Weekend

The Stanley Steamers men are supposed to come, but they're late. They should arrive in about an hour. This weekend, I have history homework, and I should really start reading Johnny Got His Gun. I skipped ballet today by default of not waking up when my alarm went off. I don't really have anything going on this weekend. I think I'm going to Metropolis with my mom, so maybe we'll do somethign exciting. My grandma picked me up from school Friday with my mom, and I haven't seen her since Christmas! My grandma is SO cool! She shops at stores like Abercrombie, Victorias Secret Pink, etc... It's very convinient for her to come over because she always goes in my closet and puts outfits together! Normally, I like to do this myself, but she puts together some really cute outfits, things that I would have never thought would look good together! So, since nothing exciting is going on in my life, I think I'll blog about something I saw on Nickalodeon! It was Earth Day, and they had a bunch of people turn off all the lights in their houses for a minute, and they even got the Chrystler Building in NYC to do it too! It was so cool! I think I'm going to get a special trash can and put it in my house, and put recyclables in it, and then bring it to school and recycle it weekly! I'm excited about it :] The people who take our trash don't recycle, but I'll just do it myself!

Thursday.

Today, I went to ballet. I did my first FULL ballet class in a long time since my knee surgery! Yay! It was very difficult, and my mom worried so much watching class that I thought she was going to go into cardiac arrest. I did half a class Tuesday night, and it was so awful because it was my first class back after a month off. I was so worried that I'd never be the same again that I almost had a break down in class, but I had great friends there to reassure me that I'd be fine. Yay for friends! Now, I'm very very very sore, and I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to walk tomorrow, but it was worth it! After class, I iced my knee with a bag of frozen peas, did my math homework, and now I'm doing this. After this, I have some history to do. Whoop.

the last gender blog :[

I believe my gender was established at a very young age. When I was a baby, my room was purple, with lots of educational toys and dolls. Later, in my toddler through 3rd grade years, my room escaladed to pink and purple with little ballerina wallpaper. I was taught to play dolls, and I was enrolled in dance and gymnastics. I was taught that this was fun, so I had lots of fun. By no means am I blaming my parents for my “girliness,” I’m fairly sure I would have found playing dolls and dressing up to be quite enjoyable without their encouragement, but it helped me establish my gender quite early on. I played dolls, my favorite colors were pink and purple, I wore a jumper dress to the Catholic school I went to- I was a girl. When I was 6, I was enrolled in a little league soft ball team, despite my mother’s disdain. I had no problem with playing ball, I just liked playing dolls better. Thoroughly glad with this, my mom took me out of the team after a year. A lot of things have influenced my gender, but I think I would have turned out the way I am anyway due to my personality. I think there are many categories of gender. If you want to classify “girl” as liking the typical “girly” things, then there is very girly, girly, and a little girly. If you want to classify “boy” as liking the typical “boyish” things, then there is very boyish, boyish, and a little boyish. Despite this, gender is much different than sex. A boy can physically be a boy, but have more girly characteristics, and vice versa with a girl. Now, to decide whether they’re really a boy or a girl, I think should be completely up to them. Somewhere, within their own standards, they may cross the line from being a boy to actually being a girl, vice versa, or not. No one else can decide this for them, and no one else should. A new category has been made called, “metro sexual.” This is a category for the boys who have some girly characteristics, but still consider themselves to be boys. This is becoming very popular, and is being commonly used in stores and fashion magazines.

Ortiz

The media has taught children that a certain body type, and certain looks were attractive, and certain weren’t. Ortiz talks about how the boys didn’t like her because she was small and underdeveloped; this is because the boys learned that curvier girls were “better” or “more attractive.” Also, she said when she was in college, she was portrayed as “exotic” because of her skin color. This is also a result of the media and music videos that have made these stereotypes, especially for girls. At that time, the media also portrayed that Puerto Rican girls were dirty and not from good families. This is the result of TV shows, music videos, etc…

I support Gay Marriage

I support gay marriage rights because marriage, legally, is a commitment to each other, to love each other, etc... Why can't two people of the same sex make a commitment and love each other? Why shouldn't I support gay marriage? Isn't America supposed to be anti-descriminatory? I personally, don't see the reasons why the can't get married. Some people say that it will break social structure, and that if we keep letting things go then everything will go. I think that's very extreme. I think that the struggle to attain gay rights is like the struggle that African Americans went through. African Americans slowly got rights, state by state, just like Gay marriage. First Vermont legalized gay marriage, then Iowa legalized gay marriage. Hopefully, since since gay people arn't in slavery there won't be a war, but the process is very similar. As to prove that I support gay rights...I'm not sure how I can prove it. Of course, I'm not violent toward gay people, and a lot of my very good friends are gay, but since I'm not gay myself, I don't think I could prove it. I'm in GSA, so I guess one could assume that I support gay marriage. There are somethings, people feel so strongly about that it's impossible for them to see the other side. I think this might be it for me.

Wolfson

Wolfson explains the key elements of marriage as a personal commitment, a social commitment, a governmental commitment, but different than love. You have a personal commitment that you'll stay married, a social commitment that people judge you by who you're married to, and a governmental commitment that gives you benefits. "There is clearly a difference between marriage and marriages, between the institution and the choices and conduct of real couples in their commitment." He is saying that marriage is about the choices you make. The definition of marriage is a commitment of equality and that you'll take care of each other. However, he then goes on to say that marriage is really unequal, and it's about personal choices and not about love. It's about a commitment to each other that both of you make, and you make these between yourselves. I think his definition is logical and sensible, but I think it might be too logical. I think marriage should be more than a series of commitments. Wolfson is thinking very mathematically, which isn't a method that is used often to describe love and marriage. I think you should be able to marry the person you love, make a commitment to each other, and carry it out- there's not much more to it.

Engaging the text #2

I believe she waited to disclose this information because up until that point, most people would assume that Brian and Mickey were homosexual. I believe it helps the reader know themselves whether they believe this violence toward homosexuals is tolerable or not. At first, someone may not feel sorry for Brian and Mickey, but when they find out they’re heterosexual, they might. Also, waiting to disclose that information makes for a very dramatic effect when it does happen. I think the issue of antigay violence is awful in the first place, but it especially shows how awful it has become when people don’t even to bother to check if the person is gay. They automatically beat them up, because they could be a possible, “threat.” Antigay violence is an awful thing, and I think no matter if the violence is happening to gay people, or perceived gay people, the violence should end.