Talking Points #7
Obama and Romney on gay marriage
Obama: Our nations president Barack Obama is a large supporter of gay marriage in America. In May, Obama made a large statement about his support for same sex marriage, but most recently has gotten behind the cause and is trying to help the cause in Maine, Maryland, and Washington state. This is the first time he has stood behind the cause of states that are trying to legalize same sex marriage. This shows how he actively supports the cause. One and see an article on this here Here is a video of Obama's endorsement of same sex marriage this past May. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaV9UmDuqsI&feature=related
Romney: Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate in the 2012 presidential election is against same sex marriage, and his wife when on the topic often refers to her marriage as a "real marriage", saying same sex marriage is a sham. but in this election, gay marriage isn't really a big issue. Romney often alluding that there are more important matters on the table. This probably comes from the fact that many republicans are moving toward supporting gay marriage, or just not caring at all. Many republicans that support it are happy that it is not a focus issue in this years election. an interesting article can be seen here.
Wrap up: While gay marriage is an issue faced every day in our nation, it is an issue that has been put on the back burner for this election. While Obama will openly support same sex marriage, Mitt Romney and his wife often dodge the questions about it, presumably because of the split over it in the republican community where is seems like some republicans just don't care about the issue anymore.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Kahne and Westheimer
Hyperlinks
The piece by Kahne and Westheimer titled, In The Service Of What?The Politics of Service Learning they look at the many different forms of service learning but discuss the different things that service learning should teach and develop in the human that is participating in it, and that is where the term "service learning" comes about, which is what we are doing in this class.
On this page, one can see the statistics of volunteer work in Rhode Island. These numbers of people and hours of volunteer work are great and show how people give their time to help communities. However, thinking about the article, I'm curious as to how many people really learned or developed from partaking in any of this community service.
Doing research on service learning I found this website, which gives a lot of different activities and seminars to learn about service learning and different things you can learn through it and why those things are important. This website set up by the Corporation for National and Community Service, is a great resource and if you wanna learn more about them you can go to this link.
One thing I find interesting it there is a President's High Honors to the colleges that have the most community service numbers. Here is a listing of them. link
Reading this piece was interesting and it put into perspective why we do the service learning project and have journals to reflect on the different things that we have learned. It also makes me see why reflecting on the experience is crucial to learning instead of just doing the service and getting the paper signed.
The piece by Kahne and Westheimer titled, In The Service Of What?The Politics of Service Learning they look at the many different forms of service learning but discuss the different things that service learning should teach and develop in the human that is participating in it, and that is where the term "service learning" comes about, which is what we are doing in this class.
On this page, one can see the statistics of volunteer work in Rhode Island. These numbers of people and hours of volunteer work are great and show how people give their time to help communities. However, thinking about the article, I'm curious as to how many people really learned or developed from partaking in any of this community service.
Doing research on service learning I found this website, which gives a lot of different activities and seminars to learn about service learning and different things you can learn through it and why those things are important. This website set up by the Corporation for National and Community Service, is a great resource and if you wanna learn more about them you can go to this link.
One thing I find interesting it there is a President's High Honors to the colleges that have the most community service numbers. Here is a listing of them. link
Reading this piece was interesting and it put into perspective why we do the service learning project and have journals to reflect on the different things that we have learned. It also makes me see why reflecting on the experience is crucial to learning instead of just doing the service and getting the paper signed.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
talking points #5
argument
In the work of Peggy Orenstein titled Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Orenstein addresses different institutions that influence girls and boys. She brings up things like American Girl dolls, Barbie, Bratz, characters on Sesame Street, and even some of the decorations in her child's school. She expresses feelings that even if you were to protect a child from things like the Disney princesses, that child will still learn about them and idolize them. And while those princesses may not contain the right ideas we want to place on children, they are still everywhere. Orenstein in this piece is saying that what society needs to do is address this and point out how these are not the values we want kids to have.
Another big part of her work shows how girls toys are gender specific and they seem to often limit girls to certain things. She addresses how everything that is meant for girls is normally colored pink and seems to say that girls should be taught to identify with the color pink. She argues that this shouldn't be the case that we shouldn't limit girls or boys to what they can and can't play with.
Orenstein's writing is very interesting and makes me curious as to where she pulls her facts from and I would like to explore wherever that is and see if I can uncover more interesting facts. To see some of the things she addresses in action, one can go to barbie's own website which has games and shows. barbie.com
In the work of Peggy Orenstein titled Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Orenstein addresses different institutions that influence girls and boys. She brings up things like American Girl dolls, Barbie, Bratz, characters on Sesame Street, and even some of the decorations in her child's school. She expresses feelings that even if you were to protect a child from things like the Disney princesses, that child will still learn about them and idolize them. And while those princesses may not contain the right ideas we want to place on children, they are still everywhere. Orenstein in this piece is saying that what society needs to do is address this and point out how these are not the values we want kids to have.
