Warp Speed? Nope. Try nuclear fusion.

Gizmodo  reported  that a group of University of Washington researchers is working on a spaceship powered by nuclear fusion.

What does this mean exactly? Well, a the time it takes to travel to Mars would be reduced from eight or nine months to only three.

Let's not get excited too fast. It's pretty amazing that they're working on this technology, but we're still in the "Stone Age of Space exploration" as Gizmodo puts it.

Harnessing nuclear fusion, the substance of deadly hydrogen bombs and the power source of the sun, would make for speedier and safer space travel, Sloughs explained. 

Looks as though things are looking up in the way of space travel for the human race. Still, I doubt I will see any Star Trek level space travel in my time. We still have a long way to go.

Want a more scientific and lengthier explanation? Read the article here. 

School "Fatally Understaffed"

It is my understanding that schools should provide as much care as they can to students. Whether that be educational care or health assistance. When Gov. Tom Corbett slashed the school district's budget leading to dangerously understaffed schools, many schools were left without essential employees such as nurses.

Due to a shortage of nurses in Bryant Elementary School, a little girl named Laporshia Massey died of asthma complications. The school had only one nurse who was there two days a week. The day Massey died was not one of those days.

The parents are outraged, and rightly so. While the school was unable to supply a nurse, shouldn't someone have called paramedics as soon as Massey complained of breathing difficulties? Now there are so many questions floating around. What happened in school that day? What were the present staff doing? Were they following protocol? A more thorough investigation should give us the answers to those questions.

Apparently, Bryant Elementary was severely understaffed last year, as well. According to the article in CityPaper, a protesting nurse warned that other staff members in the school were not competent enough to deal with asthmatic students. The District source in the article said that her life could have been saved had staff responded appropriately to her illness.

Does that mean produce a nurse out of thin air? No. It means calling 911. Isn't that what they teach you in elementary school? I remember lessons on how to call 911. The staff should have been setting that example in this real-life emergency. I remember attendants in the cafeteria being trained in CPR and how to handle other health emergencies. I guess none of the faculty that day knew what to do. That's scary to parents. Parents and students should be scared after this. I would be.

This budget crisis has led to a child's death. Massey was only in elementary school. That's one more child carelessly killed by a seriously deprived system. A child and potentially great mind has been lost at the hands of Tom Corbett. People should be taking to the streets for change.

Thanks to Corbett, the school district has 3,000 fewer staff members than it did in June. Currently, there are 179 nurses working in public, private and parochial schools, down from 289 in 2011.

Don't impoverished families already have it hard enough getting sufficient health care for their children? Maybe our country spends too much on useless crap to be able to afford education anymore. Too bad politicians will never experience the death of a child due to understaffed schools because they send their kids to rich private schools. Maybe if Corbett lost a kid to staff incompetence, he'd think twice about cutting education funding.

Glenn Beck's new look

Glenn Beck sported a new look today wearing condom gloves and a birth control pill "nose ring" all in an attempt to make a point that birth control will decrease the rates of abortion.

I still can't help but think that there is a deeper and more disturbing meaning beneath his act. While donning his new look, Beck said it was in response to MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry's wearing tampon earrings. Harris-Perry wore tampon earrings in response to Texas' misogynistic move to confiscate all feminine hygiene products from protesters during the abortion debate.

Beck proceeded to mock Harris-Perry, stating that she looked like an idiot. Beck responded that if she had been wearing marshmallows on her ears, he might be attracted to her. OK. So, Glenn has a marshmallow fetish? I don't get it. I don't think anyone gets it. Glenn Beck just thinks he is funny. He tells an inside joke about being aroused by marshmallows that no one else gets.

He mockingly remarked that Melissa looked "as credible as I do, and that's saying something because your entire network practically made a living off of mocking me while I was doing pie charts about how our country was going to be destroyed through spending habits and using actual pies. You're wearing tampon earings, darling."  I love how he adds the condescending and sexist "darling" at the end of his spiel. You can hear the rest in the video linked.

Beck was trying to say that he supports birth control because abortion is bad, and birth control decreases abortion rates since it prevents getting preggers and bebehz.

