Full Frontal Feminism

                While reading this book I found out that I am a feminist.  I never knew it nor did I know what feminism really was.  I never cared what people thought of me, I always thought that a man should do the dishes and all the house work just like women have done for centuries.  I have never given much thought to the facts that women aren’t equal still today.  I mean I have never really looked at the world like that.  Now that I have taken this class and read this book I am aware that fairness doesn’t even come close when it comes to women.  It really pisses me off that women with children make so much less than men and women without kids for that matter.  We need it the most kids aren’t cheap.  I know that it is important to vote and not to just vote but to know who and what you are voting for.  Know what they believe in and how they would vote for on the issues that matter to you.  Everyone thinks that their one vote doesn’t matter but I’m here to tell you that aren’t the case it does.  Talk to your friends and family about it because they may not know what’s going on in the government.  They more people that you can get involved the better we will be.  No one can get anything done today without some sort of involvement.  So find out what is important to you and start getting involved.

There are a few things I found disturbing in this week’s reading.  First I found the fact that women are having trouble getting their birth control pills filled.  I never realized that people that are prolife thought that birth control is wrong.  In my opinion birth control is a lot better than abortion, I’m mean think about it birth control is preventing life.  There is never a baby.  My personal opinion is if a woman wants birth control that’s her choice, I’ve taken it.  Although I personally couldn’t have an abortion but I don’t see anything wrong with it.  A woman should be able to make her own decisions, no matter what her reasons.  The technology is there why can’t we use it.  Today in class we talked about how some women have used coat hangers to abort their unborn fetus.  Should we really go back to that kind of thing when we have the ability to do it safely?  I don’t think so. 

I also think the fact that our society needs to stop looking at the exterior of people.  Does it really matter if I am a woman or if I am white or whatever?  We are all people, what should matter is what we do.  If I apply for a job I hope that I get it because I’m qualified and not because I’m white.    I can think of so many more important things we could focus on in the world.  But instead we have to fight to be treated equal.      

New Political Era

New Political Era

            The interesting thing about American’s is that we are all proud to be Americans, but what makes America such a good country to be a part of.  Is it our freedoms, our economy, or just simply the way we can live our everyday lives anyway we wish.  The youth in the 50’s and 60’s were involved much more they paved for our generation by protesting and letting our government know what they expected of them.  Today’s youth are less involved and don’t understand why it is so important to be involved in our democratic process, which is why I will explore why our generation is so cynical about our electoral process and why it is important to get our generation educated about the officials we vote for, and explain how it is affecting our everyday lives by not voting.   

            Young Americans today aren’t involved in our democracy for many reasons.  The new generation of voters simply don’t trust our government which in reality that alone should make them want to be more involved.  Mark Strama author of, Overcoming Cynicism: Youth Participation and Electoral Politics, says; 9 out of 10 candidates who spend the most money wins an election.  Most of that money comes from special interest groups so most Americans feel they aren’t the ones truly being represented.  During a candidate’s run for office they rarely target the young voters instead they target the older generations because they are the ones that go to the poles and vote.  Strama says, “Obviously, it’s a catch-22: politicians ignore young people because they don’t vote, and young people don’t vote because politicians ignore them” (p.73).

Strama, Mark. "Overcoming Cynicism: Youth Participation and Electoral Politics." National Civic Review 87.1 (1998): 71. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Mar. 2011.

Today’s politics and voting

I chose to explore why the younger generations aren’t involved with our election process and what our young people can do today to know how they can get involved.   The reason I am interested in this topic is because I find it fascinating that young people don’t care what happens in our government.  Most of our young people don’t understand that who we elect to represent us will affect our everyday lives.  Our elected officials propose laws and bills that can help or in the case I will be talking about hurt us.  The government wants to cut funding for our family planning clinics.  These family planning clinics provide cancer screenings, birth control, and treatments for STDs for the lower income Americans who can’t afford insurance.  It would be a great problem for this country to let these people go uncared for.  There would be more STDs, more unwanted pregnancies, and more undiagnosed people with things like breast cancer or cervical cancer which could be a great big problem foe this country in the long run.  I plan to research the statistics and explain how important it is to be involved in our government.  I will contrast today’s young people to the young Americans in the 60s and 70s.  I am hoping to explain the changes that have occurred since then.  I will explain what will happen to Planned Parenthood if these cuts are made to their budget, and how it could affect all of us in our everyday lives. 

