Technology.

Hello and oh my goodness it is good to be able to type this sentence.

Yes, it is required that we have two blogs a week, so it is a bit of a drag to blog because, no, I do not, in general, approve of blogging. I would rather have a corporeal assignment. However, it is a relief to be able to blog because I have spent several days being unable to blog because in the box where I am supposed to type my blog, there were ADDS!

Yes, you read that correctly, adds prevented me from doing my homework.

I figured it out, with the help of Google, that there were two extensions in my Chrome settings that I didn't add, and were actually allowing my internet explorations to be plagued with adds. Which was annoying on several levels; nothing was working correctly because ADDS, I spent way too much time closing pop-ups, and my educational videos weren't loading very well. (For those of you that don't know about my problem, it is this: when I am sick [as I have been recently] I watch educational videos. It's quite ridiculous.)

Actually, the point of this blog is the content of the adds. I was suddenly inundated with adds of all types--not just the types that Google has determined are good for me, but types that apply to all demographics. (Sidenote, clear your browsing history and cookies and all of that stuff as often as you can, it loses Google money as noted here: http://adzerk.com/blog/2011/11/why-google-built-incognito-mode) I had adds with women in various states of sexual objectification, and I went up on a pedestal that actually matches the recent topics quite nicely. And was referenced in one of my educational videos that I watched on TED.

Here's what I got out of this video: Sexual objectification is horrible. The media has truly gone too far. There is a different between art and oppression. I like not seeing the adds that were popping up on my computer. They were often exactly as Caroline Heldman described; I felt self-conscious about how I measured up. It was uncomfortable. On top of that, watching this video made me uncomfortable because I automatically noticed that the speaker had beautiful hair and that mine will never look like that, and that she looks polished and all of these other things. Then I saw the conclusion, where she took off her makeup, and I understood that she knew the affect she had on others when she looked that way, and she encouraged NOT doing that.

And I can see the practical side of taking time away from image, and the social aspects. But my problem was that I value beauty. And I express it by wearing clothing in shades and patterns and textures that are aesthetically appealing to me. And that isn't wrong. Sometimes I wear makeup. And that isn't wrong either. What is wrong is judging myself based on others, which is where our opinions are in convergence again.

So this may be unprogressive of me, but I'm going to continue to live my life outwardly the same, minus the adds. But I want to find a way to stop the objectification factor. Because when I have children, they shouldn't feel the same way that many young girls (and boys) feel today when inundated with adds.

Too much little picture.

Ella, that was a fantastic presentation. I feel like the topic can only be dealt with factually, and I'm glad that that is how it was presented. I'm saying this because I have a lot of tumultuous opinions that might make it appear that I don't appreciate the severity of the situation. I do appreciate it, however, I cannot pinhole myself into only caring about feminism, or thinking that rape culture is the only type of injustice in which violence is used and power is gained.

I have several points that I want to enumerate, and that I didn't communicate in discussion because my throat hurt and I can't be loud and I was really tired and everyone else was loud.

My first point is that humor is society's way of handling that which makes it uncomfortable. Humor releases social tension. It has a purpose. (Yes, I double checked with wiki that I remembered my introduction to psychology and sociology courses correctly. My main point is that it is a relief.) I understand that not all humor is politically correct--but let's face it, there are a million ways for me to be politically incorrect, and I'm fulfilling many of them on this blog post. Getting to the point: yes, rape humor is terrible. But it is not any more terrible than any other humor about social inequality. There is violence in other types of social inequality. In discussion today, I was uncomfortable with the way that rape jokes were presented  as inherently bad, while other types of injustice related jokes were glossed over. I personally, as a woman, am uncomfortable with rape jokes. I am not particularly offended by them because I understand that society is trying to deal with an uncomfortable issue. I know African Americans that are uncomfortable with black jokes--there has been no mention of how they are equally harmful.

Let's think about this: there will always be jokes about injustices. Some are really hard to stomach, and I understand that. However, I acknowledge that I will be presented with situations where these types of jokes will be used, and I use my own reasoning to determine if it is harming society by perpetuating a stereotype or if it is that person's way of coping with an uncomfortable issue.

Second point: Everyone needs to calm the hell down.

Week after week, issues are causing heated discussions and personal pain. I DON'T GET IT. We are scholars, yes? Understand that, if everyone has the same opinion as you, THAT'S BAD!! THAT ISN'T A GOOD THING! It may make things easier, however, imagine if our government was made of people that all had the same opinion. How would that benefit everyone? It is our duty to recognize that we can learn from other people's opinions. We can take others ideas and utilize them as our own, which can only make us better, more well-rounded individuals.

Third Point: I personally don't think I have experienced injustice because I am female.