Anyway, Beck and his fellow co-hosts proceeded to mock Harris-Perry's book, Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes and Black Women in America. 

So, that whole segment was about mocking wommenz and being downright misogynist. What else is new?

Not Found In A Textbook Part II: Take Back The Night and Slut-Shaming Frat Boys

Here is the second installment for my "Not Found in a Textbook" series about my experience with the GWS seminar. The second day of the seminar was Saturday, April 27, and was the most important day of the class.

The major theme of the day was "slut shaming," mostly because of the unexpected events that took place during the TBTN march. However, there were other lessons and activities of merit that I took back with me. so begins day two.

The class opened with presentations to stay consistent with the pattern the previous day. The first presentation was about consent, and it coincided with the discussion my group had on day one. The students first defined consent as a sober, ongoing verbal yes. It is important to listen to your partner or whomever you are trying to have sex with. Yes means yes, and no means no. Unless your partner tells you  ahead of time that he/she  would like to have sex while drunk,  it is best to be respectful. The yes must be verbal and ongoing. If at any time either of you do not want sex, you must respect each other's wishes.

Consent is  important in all forms of physical communication and intimacy. That includes BDSM. We see a lot about BDSM floating around out there, and we know it has to do with sex. But what does it actually mean? Here's how the letters are broken down: BD=BONDAGE & DISCIPLINE, DS= DOMINATION &SUBMISSION and SM= SADISM & MASOCHISM. In short, people who enjoy some form of BDSM like being either submissive or dominant, and they enjoy either inflicting pain or having pain inflicted on them in some way. It's a fetish, so they get pleasure from it. How is consent important in BDSM? Obviously, you both should be willing to do it. If you or your partner do not want to be tied up, flogged or choked, that is a wish you both should respect. However, BDSM is more than just violent sex. It's a lifestyle for a lot of people. Consent and safe words are crucial to the pleasure and satisfaction of both parties. So, consent helps to build a more respectful and healthy relationship between the dom and sub. Consent helps build respect and healthier relationships between everyone. Consent can be anything from saying whether or not you want a hug to whether or not you want to have sex.

Let's talk about sex

In case you haven't guessed it, the second presentation was about sex. The group showed a video of a woman talking about the female orgasm which is more complicated than a male's. By more complicated, she meant biologically.

Female sexuality is more politicized than male sexuality.  Women who enjoy sex are labeled sluts while men who are still virgins are shamed by their friends about their lackoof sexual experiences. Men are "conquerors" and must have a lot of sexual conquests under their belts. Women agree told to keep their legs closed. People who have nothing better to do than judge other people's sexuality (conservatives) perpetuate the idea that female sexuality should be trivialized and created into a moral issue. We're sluts because we want the government to pay for the Pill.

On the other end of the spectrum, men are expected to be promiscuous with women, but if women have to keep their legs closer, who are men supposed to have sex with? Isn that a double standard? Why should anyone care about how little or how much sex others have? Society should encourage men and women to be more sex positive and at the same time not pressure anyone to have sex.
The presentation covered the benefits of sex such as preventing cancer, curing headaches and depression, boosting immunity and improving your mood.

The man box 

What does it mean to be a man? The third presentation answered that question by explaining the meaning behind the man box, hegemonic masculinity and how some hip hop songs reinforce those concepts.

It was appropriate to start the discussion with the man box in mind because when characterizing men in society, we not only put them on a box, we end up putting everyone in a box. The patriarchy says men should act this way, and women should act the opposite of men. Men should not express any feeling except for . If a man cried, he is told to "suck it up and stop being a woman." Men need to be strong while women should be weak. It is wrong to be gay because a man who is gay is like a woman.

By creating gender specific behavioral patterns, the patriarchy puts everyone in in a box that we think is natural. When something is natural, we tend not to question why and how it came to exist. If I were to ask you, the reader, to think about how an why men and women are told to act certain ways to fit into specific roles, would you dare to do it? It is not natural for the man box to exist. Gender roles were created as a means for the ruling classes to control people. Who primarily rules the ruling classes? Men, or the patriarchy. If we were to challenge gender roles and live outside of the "box," would there cease to be a box? We won't know unless we try to live outside the roles we are told to fill.

More men should feel comfortable expressing feelings of compassion while being strong, just as women should do the same. Being compassionate does not mean being weak. Men and women both have the potential to be strong individuals and compassionate toward their fellow human beings.

The man box reinforces the principles hegemonic masculinity, which guarantee the dominant social position of men, and the subordinate role of women. Hegemonic masculinity explains how and why men maintain dominant roles over women and other gender identities which are perceived as "feminine."  If the man box is about putting people in a "boxes," then it is safe to conclude that those boxes keeping men and women in their places. Keeping people "happy" and placid helps maintain the hegemony. Men (especially white, upper class men) will have all the power, the higher wages and better opportunities in society. That leaves women, gays, other gender identities and ethnicities on the lower end of the economic ladder.

 Growing up, we see subliminal messages in advertisements, music and cartoons that reinforce gender roles. These messages creep their ways into the cozy corners of our subconsciousness, and when we are confronted with gender roles, we automatically know how we're supposed to behave and act. The musical cartoon titled, "William Wants a Doll" is about questioning and breaking away from masculine stereotypes. The group showed this video to explain how boys are treated if they want "girly toys." The song tells a story about a little boy named William who wants a doll. Confused and baffled, his parents buy him a baseball glove and sign him up to play on a team. Even though William loves and excels at sports, he still wants a doll. His peers mock him. "Why should a boy wanna play with a doll? Dolls are for girls!" His cousin told him not to be a "sissy." So, this is the stigma boys face for wanting to play with any "feminine" toy or partake in activities that are associated with girls. In the end, William's wise grandmother buys him a doll. His father starts to get pissed, but grandma gently explains to him that William will be a good father because of the doll. He will know how to take care of his baby. If William's father were open-minded enough, he would not have needed to be persuaded to let his son have a doll. Any toys are conducive to building a child's imagination. Yet, William's father needed a special reason to let his son have a "girly toy."

Alternative Fashion Show

After the presentations, we broke into groups with our peer educators for  the alternative fashion show.

Each group had either one or two t-shirts to draw and write on. Our group was small, so we had one shirt. We focused on looking at negative and positive things women say about themselves. So, on the front of our shirt, we drew a girl that was smiling and happy with though bubbles containing positive affirmations such as, "I am smart," "I am strong," "Compassionate," "Beautiful," etc. On the back of the shirt was the same girl, but she was sad with messy makeup and hair with negative affirmations such as, "I am fat," "ugly," "stupid," "no good," etc. Another group made t-shirts with male stereotypes of macho men with six pack abs and never cry. For example, the students drew and wrote messages showing that the stereotypes do not apply to all men, and there are plenty of men who want to be dads. One student even said he would like to be a stay-at-home dad, so he could play video games with his kids all day.  Overall, the t-shirts were well-received by the class and, and I learned that a majority of the students were there to learn from each other and the experiences of their peers.

I have learned not to judge a person by his or her appearances. I used to be quick to judge overly muscular, bro-ish looking college males to all be in the same lot. You know, the kind that wander around with vacant looks on their faces that are out for some beer and pussy? There were a few men in the class who looked like stereotypical rapey frat-bros, but they ended up being men who wanted to learn how to be part of a movement that effects us all. I always do my best not to judge someone by the way he/she looks. That is a sad trap to fall into, especially for those of us who wish to be highly enlightened individuals who want to learn from others and spread awareness to others. I hope my mistake in judgement serves as a lesson to others. It is easy to peg people into labels and stereotypes before you get to know them. Our brains are wired to do that. If you wish to become a highly aware individual, it's important to train your brain not to pigeonhole someone as something they are not.

I apologize for being so blunt in my description of those men in the class, but the context depended on my being  forward in order to articulate how certain male stereotypes affected the way I viewed  men. While I do not mean to offend, I do hope I made you as a reader uncomfortable in some way. I want you to think about what makes you uncomfortable rather than pushing it to the back of your mind. One of the things I enjoy the most about being a writer is making readers uncomfortable. As a journalism professor once said to us, the job of a journalist is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. There are stereotypes for just about everyone's ethnicity, gender, occupation, country, etc. We never mean to judge people, but it's as I said, we are wired to do so. I challenge any of you readers to write in the comments about your experiences stereotyping others or being stereotyped yourselves. Be as open and as honest as I am. It's great therapy to confront your convictions.


