Monkey Bridge - Blog Post on Quote

Keep what you see behind your eyes, and save what you think under your tongue. Let your thoughts glow from within. Hid your true self”(Cao 41)

I think that a mother telling her daughter this is bad. I understand that in America people judge others but that is no reason that an immigrant should change who they originally are. The best part about America is that we are made up of all different cultures, except for Native Americans, no one in this country is from the United States. This quote is essentially telling her daughter to be fake, to be like an American, to loose her culture and conform to society. Immigrants always feel pressure to be like "us" but I think that we should stop making people change and just accept people for who they are. I think that we should try to learn about everyone's culture and become a  melting pot of cultures like we used to. Pascack Hills High School is not a melting pot but a single color. It would better us and the bubble we live in to see other cultures.

Here is a power point on Vietnam and three Haikus. 

Native Stereotype

Racism affects all colors, sizes, and shapes. Yet, while many people are stereotyped blacks seem to be the biggest group affected. Black males are stereotyped before they walk into the room: they are angry, aggressive human beings who see violence as the answer. But that is not the case. There are angry people in every race and every color. It is just a stereotype such as that the Jewish faith is cheap, that the Asian race is smart. Racism has caused this stereotype. Blacks are hit constantly with racism and they see no other answer than gangs and violence. If there was equal opportunity blacks would not fulfill the white person's prophecy. 

That is no different than in Native Son. Racism against blacks causes them to be self-doubting and self-loathing just as Bigger is in Native Son. Before Bigger's death for killing Mary, the son of his employer, Max his lawyer tells him that "they made you live in bad conditions, when a man hears that over and over...and sees his life is bad, he begins to doubt his own mind (390). The white man creates their own enemy with racism. No wonder the blacks kill and steal. In that time period racism was on a high. Black people saw no other answer ... violence was the only way they knew. They weren't educated, they weren't living in conditions suitable for human life, they weren't getting equal rights with the white people, especially on the Black Belt where Bigger lived.  When Bigger was around white people "he was very conscious of his black skin" (67) and the way that other white people looked at him. He was not comfortable in his skin which caused him to murder and steal acts he knew were wrong.

Who causes the racism? The media is the cause for the racism. They cause Bigger to feel like a lower class citizen in his city, they stereotype, they assume (you know the saying), they make people hate the black citizens. The newspaper articles made Bigger a Negro object for racism. He was there black outlet. 

My Webquest: 

Read the articles about stereotypes, racism, and the effect of media. Write a blog answering these questions: How does the media affect your daily thinking today? Do you let the media influence your opinions? Does the media still affect the black race today, do you think rappers in today's society continue the stereotypes? Make sure to use quotes from the blogs/articles. 

Second Part: Take a look at this quote and relate them to the theme of stereotyping and racism and media. 
"Mr. Max, a guy gets tired of being told what ... he can do and can’t do. You get a little job here and a little job there. You shine shoes, sweep streets; anything. . . . You don’t make enough to live on. You don’t know when you going to get fired. Pretty soon you get so you can’t hope for nothing. You just keep moving all the time, doing what other folks say. You ain’t a man no more. You just work say in and day out so the world can roll on and other people can live. You know, Mr. Max, I always think of white folks. . ."

All of these links are found on my delicious site, tagged cassiewebquest. 

This paper, Mass, Media, and Racism, written by Stephen Balkaran for Yale University was about the mass media and its affect on racism. Please only read the Introduction, Racism, the U.S. Media and Racism, the Statistics and the Conclusion. 

This is a blog about the Effect of Racism in Prison written on February 20, 2009. Twconroy details how the administration and fellow prisoners exhibit racism on a daily basis and the consequences. 

This article, Black Men Quietly Combating Stereotypes, in the Washington Post talks about the daily struggle black men have with stereotypes and how the deal with the anger towards them. 

This blog by a self proclaimed "black christian male" wrote an paper about black stereotypes for his English IV class. His blog is titled "My World". This title is very important because it says that black people live in a different world. 

If you are judgmental and also don't want to listen to explict language, go to the next podcast: Itunes Store, search Through the HAZE, podcasts, listen to: Hip Hop on the Menu Part 1, My fro is bigger than yours Part 1. You don't have to listen to the whole thing but can skip around. 

Also, Itunes Store, search racism, and then go to Podcasts, the Rise Up Radio, then listen to Black Male Empowerment. Many blacks needed empowerment because their self-esteem was so low that many blacks needed a self-esteem boost. 

Even in today's more accepting society blacks are stereotyped as chimps or monkeys to demote their intelligent. See this political cartoon about Obama. 

For a more intensive look at the Native Son see:

Rachel Rosenthal's blog at rachelrosenblog.blogspot.com 

Black Male: Civilized or Rash

Throughout FBI Tracked King’s Every Move, Jen Christensen details the FBI wiretaps of Martin Luther King and explains that while Martin Luther King was the most powerful and persuasive person in his time, he was utterly selfless (Christensen, par 1). Martin Luther King was a self-critical person who believed he was on this earth to serve others. He wanted not to be famous but to inspire others (Christensen, par 2). The FBI tried to say that Martin Luther King was a Communist so they kept him under constant surveillance. The tapes show nothing…except an embarrassing sexual relationship that the FBI tried to use against him (Christensen, par 3-5). He was called the most important speechmaker in 20th century and also called one of the most dangerous Negro leaders in the country (Christensen, par 8). They wanted to investigate Luther without embarrassing themselves (Christensen, par 9). Many people loved Luther and if they exposed themselves as trying to discredit him they would discredit themselves. But they continued the process. Finally the bugs picked up something about King’s love life: captured the sounds of sexual encounter at a party and then at another drunken gathering King told an off-color joke about John F. Kennedy who had been recently assassinated. President Hoover had a lot of problems with King calling him disgusting. When King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 they sent him insulting and threatening notes.

Throughout Native Son by Richard Wright Bigger is not directly discriminated because of his skin color. Instead, Bigger makes choices that make him a stereotypical black male. He chooses to steal instead of work hard for his money and when he does choose to get a job he still believes that he is always being judged. In fact, the Daltons accept Bigger for who he is, a black male. Martin Luther King was forever trying to get rid of the stereotypical black male. He wanted not the Black Power but equality. Bigger is anti-Luther. He represents the black male who makes choices that will eventually hurt him. He doesn’t realize that the Daltons see him as an individual so when he is in Mary’s room, he believes they will think the worst. He doesn’t try to tell the truth and because of that, he kills her. He thinks that the truth will end up hurting him but he’s wrong. In this case I think Martin Luther King is the anti-thesis to Bigger. He is proud of his black skin and what he represents. Bigger believes he is not attractive, Bigger does not believe in himself. He embodies a clichéd black man.

White people have always tried to put down the black race. Even when slavery was illegal many plantation owners employed black men at the lowest of low wages. Bigger is just another stereotypical character in another stereotypical black novel. What makes this novel interesting: the way Bigger thinks. He doesn’t know how to think for himself. White people along the Black Belt (where Bigger lives) make the blacks feel insignificant and therefore are making them kill and steal. If everyone was equal the blacks wouldn’t feel the need to steal to make money or kill in times of trouble. The white people bring this destruction on themselves. They tried to bring down MLK but failed miserably. Martin Luther King was evidence that black people could be civilized and calm individuals and nothing the FBI found can tarnish his already famed reputation.

Christensen, Jen. "FBI tracked King's every move." CNN (Dec. 2008). 17 Mar. 2009
.

Hi Mr. Saxon, I citied the article but it wasn't working on my blog, i don't know why. If you want I can show you the full citation on Noodle Tools. 

Grey's Heterosexual Privilege

I have irrevocably been in love with Grey’s Anatomy for the longest time. It’s the plot, plus the characters, and perhaps the slight obsession with surgery … even though I will never be a doctor. And even though as time goes on the story gets more desperate, I still am an avid fan. My favorite season is Season 2. The characters (doctors) run the main story line and the minor characters (patients) help develop the story. During the episode number 19 (What Have I Done to Deserve This?), I focused more on the minor characters impact.

