Week Fifteen - Posting Fifteen

Right now my grade is a C- at 72% or so. With my attendance grade for today and my presentation and reflective paper grades that I have earned I hope that I can keep my grade a C. Unfortunately I has some health problems that prohibited me from not coming to class as much as I would have liked to. If I did not have these issues this semester my work and attendance probably would have been a lot better. I think that the work I did however showed that I did understand most of the material and did read the assigned readings and completed all of the blogs. I think that some of my attendance grades will be dropped (not sure how you excuse them) so that will help hopefully. I would just be happy with a C or C+, but would not object to a higher grade.

Week Fourteen - Posting Fourteen

I chose to read "Sex and Power: Sexual Bases of Radical Feminism" written by Alix Kates Shulman. The writing discusses the relations between men and women and are power affects this relationship in society. Many different categories of what women have fought for or discussed like marriage, being a wife and motherhood, but sex is something that society has left out or not really discussed. Women are supposed to not enjoy sex or prosper from in like in prostitution. Many feminist activists in the 1960's seemed to me to be more sexual outside in society.  This time period also went with free love and the experimental drug and rock and roll scene. So much was going on during this time, especially with the Vietnam War occurring. Shulman speaks about this issue on a more personal level, maybe based on her experiences during this time and how society was so male-dominated. This makes her writing more creditable to her audience.

Week Thirteen - Posting Thirteen

Response to Stop Federal Funding to Planned Parenthood.

I have used Planned Parenthood and Open Door services for birth control and for yearly exams for women when I did not have insurance. To me it seems like the writer of this article has never been to these places or needed their assistance. I do not think that this person should have wrote this article because they really do not know what they are talking about. Planned Parenthood if for all women that need access to health care for themselves and their families. It is not just a place for abortion. Women can get abortions in hospitals too so should we stop giving funding to them as well because people are against abortion? I am for pro-choice; it is a woman's right to do what she feels is right with her body. If funding is taken away this could lead to more unsafe and backstreet abortions done by the woman themselves or uncertified doctors. Providing abortions to women is not the major reason as to why people go to Planned Parenthood.

Week Twelve - Posting Twelve

This couldn't possibly be happening, she thought. I was only supposed to be at the hospital to get the rest of my mother's stuff and sign some papers. I didn't believe what the doctor said when she called two days ago. I couldn't believe that I lost my mother. And now as I went into her hospital room, she was there waiting for me to take her home. I didn't understand, she was supposed to be dead. Now I have to explain to her that I moved all of her stuff out of her house and there is no where to take her. Why does she have such a huge smile on her face? What the hell is going on, I asked the nurse! Well, she said your mother had to be roaming around the hospital or something and since we could not find her we thought she was dead, but now she is not aren't you excited? No, I'm not excited, my mother is going to be extremely violent when she finds out I took all of her stuff out of her house. I went back into her room after talking to the nurse and she was sitting on the edge of the bed with all of her clothes packed, ready to go. I sat down next to her and started to cry. I told her that I thought she was dead and i moved all of her belongings out of the house we used to share. To my surprise she took my chin and said, angel I am dead and I would like you to take me to my new home. As I looked up at her she was smiling and kissed me on my cheek. I got up and started to get her belongings together and when I turned around to say I was ready, no one was there and that is when I realized that I was dreaming.

Week Eleven - Posting Eleven

McKay, Hollie. "Bill Maher Calls Sarah Paline a Female Vulgarism, NOW Stays Mum." FoxNews.com. FoxNews.com, 22 March 2011. Web. 29 Mar 2011. <http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/03/22/maher-calls-sarah-palin-female-vulgarism-stays-mum/>.

If this article is not the splitting image of gender bias and sexism, I do not know what is then. Everyone makes fun of Sarah Palin. She is portrayed as not being very knowledgeable in her own realm of politics, dim-witted and so on. Tina Fey does a great impression of her on Saturday Night Live. The woman very well might have some great aspects and views that are worth hearing, but we never will know really because of our image of her and how the media portrays her. Bill Maher just takes it to the next level by name calling, that is just disrespectful to all women and it doesn't matter what political party you're in either. I mean television itself is really just amazing anymore with what they can get away with by either saying something offensive or implying it. There a lot more women than there were a few years ago in administrative positions or in politics, but the average percentage is still low. And thinking from men like Bill Maher who make just feel intimidated by women with power hurt the progress and success of women.

Planned Parenthood

Berger, Judson. "Anti-Abortion Group Accuses Planned Parenthood of Lying About Mammogram    Services." FowNes.com. FoxNews.com, 30 March 2011. Web. 30 Mar 2011. <http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/30/anti-abortion-group-accuses-planned-parenthood-lying-mammogram-services/?test=latestnews>.

