I will see you all Again

Wow! The end of this semester is here!  I'm not sure what I am suppose to do without having to blog and do observations! I have really enjoyed doing both :)I can say that I have learned a lot from these experiences and this whole Social Justice class has been a journey. A journey of learning new things like the wiki and blogs that required us to step outside of the box.  I am very thankful that  there was no guidelines to follow because this allowed me to examine myself and actually use my knowledge.  This class has opened my eyes to so much and now I am able to see things for what they really are.I can actually say that I always will be aware of what is being said around me and what is going on around me.And most importantly to take ACTION:)

Professor G, I thank you for allowing us to actually grow and learn. You are awesome!And for my classmates, thanks for sharing and creating such a great learning environment.

 I don't like good-byes so I will just say hello to you all when I see ya'll.:)Enjoy your summer vacation!

Presentation Week!!

This week's presentations all have been very informative and I have loved all the intervention strategies.
  After Work Activism, Homeless Population, and Executive Order.

 After Work Activism I think is a wonderful idea. A way for people that are busy to engage and make a difference. Not to mention a great source of networking! I really appreciate this  idea because as we were discussing in our HB class that what gives us the sense of a community? For me I  don't feel that I am a part of our Sw community just because I'm balancing so much: school, work and life as a single mother. However, this idea has given me an opportunity to engage and become active. So thanks a bunch!

Homeless Population- This I could see the affects of this on and around the streets of Austin.And the emotion that some of the presenters had was very touching.  All the information given about this population has given me more insight. And like Irene said that so much stigma comes with this population but the truth is that they are people just like you and I and we should not have any fear of being around them.

Executive Order- I can only image all the stress that came from not being able to find a solution but it has showed all of us that answers and solutions do not come easy. And like one of the presenters said that it helps us to realize that as social workers the solution does not happen in one day and that we will not be able to solve every problem. I am very much interesting in learning more about this  and the fact that there is no information given to us about overturning an executive order. I just think that is crazy! I agree with Nikki- It only makes one think "What is there to hide?"

I thank every group for all there hard work that was put into the project and sharing the information with us. We all did such a great job!

Adultism

Adultism is - “…all of the behaviors and attitudes that flow from the assumption that adults are better than young people, and are entitled to act upon young people in many ways without their agreement.”-Dr. Dr. Barry Checkoway at the University of Michigan.

"In our own lives, even if we fight against racial injustice, even if we fight for world peace, even if we fight for a sustainable world, if we are using our power over the children in our lives, we are perpetuating injustice and oppression. We are setting children up to accept a world that is based on the more powerful controlling the less powerful."...Reading this quote made me feel terrible! I disagree with it only because parents are held responsible to raise respectful adults and if they end up in jail or committing crime who is to blame? Only the parents, children need our help to become who they should be

I will admit that I tell my daughter what she can listen to, what to wear, and give her chores to do. I as a mother automatically do this because I am responsible to raise her into a great person. I mean how else would one do this without setting boundaries? Should we just have kids and let them make decisions on there own? I can only imagine what decisions a 2 year old would make and for that matter a 10 year old. I do think that there is right and wrong way of speaking to our children. Many examples from the book: "You are so stupid !"," Don't every yell at your mother(while yelling)", "You are being childish", seem very disrespectful to me and I would not do that as a parent say things of this sort. With that said I think this whole Adultism is a matter of how one says things to another and the respect in it. Even a 1 year old deserves respect. If there is respect then we are taking into account our children's desires.

I also think that with out all these laws put in place for children to follow then there would not be a society. If there was not a school to enforce children to attend school then what? This very morning, I stopped by my sisters place and my 16 year old nephew was still laying in bed. He chose not to go to school because he did not want to, I of course told him and asked him what he wanted for his future and took him to school. Now with that said there will be so much more children that could make these very decision to not attend school or follow the laws if it were not for adults to help them make the right decisions. Parents are here to raise children that will grow up to be participants of society and.

Extra-Ordinary

Dyslexia: is one of several distinct learning disabilities. It is a specific language-based

disorder of constitutional origin characterized by difficulties in single word decoding, usually
reflecting insufficient phonological processing.

  It was not until recently, that my daughter has been diagnosed with dyslexia, that the term disability meant something to me. Prior to that it never hit home. At any rate, all the paperwork that I had to fill out and continue filling out repeats the word "DISABLED"  and I must say that alone has had a major affect on me. I really dislike the word and wished that they did not have to reiterate it so much. Reading it so many times and having the school personal say it so much only makes me feel uncomfortable.
 The feeling that comes with this experience is almost like you can not help but to feel embarrassed. I know the stigma that comes with someone being labeled and my daughter is feeling it because she has to be pulled out of her class to attend 30 min sessions. Regardless of how much school officials try not to disrupt her regular school scheduled those 30 minutes do a lot of damage with her identity.

