Response to Yungfriedy's Project

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

The mother is trying to tell her daughter to hide her true feelings and self. Anything she sees, feels, thinks, or experiences, is for her mind and her mind only. I think that the mother tells her daughter this because the easiest way for immigrants to blend in is to become invisible. If the daughter keeps to herself, she will blend in with her new community and not be treated as a lesser person. I do not think that the daughter will conform so easily. Her true feelings will come through and she will speak her mind and not hide her ideas. 

Here's my PowerPoint part of the assignment (Haikus are included)

The Tortilla Curtain Assignment

After reading The Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle, I was asked to create an assignment for students to understand an issue in the novel, without actually reading the novel.

The Tortilla Curtain is a parallel story: one side about the struggles of illegal Mexicans living in California and the other is about an American family dealing with their own issues in that area. The Mexican family is camping in the forest of the Topanga River Valley because they are unable to attain citizenship in the United States so here is your task...

Imagine that you are a Mexican living in Mexico. You have a decent life, but your friends keep telling you stories of how many opportunities there are in America and how everyone has a job, makes lots of money, lives in a nice house, and drives a car. You decide to leave your family behind for Mexico and head for El Norte. 

You have a big decision to make though: to go illegally or to go legally?

Browse through a series of websites on my delicious Delicious page to help you make your decision. Is it easier to try to attain a legal United States citizenship or is it easier to cross the boarder illegally and dodge la policia? The sites on my delicious include the steps to attaining an American citizenship, information about the Mexico-America border, and much more.

The end result of your project should include a one to two paragraph response (which you may post as a comment) of your decision. Did you deicide to come in illegally? If so, where did you cross the border? Where are you hiding now? Or did you deicide to come in legally and apply for an American citizenship? Did you pass the citizenship test?

As part of your end result, you must take the "Could you pass the US citizenship test?" quiz (also a link on Delicious). So did you pass?

Quotes to keep in mind while deciding:

"One coyote, who makes his living on the fringes of my community... has learned to simply chew his way through the plastic irrigation pipes whenever he wants a drink." (212)

This quote is being said by Delaney (one of the Americans) and refers to the illegal immigrants (the coyotes). 

"I'm afraid." (279)

Said by América (illegal immigrant).

"Making the trees and bushes and the natural habitat of the Topanga State Park into his own private domicile, crapping in the chaparral, dumping his trash behind rocks, polluting the stream and ruining it for everyone else." (11)

Delaney speaking about the illegal immigrants. 

"For three quarters of the year the villages of Morelos became villages of women, all but deserted by the men who had migrated North to earn real money and work eight and ten and twelve hours a day instead of sitting in the cantina eternally nursing a beer." (50)

América speaking about her hometown in Mexico. 

*In the book, the Mexican illegal immigrants, Cándido and América, remained in the country illegally. They considered attempting to get Green Cards, but were unable to.

Melting Pot?

Is American more of a melting pot or a compartmentalized plastic plate? According to the article The Nation: Mexican-Americans; Forging a New Vision of America’s Melting Pot written by Gregory Rodriguez, this country is far from a melting pot. Multiculturalism is “the ideology that promotes the coexistence of separate but equal cultures” (Rodriguez 9). The idea of a melting pot is combining cultures equally and blending them to make one delicious culture, not keeping them “separate but equal” (9). Even though Mexican- Americans are constantly trying to intertwine with the White-American culture, this country has kept them separate, and tried to make them (well the legal ones anyway) equal.

As much as some people hate to admit it, America is not a melting pot. Many cultures have come together in this nation, but for the most part, each different culture in the United States has remained separate while trying to be equal to the dominant White-American culture. The novel The Tortilla Curtain by TC Boyle is about the coexistence of Mexican-Americans and White-Americans near the Topanga Canyon in California. The book is written in an interesting style in which each chapter is solely about the Mexican-Americans or the White-Americans. The chapters alternate focus from the Mexican American life and the White-American life. The two stories are not intertwined into one, just like how America is not combining cultures into one melting pot. The Mexican-Americans, although they depend on the gringos, resent them while the White-Americans, although they employ the Mexicans, show hatred towards them. The two strong groups are too proud to combine their efforts into one melting pot to make for an even stronger recipe.

Who is preventing this country from becoming a true melting pot though? Is it the dominant White-Americans or the minority Mexican-Americans? America has made strides to integrate other cultures into the White-American culture, so why is it not happening with the Mexicans? The issue of illegal immigrants influences this dilemma. Illegals do not pay taxes, the white taxpayers get pissed off and so on. The issues trickle down to one final conclusion: America is a divided plate, not a melting pot.

Works Cited 

Rodriguez, Gregory. "The Nation: Mexican-Americans; Forging a New Vision of 
     America's Melting Pot." The New York Times [New York] 11 Feb. 2001: Section 
     4 Page 1. NYTimes.com. 11 Feb. 2001. The New York Times Company. 16 Mar. 
     2009 .