 I have been hearing a lot about Planned Parenthood in the news lately, especially here in Muncie, Indiana. Mike Pence has been bad mouthing the organization for awhile now and it has been an on going battle with new laws and regulations trying to be passed. The article is basically saying and accusing Planned Parenthood of claiming that they perform mammograms, but then when asked saying that they didn't. I have gone to Planned Parenthood before and just because they do not use a machine to perform a breast cancer test doesn't mean that they don't use other methods of testing. The organization provides a lot of services primarily for women and children, but also for men too. The reader can tell from the article that they are trying to bad mouth Planned Parenthood, but they do bring up valid points where the community does benefit from the clinics. I love what the article says at the end of the posting discussing how the organization does provide services such as abortion for women and how there is competition for funding with other clinics. And because funding is such a big issue with Planned Parenthood right now in the news they give the approximate amount of money the organization claimed during 2008-2009. I mean why does that need to be discussed in this article? We should fund organizations like these, they provide services that the community benefits from if there people are healthy and educated in their health. That is a big problem for people in this country and in the world, people are just not educated enough about their health and ways to prevent diseases. The topic is such a taboo to be disuchttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/30/anti-abortion-group-accuses-planned-parenthood-lying-mammogram-services/?test=latestnewsssed about in public, especially when it has to deal with educating our children about themselves.

Week Five - Posting Five

Ramos-e-Silva, Marcia. "Saint Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179): “the light of her people and of her time”." International Journal of Dermatology 38.4 (1999): 315-320. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

The author of this article describes how they became to highly respect Hildegard von Bingen for her creativity and writing that benefited women during the Middle Ages. The author researched the "Women in Dermatology" which included von Bingen during this period of time and how she created works of writing and observed many different areas of life during the medieval times which also included medicine and health of women. Some of her observations about life and medicine that were discussed in the article still pertain to issues that women and society deal with today.

I liked this article because of how the author took her life and the use of her visions and said that even though they may have been caused by migraines she used these visions as a message or interpreted them to be from God. Her faith played a part in what she wrote about and how she lived out her life.

Cortés-Vélez, Dinorah. "MARIAN DEVOTION AND RELIGIOUS PARADOX IN SOR JUANA INÉS DE LA CRUZ." Renascence 62.3 (2010): 178-200. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.

The article discusses Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, whom had devoted her life to the Catholic church as a nun and is "regarded as the last great poet of the Spanish Baroque and the first great poet of Latin American Colonial literature." There was some conflict during the time period she lived in because was what the social norms were and how she voiced her opinions and writing in society and throughout the church. 

I learned a little bit about Sor Juana before this class when I attended a Catholic school and I was impressed them with her as a woman and as a rhetoric writer. She tried to inspire women during her time. She had been devoted to the church since her birth and was especially devoted to the Virgin Mary. This devotion of her faith and religion helped her try to make the figure of the Virgin Mary an important figure in women's lives and decisions.

Week Nine - Posting Nine

I just recently watched the move Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and it gave me an idea of what I would like to discuss in my second reading report. The movie takes places in the 1970's around the time when women were really taken notice in the workforce. The was they treated women with the jokes and side comments are awful, and the women pretty much had to take it because the didn't want to step on people's toes (the men) in the workforce or make a fuss over the comments because it would be a sign of weakness. Men were scared or felt intimidated by women in the workforce especially women work did worked well and had ambition. Going with the movie Veronica Corningstone wanted to be an anchorwoman very badly and did what she had to do professionally to achieve that goal. In my paper I want to talk about how women left the home and moved into the workplace and how that transition helped and also hurt them as people in society and as the women they were.

Week Ten - Posting Ten

I found, while reading the discussion for this week's blog posting, a statement that made me start thinking..."that the political, legislative, and social reforms targeted by the Women's Rights Movement were meant primarily for white, middle-class women and not all women." This is true like I kind of started talking about in my blog posting number eight. The actual progress and regulations that are made from reforms seem to only go so far down the line from upper to middle and lower class women, whom are White, Black, Hispanic, etc. To me it seem like with feminist social reforms started most of the women were upper and middle class women who wanted to go father in their lives beyond just being the object of a man and a wife and homemaker. Women wanted education, better jobs, and better healthcare. Rights weren't and still are not equal than those of a man. And the less rich and less privileged you were the less opportunities that came your way. The women who were poop and lower class and very hard workers were the ones whom really needed a change in society, but it was so much harder for them to receive any benefit from trying to help themselves because society allowed it to be hard. In earlier decades if a woman was some how violated in any way, it wasn't discussed and was rarely publicized or reported when needed. Still today violation of women occurs but more women voice their oppression and more things are done about it and their are supports groups and places for women to go (rape victims groups, women's shelters). But what kinds of women are in these groups? Who are the advisors, so to speak and who are the victims (Whites, Blacks, etc.)