In my hometown, at my high school, it was understood that I was smart. In all subjects. And I'm not bragging, compared to here, I am very much a normal person. But there, I excelled, and I excelled from a young age, so it was understood that girls could be smart, and were smart, and excelled in subjects atypical to the standard thoughts (i.e. I was good at math and science--this isn't a jibe at Blaise, by the way, I've heard that study and I can understand how and why he said that, and I am sorry for him that people were mad at him. Aren't we supposed to help others through teaching, not through shaming? This should be a comfortable environment!). I was thought to be a goody-two shoes prude that listened to Christian music and attended church twice a week and sometimes eight times and never swore, but that is more of a product of my shyness in my preteen years than anything else. I know that, as a blonde woman that likes to look nice and wears makeup when she isn't sick and has a ridiculous amount of shoes, I might not be taken as seriously as I should be, because the only way a woman can be intelligent is if she doesn't care about her opinion (as per the stereotype), however, I'm hoping we can work towards less surprise when we encounter intelligent, well dressed, and ridiculously shoed women in the future.

Rant done.

Religion.

While I am at a particularly spiritual/religious part of my life where I'm questioning exactly what my opinion is and am extremely influenceable, especially by very attractive boyfriends who have strong religious beliefs and can argue them intelligently, I am not okay with what our assignment is for biology.

Let's start from the beginning:
Hot topics:  Evolution and Faith          15 points

Several observations about the earth and the universe lead scientists to conclude that the earth is ~ 4.5 billion years old and the universe is ~ 13.7 billion years old.  The Bible, however, contains various bits of chronological information that, when taken together, put the creation of the world at 4004 BC.  Your text contains introductory material regarding the age of the Earth that we will cover in class, but you should think about these issues before Dr. Jones’ talk.

Please type out your answers.  Cite at least one source for your literature cited to support your argument(s) (this does not have to be peer-reviewed).  All of your answers, plus your one reference, must fit on one page (be concise).  Also, be sure to put your instructor’s name on your paper (Dr. Maxwell).

MAKE SURE TO PROOFREAD YOUR PAPER – POINTS WILL BE TAKEN OFF FOR POOR GRAMMAR.

The Bible is available online at the following url: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/. 

1.        Does Darwin’s theory that humans evolved from simpler life forms conflict with the idea that humans are made in the image of God?  Explain.

2.      Is the value of the Bible diminished if one accepts that the earth is much older than the Bible says it is?  Explain.

3.      What effect would it have on a person's view of the natural sciences if he or she believed that the world was only 6,000 years old?

This is the assignment that was emailed out. As any summer would, my paper is already done and cited and ready to be printed (also thank you, life, for changing the format of this unexpectedly and unfixably).

My problem? My problem is that this assignment assumes that I'm Christian!

I might be, but I might not be and that isn't okay for this assignment to just be handed out!

Say I was of a different religion--what if I didn't believe in God at all (which has been me at some point in my life, luckily I didn't receive this assignment then or I would have had a full on rage). This assignment not only forces myself to drag myself through the drudgery of christian extremists in order to find sources on how evolution contradicts creationism, but it also forces me to treat Christianity as my religion to answer the questions; to finish this paper, I had to look up what the image of God was.  I had to assign value to a book I have not read or been exposed to because I am not of a religion that follows it. I dislike that this assignment was aimed at Christians. I thought we were beyond that.

 I also think that perhaps my rant is a show of my inability to accept others religious opinions. Then I realize that my boyfriend is a baptist and I'm so upset because I think that people in our biology class are feeling as alienated or more alienated by this assignment as I am. So maybe I am accepting and just confused about a lot of things.

The controversy about how controversial abortion is.

What is this.

I have so much anger right now, so many negative feels.

This is a scholar's class. We all know what a debate is. We know how debates work.

What I don't understand why we can't debate our ideas without attacking  each other.

You know, I hate abortions. I can't condone ending a life. This is said without being in that situation--I've never been pregnant, I can't know for certain that I wouldn't. But it makes me so very very sad.

However, I cannot tell another person that they can't control their own body. I control my body by making decisions about what I do with it. I have options. I have strong, personal opinions about abortion. But I'm not going to push them onto others.

Why can't people understand that you can have a personal opinion, one that doesn't affect others? I hurt so much for all of the babies that could have been. But I would be idiotic and shortsighted if I didn't acknowledge that many would have been born into poor circumstances, would have been impoverished, and would have been resented. I can understand the other side. I can understand that my choice of what I do with my body is not the same as another woman's choice, but that she has the right to make that choice. And it doesn't affect me in any way other than that I feel sorrow for the potential lives.

Quandries

I went home again this weekend.

Because it was too many deaths in too few of weeks, because my grandpa is switching states to not live in an empty, lonely house, because my cousin is one of the most driven and caring people I know. Because of a boy.

I love it here. I love the freedom that comes with being here, how I can just go to my room and be by myself sometimes and nobody is trying to force me to socialize, how when I do feel like participating in the world, it's right there, blocked only by my doorway.

Sometimes, though, it really hits home how far away everything is. How I didn't know how sick she was because we were so far away. How I can't help my person when she's feeling at her worse because she's so far away. That's hard.

That's why I cherish my times back with them. Because it's hard, but I get to see moments of triumph when my cousin pours every ounce of himself into a race, so much that he becomes physically ill, then carry the person who he just beat to the awards ceremony and congratulate everyone who beat him and all those that he beat.

I get to see my grandpa laugh.

I get to bear hug my friend.

I get to learn what my parents are doing with their lives now that they have an empty house, devoid of children and grandparents.

But it's hard to go back, because I have my freedom here, I have space to be comfortable. Because in the end, what I need is here. And what I want is there.