It's Okay It Is Just a Joke

A picture from the show of Christine and Richie.

    The other morning I was watching the show The New Adventures of Old Christine and there was a pretty racist comment that caught me off guard. The show is focused around a single mom who is a little crazy and in this scene she is dropping off her son Ritchie at his first day of private school.

Christine: Look at how nice this place is! Look at the nice artwork. Oh and there is nice markers and a nice teacher.

Richie: Mommy where are all the black kids?

     Before taking my American Studies class I would not have thought twice about this joke. Now I see that this is very racist and I am wondering why these types of jokes are allowed on television?
     Christine uses the word nice so many times in the opening line and, as we have talked about in class, this gives the connotation that the people who go to the private school are nice and those who don't are not. Then when Richie comes in the one liner about "black kids" it connotes that blacks are not nice. Also, since it is a private school that costs a lot of money it is also connoting that blacks can not afford to go their and all of them are poor. Stereotyping people is the most common form or racism.
     This all comes back to our favorite question is American Studies. Is America a cycle or are we always progressing? We are supposed to be a country of equals and racism supposedly died with The Civil War yet we are still making racist comments to over thousands of people. Again and again our country falls back into the same issues of our past that caused so much trouble back then,

Ready the Foam Fingers for War

Chicago Blackhawks fans getting rowdy at a game.

     In The Kentucky Cycle the character Patrick Rowen is complaining about being poor and says, "when we was fightin' I was doin' fine --- it's peace that's killin' me!"(100). You'd think that Patrick has his words mixed up because usually all the killing is during war. However, he is speaking to what America really values most. Money. War is great for the economy with all the jobs and weapons sales. Other than that, going to war with another country brings people together.  America loves war.
     To be clear, I am not saying that Americans go around shouting "I love war". We find more modern and socially acceptable ways of supporting it. For example, supporting professional sports teams like the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks are currently in the NHL playoffs and their fans have been going crazy. Supporting professional sports teams is like supporting war. Just think about it: the violence, the economy boosting from apparel, and the sense of community from rallying for a common cause. Also, when a team's season comes to and end whether successful or not fans are depressed just as Patrick Rowen is in the quote above. What makes the violence in sports more socially acceptable? Could America survive without the competition of sports?
   
   

The Token Nose

     "A small, flat-nosed Jew" is how Nick describes Mr.Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby book. Does the man in the picture to the right look like he fits that description? Yeah, I don't think so. The man to the right is Amitabh Bachchan the Indian actor who play Wolfsheim in the newest Gatsby movie. I think what we have here is movie tokenism.
     Nearly all the characters in The Great Gatsby book are written as white. I guess it is okay for books to not have diversity but movies are similar television shows because they too have token characters. Wolfsheim plays an important role in Gatsby but he is not a main character so I guess the movie makers thought it would be okay to change his race. I mean the one physical aspect that Wolfshein is know for in the book is his nose. All though is he is not "flat-nosed" he does have a very distinct sniffer.
     Making Wolfshein an indian shows some of the token character examples we saw on television. First, he is is an "authority minority". At his times in the movie he is always dressed in a suit and tie and he is also kind of like Gatsby's boss. He is the one who brought Gatsby into all of his money. Indian Wolfshein is also very sketchy and secretive, making him a "mystic minority".
     Does this race change effect the movie at all? Why is it all right for books to not be diverse?

Haters Gotta' Hate

The necklace all students receive
for going on Kairos.

