I found both of Lauren's articles very interesting. The piece on the Blunt Instrument about the idea of white men no longer writing because of their privilege was something I had never thought about, and I think it still relates to me as a white writer. Since taking writing classes here at Ithaca, I've tried to keep my writing from being put into a cultural category, but it is impossible. Of course, my writing will be influenced by the kind of life I live and what I experience, but I don't think that I should silence myself in order to allow other more important narratives a chance to e heard. I don't think white male writers should either. because there is an ear for all kinds of stories.
I think it was very interesting that the author of the article pointed out that men are more likely to submit work, even if it is incomplete and inappropriate for the publication and instead of stopping writing all together, white male writers should just tone it down a little. It reminded me of a class I took about race and the media (I think). One day the professor brought up the wage gap and told us that he doesn't trust men who argue for a raise for women. Instead, be asks why men can't lower their own wages. Why not? Has that ever been an option? Of course it has, but people want to keep what they think they deserve and giving it up is similar to admitting that it is not deserved.
I also read some really interesting things on the JADED website. The ones that stuck out to me were little poems and letters that people had written to their children, either realistic, metaphorical or potential. Each one made me think that these were the kind of narratives that were written in order for the writer to heal. Rather than just simply handing out some advice or encouragement, theses pieces were directly related to each writer's stories and by writing them they were taking the power back from whatever trauma they experienced.
Charlotte's article about emotional literacy reminded me of a time in middle school where my teacher had us all complete a packet about different leaning types. The packet included little tests and questionnaires about the kinds of things we responded best to. We also learned about our emotional strengths and whether we were introverts or extroverts. After this we needed to complete a project that reflected our different learning styles. This teacher made sure that throughout the year we all experienced a different kind of learning in the class. We made little magazines, had presentations, and had the freedom to do whatever we wanted for big projects.
I think at its core, we enjoyed this experience because we were all validated for our different skills. We were able to bond with our fellow classmates who shared the same styles and feel unique at the same time. This is essentially the goal of humanity, to feel understood and accepted for the different ways we behave.
I also liked her article about why people hide their emotions, but something that I think was missed was how women are also condemned for not being emotional enough. I've had trouble with this my whole life, probably because I have internalized the no-no that is expressing emotions and have instead been very stone faced in many situations. As a young girl, I might not have cried at a quintessential tear-jerker, but I did during Harry Potter. Women and young girls are expected to be very emotional and are faulted for it, but when they take that advice to "control themselves" they are also faulted. I don't really know if there is a solution for this, but would be interested to hear other ideas besides just talking about the problem.
The Forbes article was also really interesting and fit well with Charlotte's first article. I think that if parents of emotionally intelligence and successful people can teach and impact their children so well, why can't we do this in schools? Why can't emotional intelligence be a skill for a resume? If we can use these people as examples and then continue with that, soon everyone would have some kind of emotional intelligence, right?
I think both of Karen's articles go back to the idea of being understood and belonging. Her first article about the way people make decisions in different cultures, makes me think that while Americans want independence and choice, it is all part of the need to belong. It is what we learn in school, and to achieve that we need to be successful. It almost seems like we have less choices and freedom since we are so bogged down by the idea of success and the very formulaic way to achieve it.
No comments:
Post a Comment