Suddenly, the same folks who promoted nativism and zenophobia were eager to believe that the Euro- origin people they deported, reviled as members of inferior races, and prevented them from immigrating a few years earlier, where now middle class white suburban citizens.
(Brodkin)
It is strange how the times change. Viewpoints do one-hundred and eighty degree spins nearly overnight. The example Kaye/Kantrowitz use to illustrate the separation of Race and Religion in Christianity is powerful "Do white Christioans feel kinship with African American Christians? white slaveowners, for example, with their slaves? White Klansmen with their black neighbors? Do white Christians feel akin to Christians converted by colonialists all over the globe?" White Christians with slaves is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. No where in the Bible does it make it alright to own a human being. Also look at the crusades, killing and destruction all for the sake of converting the world to one religion. Why? Money.

"Introduction", "Possessive Investment"

By inverting the reporter's question, Wright called attention to its hidden assumptions-that racial polariza- tion comes from the existence of blacks rather than from the behavior of whites, that black people are a "problem" for whites rather than fellow citizens entitled to justice, and that unless otherwise specified, "Americans" means whites. In this passage from "Possessive Investment in whiteness" it shows the pre-civil rights movement mentality of blacks existance being the problem instead of equal citizens. this kind of thinking comes from the structures of inequality that stem from the idea of whiteness. in effect this kind of Idealism makes it impossible for a person to know the truth about systems of oppression because they are taught from a young age that people are to blame, not the invisible structure.4 To identify, analyze, and oppose the destructive consequences of whiteness, we need what Walter Benjamin called "presence of mind." Benjamin wrote that people visit fortune-tellers not so much out of a desire to know the future but rather out of a fear of not noticing some important aspect of the present. The aspect we have been missing for much to long is the seemingly unnamed "whiteness".

class reflection

Today there was a meltdown. Not enough people, including myself, have read all the course texts by the time we were supposed to. Andrew stated that at the end of the semester the class would not like what happens to our grades because we took responsibilities for our readings but did not do them on time. It seems like there needs to be some sort of democratic solution for this predicament. Maybe we can weigh the different parts of the syllabus differently to benefit the class as a whole once grade negotiations start.

Reading Notes: Stone Butch Blues, key words- sex and queer, and valentine

A lot of the oppression and hatred that Jess feels in Stone Butch Blues are cause by "hot" words such a sex and queer. She is a Butch so she dresses like a man. Throughout the book the issue of which bathroom to use causes her a lot of pain and suffering because of the ridicule of others. This ridicule seems to stem from misunderstanding of the "linguistic tools which extract certain information, experiences, and feelings about ourselves and others from the stream of daily life for the purposes of making meaning about, and representing ourselves and others"(Valentine p.31). Another interesting point about the language of "not straight" is included in Keywords -Queer. "'queer' is sometimes used interchangably with the terms gay and lesbian and sometimes transgender and bisexual." Valentine also talks about reclaiming certain words for their correct meaning. Once notices that the most of the time that the girls are treated horribly is in the police station after they are busted at the bars. The police men rape, beat and humiliate the women because they are afraid of what will happen to their heterosexuality if women are then allowed to portray male qualities.

Class Reflection Nov 9

Today we sought to amend the attendance policy. I am not very interested in that, but I am interested in the fact that A^2 said that we can amend any part of the sylabus. some in the class related First Person plural to the Torrecilha reading by comparing how they wonder who they are really. Do we really even know our culture? America has always been culturally diverse. We then discussed the three readings on the board and then went on to formulate a few questions to start of thursdays discussion.

Reading Notes November 2, 2010

Valentine talks a lot about language. More narrowly he talks about language surrounding Gender and Sexuality.
"They are linguistic tools which extract certain information, experiences and feelings about ourselves and others from the stream of daily life for the purposes of making meaning about, and representing ourselves, and others."
Each person has a different filter to view these words through. that filter is their life experience meeting the incoming words. They filter out the things they do or do not like, based on how they feel about the subject, and then they infer a meaning instantly.
In stone butch blues this is apparent when the police brutalize the butches. they are afraid that if they don't do something about these lesbians, it will somehow diminish their role as masculine males. Because they do not understand the meaning or the daily experiences of being a lesbian they are afraid of the difference that the term gay may produce.

Conversation Reflection. October 28, 2010

Today we watched a Film entitled First Person Plural, by Deann Borshay Liem. The film and the assignment A^2 assigned helped me to put together some of the central ideas about English 150. One thing I put together was difference. Because Dean was Korean, she felt she had to impress her American parents so that maybe she would be reunited with her Korean Family. this is interesting to me because she was so young that she barely remembered anything of her original home. She felt some fundamental yearning to be with people that looked and acted like her. This key aspect of difference could be a innate reason why people in general have a hard time getting along. Deann admits during the film that she loved and cherished her American, adoptive mother because she was dependent on her for survival. So this love for her false mother could have been purely primitive survival instinct. Although, her mother loved her as one of her own, she never felt quite right. Once she gained Independence from her mother, and moved out of their house, she started to feel the yearning to know her mother and family again. It seems that people want to group up with people like themselves, who have a lot of common culture. Is this why when people of other cultures disagree with each other they turn to violence and war? People of different cultures and races do not completely understand what it is to actually BE someone else. They don't know how to live somewhere else. the only way to do that, is to fully immerse yourself in another culture. That seems like a tall order. Now take into account how many YEARS it would take to understand the motivation, joy, sadness, hope, recreation, social etiquette, family structure, class system, government and almost an infinite amount of interactions of an entire culture. Are we all to different to get along?