     Kairos. The whole school is talking about it. At my high school Kairos is the closest thing that we have to a cult. For the readers who are still in the dark, Kairos is a retreat that high schoolers around the country can attend at a location nearest them. The retreat usually has a religious affiliation and the most important thing about the retreat is that the people who attend it can not tell anyone what goes on during the retreat. Not only is the whole thing very secretive, but all the retreatants also come back very close. There is even a well know term, "the Kairos hug", because that is how all the retretants greet each other after they come back.
     Due to the fact students come back "different" and the whole thing is so secret, many of the non-retreatants tend to hate on the Kairos kids a bit. I do not mean physical violence or anything along those lines, most of the hate is through jokes. At my high school there are a lot of jokes and the Kairos kids do not take it very well, but I do not know if it is the same at other high schools. I live in a pretty wealthy suburb and there is not a huge amount of poor people or outcast type students. So, since there is not a lot of other outcasts, Kairos is left with all the hate in our school.
     Our power hungry society is constantly fighting within itself. People want power because with power comes control. Power is just another thing like living in the upper class; people see it, want it, and then try to work for it. Ostracizing people is a quick way to gain power and as long as there is a power struggle there will be ostracizing.
    Why do we need to feel superior to people? What is there was no struggle for power?

I FEELGOOD in Whatever

     You may think that fashionable sweatpants in an oxymoron, but here on the North Shore we have found a way to make sweatpants a coveted item. The pictures to the right both show sweatpants both pairs serve the same function and yet one costs $80 and the other cost $10. Spoiler alert. Apart from color and the waist band the pants are the same. You might ask what do you get for the extra $70? For that you get a high class brand of sweatpants that you can wear to a North Shore high school without being looked down upon for wearing cheap sweatpants to school.
     This expensive brand of sweatpants are called FEELGOODS. The name itself tries to to tell customers that they will only "feel good" in these pants. All though the pants are essentially sweatpants they put themselves on a pedestal above regular sweats by simply changing their name. I mean who who chose pants you "sweat" in when you could "feel good" for $70 more?
     This speaks to our society's constant want for better things. If people can not strive for something "better" then why would they continue to work. The lower class of the U.S. makes up most of our manual labor force and to keep them working the upper class dangles their lifestyle in front of them. Jealousy is a constant driving force within society. Is the difference between the upper and middle class just as small as a pair of pants?

Someone Get This Lady a Turtleneck

Paltrow in Iron Man 3 fight scene.

     I am not a radical feminist or anything like that, but I saw something the other day that even got me to take a critical look at the gender inequality in our society. At the end of Iron Man 3 (don't worry there will be no spoilers) there is a big fight scene with a lot of combat, a good amount of explosions, oh and Gwyneth Paltrow dangling from a building in nothing but a bra and spandex pants. With the amount of money this film probably had for costumes it is safe to make the assumption that this clothing choice was done for entertainment and not expense issues.
     The most probable explanation is "eye candy." The viewers most likely to see this movie are men and I guess a fast paced action film is not enough to keep their attention because otherwise why would Paltrow be half naked?
     If the success of a movie now depends on the number "hot chicks" are in it then I wonder how far gender equality has come. It is very common to see women portrayed as sex objects in the media. Before the feminist movements women were just seen as household objects who were here to serve men. If the media continues to show women as sex symbols, how long until we as a gender start to only see ourselves like that? This would result in the same "mens' objects" mind set of the past.

It's Vintage! So Cute!

Old fashioned car found through Google

     Why is vintage cool, in style, and expensive? I was driving around with my family when a car pulled up next to us that was definitely not from this century. My dad and my brother were amazed saying things like "what an awesome car" and "I'd kill for a car like that. I didn't understand why they would want a car so old as compared to a brand new one.
     In The Great Gatsby,  Gatsby sends his whole life fawning over things of the past. Nick, another character in the book, describes Gatsby's obsession with the past as, "an extra ordinary gift for hope". With Gatsby living in his past life with Daisy he is hoping to make his future more like the past. Except, a future with his past life is nearly impossible and the only way it would happen is if something "extra ordinary" occurred. That something is not likely though do to the fact it just is not "ordinary". Anyways, this hope for  future based on the past could be the answer to the obsession with vintage cars.
     It is not ordinary to see "classic" cars on the road so maybe people like to own them because they have accomplished something near to impossible. They have brought back the past while in the future. People could also be obsessed with the past because those were simpler times. However, is bringing objects from the past back in style really going to make this current life simpler?

From Teenyboppers To Croptoppers

Ke$ha preforming live.

