#keb192

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Feminist Design Project

This week I really enjoyed getting to see the other group projects in our class! The other groups had some really interesting ideas. The one that I could relate to the most was the pocket redesign. Why don’t women’s clothing have functional pockets! I always go crazy whenever I want to go for a jog with my sister because women’s exercise pants have pockets that are literally only an inch or two deep if they even have pockets at all. What is supposed to fit in that? And forget about having pockets in a shirt. Why is this still a problem in women’s clothing? I should not have to buy men’s clothes to have a pocket that can actually hold something.

[kravistgirl-blog]

Can Women Succeed Without A Mentor?

Even though I read this article a few weeks ago, I still find myself thinking about it. I think it is a shame that some women like Lauren feel fearful in giving newer women advice. Women should be helping each other succeed and grow instead of deliberately holding back useful advice or even going to the extent of sabotaging them. Although I believe that women could certainly benefit from having fellow women as mentors, I don’t think it is imperative for them to be women. I personally have had only men for mentors and they were more than helpful and caring, and also became very close friends of mine. It shouldn’t matter what sex/gender the mentor is, as long as the mentor is an honorable person who has their heart set in the right place.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Rise Of The Videogame Zinesters

One of my favorite class readings from recently was “Rise Of The Videogame Zinesters” by Anna Anthropy. At first I thought I wouldn’t like the article because it is long and about video games, but the article comes from a unique perspective. Anna is a transgendered woman and has had a very hard time finding games that resemble her own experience. She describes how most games are made by a very small group of people who only offer a few different types of perspectives. She thinks of games as being a type of art form, an idea I had never really associated with games before. Anna believes that games should come from many different experiences and perspectives, and for the creation of a game to be more open to everyone. I really enjoyed reading this article and learning about the ways games are made, not only who makes them, but who is represented in them. I find myself enjoying computer games like “The Sims” because it allows you more freedom in creating your characters, but I had never made the connection that that could be the reason why I don’t really care for video games.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Plenary #3

Pam Fessler shared some very interesting stories with us today. She told us about how she decided she wanted to cover stories about poverty, because it is a subject that does not get nearly enough coverage in the news. She also works to challenge the stereotypes often associated with poor people. Many people think that people become poor because they are lazy, were irresponsible with their money, or didn't work hard enough, but Pam told us about how poverty can be a very complicated issue that isn’t due to these stereotypes at all. She tries to bring personal stories of poverty to light and tries to spread awareness of this issue while educating us about the causes. Pam also shared some great interview tips with us about being calm and empathetic, and showed that interviewers do not need to be aggressive to get a good story. People are much more willing to talk to others if they don’t feel like they are being attacked with questions. Pam has taken on a very important job and certainly excels at it! It was great to listen to her stories today.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Makers Assignment

http://www.makers.com/rachel-mclish

The video that really connected with me was about Rachel McLish. She was the first female bodybuilding champion, and disposed of the commonly held idea that women bodybuilders are masculine or unattractive. She wanted to set an example for how women can be just as strong as men, still look beautiful, and feel confident about themselves and their bodies. This connected with me because as a martial arts instructor, I want to show women that they can be just as capable as men at defending themselves against bigger opponents despite the labels society gives us about being the “weaker” sex and that we need to be taken care of. Well Rachel certainly showed that women can be just as strong as men!

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Can Women Succeed Without A Mentor?

Even though I read this article a few weeks ago, I still find myself thinking about it. I think it is a shame that some women like Lauren feel fearful in giving newer women advice. Women should be helping each other succeed and grow instead of deliberately holding back useful advice or even going to the extent of sabotaging them. Although I believe that women could certainly benefit from having fellow women mentors, I don’t think it is imperative for them to be women. I personally have had only men for mentors and they have been more than helpful and caring, and also became very close friends of mine. It shouldn’t matter what sex/gender the mentor is as long as they are honorable and have their heart in the right place.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

How To Suppress The Apology Reflex.

One of the class readings that really stood out to me was Audrey Lee’s “How To Suppress The Apology Reflex.” I found it to be very pertinent to women today, including myself. Even though Audrey was brought up to demonstrate humility to the extreme, I see it occur in people with many different personalities and backgrounds. I was not brought up to be that way, but yet I find myself apologizing sometimes for very trivial things. What causes us to do this?

[kravistgirl-blog]

How To Suppress The Apology Reflex.

One of the class readings that really stood out to me was Audrey Lee’s “How To Suppress The Apology Reflex.” I found it to be very pertinent to women today, including myself. Even though Audrey was brought up to demonstrate humility to the extreme, I see it occur in people with many different personality types and backgrounds. I was not brought up to be that way, but yet I find myself apologizing sometimes for very trivial things. What is it that causes us to do this?

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Racial Caucus Group

In class, when it was time for me to stand up and join the white caucus group, I couldn’t believe how uncomfortable it felt to leave. It had even been explained ahead of time that we would divide, but I was unprepared for how surprised and awkward I would feel when it was time to separate. When we got to our room we discussed about how we felt about this, and we all seemed to feel very similarly in our discomfort. We started off feeling very awkward, but once the discussion started it was interesting to hear about the different environments we had experienced growing up and how they affected us. It was a hard subject to discuss, but when both groups came back together we were all very open and understanding with each other. It was very eyeopening to hear about what people of color have experienced due to racism and stereotypes. I also feel these discussions really put the class readings in perspective for us, and helped us learn a lot about our classmates as well as ourselves.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Plenary #2

Wendy Cai-Lee gave a very inspiring speech about the hardships she had to overcome to be the person she is today. She is a very driven, hardworking woman who uses the skills of her past to succeed in the future. She shared some very personal stories with us that were heart wrenching, but she shared her great sense of humor with us too. I especially enjoyed hearing her talk about her relationship with her son, and the story about leaving the house with mismatched shoes on!

[kravistgirl-blog]

Why two different designs for something that is essentially the same thing? The color of an object should not decide what gender uses it.