Extra-Ordinary: going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary

   Instead of the word disabled I would prefer to use Extra-Ordinary because any one who does require additional aid goes through so much physically, emotionally, and mentally. For you and I, we don't have to worry about how we will get somewhere or even set up additional arrangements on top of our everyday life schedule.  My daughter has been making grades the "Normal" kids have been making without any accommodations. Despite seeing things way different than me, she worked hard and taught herself many things in order to keep up. In the future, I know I will have to read out many books to her and even when she gets to college.With that said I think that anyone who is labeled disabled, in my eyes they are strong and EXTRA-ORDINARY.

If children and adults were to be educated on all of these "disabilities" and were knowledgeable of what someone has to go through, then maybe they will not call anyone retarded or disabled.

 

Fighting Back- Transgender Liberation

    As with every other ism, being LBGTQ just so happens to be other reason why one would discriminate against you. My thought behind this is why does society have to be so concerned about who you want to be or how you dress and who you date?  First we all get the lovely pleasure of being in a dominant or subordinate group and if that is not enough how one dress and who one dates adds to that long list of how we all can be discriminated against. 
  I think being transgender, gay, lesbian, or  bisexual would not be such a stigma if media would not portray it as something so bad.  Being identified as one of these groups is just the same to me as being Mexican American, both are in the subordinate group. With that said they might as well go on to say that being Mexican American is just the same.:) My point is that Media always makes something seem that much worse or bring attention to a issue that other wise would not be a problem. And unfortunately for many, media is the only source that they obtain their information from. Because if anyone who was so against individuals being LBGTQ actually took the time to know someone who was, they would see that that person is in fact a human being and is no different. 

   I found that the Riot in Compton's Cafeteria in 1966 to be very inspiring! How a group of drag queens  came together and fought back! That was amazing, not the violence part,but that was the measure they needed to take in order to provide justice for themselves.

I do hope that overtime with every situation(sexism, racism, and heterosexism,etc) it gets better.

Beautiful

  As a women, we always have so much attention. Both that of negative and positive. Positive because we  are suppose to: dress, look, and be a certain way.To be Beautiful is what we as women are suppose to be.Of course everyone has a different meaning of beautiful, however media depicts what  beautiful women should look like. We see all the time that sex sells and usually that is a half naked women on tv, adds,and on billboards. We either meet other expectations or not . All though the chapters mainly touched based on how women are treated different than men and by men(which are all very important)  a part of this topic that I believe has to deal with the oppression of women are the pressures from the media and society to look and be a certain way.

Women-VS-Media

  When reading chapter 68  a women opened up about her experience with a food disorder and that she basically hated the body she was in due to all the pressure she had to look a certain way. My daughter was recently bullied because of her weight and so she felt that something was wrong with her.  After a while of hearing the things the other girls had said to her, my daughter Anastasia then started to not eat. At that point I of course notice that she was throwing away her food and addressed the problem.  Just knowing that she did this just because other little girls said she was "FAT!" is very disturbing. And although I teach my daughter to love herself and to be comfortable being who she is, these girls still got to her. Where did these little girls learn what someone should look like or how skinny someone should be?...no where other than the media. Why are 10 year olds worried about how much they should weight in the first place. Its ridiculous for a 10 year old to think they need to be on a diet. Eat healthy yes but diet no. Eating disorders are happening with girls that are too young and why. The pressure women have to look BEAUTIFUL and if we don't meet that expectation then we are looked as different.

               These are the role models our children are suppose to look up to from television:

And this is my idea of what beautiful looks like, my daughter Anastasia.