    And the Junior Theme blogs continues. I am still attempting to discover why prostitution still exists. A prediction I had, that ended up being a dead end was that children, specifically girls, are becoming sexualized at younger ages.
     I have heard about the olden times like the 50s. Girls wore skirts down to their ankles and couples who held hands were scandalous. So how have we gone from that, to a generation full of girls who like to wear minimal clothing and call each other "sluts" and "whores" regularly? One of the reasons I see for our sexualized generations is the role models these girls have to look up to.
     Young girls find role models in a lot of famous actresses and singers such as Ke$ha. The picture to the right is of Ke$ha preforming in minimal clothing and grinding with one of her dancers. This problem along with prostitution are both feeding gender stereotypes. When women where less clothing they are giving into the idea that we are only sex objects. Why are these possible role models pushing the sexual boundary? If we continue to sexualize children at younger ages what does this mean for women in the future?

Just a Time Out for Prostitutes

     All though my Junior Theme is done my topic is still forever in my mind . In the Chicago Sun-Times there was an article about over population in the Cook County Jail and how it is being handled. To summarize, the jail has decided to put people who commit non-violent acts on house arrest instead of jail. Specifically the county officials will "end felony arrests for prostitution". If the jail refuses to put arrested prostitutes in jail then the business is only going to continue to thrive.
     In my research I have found that most women who stop prostituting stop because they get arrested and placed into a center to rehabilitate themselves. One example of this is Marian Hatcher and the Sheriff's Women's Justice Program which you can read about in my earlier post. It is programs like this that help women who have prostituted get clean and get their life back on track. Prostituted women who are on the streets are addicted to that lifestyle and almost always need outside help to get off the streets. Without these arrests prostituted women will continue in their lifestyle of personal destruction.
     Someone else who is against this new idea is Chief Judge Tim Evans who feels that, "the purpose of a bail hearing is for a judge to decide how best to ensure the return of the defendant to court and protect public safety.....not to reduce jail population". With prostitutes being on house arrest the jail can not monitor their progress or help them stay out of jail in the future. And all though it is keeping jail population down currently, without help these prostitutes will likely be arrested again. What could be another solution to decrease jail population? Without arresting for non-violent felonies, do you think that this makes crime less illegal?

A Powerhouse of Women

    In class we had to write an essay called, "The Junior Theme". I wrote mine on the why the prostitution business has stayed around till now. Even though I found my topic extremely interesting I also found it a little depressing because I read a lot of horrible stories on the lives prostitutes lead. Also, I focused so much on the negative aspects of life that have kept prostitution around and I never got to shed light on some of the amazing things people are doing to try and stop the business.

Marian Hatcher, working with a women in the Sheriff's
Women's Justice Progam

    An example of one of these amazing programs and people is Marian Hatcher who works at the Sheriff's Women's Justice Program. Marian is a former prostitute that also struggled with mental illness and illegal substance abuse. She "got clean" in 2004 when she was arrested and put into the Sheriff's Women's Justice Program. Clean is just another word for fresh start or a blank slate which is what Marian got going through the program. Now, Marian has dedicated her life to the same program that helped her out.

    The Sheriff's Women's Justice Program works with women who have been arrested by the Cook County Jail for prostitution along with some other reasons. The program sees the arrested women as victims instead of criminals and give them the support they need to leave the dangerous life on the streets. They have parenting classes because many prostitutes actually mother multiple children, they also have support groups, and the most amazing thing I found in the program was the one on one attention from the ladies like Marian who work there with the ladies who are in the program. It seemed like most of the women in the program just needed someone to care about them in order for them to start caring about themselves. If you want to learn more about the program and Marian there is an Oprah Winfrey Network documentary called Prostitution: Leaving the Life. 