Take Back The Night Rally, Speak Out and Slut Shaming Frat Boys

Finally, Saturday night ended with one of the most memorable nights in my college career. Take Back The Night is an empowering movement for women and men who face violence of all sorts, especially sexual. We watched presentations about consent and rape, listened to slam poetry and   turned off the lights to create anonymity for those who wished to talk about their rape experiences.

The slam poetry was one of my favorite parts of the night. Two women recited poetry about being powerful and embracing ourselves, and our beauty. They conveyed the message that we need to fight the patriarchy that keeps us down with misogynistic views of women.

The speak out was the most inspiring and emotional part of the event. Nothing can compare to sitting in a pitch-black room after dark listening to students relive their rape and sexual assault stories. The room had to be dark to create a safe and anonymous space for survivors to speak.

My peer educator wasn't kidding when she warned us to bring tissues. I could hear a lot of nose blowing and crying in reaction to the stories. My own tears joined the rest. My peer educator passed me a tissue. How did she know I was crying? Was it that obvious? I tried not to be obvious about it, but I just lost myself in one story after another. My vivid imagination conjured up images of what the men and women went through. Nothing could compare to the real thing, of course. No simulation in my mind could compare to their experiences, but it was my way of coping with their pain. I could have stepped out to catch my breath, but that would have been too easy. I wanted to be there for them, whoever they were. While I could not see their faces, their pain and voices were more than enough for me to see them in my mind. They were no longer strangers to me. They became people with voices and lives.

I learned not to assume the people I meet have not been through trauma in their lives. It's important to get to know people in a sympathetic way. Don't rush them to talk too soon about an uncomfortable topic. At the same time, show that you are trustworthy and open to anything they need to talk about. We are all worthy and unique individuals, and should stop trying to prove we are superior to each other.

After an empowering and cathartic experience in the dark ballrooms, we set out to march the streets of Plattsburgh to rally support against gender violence. This is where the fun begins.

We gathered signs and rehearsed empowering slogans to say throughout the march. For those of you wondering how it feels to join hundreds of people to march in solidarity for an important cause, the sensation is beyond something I can put into words. I can start by saying that I felt empowered. Imagine taking to the streets at 10 p.m. with hundreds of students shouting phrases such as, "Two, four, six, eight! No more date rape!" That may appear corny, but you have to be there to feel the power of the students' voices and yours combined.

We were followed by police on their cute little bicycles to make sure we didn't get too unruly.

Passersby cheered us on or honked in support. Some students drinking on their stoops yelled nonsense.

Boys hung their heads out the window of the AXP frat house and yelled misogynistic slurs at us such as, "Sluts! Shut up sluts!"

We all found it disgraceful that boys that may or may not be members of the fraternity were yelling those words at us from the organization's house. Even if they were not members, one of the brothers should have stopped it. Such behavior has stained their reputation. Some of the students had to leave the march because they were so affected by those words.

Despite the slurs yelled at us, I think we should look at all of the support we had from so many other people. At the same time, we should continue fighting against behavior and speech that normalizes street harassment and "slut shaming."

I learned a lot from that event. Street harassment has always bothered me, but we cannot let the words of those few boys deconstruct the confidence we all gained at Take Back the Night.












Recommended readings: My peer educator recommended a book to us on day one, which I forgot to mention. The book is titled, "Yes Means Yes." I have not had a chance to read it yet, but it's on my reading list.


Also, I would like to hear about your experiences stereotyping other people of being stereotyped yourselves in the comments below. Let's be honest, as much as you hate to admit it, you've done it. Most of the time, we never mean to be prejudiced, but our brains just do it before we realize we're judging someone.

Not found in a textbook: Part I

The experience I had this weekend is one that I will take with me for the rest of my life. I attended a weekend seminar for gender women's studies titled, "Sexuality, Power and Relationships." The lessons I learned in this class cannot be found in a textbook. I spent  three days in feminist discourse with other college-aged men and women. I took part in a march for Take Back the Night and even encountered adversity on the way. I want to share what I learned from the class and the adversity. 