All That Glitters

The acceptance of homosexuality in the media has come a long way since the first television show aired in the 1920s. Homosexuality in some shows today has even pushed the limit by making it a subject of inoffensive comedy. As you can probably tell from my other previous post, Sex and the City is one of my favorite TV shows. The four main characters (Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte York, Samantha Jones, and Miranda Hobbes) are all heterosexual (except for a few episodes in season 4 when Samantha tries out being a lesbian). Their friends (the minor characters) include a few homosexuals. There is Standford Blatch, one side of the stereotypical gay man, who dresses in flamboyant colors and says that everything is just “fabulous” in his homosexual voice. And then there is Anthony Marentino, the other side of the stereotypical gay man. He is hot and stuck up and full of himself… and works as a wedding planner.

Episode 14 of season 4 (All That Glitters) includes the most homosexuals of any of the SATC. (I would know, I have watched every episode. Great show.)  The girls display heterosexual privilege in this episode by going to a gay bar to go dancing without having to worry about taking men home (or vise versa). Although there is heterosexual privilege here, there is also and entire gateway giving people insight of the gay world. And everyone is cool with that. The girls are not bothered by the gay men, and the gay men are not bothered by the girls. In fact, even Carrie’s heterosexual fiancée Aidan is not bothered by the gay men. What does this show? Acceptance. Sex and the City promotes that homosexual people can live comfortably and happily alongside heterosexual people and everyone has the same privileges.

I mentioned homosexuality in SATC as inoffensive comedy. For example, in All That Glitters Carrie was walking towards the bar when a gay man wearing fairy wings almost bumped into her. Anthony screams “Watch out for the fairy!” Carrie looks back and asks, “Which one?” The two laugh. The homosexual man finds the homosexual joke Carrie (a heterosexual) made funny. 

Not every homosexual comment in the show is comical though. The best example of true homosexual struggles in this show is when Miranda bumps into the junior associate at her law firm (Max) in the bathroom of the gay bar. She, along with the rest of their co-workers, had no idea that Max was gay. Stunned Max said to Miranda, “I kind of prefer if we don't make an issue of this at work. I'm not in the closet, I just wouldn't want the older partners to start treating me differently”. Later that week at work Miranda confronted Max about him telling everyone at work she was pregnant. In her defense, Miranda said, “How would you like it if I told everyone in the office you were gay?” At that moment, the office ‘big mouth’ walked in. When she left Max sarcastically said, “Great. Maybe next you can tell my grandparents.” In the end, that Casual Friday at the office Max came out at work as a “stylish gay man”. “That was the end of Casual Friday.”

Miranda and Max’s story shows how SATC does not promote heterosexual privilege. It happens, but these four girls do not want to be a part of that flaw in society. Whatever someone’s sexual orientation may be, he should be able to live his life with rights equal to everyone else’s. Unfortunately, as SATC shows through Max’s ‘grandparent’ comment, society is not ready accept this idea, so right now, no matter how hard we try to avoid and change it, heterosexual privilege exists, but it is not right.

Feminism and the City

Sex and the City. The "shocking, groundbreaking, and innovative" (Warren 4) television series of 1998. Never before had a television series gone where Sex and the City went: a show about four very powerful single women living in New York City who openly discuss their successful jobs and sex lives. This show is surprisingly often associated with feminism. Not "butch, hairy, angry, man-hunting, anti-marriage, anti-pornography, bra-burning, dungaree-wearing lesbians" (Warren 1) but feminism in the sense that women can be as successful and as powerful as men. Feminism has developed a negative connotation, but SATC strove to take this negative connotation and make it positive; feminism can be sexy too. The show began, documentary style, really aiming to stress the power women could attain (keyword: power), but by season six the show had turned almost completely to the fact that the women were madly in love with their men in typical television sit-com style: the show now basically focused all of their "man issues". Uplifts Magazine's blog post Sex, Shoes, Cosmos, and... Feminism? raises this interesting question: did SATC lose hope on the feminism idea and turn to the old 'women need men' lifestyle, or can strong women desire a husband too?
Sex and the City did not lose hope on the feminist idea, rather the show beat the feminist stereotype. Just because the girls of the show strut the streets of New York City clothed in Dior dresses, Manolo Blahnik stilettos, and carrying Birkin bags “does not deny them the right to seek advancement, empowerment, and equality” (Scott) in the world. Women have the ability to be powerful while looking good. People have convinced themselves of the stereotype that if a women cares about her appearance, she must not be powerful. Only ugly women who wear tacky pantsuits can be powerful. No offense society, but what a dumb idea. The feminist side of SATC put it in society’s face that this stereotype must be defeated. There are powerful women everywhere who can do anything, and maybe even more, that any man can do.
But is there a man behind all of these successful women? According to SATC, there is not. And I completely agree. Women have the ability to stand powerfully on their own without a man helping them out. For example, character of the show Miranda Hobbs is a single (for most of the show) successful lawyer, and she got there without a man. Once she had all of her success, she married a much-less-successful-than-her bartender. Miranda got married not because society told her it was right to do so (Miranda is the type who could care less about having a husband) but because she wanted to get married. She was a strong woman, and desiring a husband did not make her any weaker. Women have the ability to multitask. So why is society so against powerful women who are multitasking by working hard and finding themselves a man? The idea that powerful women desire men scares some men: no man, unless he is completely secure with his masculinity and couldn’t care what society thinks, wants to be less powerful than his wife. Society looks down upon these men, which leads to society looking down on powerful women also desiring men. Miranda’s relationship was worked into the show to prove to society that men, even if they initially feel threatened by a woman’s success, can date successful women and still be accepted by society.
Sex and the City taught viewers that you do not have to be a stereotypical feminist to support women with power. And women in power are not weakened if they have a boyfriend or husband. Society needs to accept the fact that women are becoming more powerful and that there is no reason to be threatened by the rising female success. Men used to be the hunters, the heads of the household, the providers, and many men still are, but it is just recently starting to be acceptable for women to be providers too- something butch and sexy feminists have been fighting for for ages. There is nothing wrong with being a feminist, and there is nothing wrong with being an anti-feminist, but there is something wrong with stereotyping women for their views on feminism.

