Singing Social Change

This song came out a couple of years ago and I was reminded of how amazing it was at last night’s dinner. The song is describing the feelings of a person whose friend committed suicide after being persecuted because he was in love with a man.

The Justice System Works!!!!……….I Think!

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/08/justice/new-york-wrongful-conviction/index.html?hpt=ju_t3

As I was scrolling through CNN’s webpage, I came across this article. I like to believe that our justice system is one that will protect the innocent and convict the guilty, but after reading this article I didn’t feel anything for our justice system except disgust.

Something I Learned From Dessability

When I was a little girl I would dream about the day that I would get married. Yes, my friends and I were into that kind of thing, but I never realized that the rituals of marriage are not very accommodating to people with disabilities. I actually had not thought recently about the challenges that a person with a disability must face when preparing to take their vows, That is until I read Dessa’s blog post. After reading about her difficulties it makes me realize that people with disabilities get married all the time but as a society, those are not the people that we spotlight when we cast bridal shows. After reading this blog post I am never going to be able to watch Say Yes To The Dress again with out thinking that they could have chosen to spotlight a disabled bride.

Is Our Government Writing?

Over the course of the last two weeks I have been researching terrorism. As I was conducting my research I naturally found my way to the FBI’s webpage. As I looked through a great deal of the material, I realized that according to Grabill the FBI and other government agencies all using writing. One major example of how they write are the Most Wanted Terrorist lists. They have a great deal of information compiled into lists instead of the excel spreadsheets that Grabill refers to. So do you all feel that this type of information sharing is writing?

A Simple Facebook Post

“We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are. Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, economic equality of the sexes.” -Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ‘Why We Should All Be Feminist’.

#GirlsCan

I thought that this advertisement was really unique and impressive, especially because it is coming from a makeup company.

Half The Sky Chapters 9 & 10

I found chapter 9 of Half The Sky to be very interesting. In some areas this chapter contradicted the calls to action of previous chapters. The Muslim women that were interviewed specifically said that they don’t want westerners to pity and saved them. They want to save themselves. This particular section intrigued me, because we do not have the same view of injustice as those women. To most Americans the idea of wearing a burka and a long cloak is unthinkable, but for these women it is the least of their problems. Clothing is not important when women are being jailed for the own protection for refusing to marry a cousin. This chapter also showed that in areas where Americans are not accepted, supporting the work of a local person may be the only thing that we can do. It is better to send money and participate behind the scenes than to waste money on a venture that is not accepted by the people.

The Rhetorician As An Agent Of Social Change

The Cushman article The Rhetorician as an Agent of Social Change, made very clear the difference between volunteering and social research. She cited her own experiences to prove that volunteers have to follow a strict set of rules put forth by the organization that they work for, while a social researcher has to become a part of the community and a strict set of rules might hinder that.

You Have The Right To Do It, But Should You

I was on Facebook and I came across this video. This is Stephan A. Smith speaking about the trend of tattoos on athletes. He makes some very important claims in this video that I could see as being social change. What do you think?

Half The Sky Chapters 7 & 8

Chapter 7 of Kristof and WuDunn showed the serious neglect faced by patients in developing countries. This chapter featured the story of Prudence, a woman that was neglected by the hospital for three days before she eventually died. Of course she is not the only woman that is treated this way, but apparently she was treated better because visitors were at the hospital. This presents yet another obstacle to groups working to reduce the maternal mortality rate. Money can be raised and hospitals built, but it is very difficult to make people care. The staff of these facilities have to be sympathetic to the needs of the patient.