This past week was pretty slow. I am currently still emailing Barry trying to figure out a good day for our event at Sweet! On Saturday I went to the Fleet Peeples dog park in Winter Park. I brought a couple fliers but did not have the supplies I usually do. I was shocked to see that people had recognized me and my dogs and asked where all my stuff was this weekend. On Sunday, I went to Melbourne to visit my family and friends. I handed out the rest of the fliers I had printed off at home to members of my families church. There are many avid animal lovers in the congregation and I thought that this might be a good time to raise awareness. Many people seemed very interested in becoming fosters.
Refletion
This past week was not as eventful as I wish it would have been. I am at a standstill while I wait to hear back from Barry at Sweet! I did not just want to sit around and wait to hear from him to raise awareness so I went to church and handed out fliers to inform people about Animal Safehouse. "...action always accomplishes something, and in this sense it always works"(Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 586) It was nice to talk to the congregation of the church and realize that other people, outside of the dog park, were just as passionate about what Animal Safehouse is trying to do. It is great to know that other people view activism as a positive aspect to change. "Women and men worldwide face a range of serious problems in the years ahead if we are to sustain our lives, the lives of our children, our children's children, and the environment that supports all life forms" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 16).
Reciprocity
The effort you put into raising awareness for such a great organization as Animal Safehouse does not go unnoticed and the feeling of fulfillment that comes with that knowledge is indescribable. It feels good to know that even though you may not have a lot of time to go out and table just handing our fliers at church or talking about Animal Safehouse with friends can be just as beneficial. Work Cited
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Creating Change: Theory, Vision, and Action. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010.583-598.
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Rights, Women's Liberation, Women's Studies. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010.3-18.
Over Spring break I received an email from Barry Wilder a manager at Sweet! By Good Golly Miss Holly, wanting to know more information on our Animal Safehouse project. I responded informing him what Animal Safehouse was and what it aimed to do. I also attached fliers with more information. Barry responded saying that he is more than happy to help out with the project. At first we discussed tabling outside of the store, however the landlord had an issue with it. Barry suggested we arrange and in store table where we raise awareness and instead of taking donations, a portion of the sales that night would go towards Animal Safehouse. I sent an email out to the group letting them know the good news and we decided that it may be beneficial to do 2 different events since the Italian restaurant was not wanting us to table during a busy time of day.
Another great step for Animal Safehouse happened this week. The woman I spoke to at the dog park, Lauren Mialki, producer of The Daily Buzz, had asked me to forward her information to Arielle and Leandra in hopes of getting them on the show. This week that all actually happened. Arielle and Leandra went on live TV and spread the word of Animal Safehouse on a national television. It felt good knowing that this all fell into place and all it took was handing a flier to the right person at the right time.
Refletion
The week of spring break although somewhat of a slow week, I feel like the things that were accomplished were big achievements. Being able to get in touch with Barry Wilder, the manager of Sweet! a popular frozen yogurt and cupcake shop in the Waterford area was a big step for our group. We had set our sites on small mom and pop joints so we could avoid the hassle of corporate. The fact that Sweet! contacted us after Katelyn and I handed a flier to them 2-3 weeks ago goes to show that having high hopes and faith that things will work out, will pay off. The fact that one little action can make a difference makes me smile. "The process of creating change requires a combination of theoretical insights and understandings, visions of alternatives and action. This involves using your head, heart, and hands in ways that reinforce one another" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 584). The circumstance of The Daily Buzz also shows this. I was just at the dog park handing out fliers trying to reach people on a micro and meso level, the people of the community. All it took was me to hand the flier and talk to one woman who could bring the awareness of Animal Safehouse from the micro to the macro level, a national television show. "Whether small and individual or large and in a group, the steps we take to change the world connect us with others" (Seely 15).
Reciprocity
The feeling of knowing that one conversation at the dog park led to such a great moment for Animal Safehouse is very inspiring. At first I was a little timid to walk up to people and talk about such a touchy subject, as abuse. However after seeing what one conversation could do, one fearless act could achieve, I am no longer timid and am more than willing to talk to anyone who has questions. It feels empowering to know that you are part of such a great organization.
Work Cited
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Creating Change: Theory, Vision, and Action. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010.583-598.
Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York and London: New York University Press, 2007.
