I hope this goes up like it's supposed to. I hate blogger and I need someone intellegent to show me how to work this thing. I can't comment or post properly. This is very irritating. I realllyyyy hope this post goes up.

Talking Point #6

Author: Tim Wise

Title: "Between Barack and a Hard Place"

Extended Comments: I read Sammi Machado’s blog and I completely agreed with everything she wrote about. She used quotes to explain the views being made in the reading and video clips. When it comes to the topic of race and acceptance I think honesty is important. Sadly, not everyone can be honest. People are afraid of to offend or disrupt what is already the norm. Sammi made it a point to stress the word “minority”. We think of this nation to be free and full of equal opportunity. We think “oh we have a black president, we must a progressive nation” but we’re not. We still separate ourselves with terms like “minority”.

All things aren’t hopeless for the United States. Despite the racial setbacks, great individuals do amazing things even if they have to face adversities and hardships. If things were so easy then we wouldn’t be challenged to the point of doing something incredible and revolutionary.

It’s awesome that we have equal rights. We can live together and work together. We can have the same jobs and send our kids to the same schools. Even though we have this right, it doesn’t always happen. There are still neighborhoods full of minorities or just mainly white people. There are jobs some people can’t get because of their race, gender, or sexual orientation. It’s sad that we can do so much but we don’t allow each other to do so.

Talking Point #4

Author: Linda Christensen

Title: “Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us”

Reflection: This text was all too familiar to me. Last semester I took a sex and gender class and just like in the reading, I did my own analysis on race, class, and gender roles reflected in popular Disney movies. While reading through the text, i noticed I that I had done what the students in the text had done. They had made general critiques at first and I had done the same. All my critiques were obvious and not incredibly thought out until I developed my paper.

            Christensen’s goal was to get these students to really think. “I want my students to question this accepted knowledge and the secret education delivered by cartoons as well as by the traditional literacy canon.” This text makes me think about the paper I had written and what I wrote about. I noticed the same things the students had but my main point was to explain how these popular Disney movies portrayed the truth in our society. I still agree with what I wrote but after reading Christensen’s writing I don’t agree with my own acceptance of what is wrong. I think because I’m so accustomed to the way things are, change seems impossible. Like in the text, I think some people are poor because not everyone can be rich but why can’t everyone be rich.

            In class, I would like it if everyone could share their opinion on the section of the text on page 4 titled Writing as a Vehicle for Change. I’m interested in hearing what my peers think about the idea of everyone “accepting the inequalities in power and exploitative economic relationship”. I think if people are aware of how this acceptance may be the “root” of the problem they could start a dialog and really think. This thinking could lead to ideas and actions that could change others opinions.

Talking Point #3

Author: Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Educational Network
Text: Harsh Realities Finds Transgender Youth Face Extreme Harassment in School
Arguments: This author argues that the rate of transgender youth being mistreated in school is extremely high. This number is higher than those students that are not transgender, lesbian, gay and bisexual. The writer backed up this statement with surveys done with transgender, lesbian, gay, and bisexual students and non transgender, lesbian, gay, and bisexual students. The writer also strengthens their point by making the comparison between these two types of students.
     Along with the main point of the article, there were other points. Another way of explaining it is that these actions cause a chain reaction. So if these transgender, lesbian, gay, and bisexual students feel unsafe and get harassed, they are more likely to skip school or certain classes. When they skip school or these classes they are educational compromised.
     The writer also mentioned the rate of community and in school support. These transgender, lesbian, gay, and bisexual students are more likely to discuss these issues with a teacher or councilor than non transgender, lesbian, gay, and bisexual students. I think this article was meant to educate people about these statistics. People need to know about these victimized students and how much help they get in there communities and school when dealing with the issues of bullying.