I'm going to post the events of the seminar by day rather than putting them all into one post. I want people to take the time to read each of these carefully and mentally put themselves in the class as I was. I also needed some time to put things into perspective for myself before I wrote anything. I know this first post takes place Friday, but I needed a couple days to let what I've learned fall into place and make sense. The 

The second installment of the post will discuss what happened during the Take Back the Night march and rally (just in case there's any confusion about why I don't talk about it here).

Day 1, April 26

This was not a typical sit- in- a- classroom- and- get- lectured class. There were no textbooks. Only the professor and peer educators were present, and our learning tools were ourselves. The peer educators are students who have taken the class before and want to share  with us what they have learned. Three groups presented presentations about body image and healthy relationships.   

The first group's presentation was about positive attitudes for women and girls. They opened with Disney's "I'm a princess" campaign encouraging young women to see themselves not as the archaic, sexist version of princesses that sit in towers and wait for a man to save them. Instead, we should see ourselves as human beings with strengths and weaknesses. We are individuals with talents, intelligence, strength, compassion and vulnerabilities. In other words, we should embrace our human qualities whether you are a man or woman. 

This commercial made me happy because young girls these days start disparaging themselves as early as 12 years old. Phrases like, "I'm fat," "I'm worthless," "Will I be pretty?" leave the mouths of little girls. We are bombarded with with a barrage of images that tell them to behave and look a certain way. We become confused about what's real and what's airbrushed. If you don't have rock hard muscles, you're not a man. If you aren't  size zero, then you're fat. Don't eat sweets or you'll get fat. Don't eat in front of men or it will turn them off. If you cry, you're not manly. You shouldn't voice your opinion because people will think you're a bitch. You should date stupid, complicit women to validate your masculinity. If you don't try to score in front of your buddies, you're a fag.These are messages we are constantly bombarded with through mainstream television shows and advertisements. 

Children are not immune to this subliminal messaging, and neither are adults. Strategies used by advertising companies to get into your subconscious often prove effective, do they not? If we see ourselves as fat, ugly, stupid, unmanly, faggots and man-hating bitches, then we let the media win. Every time we begin to disparage ourselves in the mirrors, we must step back and remember, "Those models, male and female, are airbrushed and re-sized in Photoshop. Nipples are pulled up higher, curves are tucked in tighter and breasts are made rounder and perkier. All of this and more is possible with Photoshop. I've seen it for myself when I learned how to use it. I remember having an assignment in my text book where I had to make a woman look thinner and her breasts perkier. I was highly offended by this exercise, but I didn't tell the teacher because it wasn't his fault. However, I feel as though he should be more conscious of the material in his text book.

No one is that "perfect" in real life. We are perfectly imperfect, and that is how it should be. I want you all to ask yourselves, "How does having  flat stomach and rock hard abs give me worth? How does being conventionally attractive make me happy? Because the media says that's all there is to me?" Isn't there more to you, to all of us, that makes us who we are? Once we can begin to engage ourselves in this discourse, we can engage others. 

The same group also presented the Tide Princess commercial. This commercial sent a positive "stay at home dad" image. As opposed to showing a mother doing laundry, they show a dad doing laundry while his daughter pretended to be a cow boy. The commercial presented two important messages both having to deal with "role reversal." I put that in quotes because I don't believe in gender roles; however, I cannot think of a more proper term that people would automatically understand. 

So, typically the mother stays at home doing house chores and cooking for her husband who sits down after "bringing home the bread." Being a stay at home parent is a choice, and I do not condemn the choice you make. I do condemn society placing people in those roles. Men can be just as nurturing and compassionate parental figures as women. When moms go to work, dads can help by staying home to do some chores and watch the kids. It's a logical arrangement, if anything. 

The little girl wants to pretend to be a cowboy. It's logical to let her play whichever game she wants as long as she's not hurting anyone. Why does she have to play with dolls just because she's a girl? When I was kid, toys were toys. I liked dolls, but I also had (and still have) a great imagination, and  I could create a make believe story with just about any toy I could get my hands on. My brother and I didn't care if they were action figures, stuffed animals or Littlest Petshop. I advocate any game that allows a boy and girl to develop their imaginations and intellect, regardless of what gender the toy is marketed to. Kids play make believe to learn about the world and cope with what's happening around them. 

