Talking Points 4

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us by: Linda Christensen

This reading was very interesting. As a girl I can really relate to believing all of the Disney myths at one point in my life. As a child I believed that I was a princess and that all girls were princesses, I was waiting for Prince Charming and I was in my own little fantasy world. At one point I did realize none of this was true but the movies are so convincing to little kids. 

Quote 1: "I was nourished on the milk of American culture: I cleaned the dwarves' house and waited for Prince Charming to bring me to life; I played Minnie Mouse to Mickey's flower-bearing adoration, and, later, I swooned in Rhett Butler's arms - my waist as narrow and my bosom every bit as heaving as Scarlett's."

This quote was the first paragraph of the reading and it really caught my attention. As children everyone basically grows up in a Disney culture because they have a lot of children's movies, books and TV shows. It's hard to avoid the Disney culture and we are all sucked into believing these myths as children. 

Quote 2: "As Tatum's research suggests, the stereotypes and worldview embedded in the stories become accepted knowledge."

In Disney movies there is a bunch or stereotypes and world-views and they are embedded into our minds and we believe them. 

Quote 3: "They assure me that they make their own choices and the media has no power over them, - as they sit with Fubu, Nike, Timberlands or whatever the latest fashion age might be." 

This quote shows that even if you think the media has no control over what you say or do that you are probably wrong. The media has a tricky way of sneaking into everybody's life in some way. 

Talking Points 3

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community By: Dennis Carlson

Quote 1: While public schools have long been viewed by progressive educators as embryonic communities that should engage young people in building a democratic community of mutual support and respect, gay people have for the most part been made absent, invisible, and silent within this community and at the same time represented as the deviant and pathological "Other."

This quote really bothered me. I hate the last sentence where it says gay people for the most part have been made absent, invisibly, and silent within their community. This is the sad truth that gay people have been segregated even though they are the same as everybody else in this world. In a way my heart breaks the way it says made absent, silent and invisibly. In school there was a handful of gay people and they were all so scared to come out to everybody about it because of what people to think. I think that everybody deserves to live their own life however they want to. 

Quote 2: "Gay man are confirmed in their role as the Other- a bit silly, prone to emotional and hysterical outbursts, narcissistic, obsessed with sex and fancy clothes, and inhabiting an exotic and "decadent" life on the margins."

I don't like this quote because it labels gay people as something negative and I just feel that it is wrong to label them like this. 

Quote 3: "Within this worldview, 'real men' are separated from all women and from gay men. This is the reason why it is so important for many straight men to 'see' gay men as the Other, and this has been accomplished by understanding gay men as less than men, as feminized men, and as sissies."

I think that gay men and striaght men should not be segrated against each other because that will create a whole new problem in America. It will be like the race problem with blacks and whites. I dont think that gay men are less than men at all and they are not sissies. 


This article really bothered me. I do not agree with a lot of the things that Carlson had to say. One of my cousins is gay and he is very successful and I don't think that its right for gay men to be classified as 'sissies' or less than real men. 

Talking Points 2... again!!

For some reason this blog thing is not going well for me at all! I typed out this blog last week and it got deleted somehow.. I think it might have saved as a draft and gotten deleted. Here it is now... hopefully it all works..

"Why can't she remember that?" By: Terry Meier

I found this reading to be interesting because as a child I grew  up in a school system with practically all white children and it is nice to read articles that are about different cultural backgrounds. I think that these readings really help expand my knowledge and they introduce me to ideas and concepts that I would have never realized.

Quote 1: "Instantly adopting the sing-song intonation associated with teasing in her community, Marisa transformed her original threat into a game by playfully naming all of the family members she supposedly would hit."

This quote was interesting to me because it has to do with a little girl from a Mexican immigrant community and she is teasing her father in a way that she has learned at school and her father does not find it funny. Just when the father is getting ready to punish her the little girl quickly changes her tone into her own cultures way of teasing. The father and the family is all accustomed to Mexican culture and tradition and with Marisa going to a school where her Mexican culture is not practiced so she is catching onto other cultures and her family does not necessarily agree with it.

Quote 2: "At one point when the teacher asked, 'How many mittens are there?' Gabriela (a pseudonym, the bilingual Puerto Rican child sitting next to me, turned and asked me, in an exasperated tone, 'Why can't she remember that?'".

I love this quote! I have read the same book over and over to a group of children before because they loved the book. Sometimes when I stop and ask them a question about the book some of the children look at me and I can tell that they are thinking, 'Why can't she remember that?' Every time it is always that same answer and I think the children almost get annoyed with us because we keep asking the same questions and then when the children don't raise their hands to answer we think that they do not know the answer. In reality though, the children do know the answer and they just think that we really don't know the answer and it surprises them.

Quote 3: "'You wanna see what the book says happens? Let's see what the book says,' to which one of the children, Jeremie, responds, 'No'"

I also really liked this quote because I can relate to it. Sometimes when you are reading a book with children they get so caught up in relating it to real life or letting their imagination wander and they think of things that are going to happen next. Then when you try to get them back on track into actually finishing the book it is such a hassle and they do not want to finish reading the book. Children will always speak their mind when you ask them direct question's like this and I really liked this quote.