(These are some good songs that are specifically dedicated to women loving who they are and especially our children)

Women-vs-women

Sexism is something that women experience all the time. If its not bad enough that we are perceived a certain way by society and men, we sometimes get oppressed by other women. Other women oppressing other women, endless cycle. If  women can not uplift other women then why should men? I'm sure men hear other women  degrading other women all the time. Just like with kids, how can we teach them something if we don't practice what we preach? Women degrade other women when they have more power or just because they are apart of a dominate group.  Just today I  felt oppressed by my boss who too is a women. Because I expressed myself and told her the facts, she was quick to remind me that they did not have to work around my school hours and that I was lucky to even still have a job with them. Many people will simply see this experience as a dispute among 2 grown individuals but when power and authority is quickly thrown in, its different. At any rate, I think all women can agree that we deserve rights and to be seen equally by men. But ultimately it starts with us- WOMEN.


http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2007/01/03/women-in-the-workplace-just-who-is-oppressing-whom/

Going Backwards

In reviewing all that has been happening in these past few months and weeks I could not help but to think that we, as a people, are going backwards. We hear the notion all the time that History repeats itself, but one would not think to this desperate measure. While some things likes racism has never yet to be resolved while other issues we thought were final and no need to worry. I’m speaking of the issues in Arizona where  Mexican-American books are being pulled because they are “perceived as antiwhite”, Women’s rights and insurance and whether they should cover contraceptive and finally one that is very important, Trayvon Martin and his attacker not being arrested. Justice not being served.

Why in the world is there even a law targeting Mexican –American studies? The article(Racial Lens Used to Cull Curriculum in Arizona) states that the state wanted Mexican-American studies program disbanded. They,the state, were even willing to spend 110,000 on a consultant to conduct an audit. And if Arizona’s school are like our schools here in Texas, why would they spend all that money just to investigate books that could possibly be anti-white? I am sure there are many other programs that the money could have went to and really benefit students.  This whole situation is alarming, its bad enough that we and our kids are getting taught only a specific side of history in our schools but to have authorities not allowing any books that teach against this history that we all know left out so many other facts, is terrible.  Yes this is happening in Arizona but who is to say where its going to happen next.  The Zinn Education Project purposes iS to : introduce students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. The empowering potential of studying U.S. history is often lost in a textbook-driven trivial pursuit of names and dates. Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States emphasize the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history. Students learn that history is made not by a few heroic individuals, but instead by people’s choices and actions, thereby also learning that their own choices and actions matter. Now what if  our state said that the Zinn Project was anti-white, what then?How would we feel if they prohibited U.T  from using the Zinn book?  How would that affect us?

The big question is should insurances cover contraceptives? This has had a great impact on women because this is saying that we don’t have a right to protect ourselves. To me its just another way of implementing Pro Life on everyone, which should be a women's choice.  I don’t understand this because without contraceptive being covered by insurances then there will be more women forced to bear a child,can lead to more children in foster care, and more children being neglected  . We all know that there are already way too much children in foster care that cannot find a home and that cost a lot of state dollars. We also know that if a couple is not ready to have kids or are in a state where they can provide for  their children there will be an high possibility that those children will suffer . Whether it be by their parents struggling to clothe or feed them, ultimately the children suffer. So why do women have to still protest our rights when we all can see this decision can cause a lot of destruction and does not have a great outcome. It does not take a genius to see this so I'm perplexed as to why politicians would even push this. I mean insurances cover Viagra why not something to counter act that? You would think a lot of activity will be going on with Viagra but what helps a women from not becoming pregnant from this?? Like the whole Rush Limbaugh thing, he took or takes Viagra and what  the heck does he think his wives took in order to not get pregnant? Rush Limbaugh does not have any kids so  I wonder how that could have happen with out his wives even taking contraceptives.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/june-carbone/how-were-all-paying-for-r_b_1346241.html

Trayvon, I think its safe to say that everyone is touched by this. To think self defense can be used so freely and let a killer get away with it. The whole situation is so messed up and that it makes us question the justice system. I mean there have been many other cases that makes us question the justice system but this case has no evidence that Trayvon was doing wrong. In a criminal case there has to be burden of proof and there is no proof that this young man was involved in delinquent acts. As a mother you think if this man(Zimmerman) can get away with killing an innocent child then what does this mean  for your children? Why raise our kids to be respectful and to stay out of trouble when your race or the way you dress can get you killed? Why not just focus on teaching our kids what to wear and what not to?  Of course no one wants to neglect teaching our kids morals but its sad to see that this is the case for Trayvon.   Our justice system is quick to arrest people for powder bombing(not to say its right) Kim Kardashian but not Zimmerman. How does that even compare? Maybe its because she is famous that action was taken so quickly but that does not justify how different these two cases have been treated by our justice system?

Officials acted so swiftly for Kim- "The woman was detained by cops at the event and the local fire department was called to ensure the powder was not dangerous.

They left again when they determined it was just all-purpose flour."- http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/23/kim-kardashian-attacked-flour_n_1374501.html

I think that all of these situation can teach us something, that if we let them they will. All the protesting that is going on for Trayvon is empowering and we hope that justice will be served in the end for him and his family.