Andee Ondina
WST 3015
3/17/2010
Professor Nina Perez
Vixen in the Kitchen - Angel in the Attic
Glee is a great show with many different positive influences and comedic attributes. However, it does perpetuate and challenge several different gender roles about motherhood or wife-hood. There are 3 different women in the show that I think of having motherly or maternal positions. Those characters are Quinn Fabray: a high-school teen who finds herself impregnated by her boyfriends best friend, Terri Schuester: Mr. Schuester's (the Glee Clubs teacher advisor) wife, who pretends to be pregnant in hopes to save their downward spiraling marriage, and Emma Pillsbury: the guidance counselor who feels the need to protect and help Mr. Schuester and the kids at Mckinely High School. These women perpetuate and challenge their gender roles typically by not obeying or being dishonest towards their husbands, fiances or boyfriends. This defies the typical gender role because marriage is "a patriarchal system that looks to ownership, property, and dominance of men over women..." (Ettelbrick 317).
Only 1 out of 3 of these women is actually a mother. Quinn Fabray is the only (soon to be) mother in the show. Although teen pregnancy is common she appears to be the only one in school who is. She faces criticism from everyone in the high school who apparently were taught and follow the rule that "women are told to finish school, finish a job, acquire skills, develop seniority, get tenure, make partner, and put children off until the last minute" (Crittenden 342). Terri Schuester is disobeying her husband by leading him to believe she is pregnant in hopes to save their marriage. She has arranged with Quinn to adopt her baby so Mr. Schuester will never find out. Emma Pillsbury is not actually a mother but she has apparent maternal instincts when it comes to taking care of her secret love, Mr. Schuester and caring for the children of McKinely High. She is engaged to Kurt Hummel, McKinely's P.E teacher and disobeys him by misleading him to believe she cares although she secretly cares about Mr. Shuester.
All 3 of the women fit perfectly into stereotypical appearance of mother figures. Quinn, although young, is beautiful and aesthetically innocent, Terri Schuester fits the "trophy wife" stereotype perfectly. She is beautiful, and works part time at a retail store while she expects Mr. Scheuster to make most of the money and complains when they can not afford her "dream house". Emma Pillsbury fits the mother role perfectly because she is innocently beautiful, soft spoken and has a natural ability to care for those around her. The roles of the men in the show: Mr. Schuester, Kurt Hummel and Finn Hudson (Quinns boyfriend) seem to be more of the victims than the women in the show do. The women appear to be taking advantage of the men which completely challenges the traditional gender roles about motherhood or wifehood.
Works Cited
Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "The Mommy Tax." Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 337-345.
Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "Since When is Marriage a Path to Liberation?" Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 317-320.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Andee Ondina
Jeannina Perez
WST 3015
March 3, 2010
Activism Log 3
Activism
This week was a slow week for me. I feel like my other group mates did a lot more. I tried to contact Ashton from Sweets again with no prevail. I was going to go to the store and try to talk to him in person since we were playing phone tag, however Katelyn was able to find a venue at an Italian restaurant down University Blvd. Now what we have to do is finish the fliers continue tabling and raising awareness, and hand out the fliers when it is closer to the date of the event. We were thinking on April 11th.
On Monday I returned all the tabling supplies to Abigail in the Woman Studies room so Arielle could table at an upcoming event that took place over the weekend. I was please to hand over $25 and a few supplies that had been donated while tabling at the dog park. I also tried to help with finding homes for foster pets by posting facebook status' and raising awareness that way, but other than that it was a rather slow week since Arielle took the tabling supplies to table at another event on Sunday.
Refletion
Since I did not do much this week it is hard to reflect. It definitely does not feel as fulfilling of a week having not tabled at the dog park on Sunday. However, I did feel please to be able to give the money that was donated to the organization because I know ever little bit of activism counts. As Megan Seely says in her book Fight Like a Girl: How to a Fearless Feminist, "Activism can easily be incorporated in to our daily lives-from the conversations we have with friends to where we decide to shop Activism is individual but it is also collective" (15). I feel like just with putting updates on my facebook about animals in need or forwarding text messages about animals in need to my friends that I am taking tiny steps towards a potentially rewarding outcome. I do not think there will ever be a day where activism is not needed, and while in a way that sounds pessimistic, it gives us a sense of work hard and achieve mentality. You can not save the world in a day, but over time it may be possible. "No act is too small; you man never know the full extent of your impact. Activism is contagious" (Seely 16). I see what Seely is talking about here, because with one forwarded text message for needed foster parents can be forwarded and forwarded through the social grapevine until awareness has been achieved. "...action always accomplishes something..."(Kirk, Okazawa-Rey 586).