Talking Points 1, White Privilege

Peggy McIntosh, "White Privilege"                                                            Erin Straight

Quotes:

1. "As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege which puts me at an advantage."

I found this first quote to be interesting because the author starts off talking about how being a white person we are told racism puts others at a disadvantage but at the

same time so does being white. Labeling ourselves as white people puts us at a disadvantage too because we are separating ourselves from other people. 

2. "I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege."

I one-hundred percent agree with this quote. It is a known fact that males in America have a higher privilege over females. It has been this way all throughout the history of our country and males are taught not to recognize their privilege but it is something that is well known. The same thing goes for white people in America, they have had a higher privilege over other types of people in America because that it was we are taught. We are taught not to recognize any white or male privilege but it is still well known.  

3. "My schooling followed the pattern my colleague Elizabeth Minnich has pointed out: white are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will allow 'them' to be more like 'us.'"

This quote was interesting to me because the problem of racism in America is not going to be solved any time soon because white people are taught to think of our lives as normal, ideal and average. We are basically taught that the 'white' way of life is the best. This quote sums up the idea of racism in America and why whites are to blame for it.

Questions/Comments/Points To Share:

I thought that this article was one of the more interesting articles and it was very easy to read. I thought that the list of white privileges was really interesting and it really helped me realize just how far the racism problem is in America. The white privilege number twenty-six really stuck with me. This privilege said that, "I can choose blemish cover or bandages in 'flesh' color and have them more of less match my skin." This quote really bothered me and stuck with me. I never really realized or stopped to think that band-aids only come in one color usually and the most common color is flesh. The flesh color is white on a band-aid and that only helps the white Americans, what about the others? This relates to the other texts we have read because it discussed the racism problem in America. The article also relates to SCWAMP because it discusses being white and being a male and how being those two things can give you privileges in America.

Think Piece #1

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to post the think piece on here.. so I am going to do it anyways... (:

My first thought after reading Johnson’s article was that we have dug ourselves a very deep hole. I never really thought about how big and bad the racism problem is in America until now. This article really put it into a different perspective. Being a white American is considered more superior than any other type of American and we have brought that assumption into every day thoughts. The whole idea of racism has gotten out of hand. We have created a problem that is so big we do not know how to fix it now. We could fix it but we would not even know where to begin.



To me, the problem of racism stems way back to the days of Rosa Parks and when she sat in the white section on the segregated bus. I think the whole problem of racism started with superior white men owning slaves. I don’t know why we thought that was ever okay but it was not.


In the article by Johnson on page 8 the author states, “She also can’t go for a walk alone at night without thinking about her safety a lot more than I would – without planning what to do in case a man approaches her with something other than good will.” This quote really bothered me. As a teenage white female I would never go for a walk alone at night, if I did that then I would be pretty much asking to get kidnapped. The author states in his writing that he is a white male and I think that from that statement he was being racist towards black females. I didn’t appreciate the quote from the text because it really made me ask why he would just say that about a black female walking alone. If I white female walks alone at night she could easily get killed, raped or kidnapped just as easily as a Chinese female or a Black female. The whole idea is that you are a female walking alone at night, simply not a good idea. The topic of racism is a tough topic for an author to talk about without sounded racist himself but this author did not impress me at all with that quote.


At one point the author Johnson discusses that at retail stores, grocery stores, banks and at similar places white people are more likely to get faster service than any other race. The sad part is that this is very true. It is usually white people working at these stores and they are more likely to service their own race before any other race. It seems like this never ending battle because if a black person worked at a grocery store he/she would be likely to service a black person before a white one. The author also states something about being in a store or a bank and seeing a black person in the same place as you and then you start thinking if that black person is up to no good or stealing something. I find this statement to be very true and I admit I am guilty to thinking this sometimes. If I am in line at the bank and all of a sudden a black man comes walking in, I do get a little bit nervous. I grew up watching movies, hearing stories and people talking about robberies and shootings and it is almost always a black male that is responsible for the crime. I am not saying that I am racist but I am saying that growing up as a white person I was told by teachers and friends certain things that lead me to believe that certain black males are bad people.


In the introduction the author states that, “All of us are part of the problem. There is no way to avoid that as long as we live in the world. But we could also make ourselves part of the solution if we only knew how.” This quote is a perfect explanation to the racism problem in America. White people have caused this problem many years ago and we have caused ourselves a very big problem that we could not have avoided but we can be part of the solution, however the problem is too complex for us to even begin to find a solution.

Who I am..

I am Erin Straight and I am not really sure how this whole blog thing works. I just started my sophomore year at RIC and I am going for elementary education with a minor in special education and I am staying for my middle school endorsement. So far this semester is going good, but it is still only the second week so a lot could change. I am a part time waitress and manager at J&D's Family Restaurant in Johnston and I love it. I don't know what else to say but that is a little introduction about me. (: