Migration vs. Staying Put

Which is better, to have near-constant change or almost none? In class we read a passage from Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World,  by Scott Sanders, and he is responding to Salman Rushdie's positive views on migration.

In the passage, Sanders disagrees with Rushdie in that he believes that people should stay in the same place, as opposed to moving around a lot, because it has less negative consequences than migration. I also agree with Sanders, but partially because I'm already against change. If I had my way, I would live in the the same house my whole life, in the same neighborhood, in the same city and I would probably never change things in my house like painting things and whatnot. And yes, I know that's kind of weird, but hey, that's me!

Although there are some consequences to having no change, there really are more when people are always moving around. Aside from the ones mentioned in the passage, another negative repercussion of moving a lot is that kids whose families move a lot either lose friends or don't stay in one place long enough to make any, which would be an extremely hard way to live life. 

I can't help but think about people who have to move around a lot and think about how lucky I am to live in one of the safest cities, go to one of the best schools around and have such amazing friends I get to see almost every day. It's kind of weird to think about how different things could be if I were the one that always had to move around.

Stereotyping

Stereotyping, judging everyone does it. Be it conscious or not, when you see someone there's always that first thought; whether it's that "emo" kid that listens to Black Veil Brides way too loud and wears mostly black, or that "intimidating" African American guy, or the "stupid" blonde cheerleader, almost everyone stereotypes. 

This week, we had to read "Black Men and Public Space" by Brent Staples and he talks about how people constantly stereotype him as one of those scary black guys that's a threat to the well-being of society. He explains many instances where he's been mistaken for a criminal just because of how he looks and where he's from. This is also similar to the pieces we read towards the beginning of the school year about Native Americans being stereotyped as stoic drunks. The stereotypes of both groups of people tend to come from the media; Native Americans have been represented as the stoic, long, straight, black haired sidekicks in many Western TV shows and movies, and African Americans have been represented as either intimidating criminals or crazy women with no respect because of show like "Hardcore Pawn."

It really is extremely hard not to stereotype people though; I would like to say I don't judge people or stereotype them, but I would be lying. It seems that nowadays people are just raised to believe these untrue statements and it's really hard to let go of them and see every person for who they are inside, and not for where they're from, or what they look like.

Shooting Dad Similarities

This past week, we had to read "Shooting Dad," by Sarah Vowell, and I felt a real connection to the author; she says she lived in, "a house divided," and she and her dad were distant but similar. My father and I have a pretty close relationship, but other than that, I saw many similarities that made me like the piece and think about it even after the assignment was over. 

 Vowell's house was divided because of political differences between her and her father, and her father was very conservative, as is my father. My house, too, is divided because my mom (though she says otherwise) leans more towards being democratic. 

She describes her dad as a gun-loving NRA member and as I was reading this I kept thinking, "That sounds just like my dad!" My father isn't nearly as obsessed with guns as hers is, but he and his friends love to go shooting and he always says he's ready for the zombie apocalypse and threatens to be cleaning his guns when I bring home future boyfriends. Reading another girl's perspective on her father's love for guns was a really weird thing, to be honest because she was so opposed to them whereas I'm more indifferent, and just used to them. 



However, once Vowell realized how similar she and her father really are, I really felt more connected to her; my father and I are extremely similar, and we're also quite like Sarah and her father. We too, are "smart alecky," and I love music, like Sarah, and, as I described earlier, our fathers are both gun fans. 

It's kinda cool to know there are people out there that so closely resemble relationships you have people you are close to.

MS

In class this week, we read an essay called "Disability" by Nancy Mairs; in it, she was very blunt about that fact that disabilities do not have to define people and that non-disabled people need to be exposed to them to see how normal they really are.

I agree with Mairs in that I don't think that a disability has to rule your life or completely define you. Whenever you're around people with disabilities, they want to be treated normally because we really aren't that different; Mairs brings up the point that she still  buys tampons, mouthwash and bleaches her family's underwear just as any other woman would because she isn't a different species, she's still a human and does the same things that all women do. I don't think that all of society really understands this though, and so they're led to believe that people with disabilities should get special treatment or need extra help just because they're different. Society needs to be aware of the fact that having a disability such as multiple sclerosis does not make people a different species, and that they're much more alike than some people chose to believe.