Many of the main characters in Grey’s Anatomy are … to say bluntly… sluts. They sleep with everyone. They never contemplate whether a boy or girl is gay. Dr Shepard is trying to focus on regaining their relationship with his wife who slept with his best friend. Meredith Grey inappropriately slept with George O’Malley the night before the episode. Christina is sleeping with Dr. Burke, which is seemingly the only working relationship in the show, yet they never talk or explain feelings to each other. Alex and Isobel are sleeping together, yet they aren’t together. Heterosexual privilege is obvious in Season 2 because none of the main characters are homosexual and everyone seems to sleep with everyone.

Although the main characters show heterosexual privilege in the way they act and carry themselves the minor characters in this episode show that Grey’s Anatomy is accepting of homosexuals. Through the homosexual couple, the Begleiter’s, there is an obvious more feminine character and a more masculine character even though both characters are male. The doctors take the homosexuality in stride never ever commenting on the fact that the parents are gay instead they just focus on saving their child. The gay couple was obviously able to adopt contrary to the belief that many have that a gay couple shouldn’t be able to have children. Although there is an obvious character distinction with the characteristics of the homosexual couple, they are able to adopt a child and are caring of that child enough to bring him to the hospital. In contrast with the heterosexual couple when faced with problems i.e. a tumor on the male’s heart, the couple ends up breaking up. That juxtaposition shows that both couples are equal in society and either can break up over differences. In this episode, the homosexual couple is stronger.

I think that the setting, a hospital, does play an important factor. In a hospital a person is more stressed than usual and that tests the validity of a relationship. Whether one’s significant other can handle a tumor doesn’t matter if one is a homosexual or heterosexual. What matters is the strength of the relationship. Grey’s Anatomy, though it consists of mostly straight characters, shows its lack of heterosexual privilege through its patients. Also, in the future, Grey’s will have a lesbian couple and even run a story line about one lesbian trying to find love with the help of her male friend trying to find love in a female also.

A Woman's Choice and A Male's Ego

The statistics found in the Harry Bridgehouse survey taken at the University of Wisconsin-Michigan reflected that expectations of mother-led parenting persist among our generation: males, in particular, find females to be the mothering sex in which the mother spends substantially more time than the father looking after their wellbeing (Hess, par 3). In today’s society a majority of males still consider themselves the dominant sex. Through the Sexist Blog by Amanda Hess she details the statistics found by this survey. She is proud that the quiz and the answers do not apply to her, as she did not baby-sit in high school and does not plan on having children. (Hess, par 2) Only 5 percent of males baby-sit according to the survey (Hess, par 4). Males aren’t the most reliable and mature individuals during their teen-age years. Most women in this survey pictured themselves in an egalitarian family, while most males pictured themselves in a woman-dominated family: the problem is males have a complex about not providing for their family. There should be a median: an egalitarian family (Hess, par 4). 

Hess writes with pride that she won’t have children (Hess, par 3). However while not having children is an option in today’s society, it shouldn’t be. But because of people such as the octo-mom: Nadya Suleman, a woman who gave birth to 8 babies, people feel that there are enough babies in the world. Yes, a woman can go through life without having children. But if one focus’s on the basic rules for the continuation of the human race: in order for the human race to exist the human race must reproduce. As much as there is the choice of having babies or not having babies in a woman’s life one should not base the that decision on the type of family one might have. Can you imagine if all women decide to quit having children? Or, what if a woman decides that her career is more important than having a family? As an employee at a nursery, I would not want that to happen. Eventually, there would be no more children thus ending my job. Also if woman continue to focus solely on their job slowly and slowly the human race would get older and eventually die out. 

Yes, women have the choice whether to have babies or not but maybe more women would chose to reproduce more often if they knew what family their child would grow up in. For a successful woman leaving their job cold turkey is not really an option. Women need to know that males, their husbands, can handle an egalitarian family without getting their egos bruised. Women need to have confidence that they can work and their husband can work and the child will still be all right. A good example: me. I’ve grown up in an egalitarian family and have come out without any lasting damage ☺. 