Reciprocity
I feel like that even though this week was not the most accomplished week for me, as a group we made a big step. We found a venue to host our event at, and are able to start making posters, printing fliers, and raising awareness. This week was more of a group constructive week.
Work Cited
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Creating Change: Theory, Vision, and Action. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010.583-598.
Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York and London: New York University Press, 2007.
Andee Ondina
WST 3015
3/3/210
Professor Nina Perez
Behind the Music: Rape Me by Nirvana
The song, "Rape Me" by Nirvana is a very forward yet powerful anti-rape song. Upon first listening to the song the words "rape me", are what stick out most to the listener. One might initially believe that it is simply about a rape, but in fact it is about a survivor who is boldly speaking out to their assailant saying "rape me, rape me again", you will never kill me, and you will get what is coming to you."Women have always been warriors..."(Seely 186). The song in itself is a challenge against violence in the fact that the survivor is challenging their attacker. Survivors/victims are generally believed to be weak, fragile and self pitying and "confront an intense blame-the-victim mentality that asks them to account of the behavior that left them 'vulnerable' to rape" (Seely 195). However, the survivor in this song, is strong willed and determined to let their attacker know that they are not the only one who is going to be raped and they are not going to be blamed, that the survivor will find justice, an the assailant will be punished and so to speak "raped" as well.
The thing I liked about the song "Rape Me" was that the survivor was not gender specified or had any hints to what race or class the survivor may have been. It is an anti-rape song for all survivors of all genders, race and class. It puts to rest that only women are those who are being raped, the survivor in the story could very well be a black male. At the same point the attacker is never given a face either and the song does not label any race, gender or class as being the "typical" racist."Jean Grossholtz, a professor of political science and women's studies, argued that research on rapists and batterers showed them to be "ordinary men, indistinguishable from nonrapists and nonbatterers" (Kirk,Okasawa-Rey 264). The song leaves the appearance up to the listener and does not stereotype any being.
The song address' physical abuse, in this case rape, as something that happens. "Violence against women is real. It is not entertainment...Women experience sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, dating violence and domestic abuse..."(Seely 187). The song is raising awareness of rape, but at the same time putting a social spin on it, representing it as something that is epistimically known as a bad situation, and showing listeners that even though this kind of stuff happens, people can survive and attack. It shows the world that people do not have to just be victims, that when they are ready, they can be survivors as well. The second verse of the song goes, "my favorite inside source, I'll kiss your open sores, I appreciate your concern, you're gonna stink and burn". The song puts the survivor in control, they are telling the rapist to rape them, because if that is what they feel they need to do, do it, they are a survivor and will put up with it, but the attacker better not think they will not be punished for their actions.
Works Cited
Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "Violence Against Women." Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 257-271.
Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York and London: New York University Press, 2007.
My friend sent me this link, I just wanted to know since we have been on the topic, what peoples view were on this. Here is the link. I will post the article as well Black Children are an Endangered Species.
ATLANTA — The message on dozens of billboards across the city is provocative: Black children are an "endangered species."
The eyebrow-raising ads featuring a young black child are an effort by the anti-abortion movement to use race to rally support within the black community. The reaction from black leaders has been mixed, but the "Too Many Aborted" campaign, which so far is unique to only Georgia, is drawing support from other anti-abortion groups across the country.
"It's ingenious," said the Rev. Johnny Hunter, national director of the Life Education and Resource Network, a North Carolina-based anti-abortion group aimed at African-Americans that operates in 27 states. "This campaign is in your face, and nobody can ignore it."
The billboards went up last week in Atlanta and urge black women to "get outraged."
The effort is sponsored by Georgia Right to Life, which also is pushing legislation that aims to ban abortions based on race.
Black women accounted for the majority of abortions in Georgia in 2006, even though blacks make up just a third of state population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nationally, black women were more than three times as likely to get an abortion in 2006 compared with white women, according to the CDC.