Lastly,we looked at images from a Slim Fast campaign meant to make women feel fat. 

Here is a picture of the bride figurine falling through the cake. It's similar to saying that she's so fat, she fell through the floor, and she needs to be rescued. 

Another offensive image of the groom struggling to hold up the bride despite the fact that she's not even "fat."
 

Yet an even more offensive picture of a curvaceous woman's wedding dress splitting in the back because her butt is "too big." Okay, that wouldn't happen anyway because wedding dresses are tailored to fit your form. Why would it rip? Slim Fast is promoting this mentality that you need to lose wait to fit into a ridiculously small dress rather than finding a dress that fits you.  



Body image: Behind the scenes

Group two's presentation was about body image. Body image effects men and women. Glossy headlines jump out at you when you're on line at the grocery store: "Tips to that flat belly" and "how to get rock hard abs." The magazines are strategically placed just as your purchasing your food for the week. You may think, "Do I need all this food? I'm so fat, and I look even more like a pig because of all the food I'm buying."  It's important to keep in mind that these images are airbrushed and tweaked to make the models and celebrities on the covers look that thin and cellulite-free. Most women have some cellulite. Most men are not rock hard. It's normal to look the way you look, but you can't seem to understand that as you eyes enviously gaze over the cover of the glossy magazines. 

Yes, her skin is so smooth and her belly is so flat all thanks to photo-editing technology. Also, celebrities tend to be more "fit" (for lack of a better word) than most of us because they have very expensive trainers and dietitians that keep them on super strict starvation diets. Obtaining a flat belly is not all it's cracked up to be. It involves pushing your body past healthy limits during workouts and not eating enough food.  Photoshop can be used to define muscles by manipulating shadows and lines on the body of the subject. 

Healthy and unhealthy relationships 

Group three presented on healthy and unhealthy relationships. They focused on three different types of relationships you can have with people: intimate, family and friendships.   The peer educators explained that healthy relationships come from loving and respecting yourself and the other person. 

Couples need to be able to trust each other. Jealousy can lead to paranoia and misunderstandings which can lead to breaking up. I decided that if your significant other is jealous and paranoid for no reason, it's best to speak with him or her to figure out why. When he/she tells you why, you can reassure the person that there is nothing to worry about. I think it's better to try to come to an understanding of each other's feelings before you decide to break up and otherwise good relationship. It's better to be transparent to make a relationship work. 

The students showed the music video, "If I were a boy" by Beyonce. The video and song is about a couple who are cheating on each other. The point of it was to demonstrate an example of an unhealthy relationship. 

Breaking Into Groups 

After the presentations, we were assigned into groups with each of two peer educators and discussed consent and rape. Some of the students shared their experiences and questions with the group.

Consent is defined as a sober, ongoing and verbal "yes." We further broke down the terms of the definition to understand what they meant. 

Sober means not drunk. So, unless you have a prior arrangement with your partner, it is not generally considered consent if someone tries to have sex with you while you're under the influence. This usually means after you've had so much to drink that you cannot stand straight, see straight or speak properly. At this point your judgment is usually impaired. If a stranger wants to have sex with you, you are not considered to have enough sense to consent if you're that drunk. The person under the influence can be easily taken advantage of. If you plan on getting very drunk, make sure you have a buddy system, so there is always a friend around you to watch your back. 

Ongoing means that you want the sex for the entire time you are having sex. If you do not want it, do not say yes because that is considered rape. Anyone can say "yes" to someone's sexual advances, but that does not mean he/she wants it. Perhaps she keeps saying "no" but gives in if the perpetrator keeps pressuring her. If she says "yes" when she means "no" that is considered rape. You should never pressure anyone into having sex if they genuinely do not want to.  If at any times during the act the woman decides she wants to stop, the man/woman should stop. Otherwise, they are perpetrating the act of rape. 

Verbal obviously means expressed through words. However, that verbal "yes" doesn't always mean "yes." Do not pressure a person into having sex if they keep saying "no." That's considered sexual harassment.  Be attentive to your sexual partner and make sure he or she wants to keep going.  