Class Reflection October 26th, 2010

Today in class, all we did was fill out the identity chart and work on the questions on the back of the worksheet. I didn't really feel anything new about my areas of privilege because I have been focusing on them for the rhetorical analysis draft. However, I am excited to watch the video on thursday :)

Johnson Chs. 4&5; Wise(D2L)

"The Consequences of privilege must be understood as lived experience that both damages people in the moment and accumulates over time to affect not only their behavior but also their understanding of themselves and life itself" (Feagin,Sikes). This excerpt from Living With Racism is key to understanding the social structures of privilege and oppression(p. 55, Johsnon). It helps us to understand that the human need for Inclusion and acceptance are the building blocks of the aspects of privilege. The list on p. 55-56 in Johnson summarizes the many ways in which a dominant group excludes the "Others", sometimes even unknowingly. Simple gestures such as a glance or the way people interact with their others play a huge part in the unknowing devaluation of people outside the dominant group. This exclusion, presents a set of problems for the excluded as well as the dominant group. "The same weapons used against gays and lesbians are also used among heterosexuals.. Power plays a key role in gender dynamics... the same insults and intimidation straight men use against gay men are often used to enhance straight men's status compared to other straight men (p. 61). This is because the idea of a man being gay violates the Heterosexual Model and men's clain to "real manhood" (p.62).
Johnson says at the end of chapter 4 that we need to "face the illusion and go through it to the truth on the other side". If we do not understand how privilege works to renew itself continually through ignorance, we as a people can never heal this social wound that damages us all.
The Problem remains because people like myself and Johnson ( White, Male, Middleclass, educated to a certain degree, heterosexual and non-disabled ) do not engage these trying issues (p.69).
There are two methods Johnson mentions to raise consciousness in organizations and institutions:
1.) "appeal to privileged peoples sense of decency and fairness." = "tin cup" approach (p.71).
It's the right thing to do.

2.) We should do something about privilege and oppression because it makes organizations work better.
Both work in the short term. It is the responsibility of dominant groups to feel a sense of ownership in relation to the problem (p. 75). That responsibility can only be gained in the long run by trancending difference and working through the structures of oppression.

Conversation Reflection, October 5

I felt like today it became apparent that we need to have a time management policy during class. We never get to cover all the conversation points that are put on the board for us. Today I feel like the participation level was at an all-time low since the start of classes this year. What can we do to fix this issue? One solution I was thinking of was to implement a rotating group of jobs such as archivist, time-keeper, board writer and so forth. By rotating I mean that the responsibilities would go down a list that we randomize and responsibilities are to be done on the day assigned. Just a thought. Hopefully we can all come to a conclusion.

Reading Notes October 4, 2010

· I don't like the idea presented on page 5 about men opening doors for women. "The door opening and similar services provided are services which really are needed by people who are for one reason or another, incapacitated." "So the message is that women are incapable."

· I open the door for a woman simply out of respect. I strongly believe than men and women are different for reasons that may be as basic as instinct. The view that Frye provides is cold and systematic as if we humans were only machines of efficiency. Only holding the door for a woman when she is carying something is fine, but how can one assume that the act of opening a door out of politeness is a caging in of women. I assume this Frye is a Feminist.

Johnson shares with us many insights on how I can, as a white, heterosexual, non-disabled, male, see how I have been born into a cycle of oppression. I have the advantage of not being looked at for being a potential for theft just because the color of my skin. However, this is not something I control and therefore I have privilege. If we can not change our predetermined notions about our Others, we can never stop the system of privilege and oppression.

Reading Notes October 6, 2010

Frye is a woman who clearly values very feministic Ideals.

· I don't like the idea presented on page 5 about men opening doors for women. "The door opening and similar services provided are services which really are needed by people who are for one reason or another, incapacitated." "So the message is that women are incapable."

· I open the door for a woman simply out of respect. I strongly believe than men and women are different for reasons that may be as basic as instinct. The view that Frye provides is cold and systematic as if we humans were only machines of efficiency. Only holding the door for a woman when she is carying something is fine, but how can one assume that the act of opening a door out of politeness is devaluing of women?

Reading Notes. September 28, 2010

Reading Notes.

