Profiling

Now, i'm going to start this off rather controversially by saying that all profiles were formed due to certain reoccurring events. The big thing that I think people fail to see is that these profiles aren't the destiny of every person they pertain to, and are quite often assigned due to misinterpretation. For example, if on the radio we were to hear a police report of a mugging on campus odds are most people would picture a large black male as the mugger. The sad reality of the situation is that this is an overwhelmingly accurate statistic. What people fail to realize is that this person is not doing this because they're black. To think this is what true racism is. If you look at the inner city population there are many black people (hence the statistics of muggers being black). If you were to hear of a mugging up in northern Canada, odds are that person is white. Skin does not make a mugger, desperation and socioeconomic status does. The predicament of this person that I picture is actually really sad. They aren't getting rich off of these muggings, someone like this is doing this out of desperation for mere survival. When they are mugging someone the obvious first thought is that the mugger is oppressing this person, however I encourage everyone to remember that the mugger has been oppressed first. I've attached an article that's been flying around facebook that displays the proper treatment of a mugger. (however of course this mugger is a young white male which may have given him certain privileges).

http://www.tickld.com/x/this-man-got-mugged-what-he-did-next-was-genius

makeup

I was dreading waking up for my 8 am class tomorrow and started thinking about what I would wear and how I would look so that I could sleep in as late as possible. I didn’t have an 8 am last semester and its interesting how much different my outfits and makeup and turn out when I am tired and lazy. Last semester I had more rest and would actually take the time to do my makeup and hair decently. I went to an all girls school for high school and would sometimes actually sleep in my uniform, roll out of bed and go to school. It was considered weird if you wore makeup or did your hair.  There was no reason since there were no boys to impress. When I came to college I made myself a little more presentable for the fellas but as the year has progressed and I have earlier classes I have found myself not wearing makeup again. I don’t know exactly what has changed my ways but I have come to think of it as unnecessary. I think this class has put some perspective on it as well. I think I look just as pretty without makeup and I never did it and high school and yeah there weren’t any boys around but that never stopped me from going out in public without makeup and my uniform a wrinkle of a mess.

I think going to all girls school has helped me realize I do not need makeup to feel beautiful. Why was it acceptable not to wear makeup when I was at all girls school but not when men do surround me. I think this class has let me see that there is something wrong with this and there is no reason I should feel more pressured to wear makeup now when I haven’t in the past.

Extra Post: Stand Your Ground Laws in context to Race

I had to do an English project where we had to make an argument and create a video on the topic.
After creating my video, I realized that it is interesting how the ones that are accused are both african american.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-my5iGa1a1Q

After you watched the video, Imagine if the roles were switched. If George Zimmerman was African American and Trayvon Martin was Mexican. Do you think George Zimmerman would be guilty?

or

Imagine if Marissa Alexander was Caucasian and standing her ground against her abusive husband, would she have 20 years in prison?

Please, let me know.

My Parents Excuse to Why I couldnt "TURN UP" on Mardi Gras

Saturday was a big day for everyone in Saint Louis, it was the celebration of Mardi Gras. I asked my parents if I could go down town and to a few parties, of course their answer was no. The interesting part, was that my twin brother had asked earlier and they told him that he could. I have brought examples of this up in class, however this one was the craziest I had ever heard them say. This is what they said:

ME: "Can I go downtown for mardi gras and to a party?
MOM: "who are you going with?"
ME: "My roommates?"
DAD: "do you know that girls go down there, get drunk, act slutty, and walk around topless? I dont want you doing that.."
ME: "You basically just called me slutty.."
MOM: "Brenelle, your dad is right, maybe when you are older....

Lets just keep in mind that I am almost 19.. and I am in college. In high school they told me I couldnt go down town until I was in college, so im confused on why I had to miss out on the party.

This morning around 8am my brother walked in, and was obviously hung over. He clearly had a wonderful night and when he sobered up my parents were enjoying the stories that he had told them

Im just wondering, why do you think they told me no? Because im a "naive girl"?

porn star at Duke

I thought this was an interesting article and related to the topic we discussed about how if women want to embrace their sexuality they should. The article is about a freshmen girl at Duke who is a pornstar. She basically says that it is her choice and she like it.

http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2014/02/14/portrait-porn-star

let me know what you guys think!

Austin Police Department

This article came up on my Newsfeed a few times from some friends who live in Austin, as a former resident of the Over-Inflated Ego Country of Texas, I was not surprised by what was said by the police chief, but I was appalled by it nonetheless. 

Stating that jaywalkers should be happy that the police brutality does not include rape is abhorrent, to say the least. It not only is an indication of the mindset of the police department in terms of what is okay to say in public, but also that "joking" about sexual assault is permissible in their minds. Rape culture is rampant in this country, this police chief is encouraging if not in the very least condoning this type of jargon. Joking about sexual assault is not funny, ever. Saying “Thank God we don’t do that” while commiting other acts of brutality is not okay. This whole situation really disappoints me and the ‘apology’ by the police chief is less than adequate.

   

What do you all think would have been a better apology? Do you think the police chief should be held accountable for what he said and face some sort of consequences? 

The Tauriel Controversy

http://www.themarysue.com/wish-she-could-be-part-of-your-world-on-tauri stel-hate-and-original-material/
Considering I'm a huge LOTR fan, I'll try to keep this rant to a minimum. I'm sure that lots of you who have been keeping tabs on the internet for stuff concerning The Hobbit (if any of you has, I'm making a bit of an assumption due to its massive popularity in American culture) have come across countless articles on Tauriel, Peter Jackson's original character. Many people were adamantly opposed to this character's insertion into the storyline because she is not canonical to Tolkein's original novel; however, there is much in the films that is not canonical to begin with (orcs being in the Hobbit, for starters, elves arriving at Helm's Deep in The Two Towers, Elrond hating Aragorn, I could go on forever...).  I (and many others) believe that this hatred is not solely due to the insertion, but to the fact that the character inserted is female.  Many fans claimed that "the story doesn't need any female eyecandy" and that Tauriel would just detract from the series as an appeasement to the female fans (the LOTR fan community is, despite its stereotypical masculine appeal, fairly evenly divided from what I have seen) and a shout-out to social justice movements.
Tauriel herself does not feel alien to the series (at least in my opinion) and is what I would call a well-rounded character, especially by pop culture standards.  She can fight as well as the men of the series (which fans who had read Tolkein's works carefully would expect from an elf, regardless of gender) and does not play the damsel in distress; in fact, she actually saves men on many occasions.  Her aggressiveness doesn't seem like an overcompensation (which is especially difficult for female characters to pull off due to gender role bias) and her contemplative and gentler side doesn't come across as "feminine frailty." Overall, I actually enjoyed seeing her in action.  Although Tolkein's works have many strong female characters (Eowyn who killed the Witch King of Angmar, Galadriel the incredibly wise and my personal spirit elf) they do not get much attention, so Tauriel is encouraging for female fans. The actress who portrayed her, Evangeline Lilly, has also stated similar things, and refused to do the "butt pose" female characters perpetually strike on movie posters, making Orlando Bloom do it instead.
The one drawback is that the writers felt that even hints of romance had to be included at all. Tauriel is strong on her own, making romance superfluous, especially since many of the male characters are not romantically involved anywhere in the series (film and book). So maybe one of the issues is not the character herself, but what the writers decided to do with her.