It's Time to Let Go

     It has been twenty three years since "one of the greatest art thefts of all time" took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and just now the FBI finally thinks they have cracked the case. The FBI, the museum, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts are all simply asking for the pieces to return, instead of going after their new suspect (NBC article). They have to result to such a desperate measure as asking for the items back because they can no longer prosecute the thieves. So, instead of prosecuting the people responsible for this lengthy investigation, they are pleaing for the art work to be returned for a five million dollar reward.
     However, the people with the painting should not be too quick to turn themselves and the art in. Even though the FBI and Justice Department claim "recovery over prosecution" there is also another plea from them stating, "bring back the artworks and the federal prosecutors will consider not filing charges" (NBC article). "Consider" as in to think carefully about. The FBI should realize that any threat over possible prosecution is not going to welcome people to bring back the stolen items.
     So, if prosecutors are till "considering" prosecuting people then I guess we can say that recovering the lost art is not the FBI's, the Attorney's office, or the museum have in mind. I think this highlights a problem in America. I feel we always need some kind of justice. Even after twenty three years and the stautes of limitation having passed on the case, people are still looking for someone to "pay". The U.S. has the largest amount of prisoners in the world and now we know why, someone has to be held responsible.

Mickey Mouse is In Charge

Dreams may becoming true but who's dreams are they?

     Since I was very young my family and I have always loved Disney. I mean everything about Disney! I think I have been to Disney World seven times, I know we own most of the movies Disney has made, and I have watched the shows on Disney channel since I was born. Disney has had a huge impact on my life and I guess I didn't realize how big Disney's impact really is, until I read a blog post from a classmate called, "Media Dominance".
      My classmate does not enjoy Disney World like I do but, I can not deny that I also feel as if I am "stuck in a bubble" when I go there. Disney has made it so that they control everything you do while in Disney World. And not only does Disney control customers while they are in there territory they also control us from our own homes. Like my classmate says in her blog, "the channels ABC, The Disney Channel, SoapNet, ESPN, A&E, The History Channel, Lifetime, and E!, are all owned, or partially owned, by Disney, along with 27 radio stations and numerous publications". With that much reach Disney is controlling what music we hear, what we watch on television, and what we read.
     This makes me wonder who really has control over us? Is it the government? Ourselves? Our elders? Or the thousands of companies that surround us in our daily lives? Looking at how much power Disney has that can impact our lives, I know see that companies can eventually start to control the way we think. Our minds think things based on what we see, read, and hear and if companies have control of all of though they therefore can start to control us. Who do you think has the greatest influential power in our society?

I'm Done With TV Tokenism! Psych!

     This blog was inspired by my teacher Mr.Bolos's post on "TV Tokenism" and a project on tokenism that I am in the midst of for school. I am finding the subject of TV tokenism so interesting that I wanted to share another analysis of a current day television show. For those who need to play a little catch up, TV tokenism is prevalent in shows where there are those "token"/necessary minority roles. Television networks try to make all of their viewers happy to avoid problems such as people claiming a show is racist. So, in order to keep happy viewers TV shows attempt to show diversity and equality but, without pushing the boundaries of what is accepted by most of society.

Psych season one cast photo

     The show, where I have found some typical TV tokenism is Psych. Psych's main character (Sean) is the white man on the left of the photo, who is a fake psychic but, uses his real power, to notice small details, to solve crimes. And of course we can't forget about Sean's minority sidekick/ best friend (Gus) who assists Sean in his adventures.
     In the cast photo to my right we are quickly drawn to Sean, who is looking very thoughtful at the camera while seeming suspicious and a little crazy. Right away we can Sean is a very complex character who thinks a lot and the crazy look gives us a sense that Sean might be a little quirky. The white male lead is usually a very complex character that the audience wants to try and figure out. Behind Sean we see Gus. He is standing behind Sean, perhaps he is always living in Sean's shadow? Gus is a much less complex character. His facial expression says little to nothing and in the actual show we know very little about Gus. However, USA couldn't let Gus come in second to Sean on everything so, they gave him a little bit of authority with his morals and knowledge. This is seen in the cast picture because Gus is dressed much nicer than Sean, making him somewhat of an "Authority Minority".  In the show, Gus often has to be the moral compass of the partnership and pull back Sean when he gets a little too wild. By giving this small amount of power to Gus, USA stills gets to keep the white male in the center whilst giving the black community the equality they want.
How purposeful do you think TV tokenism is? Where do you see TV tokenism in the future?

