Don't Ask, Don't Tell

I am personally disgusted with this law, without sounding like a toddler, it just isn't fair. These men and women are willingly risking their lives to protect EVERYONE in America; black, white, Asian, Muslim, tall, short, fat, skinny, prisoners, priests, gay, transexuals, the list can go on forever. Yet, even though they put their lives on the line everyday for us we want to discriminate and ask them to do one more thing while their busy in combat defending our country "oh, please don't be openly gay".

Almost every person in the military has some sort of skeleton in their closet that may be considered wrong or make others feel uncomfortable. In America, I feel that we have a problem discussing and accepting things that make others feel uncomfortable. For instance, I have been diagnosed with severe depression and I have been committed to a mental facility in the past. I'm not ashamed, it was the best thing that has ever happened to me, it changed my life. However, because of America's depiction of what a mental institution is like and what the people in there are assumed to be like, I could never really talk about it with my close friends and even some of my family because of how they would react. I don't care who knows I'm an open book and I'm not ashamed about something that truly benefited me and saved my life. But just because America deems it as inappropriate to talk about, I can't. 

Another thing that really bugged me in this article is one of the quick facts in which gay service members were allowed to serve in the 1940's throughout the Vietnam War because of the shortage. It is like they are second string quarterbacks, they play when we need them, but as soon as we don't, it's back to the closet they go. I admire those who are gay and are willing to serve a country that wants them to be hush about their sexuality, because if it was me, I can't say I would do the same.

Globalization

• I'm not too sure what I think about Americanization because in some ways I'm proud and happy to know that other countries are wanting to adapt some of our culture into their own society. Like many people say "imitation is the best form of flattery".  However I also feel that by having Starbucks, McDonalds, Nike, etc. in other countries, it takes away the uniqueness of America. What would be the point of me traveling to another country if I'll experience the same food choices, the same clothing brands, the same feel of what I experience every day in my life in America. 
• McDonaldization is the spread and growth of McDonald's fast food chain across the country and across the world. It's not particularly good because it targets children and it is a big contributor to childhood obesity. 
• Pessimistic Hyperglobalizers: people who believe we are becoming similar in cultural and losing the diversity that each society holds, we are losing individuality and starting to conform fully
• Optimistic Hyperglobalizers: agree with the globalization definition, but see it as a positive move rather than detrimental to our culture and society.

multimodal plans

For my social action project, the two genres I would probably pick would be a poster and something around the lines of movie maker. I would use the poster to show the actual data using graphs and charts, so this would be the hard facts of my research. The movie would be images and stories of those effected by bullying, this will hopefully play with the emotions of my audience, leading them to want to change their ways and stop this vicious bullying cycle.

Classism Discussion

1. The 3 racial differences in wealth accumulation in the U.S. are racialization of state policy, economic detour, and racial inequality.

2. The authors interviewed white and black families to find out if there was indeed a difference in wealth disparities.

3. The authors found that the main theme was that "family assets expanded choices, horizons, and opportunities for children while lack of assets limit opportunities". This mean that if a family had a lot they also had a lot more to offer to their children, and for those who do not have a lot the children had to work a lot harder to get what they want and need in life.

4. The authors suggest that in order to close the racial gap in terms of wealth we must develop policies that directly address the situations of African Americans. Also, the polices must directly promote asset opportunities for those at the bottom of the class system  regardless of ethnicity.

5. My story upon coming to college is different from many in my community. My community is to be consider as one of upper class and don't get me wrong I have a nice house and luxuries, but college was something I constantly needed to work for. For instance, I attended the University of Iowa last year, but due to the price of out of state tuition, I had to come home and go to a college in state. I also had to take out several loans as did my parents. I'm the first in my ENTIRE family to go to college and even though it's a great accomplishment, it is also stressful. I feel as if the pressure is on to succeed, not to mention if I don't succeed a lot of money would have been wasted. I want to go to college and succeed so I can send my own children to college without the stress my parents have to endure by sending me to college. I believe my story is similar to Kathleen Kelly's and Gwendolyn Lewis'  stories.  I didn't have a role model to look towards in terms of education like Gwendolyn, and I also had to work very hard to make college an option like Kathleen.

Knowledge is Power

Angel's questionnaire showed that he comes from a middle class neighborhood and middle class family. His entire town was perceived as middle class and the fact that he too was middle class didn't cause him much trouble in terms of classism. It didn't seem to play a big enough role in his life to have a big impact. He recognizes that there are classes above and below them. He has gained knowledge from his class background experience and "with knowledge, there is power".

Comparitive Data Analysis

Bryan:
Focus of research - African American language linguistics
Participants - Irving
Data Collected - interview with tape recorder, quotes were both direct and indirect
Data - I felt that his data was very strong however the jargon was a bit overwhelming. I did like how he used his own voice though.

Samantha:
Focus of research - the stories of the survivors and the survivors familes of the Columbine shootings
Participants - 2 individuals, Jenny a survivor and Linda, the survivor's sister
Data collected - interviews, indirect/direct quotes
Data - I felt that the stories were strong and painted a picture, but there was no voice of her own. Also the research questions were unanswered and the question So What? popped up in my head a lot.

Article analysis

Participants: 704 11-13 year olds
Section begins: explanation of data and table that is included in the data section, a lot of jargon is used.
Organization: very organized, easy to follow
Themes: differences in bullying between male and females
Evidence: tables back up claim
Stands out: the organization is very easy to follow, however the jargon is really hard to understand
Improvement: none

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=9&sid=7f054d65-ed1b-4a18-aafb-90b511c21eab%40sessionmgr11