Week Eight - Posting Eight

Trends and styles come and go in each society. It depends on the time period, the way of thinking for people during that time and social and economical events and issues that go on during those time periods and how we as women identify with them. All these implications affect each woman differently in society and in our communities. When women we valued only has a wife and homemaker the woman was styled in society differently than today. The woman cooked and cleaned and was mostly viewed or advertised to be in the kitchen or taking care of the children while the man always was viewed with a suit on and a briefcase in tote. This sense of view was during the early 1900's and as time went on women ventured out of the home and into society, they were seen out in public more in various activities and in the work place. As this happened it seemed like it as the more privileged women in upper social classes that were finally acceptable to be seen that way. Minorities and working class women seemed to always be on the back burner. Less privileged and poor women did want to be seen, that way of life wasn't supposed to be reality in the social norm even those these women were equally important.  It doesn't matter what time period it is someone is always being forgotten or set aside in society even when rights for people are being fought, the actual progress from protests and new regulations seem to only trickle down to a certain extent. Women are devalued in a sense is society, their importance seems to flow with trends in society and what is valued at the time.

Week Two - Posting Two

Lisa Ling is an American Journalist, best known for her roles in ABC's The View, host of National Geographic Explorer, is a reporter on Channel One News, CNN, and has a documentary show on the Oprah Winfrey Network. I think she is a very inspirational woman for all women because she goes around the country and the world to write about people's lives and issues that need to be brought to people's attention. The way she portrays people's stories can really impact the audience she is speaking to. Just the other day on her show on the Oprah Winfrey Network, she followed the lives of five transgender people and their struggle with their bodies and relationships. This show really brought a lot of different views into perspective for me and how people are really born this way. Even in a bad situation she brings light into the situation.

Week Three - Posting Three

Something that I liked when I was reading to directions or topic for this blog is how we have to read women's work (like Sappho and Aspasia) "through the lens of translators or male authorities". This is true, even when a written story is about a woman there is still information left out about them because society or the writer thinks that information is unimportant. I never had heard of these two writers until this class, and it is just sad to think about how many other important women in history that i have not learned about because of the men in their time that over shadowed them. In many Hollywood movies women of ancient times are usually depicted as very beautiful women, usually wearing little to no clothing, and they have lots of jewelry on. But we do not really learn about how they lived in those times through the movies that they are depicted in.

Week Four - Posting Four

I feel like the way we teach children in schools now is overwhelming. We throw so much information at them without actually seeing if they understand the material. I think the students try to remember as much information as they can so that they can regurgitate it to the teacher. We teach our children to be good and better Americans, but what does that really entail? I remember in school everyday before my first class we would say the Pledge of Allegiance, now we cannot even speak about god without worrying about offending other people. What happened to free speech? If parents are not teaching their children the "American way" or morals and ethics of Americans, children are punished in school for behaving badly. There is so much to focus on in school that i do not believe that children now in today's society really think outside of the box (think about other societies and cultures).

Week Seven - Posting Seven

1.  Bud Light Commercial - Book Club
I do not know if men or women would be more annoyed with this. This video implies that men only think about so many things and if you add women and beer then that would equal a good time. I mean, I guess some men do think this way and do not notice it. At least the women were trying to have an intelligent conversation about something that interests them. The women are thought of to sit around and talk or "gossip" while the men are together doing "manly" things like drinking or sports.

2. Men Shopping with Women Commercial
This commercial is an example of how we stereotype and categorize our lives and each other. Here is a man with either his wife or girlfriend going shopping (something that women are supposed to love doing) not having a good time. This commercial implies that the man is just not made for a tedious hobby. What would make men more happy when they have to go with "their" women is mobile television on your phone, "So you can watch the game anywhere". I guess the message is men are so bored with women because we are nothing alike so they have to occupy their time with television on their phone.


6. Dove Commercial for Men
After watching this commercial is just made me laugh. It is like they are saying that dove is finally good enough for men now that it is okay for men to buy it (or vice versa). At the beginning it shows a life from birth and so on of what happens during a boy's growth, stating that like what men do is equal or better tan what women do.

week Six - Posting Six

To be completely honest, I haven't even started my reading report that is due next week. =) I probably won't even start until the day before my conference. But I would like to discuss the differences and similarities between the antiquity and classical period with the early/late middle ages. Those two time periods are more interesting to me and some of the rhetoric writers I liked from those periods. I want to research what motivated these writes to write what they did and see if there are any similarities in the time period for this motivation. I want to look at their backgrounds and research in depth what it was like for these women during those times.

Week One - What is Rhetoric?

In my view rhetoric is a a form of art. It is artistic style of communicating with other people and even audiences. It is a style of speaking and writing that if used correctly can be very effective in persuading people to relate to the speaker on some level. It is a way to make the person being spoken to feel or understand what you are trying to discuss. Many scholars from ancient days have used rhetoric to change or influence the future and that is why we still learn about the great writers of past decades.