Started at the Bottom...I'm So Glad to See You, Winter Break

To swiftly summarize, I have learned how difficult cohesive writing is. Organizing one's thoughts enough to make a well-supported argument involves patience, practice, and passion. I do not have the patience or practice to write as much as this course asked me to, but I do have a passion for analyzing and constructing arguments. This passion alone saved me many nights filled with writer's block, procrastination, and mindless keyboard typing. The many fields that this class included went well beyond just writing, and I took immense pleasure in seeing how the world is an argument.

"3rd Rock from the Sun", the Miss America Pageant, and images such as this:



are all statements on our world and what sells. This class opened my eyes to all of the current problems our world is fighting to change like the N-word in public discourse, the way history glorifies some and shuns others, and to solve the divisions of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, etc. These types of issues interest me because, by researching them, I have learned been allowed to open my eyes to new issues. While again, the process of hammering out draft after draft was daunting and tedious, the daily analysis of the American media was amazing. This skill and viewpoint are tools that I'm bringing with me through out future classes and in my everyday internet surfing. While again, I could've done without so much physical writing, the most valuable skill this class taught me is to find the argument in anything beyond words. It forced me to find my own solutions to today's problems, even coming up with counter-arguments on the way. These solutions, while I do not think are the exact answer, have given me a starting point in activism and argumentation.

Winter Break HERE I COME

~DSB

Bad Faith and Public Discourse

Does our current model of public discourse reward bad faith argumentation? Yes, it completely does. It does so because the commercial and entertainment values of anything goes up for bad faith arguments. Getting your opponent or the audience "riled up" helps to promote anything. I remember watching the Fab 5 documentary and while the documentary was about the glory of five freshman starting for college basketball and making a back-to-back appearance in the title game. However, the commercials promoting the documentary showcased how these black men were treated because of their race.

The bad faith argument comes in when Jalen Rose, the point guard for Michigan, stated that the Duke Blue Devils only recruited "Uncle Toms" for their program. This argument alone spawned media attention and even became the catalyst for Duke's own documentary covering those same years. This showed their opponent to be for a certain kind of black people (racist), when the fact was that they were a better team and proved it in the second half of the 92 title game. The documentary was phenomenal, but it could've done without the attack on another college. This became the focal point of many people's discussion about the movie instead of how amazing a feat it was to be underclassmen starting at the collegiate level.

Taking Sides: A Source for A4

Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Race and Ethnicity

This book by Raymond D'Angelo and Herbert Russel chronicles a wide variety of issues that are tied to race. From the first appearances of racist thought among children to the racial arbitrariness of a genetic versus cultural definition, this book is a short anthology of every issue concerning race under the sun. I found the book through the USC Homer tool after browsing for a short amount of time. I found three books that were tailored to my argument and decided that this one would be the best among the three because of the wide spectrum of race debates that it covers.

Having already started writing my paper, this book is crucial because it argues how damaging it is to any movement to attach "race" as the primary issue. They show affirmative action for what it is and offer a solution to focusing on the disadvantage of class instead of race. The main focus of this book is to argue about race issues in a debate style format. Each chapter rotates between the "yes" and the "no" on the toughest race dilemmas. It's like watching a tennis match; the passion that each side argues with is heated.

Spectrum Series: Michele Norris

While listening to much of Norris's speech at Bovard last Wednesday, I found myself not one hundred percent engaged. I sat there respectfully trying to piece together exactly what this "post-racial" society is and disagreeing on the fact that the term exists period. It was laughable that anyone could've come up with that term and truly believed that this is where society is today. For most of the beginning I was lulled by the conversation and deep in thought about that term. It wasn't until later in the speech where I really perked up and hung on to every word Norris said.

What was interesting about the section of the event that I keyed in to was that none of the words were Norris's. She created a dialogue using a smorgasbord of six word race cards that could float back and forth between similar ideas and concepts. They ranged form humorous, to dark and traveled through every kind of discrimination in the process. It showed me not that these cards could have an entertainment value to them, but that six words alone is not enough. I was correct in my assessment in how limiting the experience is and while I agree with Norris in forcing you to nutshell your story, I believe that each is a puzzle piece of conversation. Once put together, we will see what the vision of a post-racial society can truly be. Right now, we're still assembling the pieces.

3rd Rock from the Sun: Race?

What I think is interesting is that race goes beyond physical looks, but that generally is the first marker. If let's say that Dick looked at the Black Freedom Movement, he would see a majority dark-skinned group of fighting for voting rights. If in his shoes, I would see a group of people fighting for a fair chance at representation. It wouldn't be where you came from that defined you, but what ties you together currently. If race and ethnicity no longer exists, those with similar interests and situations would group together.

Dick's obsession to fulfill stereotypes fulfills a very American stereotype of needing to "fit in." Stepping into his shoes, unable to understand this "caste system", I would find other ways to relate to a group of people. Life is defined by who you are, but also by who you're not. Unfortunately, an alien wouldn't understand this differentiation.

Being in Dick's shoes teaches me that race is almost pointless, when referring to the past. There are many people throughout history that couldn't receive the vote, including poor white and women. Yes, linking a social movement to race will bring unity within, but the ultimate goal of obtaining voting rights is equality for all. If race is the main factor bringing a group of people together, then the mantra is not equal rights. It would be more accurately, equal rights for just one. 

Laramie: What Did I Learn

By researching The Laramie Project, I learned how much the myth of equality in America is still present. America still pretends to be the golden boy of opportunity and protecting the rights of all, but the gay rights movement shows that there's so much work to do. I found that my perception of this event was that it was a hate crime, but I also figured that more people knew about Laramie. I was sorely mistaken as people read my paper for the first time. I also thought that there was much more exposure and that Laramie, after ten years, would've changed after such a tragic event. I was 0 for 2 after realizing that Laramie just wanted to forget its past, and not for the better. I learned how much having a face for a cause makes or breaks the movement. Shepard was definitely a great launching point for empathetic activists to change the way we view sexuality.

The Laramie Project truly gave me a sense of purpose in studying theater here at USC. It is a beautifully crafted story that tells it how it is, but provides a way for those who perform and watch it to understand how tragic the event was. Theater can and should be used as a way to excited change in others and move them emotionally and spiritually to come together and take the world by storm. 

I performed The Laramie Project during my Senior year of high school. It was such a moving piece that it certainly shocked me that it was my first time hearing about the Defense of Marriage Act and Prop 8. While I admit that I don't avidly follow politics, it still shocked me that I had no prior contact to gay rights issues before doing a play in which someone was killed for being gay.

The reason why I'm picking this topic isn't limited to Laramie alone. I want that to be my major focus, but I want to examine gay rights in general as well. I've studied lots of different social movements on gaining rights for voting, on education reform, and on achieving the basic civil rights. Already in my studies I've noticed that homophobia and gay rights were very taboo subjects throughout history, but now it's becoming an everyday conversation. It's in the earliest forms of becoming a social movement. I'm always fascinated as to why violence sparks most social movements, but more importantly I want to look at why it isn't taught in schools. To begin, maybe I'd talk about how we can even begin to talk about gay rights in the classroom.

Especially since Facebook users united to bring forth a WUNC display that correlates with a social movement. We might just be in the earliest stages of the latest American social movement to take flight.