Misunderstood

I was listening to Lil Wayne’s CD in my car the other day, when this song came on I had never listened to before.  It was called Misunderstood, in this song he tells about how the government targets black Americans.  There is also a part in this song that talks about the injustices of prison sentences.  He says, “You know we don’t have room in the jail no for the real mothafuckas, the real criminals”/ “Sex offenders, rapist’s serial killers”.  Saying this is true a man caught with drugs is more likely to get half the time as someone caught with drugs.  People don’t see this because who ever actually checks the figures?  Certainly not the average person, they don’t want to depress their selves thinking about it.  When he says this he means to inform us that the child molester is going the get out sooner than a person who sells or uses drug.  In fact my friend was sent to prison the same day as a child molester and he got 15 years and the molester got 7.  Lil’ Wayne goes on, “I know you saw those sex offender papers”/ “Don’t trip he lives right on the end of yo block”.  Really check the internet they have to register.  I just checked the St. Joe PD map of sex offenders and within 4,000 feet of my home I have 22 registered sex offenders.  The punishment for sex offenders is too light for me.  I would rather have a drug dealer live down the block from me than a child molester any day.  Take a listen.... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxz3E34yQaY&playnext=1&list=PLE841744E9673224F

Gen Me

Twenge sums up her book by reviewing what she has written.  She also asks some questions about what Gen Me's kids will be like.  I feel that she has answered all the questions I had about the generations.  I found it very interesting about the self esteem issues.  I never realized that I was taught that way, but when I looked back at my youth I was very surprised to learn I was taught to love myself.  I would have to agree that it may not be the best idea to teach self-esteem more than say math.  But what can I do to change that.  That was a little stab at our generation. 

Pathos:Emotion

The song by Haystack "My First Day" really makes me think of myself.  The target audience is drug addicts.  Everything he talks about in this song is how people feel, sometimes a song like this draws your attention to how hard it is to quit.  It even reaches people that aren't drug addicts but maybe know one.  If you get a chance take a listen.  Truthfully now it makes me cry because most of this is how I really felt and still feel from time to time.  I think I need a little help understanding the whole pathos thing, but isn't it basically how this song is supposed to make me feel.

Advertisment Objectification

Today’s Objectification

There is an ad for Tom Ford (cologne for men) which has a woman holing a bottle of cologne.  Sounds innocent at first, but let describe it a little better.  The picture is of a naked, greased up white women from the bellybutton to right above the knees.  She has bright red finger nails, her index finger and her legs are the only thing holding the bottle in front of her lips.  (Not the lips on her mouth).  Before I go any further I will show you the Advertisement.

This ad is objectifying women well to simply put it, the ad is stating if you wear this cologne women will sleep with you.  To say that it is that easy to get a woman to have sex with a man just because he smells good is degrading.  Just about everything that is sold today is sold based on sex. 

I believe this ad’s intended audience is wealthy nonreligious white men 18 to 40.  I don’t believe occupation, or politics matter much in this Advertisement.  Since this product is sold worldwide a man anywhere in the world could buy this.  I say that this is the target audience because the woman is young and white.  She is wearing red finger nail polish that draws you eye to the placement of the bottle.  When men married or single see this ad they may think this cologne and “pussy” go hand and hand.  A married man may hope it would help with his “married sex life”.  A single man may hope to wear it and have more women to choose from.  Either way this woman is being sexually objectified by millions of men.        

"The Glass Castle"

I really enjoyed "The Glass Castle" because Jeannette Walls took me on a journey of her up bringing.  It was such an eye opening experience about how children view their parents.  It also made me realize maybe I didn't have it so bad as a child.  It was amazing how resourceful she and her siblings became and sort of shocking that they were able to survive.  So far I am really liking "Generation Me" I am really learning how to look at things differently.

Writerly Biobraphy

My name is Heather and I was born and raised in St. Joe.  I'm 26 years old and i have a 5 year old daughter.  The last book I read was Dewy The Library Cat, I read it to my daughter she got the book for her birthday.  Truthfully I never liked to read until recently that is.  I could never find a book that could keep me interested long enough to finish it.  Then last semester my English 100 teacher had us read The Glass Castle and from the time I picked it up I couldn't put it down.  I never realized books could be so good.  I am a fairly good reader as long as it's not out loud.  As a writer I am a horrible speller and I don't have the best grammar.  I try not to let my short comings affect me too much, but their are times when I doubt myself.  None the less I try my best and strive to learn from my mistakes.