If at any time you do not want to have sex, you need to verbalize it. If you verbalize and the person keeps going then that is considered rape. If you are raped, remember that it is not your fault no matter what you wear or where you are. Our society is moving into a more enlightened time, but there are still people out there who believe that rape victims deserve what they got because of what they were wearing or because of where they were. No one asks to be raped. We need to stop teaching women how not to get raped and start teaching men how not to rape.   

Wrapping Things Up 

After the group meeting, we wrapped the evening up by meeting back with the class and watching some rap videos with degrading lyrics to show us how to be more aware of the music we listen to. We can get so caught up in the way the beat sounds, that we fail to hear what's being said. 

We also saw a scene from a show called "Noah's Ark," a show on LOGO. "Noah's Ark" is an open-minded television show about gay men who are trying to cope with who they are and  to find love.  

World pays tribute to the wrong people: Rapists are not the victims

 The Steubenville rapists have been sentenced to one year in prison and face time in juvenile jail until they turn 21. 

Yet, it seems some people are confused about whether to sympathize with rapists or rape victims.


Specifically, CNN claims the boys were "good students" and "had such promising futures. Here's a newsflash for CNN: They may have been "good students," but they were rapists nonetheless. Your future can't be too bright when you are going to rape someone somewhere down the road. 

Anchor Poppy Harlow expressed that it is "Incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures." 
Because, you know, all convicted sex offenders are required to register with the national sex offender public registry. So, when said rapist moves to a community, the people who live there can look up their names in the registry for their own safety. 

Also, if I were an employer, I wouldn't want to hire a sex offender. That would, like, make the work environment all hostile and stuff. 

These "boys" should have been tried as "men" because they are mature enough to know that the girl did not consent to the hell they subjected her to. They were getting ready to go to college and were of normal enough intelligence to realize that what they were doing was wrong. We should be sympathizing with the girl who was too drunk to consent to sexual intercourse. Yet, they were tried as juveniles and are sentenced to only a year in prison. To me, this is not a severe enough sentence. 

When the young men were sentenced, Ma'lik broke down in the arms of his attorney and cried, "My life is over. No one is going to want me now." You should have thought of that before you raped an unconscious girl.

Yeah, too bad they fucked everything up for themselves, but let this be their first adult lesson: You need to be held accountable for your actions, not just your football achievements.  

Stop Using Words in the Wrong Context!

I need to set something straight with everyone who uses words in the wrong context. All around me I hear people my age using words such as "epic", "literally", "enormity" and "like" in the wrong context.

 First of all, the word "epic" does not mean, nor will it ever mean, "awesome". The proper definition of epic is something pertaining to a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/epic). One should not say, "Epic! Free movie tickets!" The more correct context would be, "I wrote my thesis on The Odyssey, an epic poem attributed to Homer".  It can also mean heroic, majestic, or impressively great. This is where I think people stretch the meaning of the word for everyday slang. I can say "the epic events of the war", but you would not say that your hangover was "epic". The epic events of the war pertain to soldiers who acted heroically and whose actions can be compared to those of the epic heroes such as Odysseus. Perhaps the events of the war are worthy to form the subject of an epic.

One of the most misused words is "literally".  For example, I have overheard a conversation where a woman said that she laughed so hard, she literally died. If she had "literally died", should would not be around to talk to her friends. Some people use "literally" figuratively, but "literally" means the opposite of "figuratively". In this case, she should have said, "I figuratively died". However, that just sounds weird. To avoid such awkward phrasing, she should have chosen her words better. Another poor example is when someone may say, "Steam was literally coming out of his ears". The phrase, "steam was coming out of one's ears" is a figure of speech used to describe the amount of one's anger. Steam never "literally" comes out of ones's ears.

"Enormity" is another commonly misused word. It means "extreme evil", but it is more commonly used to mean "enormous".  George H.W. Bush said he "could not believe the enormity of the situation". That is not the proper context of the word enormity. One could say, "I cannot believe the enormity of his actions", which means you cannot believe the evil or wickedness of his actions.