Socratic Seminar Questions

1) Throughout the one act play, Trifles, the Sheriff and his friend disregard all the little details and move fast through the house where the murder took place. The women look for all the little details. Why do you think woman notice details and men overlook a lot of specifics?

2) Who murdered the husband in the play? 

3) Can a man and a woman be friends without sex or at least sexual tension?

4) Harry sleeps with his first date after he gets divorce yet he doesn’t like her. He also constantly thinks about how long he has to lay with a woman after. Do men have a more casual approach to sex than woman?

5) In Friedberg’s blog post, that was supposed to be a joke, was actually very controversial. It had to do with the rules in a gang. Do you think people in a group adapt to the rules of the group just to be accepted just as in a gang?

6) Throughout Story of an X the society hates on the “x” child. Does society affect which groups one chooses to be in?

7) Sally’s friend Marie is in a relationship with a married man who still loves his wife. Marie continually is told that he will never leave his wife yet can’t seem to accept it and he continues to see her. Are woman more susceptible to believe lies they are told because they want them to be true?

8) Could a real X survive in real life? Do you think parents in society such as ours would not let an “x” child go to school here?

9) What have you enjoyed the most: Trifles, the X child, When Harry Met Sally, or the poem, Girl? Which showed gender relations the best?

My "Girl" Poem

Everyday rules affect us all. The most important rules to follow are the rules made by our parents. Our parents brought us into the world and they can just as easily take us out. Being a good daughter is one of the most important social groups I am in. After writing a poem in prose about the rules my parents have made I realized that my life is pretty strict. While I hate daily the rules instituted by my parents they are mostly needed and correct. Even such rules as not putting my elbows on the table will influence me in my future. I'm a sterotypical daughter who listens to their parents and follows most of the rules.. While my parents make my rules there are certain social rules such as if you are a girl or a boy. In actuality people should not live by their own social group's rules but their own. Here are 16 rules to live by.

To Be A Good Daughter:

Every morning empty the dishwasher before I wake up; if you don’t make your bed, you don’t get money for the movies; make sure you pick up your brother from school, I bought you that car for that reason; don’t put your elbows on the table, don’t talk with your mouth full, don’t eat too much, don’t eat too little; no hydrogenated oils; no cookies; don’t bring burger king home; go to the gym and be fit, I bought you that membership for that reason; don’t be home alone in the house with boys; always watch out for your sister and brother; always know where they are; don’t lie on the couch all day; don’t watch trashy TV shows; make sure your clothes are clean, I bought that washer and dryer for a reason; get to work on time; get paid and put your money in the bank immediately; go to school everyday; don’t get sick; work hard in dance and love, I bought that tuition for that reason; get good grades and work hard for them; study all night but try to have fun; you better go to college; you better not die there; don’t ever talk back to me; don’t ever yell at your father; don’t take a shower in the grey bathroom; close the garage door when you come inside; make sure that your closet is closed at all times to not let the heat in; don’t let your father know anything; eat your carrots not the cookies; blow your nose, don’t only wipe it; don’t crash, scratch, ruin your car in anyway; don’t drink alcohol; don’t do drugs; don’t stay on the computer for too long; don’t put to much makeup on; please walk quietly in the hallways at six am; refrain from knocking on the door and asking for stuff; don’t drink regular milk; make sure you get home before 12 when your driving, if not, I don’t care; fill out scholarship applications; don’t bother your brother about his making up stories; don’t fight with your sister; don’t bring up anything that might bother anyone; save the cereal for other people; don’t finish the box of bars and leave it in the drawer; stop at red lights; don’t scream from your room upstairs to the basement; do your homework before you watch TV; write all your homework in your assignment pad; don’t get anything lower than an B on your report card or consequences will occur; cell phones have to be charged, I bought that for that reason so I could call you at any time; email me all your bad grades during the school day so I can get over them before I get home from work; clean your room before the cleaning lady comes; fold your clothes after you clean them; don’t overspend my American Express card; look for sales when you go shopping; clean the crusty toothpaste in the sink whenever you see it; read as many books as you like; don’t call me in a meeting; be yourself and don’t try to impress anyone but yourself.

This article by Time Magazine is seven rules for what parents should do with their kids.