"I think it's necessary," Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy adviser for Operation Rescue, said of the billboard campaign. "Abortion in the black community is at epidemic proportions. They're not really aware of what's actually going on. If it shocks people ... it should be shocking."
Anti-abortion advocates say the procedure has always been linked to race. They claim Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger wanted to eradicate minorities by putting birth control clinics in their neighborhoods, a charge Planned Parenthood denies.
"The language in the billboard is using messages of fear and shame to target women of color," said Leola Reis, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Georgia. "If we want to reduce the number of abortions and unintended pregnancies, we need to work as a community to make sure we get quality affordable health care services to as many women and men as possible."
In 2008, Issues4Life, a California-based group working to end abortion in the black community, lobbied Congress to stop funding Planned Parenthood, calling black abortions "the Darfur of America."
Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric Scheidler said a race-based strategy for anti-abortion activists has gotten a fresh zeal, especially in the wake of the historic election of the country's first black president, Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights.
"He's really out of step with the rest of black America," Scheidler said. "That might be part of what may be shifting here and why a campaign like this is appropriate, to kind of wake up that disconnect."
Abortion rights advocates are disturbed. Spelman College professor Beverly Guy-Sheftall called the strategy a gimmick.
"To use racist arguments to try to bait black people to get them to be anti-abortion is just disgusting," said Guy-Sheftall, who teaches women's history and feminist thought at the historically black women's college.
"These one-issue approaches that are not about saving the black family or black children, it's just a big distraction," she said. "Many black people don't know who Margaret Sanger is and could care less."
___
On the Net:
Too Many Aborted: http://www.toomanyaborted.com
This week was a good week for our group. I feel like we are on our way to hosting a great awareness event. I have been emailing several possible venues. The two on top of the list: Urban Flats and Sweets! over in the Waterford area. I emailed Ashton, the manager of Sweets! who seemed interested in possibly hosting the event, and am still waiting to hear back. On Thursday I went to Urban Flats to talk to the marketing director however she was not available and will work on contacting her this week.
On Sunday, Seabury and I met up at Fleet Peeples dog park in Winter Park. I was there from 11-2pm handing our fliers, accepting donations and raising awareness. One man donated $20, and many other people said they would bring collars and leashes they no longer use next week.
Refletion
When handing out fliers at Fleet Peeples dog park, I have realized, with the exception of a few people, how many people are touched by the goal of Animal Safehouse. Many people smile and say thank you for doing what you are doing, some say they have a close friend who is in a situation that Animal Safehouse can help with, others just say they will look into it. No matter what the response, it feels so good to know that you are potentially making a great impact on someones life.
A lady at the dog park said to me, "but these women, they choose to stay there, its their fault they are in these situations, don't you think?" I explained to her "Battered Woman Syndrome" as explained by in Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives, "Learned helplessness, whereby women who are repeatedly battered learn it is impossible to escape. After an episode of violence, they are seduced back by the batterer with declarations of love and promises that he will change"(264). As soon as the two men sitting at the table heard our conversation they chimed in and spoke their peace about how you can not judge a woman by being in a situation like that. Many people face hardships in their life, many people have problems and to judge people on them would not be right. People battle issues with gambling, drugs and alcoholism on a daily basis, just as people are addicted to these things, one could be addicted to a person. It could be just as hard for them to leave a person as it is to put down the bottle. These men in the 5 minutes they spoke to the women who did not understand why women keep themselves in hurtful situations, made her understand. They were activists and spoke out against Violence against women. It is touching to know that some men care about and feel as passionate about violence against women just as much as women do. "In Canada, the White Ribbon Campaign: Men Working to End Men's Violence Against Women has grown into the largest worldwide effort of men working to end violence" (Seely 201). It is organizations like this, and men like the two at the dog park who are going help pave the way for men to realize they can stand up against violence against women, instead of being blamed for it.
Reciprocity
I feel like I spoke out to a lot of people at the dog park this week. I opened up peoples minds who did not even think about the issue that Animal Safehouse assists in. It is invigorating to know that with each flier you hand out you could be helping out someones life in a life altering way. The look in peoples eyes when you explain what you are doing is something that can not be replaced by any good feeling. It gives you a sense of community.
Work Cited
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.
Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York and London: New York University Press, 2007.