"Like" should not be used 100 times in a sentence without a proper reason. "Like" is an adjective, adverb, a preposition,  a verb and a noun. It should not be used as a filler word. For example, do not say, "I was, like, so annoyed with him!" Just say, "I was so annoyed with him". There is no need to wantonly throw "like" in the middle of your thought. This is a common problem in oral speech rather than written. Here is an example for the proper use of the word like: "It looks like rain."

You can tell me that I think too much. There is no such thing as thinking too much when you need to think about how to use words in the proper context.

U.S. Rape Culture Attempts to Silence Rape Victims

     We wouldn't have known about the Steubenville rape case if it weren't for the fact that the victim and a blogger refused to be silenced. The crime blogger, Alexandria Goddard, and her commentors had been sued by the Steubenville football player and his parents for defamation. Party-goers filmed and photogrpahed the girl's abuse at the party. They posted their photos and videos to social media websites via their phones. Before many of the party-goers could delete their posts, Goddard took screen-shots and posted them to her blog. If the football player and his parents sued for defamation, they would have had a difficult time proving the information false.  Defamation, as define by dictionary.com , is the act of defaming; false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another, as by slander or libel; calumny.

     It's awful when one's children are convicted of a crime as deplorable as rape, but the truth  hurts. The parents of the football players would not want the "good" reputation of their sons ruined by accusations of rape. No matter what the cost is to the victim, the parents would want their sons to get off scot-free because their offspring can do no wrong in their eyes. However, the truth, as far as anyone knows, is that the boys did rape the girl. Their attempts at suing the blogger were attempts at silencing a girl who their sons victimized. They wanted to silence all possible outlets that would lend the girl a voice.

    Jessica Valenti, a blogger for The Nation, writes that  Steubenville, a town that puts its prized football team before the justice of a young woman, and  the football players' parents are not the only ones guilty of complicity in the case of rape. Steubenville happens every day in the United States, and everyone is responsible.

      There are numerous examples of conservative white male politicians that want to silence the victims of rape because it makes men look bad. These elected officials want to silence women who are rape victims.  One politician claimed that pregnancies resulting from rape are  "a gift from god". While this is an anti-abortion argument, it is still meant to silence rape victims. The meaning behind this statement is that if a woman is raped and impregnated by her rapist, she should shut up and live with the child.

   Our government and judicial system refuses to acknowledge this country's rape problem. When women are raped, society wants to find a way to blame the victims or label the rapists as "sociopaths" instead of holding ourselves accountable as a nation. We would rather tell ourselves that only the rapists are flawed instead of acknowledging the conservative white male culture that promotes victim blaming and rape.  As blogger Valenti says, "It's time to acknowledge that the rape epidemic in the United States is not just about the crimes themselves, but our own cultural and political willful ignorance".

    Here is another example of the conservative white male "rape" culture: Wisconsin state Rep. Roger Rivard, claimed that his father once told him that "some girls rape easy".  His quote was in the context of a discussion about a teenager charged with sexually assaulting an under-aged girl. Rivard explained that his father meant a woman will willingly have sex with a man and then say that he raped her.

    The very same week that the Steubenville rape video was released, House Republicans let the Violence Against Women Act expire. House Republicans claimed it was too supportive of immigrants, the LGBT community and Native Americans.

    I don't understand why the bill had to expire. There are women in the immigrant, LGBT and Native American communities. Apparently House Republicans are sexist, racist and homophobic (as if we didn't know that already). What bothers me is that they would use that as an excuse to let the Violence Against Women Act expire. This goes to show that there are men even in the U.S. who want to see women silent and compliant. Women like Goddard and the Steubenville rape victim were only "complicating things". If we just kept our mouths shut and our legs closed, our country wouldn't have these problems.

    I'm not saying that the U.S. is the only country with violence against women. There are countries, such as India, Syria, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East, where women's rights are not protected at all. However, we pride ourselves as a progressive and Democratic nation.  If we take a moment to compare our rape problem to those in other countries, we will see that ours is just another variant of all the others. We cannot excuse the actions of these football players by saying that we have less rape than India. or Syria. Those men cannot be excused from their actions because their parents think they can do no wrong. There is violence against women everywhere. As a nation that prides itself on women's rights, I think we should be ahead of the game when it comes to lending an ear and strength to women.