Microaggressions

It makes me happy that someone has finally put a name on it. It being the seemingly harmless comments people make. Some common microaggressions are " you're pretty for a black girl", " you're too smart to be black", or " you're strong for a girl". All of these comments have a little backlash that commentor may not notice, but the one receiving the compliment definately will. The author talks about transexual microaggressions and how to stop them. I understand need to stop them, but I don't understand how. The only way to stop them is for everyone to be open minded, which I doubt will ever happen. Instead the commentor of the microaggression should be informed how offensive their comment really was. I surprisingly haven't had any run in with microaggressions, atleast I don't think so. The author worked in technology, the last place we'd think to have prejudice employees because it's so diverse.

No name woman

"The no name woman" by Maxine Hong Kingston was an interesting. It truly is sad that the family decided I disown the woman but keep her close by and treat her as a pet. Why was the woman only blamed for getting pregnant out of wedlock? Why didn't they try and find the man we supposedly abused her? Why didn't she tell them the man's? There are so many questions that this story has brought up. I think she wasn't abused. I think she fell in love with him, but the love was one sided. She loved him enough to take his name to her grave. We can see that the father of the author is ashamed of his sister because of him not giving the aunt a name. But since the mother knew of the story they must feel some type of guilt to actually tell the story. Although the  aunt's name my have been forgotten the story hasn't been. This I feel is in honor of her memory, whether the family wants to admit that or not. The mother tells the daughter the story so she wouldn't follow in the aunt's footsteps. But I think she really tells her because she is passing down the guilt of the family. Even the author in the end says that her writing the story is to honor her unnamed aunt. Although the story is tragic, I think people  should learn from it. The lesson shouldn't be not to follow someone's mistakes, but it should be to honor all family members, even though they made a mistake in their lives. It was heart breaking when the unnamed woman decided to drown the baby too. But I can see why she decided on that decision. Like the author infered, the baby was probably a girl. But then the baby would of had a hard life either way, because it would of be looks at like a mistake, just like the aunt. I definitely find this story interesting and tragic.

Patriarchal cultures

Darraj brought up a good question about gender hierarchy. Why are men seen as being superior to women? Is it because they're stronger? Is it because they have strong genes. I feel ur would make more sense if women were the supreme sex. There are many reasons; there more women than men in the world, women literally make the children with little help from the man, women mature faster than men. I think men are deemed superior because they are great at having little to no emotions. With out emotion it is easy for a person to make a logical decision. Women are emotional creatures and that is viewed as being weak. Another man could of been chosen to be superior is that they atleast needed to have some sort of position in the world. Women positions are to bear and take care of the children, which are ultimately the most important thing in life. While men had to find their purpose in life.

Feminism

The last two readings we've discussed in class have definately caught my attention. I never thought of feminism being a major thing. I just defined it as women who hated men. But now that I read the writings Darraj and Martinez I have a whole new perspective on feminism. Darraj has taught me that there are more than one type of feminism. That I don't have to hate men and vow to be independent from anyone of the opposite sex or somewho refuses to hate men. I can love men and some patriarchal customs of my society. Martinez has taught me that I don't have to accept the full responsibility of the duties of my culture and as a women. I can voice my opinion on the topic and not be afraid of the consquences. Both women are from different cultures. In both cultures there are many male dominant customs and I realize now that in any culture men is going to be the superior sex. The one point neither of the writers talked about was how to change this. I think they assume thatif women empower themselves, men will realize that they should be equal. I think we need a larger event that would ultimately change the view points of many men.

Little failure

I found his story to be interesting. I got into the book because I wanted to know what was his point in telling this story? Was it to inform people of his up bringing? Was it to ensure immigrants like him that things get better? Or was it to make people laugh? I enjoyed that it had no main focus, that each chapter had its own topic and sometimes the topic didn't relate to the whole book. I felt like I could relate to him. For example when he was in the Jewish school and realized that he was second place to the boy who made the funny noises; he wasn't the biggest loser. I analyze the world that way too. I tell myself that at least I have a home even though my family has a lot of problems. I know what it feels like to have expectations put upon me by my family members. I understand how Gary feels for his father: pity. I feel the same way for my mother and uncle. I dreaded  the reading in the beginning because  what connections could I possibly have with a Soviet Union immigrant? I love how he details everything, because I myself go into details when I write stories. It was a very tediously interesting book.

Black women writers

I found this text to be extemely interesting and I felt the same way about the rest of the texts. I love that you've picked out debatable topics for us to read about. But the first text we read about women writers appealed to me most, because I aspire to be a writer. I never thought about the impact that my writing may have on my family. I also never thought about writing about my childhood and family life. The writer states that writing about her experience may cause family members to distance themselves from her. I believe that although this may be true, writers should still publish what they feel they need to. I've been writing in a diary since I was in 7th grade, back then I would of been so mad if someone was to read it. But now that I'm older I've been thinking about publishing it. I notice that I write for my future audience. There are things in there that shows my true feelings and thoughts about family members that they won't be too happy about. If they were to distance themselves I would be sad, but they would have to remeber that these are my past feelings. This text has helped me to think about my future as a writer and what I am  willing to admit to my future audience.