Cult of Strongness.

I named this post to play off the book I'm reading in my sociology of gender class, 'the cult of thinness'. The concepts between the obsession with women's need to be skinny mirrors some of the same ideas that go along with the way in which the power team justifies themselves. As we were discussing the article "The Power Team" written by Sharon Marzer in class today, I was talking to a classmate about his experience of attending one of their show's and how incredibly eery it was. In asking him if it was just like the way Sharon had described the experience, he agreed and we both came to the conclusion that this performance of the power team was almost like a cult. Yes they were initially trying to influence good decisions such as 'don't do drugs' and 'love god'. But really they were doing it in a manipulative way, putting forth unrealistic ideals and the whole thing was in the end a way to make money.

The whole time I was reading this article all I could think about was the one time I had agreed to attend a church service for my aunt when I lived in Orlando, Florida. The church was that of an evangelical stance, so here it already has a minor connection to the power team. After walking through the front doors of the church the floors were marble and columns lined the hall as if I was in the colosseum. Not to mention the table set off to the right that had various t-shirt and souvenirs for the service held that day. This wasn't the most surprising part of my experience, it was when we came into the main room when my jaw dropped. It was a massive stage with a sound proof drum set area, tons of speciality lights and a few cameras scattered throughout the room. The fact that during the whole service I felt like I was in the club from the volume of the music and the fact that a camera on a pulley rod was swinging back and forth nearby my head was just adding on to the crazy antics of the whole show. In the end I connected it back to the ideas surrounding how even though the power team is trying to insist on good ideas, it uses manipulative ways to do so and uses them to make money.

Dear...

Okay so this morning after doing my usual 'stumbling' online I found this neato website that made me think about the radiolab we had listened to recently about words.

Enjoy.

Hazaaa!

Mmm Tasty Floor.

When I first read this essay all I could think about was that yellow cartoon character from Horton Hears a Who, Katie...

Katie is quite fluffy and cute, but very odd and mysterious and I think that author of this essay could be seen in this way as a child that is small and impressionable, but yet since he is odd and unusual isn't accepted.

I liked the way in which the essay was written, in first person so you could see from his point of view how his day to day activities went. Although it was troubling to see how he was spending the majority of his day around touching, licking and going from point A to point to B because he would over think about things in the world. And yet while all of this was going on, his own family and teachers didn't take notice that maybe something was wrong. I was in ah that this could all be going on and he was in pure unhappiness and no-one noticed.

The ending especially surprised me since such a simple and socially addictive substance that can be medically shown to hurt your health ended up fixing all of his problems. I honestly don't like the idea of smoking and don't see how it can de-stress anyone, but in this story I can't believe that just the activity of smoking made him better in the ways of not wanting to lick, touch and spend all his time getting from one place to another. I would really like to see a study on people with OCD on medication and those not on medications that are smoking to see the difference.

Blankkkk.

I’m not quite sure what I want to be answered, not gonna lie I’m drawing a complete blank, my mind has been on leave since spring break and I cannot seem to get back into the swing of things. So as for my question to be answered I need to go back to the original idea, which was researching the ideas of how gender is socialized in children through media, literature and education. I suppose this idea is very broad so I need to find a way to make this more specific and dynamic. I’m not quite sure if this would be the right direction of a working thesis but what the heck, here’s a stab at one.

– If we as a society of American culture analyze media, education and literature in young children it reveals that gender is clearly defined and initiates specific future activities and/or ambitions. –

Currently I know about this issue, very general theories, viewed documentaries, and also read a few case studies in the textbook we are given in my gender class. In media I have learned so far about theories surrounding Ideal feminities and hegemonic masculinities, which in basic English is the media’s portrayal of the ideal man and woman. When looking through children’s literature you can see that either gender is portrayed in a certain light, by use of specific colors, physical attributes and specific activities. Lastly education is another lens you can look through with gender by a number of ways through textbooks, treatments in classrooms and learning disabilities. The one concept that really interested me was a paragraph in my textbook discussing how boys are encouraged to be masculine and yet in class they are not allowed to act in these ways, although feminine activities are very much accepted. There is a specific article that I had included in my bibliography that was about oppression and a privilege which helps support the idea of inequality between genders. This can further explore the ideas of how gender is socialized to children that gender aren’t equal, for example with toys and which activities are encouraged for each gender. I also can take a lot of research from my own experiences since this concept is so deeply imbedded in everyone. I think this is why this topic is so interesting because most people don’t really think about it because it is accepted and socialized. So to bring this topic up might interest those who had never taken a second look at something that has been right in front of them throughout their lives.

Opposing Arguments – I don’t have much research supporting a opposing view on this topic, but im sure there are many people that would disagree that gender is socialized and rather biological as in the theory of the standard story. I will have to see if there are any other opposing views to this topic.

Sources so far:

Beauty Brains and Brawn by Susan Lehr Huck

Gender Representation – An exploration of standardized evaluation methods by Jackie FK Lee

White Privilege and Male Privilege by Peggy McIntosh

Gendered Worlds by Judith W, Kristin B and Judy Aulette

Besides these texts and articles I’ve also looked into some youtube videos that are either studies with real children identifying gender or gender being identified through films and other media.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmT-T6n4PA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kLHZ2xGmUk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_uvsKpXszs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGoC8FTLKSI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq6Ct8IA5cY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R213hS7ekF4&feature=related

To Laugh Or Not To Laugh?

Okay so I honestly I had no idea what the article "Ha ha" he said "Ha ha" by Chuck Klosterman was about, Justus has brought up the idea of laugh tracks in class quite often, so I should've seen it coming. I must be off in la la land lately hoping that spring time would finally come but yet again we have been bombarded by mass amounts of unwanted snow. Anyways as I was reading this article I was quite surprised by how easily it flowed and brought up ways about viewing laugh tracks that I had never thought of before.

It was funny ''ha ha'' because he listed a lot of shows that I've grown up with and loved, but never really thought about the fact that they contain laugh tracks. It is so weird that we as a society are so conditioned with media and that we don't even realize that maybe our humor is constructed for us.

I really liked the reference to Germany since it does make sense that we as a culture have a different humor than others but once he analyzed the way us Americans use laughter in everyday conversations. It really took me back and I reflected on instances that I've talked to people. I just thought oh garsh, I hope that I don't fill in silence with fake laughter. I must admit that I am a chatter box, so if there is any space to be filled it most likely will be with nonsense babbles. The part referring to Friends I completely agree with what he says, purely for the fact that I am a huge fan of the show. I totally invest myself in the odd and quirky characters and tend to reference their crazy antics during situations that occur in the everyday situations of my life.

Unfortunately, I do think that a significant amount of the American population will fall into the category of media constructed humoroids from these laugh tracks in a majority of our tv shows. However, I do feel we find humor from so many things in life that do not fit into the television laugh-track category. I believe we do create our own laughter, rather it's out loud, internalized, or during those times of your favorite film where no one else is laughing. Humor can be constructed to an extent but not entirely.

Link to an episode of Friends - Laugh Track Free...Very Interesting to watch if you are a Friends lover or not.

Ha-Ha

Contrary to the previous article, I have to say I wasn't too syked to read this article, "Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age" by Trip Gabriel, because honestly I loathe how it is repetitively discussed in every class. Personally every class makes me feel like the professor is telling me about something that is just common sense.

However, after reading this article I hadn't realized that so many students seem to think that it is okay to plagiarize and don't even think twice about copying and not referencing sources. As the article discussed the reasons as to why students plagiarize it completely made sense. I mean I am student so I can understand that most students want to get things done fast so that it is finished on time. I do agree that at times I just write things to get a grade rather than really investing myself in the piece, specifically if I don't really enjoy the subject, but never would it dawn on me to copy and paste someone else's work. Although students are the prime suspects to this crime, the source of the problem is also education. Schools should also make an effort in teaching the ins and outs of referencing. I just know from my experiences in writing that I still have difficulty with referencing and I always get nervous that I reference wrong.

Here's a link to a youtube video I found which is in a different language, but totally worth taking a glance at. It's a play off of scrooge and how this student plans to plagiarize his paper.

Interesante

Floating In Possibilities.

Gosh, so I have a slight clue into what topics I would like to research but I just can't decide which one is the right fit for me just yet. I've found so many topics that I am completely invested in because I have some sort of connection with them. Here's my list of the few that I can say that I would enjoy investing my time in :

1. FUEL - (Sundance Film Winner) The concepts that are discussed within the film about having a sustainable energy and resources and could a revolution come from these ideas to bring people together, and can america really turn the economy around to be less dependent on oil?

2. Gender Socialization - Even though america is seen as fast pace country, advancing in so many fields and breaking past traditional values, are we still stuck in a society that is still gendered and fed gender ideals by everything around us from the time we are born?

3. Traveling - How much of an impact traveling can do to someone and really change their ideas of cultures to be more open minded and become more in tune with the rest of the world.

4. Media - News media specifically, how it can portray the opposite of the truth and how news creates moral panic. This can also go along with how it creates more crime rather than decreasing crime.

So there they are my so called prize topics I have come up with, not quite sure if they are correct or even something I can make into a research piece, but I feel very invested and connected to each topic so hopefully that will help.

Open Your Ears & Mind.

Honestly I never knew about the English conference that was held at IUP until Justus had brought it up in class. It was interesting to attend a one hour sharing of pieces that students had written. I had attended one that was from 10:10 till 11:00 on Wednesday in room 218, where three students read aloud their pieces. The first girl had written a story called “My Sanctuary” which was from what I had understood was a true story of where she grew up. The story was very interesting because it took a full circle from explaining how her mother was ashamed of their living arrangements, but for the writer she had always seen their home as part of the love, enrichment and in essence a part of who she was. In the end the overall story had to say to the audience that we should appreciate what we have and little things matter because life is what you make it.
The next short story was called “Belvedere’s Shaking Hand”, this story was very descriptive, ironic and quirky. At first I wasn't quite sure what it was about, but eventually you could understand where the story was going. It soon dawned on me that this short story was about a previous tenant in the room that the girl reading had moved into within the past year, and all of the things that were referred to in the story were things he had left behind. The story was interesting because she had made a whole person and personality that had gone along with all of these left behind items. It was neat to think that such a simple concept had grown into a mystifying story. In the end most people do make assumptions of the type of people who were there before when certain items are left behind.
Third to read was a boy who read a poem titled “Dead Sea” which ended up being about 3 or 4 pages long, he informed us later that this piece was a small part of a bigger piece. I had spoken to him before he was ushered to the front of the room, and insisted that he was nervous, but really once he read the poem it was so powerful and no trace of nervousness. The poem was a speech that a man was giving partly to relate to the theme and ideas that run throughout the novel 1984. If you had read the novel before you could totally understand exactly what was going on throughout the poem.
Lastly the first girl to read filled in for an absent student and began to read another story that I’m guessing was real. I can’t recall the title, I’m not quite sure if it had one, but it was journey of this young woman who was in love, but at the beginning there were quite a few clues to her being pregnant. Eventually it was brought up so that the audience knew for sure what was happening; it told of the growth of love between the two main characters until the day she had a miscarriage. This event changed everything for the two love birds, and skips to the future where they don’t end up together and nothing seemed to ever be the same. The end of the piece left you hanging and basically with the idea that she needed to heal, but nothing more was told.
I think that this was a good experience to listen to students that are putting their work out there to be heard. I liked that fact that this particular panel was very different in their stories and demeanor because it made things more interesting and diverse.