I know that people with disabilities aren't totally defined by their disability and are very similar to everyone else because I know someone with MS. If you've ever seen my red wristband and wondered what it says, it says "HOPE" and "nationalmssociety.org" and I wear it in support of my cousin was diagnosed with MS at the age of 17 (which is very young to be diagnosed) and you probably won't ever see me without it. I see her multiple times every year and if I didn't know she had MS, I wouldn't be able to tell. If you saw her on the street, you wouldn't be able to tell she has MS because she isn't letting MS define her, so she does completely normal things like going to college, having a job and even going to concerts with her favorite younger girl cousin. Just because someone has a disability doesn't mean they're different, doesn't mean they need help or special treatment. And remember, disabled people are just regular people.

Dreams

Dreams are a very important part of living; they give you a reason to get out of bed and work towards achieving it. However, your dreams can affect everyone around you and they don't always react the way you'd like them to.






In "A Raisin in the Sun," all the characters have dreams, and they all affect the people around them differently. Mama's dream to own a house with a garden and lots of light leads her to buy a house in an all-white neighborhood, which makes Walter angry and the family nervous. Beneatha's dream to embrace her heritage irritates George, but Asagai wants her to embrace her background too, as he has. Walter's dream to be able to provide for his family creates the biggest issue with the family however; he invests their last $6500 in his friend's liquor store thinking he'll make money, but his friend runs off with the money. His dream of being able to provide for his family is shattered and all their money is gone, leaving everyone angry with him.

My dream is to either own my own pastry shop and become a pastry chef since I love baking, or become a hairstylist. My mom, however, doesn't really like the idea of her child not having a "real job." But, she still supports me and has taught me everything I know about baking.

The Wealthy

Not all, but a lot of wealthy people believe that because they're rich, they don't have to do anything for themselves and they don't care about other "lower-class people." 

In The Great Gatsby, people like Daisy and Tom are rather wealthy and don't care about anyone except themselves. When Daisy hits and kills Myrtle, she doesn't really care and though Myrtle was Tom's lover, all he does when he finds out is try to get Gatsby in trouble. Even when Gatsby dies, none of his friends care enough about anyone but themselves to come to his funeral besides Nick, Gatsby's father and Owl Eyes. In "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," the Washingtons have found a huge diamond and live on the "only 5 acres of unsurveyed land" and don't want to be discovered. Because they don't want to be found and share their wealth, they shoot down any planes that fly overhead and take any passengers prisoner. They also have hundreds of slaves to do everything for them under the impression that The South won The Civil War and that slavery is still legal. 

Even in modern day the wealthier people tend to just pay people to do everything for them rather than do it themselves. For example, Danny Worsnop, lead singer of Asking Alexandria, said in an interview that when he was just starting out, he "knew everything"; when they were playing, what time to be onstage, what time to be back to the bus, every detail. But he says now that they've made it big, they just pay people to do things for them. He says now he doesn't know where they're playing the next day when he's on tour, he doesn't even know how to plug his microphone
in because it's easier to just hire someone to do 
these things for him.

Of course, not all wealthy people are like this; JK Rowling for example has donated so much money to charity that she isn't a billionaire anymore. However, it seems that many people, once they become rich enough to do so, would rather pay people to do everything for them and lose interest in other peoples' lives.

"The Gay Gatsby"

The question of whether or not Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway are gay is very controversial because it is left unanswered and therefore open-ended. I think that Nick is, though he may be unaware, gay and has a major thing for Gatsby.

I read a Lit. Crit. on The Great Gatsby through a "queer lens" as the author puts it; the author of the text very strongly believed that Nick was gay and provides a lot of evidence. Although some of it is a stretch, some of what it said would support my stance. For instance, Nick wipes Mr. McKee's face with a cloth and winds up in his bedroom where McKee is naked...then leaves at four in the morning with no memory of what happened. Tell me that doesn't scream, "I JUST DID NAUGHTY THINGS WITH ANOTHER MAN!" Now of course, this is just my opinion, and just one interpretation. 

 Now there were also rumors that Fitzgerald was gay; Zelda even accused him of having an affair with Hemingway, his best friend. Zelda may have been right however; not only did Fitzgerald cross dress later in his life, but Fitzgerald and Hemingway liked to joke about "pederasty, anal eroticism, and other forms of perversion." (Mayfield 133) I think that Fitzgerald was using his writing as a way to express his homosexual feelings.