I'll Give You a Dollar to Shut Up!

Today it was announced that the Los Angeles public school system is going to pay $30 million dollars to settle some of the 191 claims of sexual lewd acts by a former elementary school teacher. The article claims that about 58 of the students' lawsuits will be settled by the price of $400,000 to $500,000 dollars. The alleged offender's victims were students ranging from 7-10 years. Besides the students who are settling their claims, their are also 23 others who have filed criminal cases for which the former teacher is still being held for.
All of the settlements will be paid by tax dollars and the elementary school's insurance fund. David Holmquist, general counsel for the Los Angeles Unified School District, claims, "we are not admitting liability" but, "we thought we would put this behind us by resolving it through remediation and early dispute resolution." Although Holmquist is not "admitting" anything, by definition "remediation" means the correction of something bad and it sounds as if the settlements are an attempt at an apology to the affected families. Why would the school system going so far to "put this behind us" if they weren't guilty?
Where I find the issue here is the "money makes everything better" attitude. With these many children claiming sexual lewd acts it seems very likely the teacher is guilty and in that case I think these children need more than money to help them. Not only could they suffer physical damage from their offender but also at such a young age they are vulnerable and could end up with serious mental/emotional issues. This teacher should be brought to justice for all the crimes he committed and not have some of his wrongs made right by the victims getting paid of with their own tax dollars!
Do you think that money can settle these wrongs? Why do you think the school system is trying to settle all these claims with money rather than in court?

Good News! You're a Minority

     In kindergarten my teacher always said my classmates and I were all the same no matter what we looked like because it was what was on the inside that counted. Only later in life did I find out that how we look not only matters but in some cases it is more important then what's on the inside. For this blog to make more sense I would also like to note that I have tan skin from my mom's Chinese nationality.

     Last month, my field hockey team was chosen to be the face of a national campaign for USA field hockey. I did not think my coach would ever choose me for the photo shoot so, I was flattered when I received the e-mail. Until, I saw who else was on the mailing list: the one other Asian girl, the only four black girls in the club, and two white girls. My coach even quoted, "this photo shoot might not work if we can't show the diversity of our club so, I hope all you girls can make it". She uses the word "show" as if we have to prove something. 

I made the picture small because
it's not very flattering but, at least
it shows USA field hockey
welcomes all races!

     It's not only my coach who tries to prove diversity. My American Studies class has been reviewing television shows and how they try to prove their own diversity and fight racism complaints. Even out of television, places in our reality such as colleges and businesses use people just for their ethnicity. I think this becomes a problem when people start to receive things only for being a different skin color. Not only is it unfair to the less wanted majority races, but it also does not feel good knowing you were only chosen for something based on what's on the outside.
Do you think our world could handle buisnesses and colleges that don't have to reach diversity quotas?

Our Country's Band-Aid for Illegal Immigrants: A Temporary Fix

In Chicago, several thousand people line up in Aug. 15 to get
information about the deferred action program for young illegal immigrants.
 Ferima Samake, who came to the United States from Mali at age 13,
and Juan Suchil, who arrived from Mexico at age 6 held up their numbers in line.

As a junior in high school, college applications are on my mind quite a bit. Many of my extended family has told me “you are a shoe in you will make colleges diverse, so they are going to want you”.  But I still do not understand why being diverse is so important and will have such a big impact on my college career?

Diversity has also been on my mind and a lot of other people’s minds because of Obama’s new “deferred action program for young illegal immigrants”(caption). The picture shown was taken by Daniel Boris for The New York Times and is present in a slideshow called “2012: The Year in Pictures”. The slideshow only previews less than 100 photographs from the year. So, the ones shown had to be carefully selected for a reason. So why put this one in?