September 28, 2010

Gallop, " The Ethics of Reading"

After closely reading this piece by Gallop, I realized exactly how I had been projecting my preconceived notions onto every book, article, movie, song and person I had ever encountered. To really understand what you read, you need to first read what is literally there on the paper. This is a point that Gallop reinforces over and over throughout.

"For me, what makes them English courses are not the books we read, but the way we read the books we read." This really hit home. It makes perfect sense when Gallop says that we start to look for things in the text we are reading that will prove our preconceived notions about a subject to ourselves.

One thing that really helped me to understand "close reading" was the five things to notice while close reading.

1. Unusual Vocab

2. Unnecessary repetition of words

3. repeated images and metaphors

4. italics or parentheses

5. footnotes that seem too long.

By paying closer attention to these small details, the big picture and main idea float to the background and we can really understand what the author is really trying to tell us about the subject.

Note: I have not purchased the text yet so I did not read the Johnson reading. I will buy it as soon as I feasibly can.

Class Reflection Sept. 23, 2010

Equality, Justice, Democracy

There can only be equity and justice if there is true Democratic methodology in our group discussion. The questions brought up at the end of the class by A^2 really made me think.
Do people in a democracy have the right to choose whether or not they participate in that democracy in the first place? Should everyone operating within the Democracy voice their opinions? If people are forced to speak out when they are not ready to, is Democracy lost?
If only a certain group of people speak every time a question is brought to the table, the democracy seems to become solely about their interests instead of what the entire community agrees upon. I feel like this is the reason that "The Other" exists. The people who speak out begin to create the rules. Those who do not voice their opinion, or are not educated enough to do so, receive the rules and policies instead of forging them side by side. Maybe this is what, in a sense creates a cultural separation. The people who just accept the rules fall so far outside the circle of influence that they feel like they are no longer equal. Am I right? Maybe.

Conversation Reflection Sept. 21, 2010

Today we talked about Cushman for the majority of the time and lightly mentioned Butin and O'grady writings. The central conversation was trying to establish what exactly service learning entails. We have not come to any concrete solution and we may not anytime soon. I feel that the class is starting to grasp these concepts or maybe that's just how I feel.
Our conversations all revolved around Service learning, Volunteer work and the Missionary Idealism. This was an interesting term to talk about since it brought up memories of Catholic school and Church. the memories actually made me think more of the days when the catholic church was pushing their faith on other tribes and smaller civilizations. The more days that go by, the broader our understanding becomes of what exactly we are in English 150: Multicultural America.

Class Reflection

Last Thursday, I really saw some improvement in the way our class discussion went. At some points during the conversation we lost our focus, but only for a moment. As we all started to understand what needed to be done, we quickly decided upon exactly how the wiki posts needed to be turned in, how we would group ourselves and how we would grade them. If we keep continuing at this pace, I feel like we will begin to have some meaningful and deep conversations about what it is to be truly multicultural.

Reading Notes on Jay, Chicago Group, and Crenshaw Sept. 21, 2010

Multiculturalism came into wide use in the early 1980's in the context of public school reform.

· "Eurocentric" bias.

This term talks about how the content of class curriculums rarely included women, people of color, or people outside the western European tradition. It was interpreted as a value judgment that reinforced racist attitudes. I can agree with the prior statement because you mold a child from birth. First a child is taught mechanical things like eating, walking, and not to cry. Later they are given a foundation of right and wrong (this though is based on the way I was raised). as they enter school and slowly begin to form their own opinions with increasing age, the curriculum can be seen as a guide to what is right, wrong, important and unimportant. With an absence of Women, black people, and any other non-western European race, I can see where the image of dominant white culture would have been instilled in their brains. Growing up today with great athletes, CEO's, and even the president being non-white, I feel that I am much more comfortable living side by side with all different cultures and races.

Critical Multiculturalism- Chicago Group

I'm not very well versed in the political jargon and postcolonial studies language that flows throughout this piece. I can take some things away from this reading. Multicultural education derives its pull because it challenges the conceptual norms that some people have. I do not exactly know who they decide is the norm because normal is indefinable. This reading was by far the most informative so far, and I would have taken more out of it if I was a social work major. This reading begs the question "will a multi-cultural emphasis on education bring about a more democratically critical society or one with more subtle international abilities.

Crenshaw: The Intersection of Race and Gender

· Black Women in Los Angeles who are battered and seek help are mostly Unemployed or poor.

· Have poor friends.

This combination, makes it impossible for the women to escape because they live in poverty. It is a sort of vicious circle that exists for some groups of minorities, genders, and sexualities. Because the people affected by this know that they are poor and minorities, they compound the segregation because their perception of the way things are is altered. Crenshaw mentions multiple times that government trying to make things better for a minority only makes it worse because the institution has its own policies to counteract behavior towards these minorities.

this is because:

· Many Immigrant women depend on their spouse for legal status so most will choose to be abused and treated badly in place of seeking shelter. this is because they will be deported if they choose to leave their spouse. So in trying to help people, laws and regulations tend to trap some people in the same vicious circle.