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Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Wear purple: Support a great cause and look good at the same time!
I am wearing purple today. It's not really a fashion statement (though in all fairness it's a fantastic color and should be worn more. Come on boys, get out of you comfort zone!) but at the same time, it is. I'm trying to make a statement about our country, about our society, about how we view others and how we treat them.
The past month and a half has been full of tragedy. Six GLBT youth have committed suicide due to homophobic bullying, and anyone who doesn't recognize this as a problem is sorely mistaken. Things need to change, and quickly. Studies show that GLBT youth are more than three times as likely to commit suicide (Suicide and the GLBT Community) as their straight peers.
What is this due to? In my opinion, lack of interference into anti-gay bullying and the lack of education students are getting about homosexuality. Too much of people's knowledge comes from biased sources and bigoted organizations and people.
For a country founded upon acceptance and freedom, we fair poorly when it comes to accepting homosexuality into our community. The arguments against those of us who identify as GLBT are insensitive and incorrect. That is why the GLBT community and its allies need to stand up and set the record straight (so to speak).
I urge you all to wear purple. If not for yourself, for the many members of the GLBT community, especially the youth, who face discrimination every day. Policies and politics are changing, and things are looking better. Let's do all we can to push for the rights and acceptance we all deserve.
Someone has to do it, and why not you?
The past month and a half has been full of tragedy. Six GLBT youth have committed suicide due to homophobic bullying, and anyone who doesn't recognize this as a problem is sorely mistaken. Things need to change, and quickly. Studies show that GLBT youth are more than three times as likely to commit suicide (Suicide and the GLBT Community) as their straight peers.
What is this due to? In my opinion, lack of interference into anti-gay bullying and the lack of education students are getting about homosexuality. Too much of people's knowledge comes from biased sources and bigoted organizations and people.
For a country founded upon acceptance and freedom, we fair poorly when it comes to accepting homosexuality into our community. The arguments against those of us who identify as GLBT are insensitive and incorrect. That is why the GLBT community and its allies need to stand up and set the record straight (so to speak).
I urge you all to wear purple. If not for yourself, for the many members of the GLBT community, especially the youth, who face discrimination every day. Policies and politics are changing, and things are looking better. Let's do all we can to push for the rights and acceptance we all deserve.
Someone has to do it, and why not you?
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Pocahontas: Europeanized for Her Own Good?
While looking through paintings and portraits of Pocahontas today in class, I tried to put myself in her position. Why, I don't know. I can't say most teenage boys would try and put themselves in the situation of a teenage Native American princess, but then again I'm not most teenage boys. Anyways, what I discovered after doing was that, well, it sucked.
Can you imagine being taken from everything and everyone you know and being forced to marry some old, bearded man and then go to his country where a culture and language so different than your own dominates? It would be frightening and difficult. I cannot imagine doing it all.
The different ways she was portrayed speaks volumes about how people used her image to get across their own views of her. In her portrait, her only portrait, the common idea of her as a young, beautiful princess is completely trashed. She looks almost scary in her classic English garb, and definitely a bit older than a teenager. That English air certainly wasn't doing her any favors.
Can you imagine being taken from everything and everyone you know and being forced to marry some old, bearded man and then go to his country where a culture and language so different than your own dominates? It would be frightening and difficult. I cannot imagine doing it all.
The different ways she was portrayed speaks volumes about how people used her image to get across their own views of her. In her portrait, her only portrait, the common idea of her as a young, beautiful princess is completely trashed. She looks almost scary in her classic English garb, and definitely a bit older than a teenager. That English air certainly wasn't doing her any favors.
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