Works Cited

Warren, Holly. "Sex, Shoes, Cosmos, and... Feminism? ." Weblog post. Uplift
Magazine . 29 Jan. 2009. 18 Feb. 2009 .

Socratic Seminar Questions: Gender

"Girl"

• Examine the rules of groups in society today
• Is this poem just stating the rules or is it stereotyping women?

"X"

• What is your general opinion of the story?
• Could an "X" ever survive in today's society? Is this story realistic?
• What problems (socially and mentally) could a child develop if it is raised as an "X"?
• Do you think that making children "X's" and "Y's" is a healthy choice to destroy the gender stereotypes in today's society?

"Trifles"

• What is your general opinion of the story?
• Who pays more attention to detail? The men or the women? Is this a stereotype or scientific?
• Examine the differences between the male and female characters in the play

"WHMS"

• Can men and women ever be just friends?

Tying it all together...

• Does society have rules or are we stereotyping?
• What has made men and women so different: society or science?

My Group

Everyone belongs to a group. Every group has rules. And these groups make up a diverse society. People cannot avoid being categorized into groups that compose not only who they are, but where they fall in society. The poem Girl by Jamaica Kincaid breaks down the rules to be in the domestic women group. To be categorized as a domestic woman, according to Kincaid, you must follow these rules. 

Using the Kincaid's poem as a model, I wrote about one of my favorite groups. I belong to the "MSC Lifeguard" group. No one will understand the poem fully, unless they are in my group, just like I did not fully understand the rules of Kincaid's domestic women group because I am far from domestic. 

MSC Lifeguards

Cheat on your lifeguarding test; take your lifeguarding test in a group; you have to be able to play ping-pong; on rainy days, you have to be amazing at Taboo; you must not put your feet up on chair; but I never put my feet up on chair; never paint your nails when you are sitting gate; do not put chairs in the kiddie pool; you must blow your whistle; you must blow your whistle three times when someone is drowning; you must not blow your whistle three times if there is no emergency; you are not allowed to roll down the straps on your bathing suit; but I never roll down my straps, Caroline does, but I have never; listen to the owner of Our Pizza House tell you all about his $500 water filtration system; you must use soap when cleaning the bathrooms; no, just spraying water on the floor does not mean they have been cleaned; refer to your manager as Joe Norris, named after Chuck Norris; get rid of all the frogs in the pool; you must not put your feet up on chair; check everyone’s card; but Caitie is my friend and I know she is a member but she never has her card; you must not let Caitie into the swim club if she forgets her card one more time; order lunch from Marc’s; you will pick up turkey on a whole wheat wrap with lettuce and honey mustard on the side for Joe everyday when you go to Marc’s; learn to love buffalo chicken pizza and refer to it as buff chick; be very quiet when you break into the swim club at midnight after the guard party when the managers go to a bar; when you get caught, hop the fence in the back right corner of the pool to escape the cops; you must remember to take your car keys out of the pump house before then; you do not want to work Wednesday nights or Thursday mornings; we pull chairs Wednesday nights; we put them back Thursday mornings; you must not put your feet up on chair; if you can avoid it, do not volunteer to get Dolly out of her car; you will pass out if you smell Dolly’s car; do not under any circumstance ask Dolly if she wants her cane, she thinks she can walk without it; she can’t; you must be tall and blonde and thin to be Dolly’s Next Top Model; but she told me I have a nice figure; you are not blonde, you cannot be a model; but she told me I have great legs; you are not blonde, you cannot be a model; no child can wear swimmies in the pool; do not let children wear diapers in the pool; you will get very bad tan lines from your lifeguard bathing suit; and most importantly, you must follow all of these rules and understand all of these inside jokes to be a MSC Lifeguard.