Another big part of her work shows how girls toys are gender specific and they seem to often limit girls to certain things. She addresses how everything that is meant for girls is normally colored pink and seems to say that girls should be taught to identify with the color pink. She argues that this shouldn't be the case that we shouldn't limit girls or boys to what they can and can't play with.
Orenstein's writing is very interesting and makes me curious as to where she pulls her facts from and I would like to explore wherever that is and see if I can uncover more interesting facts. To see some of the things she addresses in action, one can go to barbie's own website which has games and shows. barbie.com
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Talking Points #4
Quotes
"Young people, unprotected by any intellectual armor, hear or watch these stories again and again, often from the warmth of their mother's or father's lap". (Christensen 127)
This quote alludes to the main point that the text is arguing that all of the stories and cartoons that enforce bad stereotypes have become such a part of society that they are often viewed from the comfort of their own parents, who if they knew what was being subliminally taught, would probably not let their children partake in the viewing of it. This is showing how these images have invaded even the safest of environments.
"During a class discussion Sabrina said: "I realized these problems weren't just in cartoons. They were in everything - every magazine I picked up, every television show I watched, every billboard I passed by on the street." My goal of honing their ability to read literature and the world through the lens or justice had been accomplished at least in part". (Christensen 134)
In this quote, Christensen uses a quote from one of her own students that speaks of how learning how to read the messages in cartoons has lead her to read the messages that exist in every day life. Christensen mentions that this was her goal, to get her students to question everything of this type. That was the main goal of her educating and showing how it worked was the purpose of this article.
"But more importantly, students saw themselves as actors in the world. They were fueled by the opportunity to convince some parents of the long lasting effects cartoons impose on their children, or to enlighten their peers about the roots of some of their insecurities". (Christensen 137)
This quote expresses the effects that giving students power might effect their approach on things. She states that since the things the students were writing to publications was about a serious issue and something they can help change made the students put their best foot forward. This supports one of the main points of her article, that if you show someone that they can help to make a difference, they will most likely try to help ignite the fire of change.
This article was very interesting and a very short read. I wish however that there was more analysis in it and less inclusion of the quotes of the kids. I'd rather read the words of a scholar instead of just being shown certain examples of enlightenment. Reading this stuff makes me think about a poet from Rhode Island named Denise Duhamel, and her poetry collection called KINKY in which all her poems are about some type of stereotypical Barbie. It is very interesting and comical. Here is a LINK to its google books page where you can look at a few of the poems in the collection.
"Young people, unprotected by any intellectual armor, hear or watch these stories again and again, often from the warmth of their mother's or father's lap". (Christensen 127)
This quote alludes to the main point that the text is arguing that all of the stories and cartoons that enforce bad stereotypes have become such a part of society that they are often viewed from the comfort of their own parents, who if they knew what was being subliminally taught, would probably not let their children partake in the viewing of it. This is showing how these images have invaded even the safest of environments.
"During a class discussion Sabrina said: "I realized these problems weren't just in cartoons. They were in everything - every magazine I picked up, every television show I watched, every billboard I passed by on the street." My goal of honing their ability to read literature and the world through the lens or justice had been accomplished at least in part". (Christensen 134)
In this quote, Christensen uses a quote from one of her own students that speaks of how learning how to read the messages in cartoons has lead her to read the messages that exist in every day life. Christensen mentions that this was her goal, to get her students to question everything of this type. That was the main goal of her educating and showing how it worked was the purpose of this article.
"But more importantly, students saw themselves as actors in the world. They were fueled by the opportunity to convince some parents of the long lasting effects cartoons impose on their children, or to enlighten their peers about the roots of some of their insecurities". (Christensen 137)
This quote expresses the effects that giving students power might effect their approach on things. She states that since the things the students were writing to publications was about a serious issue and something they can help change made the students put their best foot forward. This supports one of the main points of her article, that if you show someone that they can help to make a difference, they will most likely try to help ignite the fire of change.
This article was very interesting and a very short read. I wish however that there was more analysis in it and less inclusion of the quotes of the kids. I'd rather read the words of a scholar instead of just being shown certain examples of enlightenment. Reading this stuff makes me think about a poet from Rhode Island named Denise Duhamel, and her poetry collection called KINKY in which all her poems are about some type of stereotypical Barbie. It is very interesting and comical. Here is a LINK to its google books page where you can look at a few of the poems in the collection.
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