Illegal immigrants have been a topic of conversation in the United States for awhile now. With so many currently living in the U.S. many people have argued over their futures. Now, with this “deferred action program” people are actually starting to see some progress being made. In the photo there is two young immigrants who have just received their information about applying for deferred action. The photography expert over at The New York Times chose to highlight these two people in particular. Both of them are people of color, the girl is African and the boy is Mexican. Choosing to put two minority figures highlights that these two figures are probably not American just because they are not white. Also, putting one boy and one girl of two different races reflects on how many this program is helping. One more observation is the simple clothing that both are wearing. This is something to be observed because I think it is a statement meant to show these two are just a couple of “regular joes” just like us so why shouldn't they be American citizens too? This photo represents the increasing influence of illegal immigrants, especially of the minority races in the United States.

Who should be able to be an American citizen is a topic we have been discussing in class. After the thirteenth amendment was passed there was a grey area about whether freedman would be allowed the same civil rights as the white American citizens. Andrew Johnson believed that the freedman should “only then become citizens upon proof that they are of good moral character”. What kind of “proof” does Johnson need? Have all Americans proven that they are of “good moral character”? These two young immigrants in the photo have to go through an application process in order to prove the should become temporary citizens. With the increasing influence of minorities in this country it is interesting to see that people are still questioning their citizenship.

Lily Schroeder has also noticed in influence of minority groups, in such things as the presidential election, and has even written a blogpost on it. Her post called “Here But Not Here” states that “Latinos rewarded Mr. Obama with 71% of their votes, and now it is Obama’s turn to act on the Dream Act”. This quote gives us an insight into the future on how minority groups might “reward” politicians with their vote by addressing issues like making illegal immigrants citizens.

For now politicians, like Obama have pacified the country by creating this temporary fix. A temporary fix that also pacified the country was The Missouri Compromise. This compromise created a line in which slavery could not spread to the north. The deferred action program had temporarily solved in issue, but it also leaves a grey area for the future. So, we can say that the illegal immigrant issue is far from being over and will have an impact in our future especially in elections.

Let My People Know

     This week in my American Studies class we discussed papers we wrote on restricting civil liberties during perilous times such as, times of war. One of the wars I talked about in my paper was the War on Terror. Even though I use it as an example in my paper and I am currently living during it, I still don't know a lot about this war (maybe that it why I have a lot of revising to do). Then, when I was searching through my classmates' blogs to post a comment, I came across a blog by Sarah H called "Faces of the Fallen". In Sarah's blog she also found that there was a lack of information about the War on Terror.
     In "Faces of the Fallen" Sarah discussed a Washington Post article that was about all the service members who have died this past year in the war and how the article was very vague about the causes of death. Sarah's blog inspired me to start thinking about who gets to decide how much information we as American citizens get to know? I now think that the government might restrict our knowledge of the war in order to decrease the number of people against the war. Maybe if we don't hear about the painful deaths some of these soldiers went through, then maybe the War on Terror will seem less harmless. If the government is really in charge of withholding information about the War on Terror, then this very much connects to my paper that I wrote about in the beginning. The government has a lot of power over the American citizens and I think they abuse it sometimes.
     Would you like to have more information about the war, even if some of the details were about gruesome deaths of American soldiers? How much information do you think the government should be allowed to withhold for the citizens?

He Ain't No Morgan Freeman but He Makes a Good Point

     In the week before my school's winter break my American Studies class dedicated some time to a discussion about the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The same day, I went home to read a post on Facebook about Morgan Freeman's "thoughts" on the Sandy Hook shooting. However, when I did more research on the post I discovered that it was a hoax. Morgan Freeman had not made any of his thoughts public about Sandy Hook, and the Facebook post had been written by a man from Canada. To read the post written by the man in Canada and the story about the whole hoax scandal read this article.
    Even though the widely read Facebook post was not written by an Academy Award winning actor, I think the author brought up some good points. The man talked about how the media is partly to blame for the shootings at Sandy Hook and others multiple victim shootings. The murderers in the shootings always become instantly famous after. People across the nation know more about the killer than the victims that lost their lives. And therefore killers have the incentive of becoming famous when they kill innocent people. I think that this is a good point. If the media didn't put the killers in such a spotlight maybe devastating incidents like Sandy Hook wouldn't happen as often.
    How do you think people who watch the news would react to less attention being put on the killers? Do you think the media could have an affect on the number of multiple shootings?