women are strong and that we can be more, but we are shut down by a system that disables us. Today discrimination against women continues. We need to break down the barriers that limit us, and find our inner tigers.
Interesting video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwJRFClybmk&list=PLTXiNEUzXWKT9xrbU3aUxqYloEL_W-8rr
Prompt 7 Watching Old T.V.:
I watched the partridge family season one episode 18- Soul Club and episode 19- To play or not to play?
The partridge family was a show from the early 70’s so I thought it would be interesting to watch, and compare to modern television. The partridge family portrayed families and teens as if they were perfect. People my age were portrayed as responsible, caring, and family oriented, but sometimes slightly rebellious of their parents. Normal teens in the partridge family are white, and love to hang out in groups, they don’t do a lot of crazy things, they just enjoy each others company for most of the time. They live in nice houses generally with multiple stories just on the outskirts of their town. They are upper middle class, and always have food on the table. Their family is sweet and kind and although they fight sometimes it always gets worked out.
The portrayal of teens in television and movies makes me upset because it only shows one type of teenager, and doesn’t really portray what someone’s life is actually like. The portrayal of teens makes me think about how much the media and hollywood has made “perfect.” So many things not just in TV and movies but also in ads and commercials are changed just to make something look flawless. Very few people have the picture perfect life that is portrayed by the partridge family. Looking at the portrayal of the teens in the partridge family makes me feel confused, because when I look at them they have everything figured out, and I’m just trying to find myself as a person. Watching the Partridge family and looking at the portrayal of teens and families makes me know that the world is afraid to look at the un-perfect reality.
I feel like that through showing a family that has as good as a life as the partridge family many problems arise. One negative causation is that it makes people feel as if they aren’t doing well enough within their own families. It makes people see a reality that’s so appealing, but not true, and they’re going to get caught up trying to achieve something they can’t. Portraying teens this way isn’t accurate, because not everyone is so cookie cutter perfect. The teenage years are a time of self discovery, and not everyone can do that without making a few mistakes. I think there is a stereotype around families like the partridge family. I think it’s that they’re perfect, but in reality that isn’t true.
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