Middle Sexes

The film “Middle Sexes” was an entirely new perspective for me on where views on transgendered people originate. The film focused of how transgendered people are viewed in different cultures around the world, and how different cultures identify gender. The idea of being Transgendered has not been accepted in the west, yet it is more widely accepted in eastern countries. This is due to the fact that being transgendered is not accepted by most “western” religions, like Christianity, and is accepted by “eastern” religions like Buddhism. Religion, especially Christianity, has always been a driving force as to what is, and is not accepted by our society. This fact is very disheartening to me, as an agnostic I don’t believe in the rules set by the Bible or any other religious institution. I feel that we should look to the East and notice how their tolerance for others has NOT brought them to impending doom, and has only brought happiness to more people. Although being transgendered, gay, or lesbian has no scientific marker, one must realize no one would ever make the choice to be ostracized, and if there really is this all powerful God who created us, he(or she) created them for a reason as well.

Manipulating Meaning: The Military Name Game

I never realized before reading this article the importance that can rely within something as simple as just a name. Someone’s choice of words really can change the connotation of the entirety of what they are trying to say. This reminds me of the ESPN writer who was recently fired for using the headling “A Chink in the Armor” when referring to Knicks’ point guard Jeremy Lin’s first loss after his explosive first couple games with Knicks. Although “A Chink in the Armor” is a commonly used expression and headline in sports, because Jeremy Lin was the topic of discussion the headline was seen as exteremly offensive and the author was promptly and publically fired from ESPN.

I was surprised to see just how in depth the thought process behind military operations in order to manipulate public opinion. However, I shouldn’t have been so surprise because this has been common practice for the governments since before World War II, when Hilter used words to manipulate the people into believing his military operations were for the good of the people, instead of the horrors we now know them to be.

New Indigenous Reserve Aims at Saving Fading Culture

While reading the Huffington Post, I came across the article New Indigenous Reserve Aims at Saving Fading Culture. It reminded me of the reading "The Kayapo Resistance," because they both have to do with indigenous people fighting to save their culture. In the Huffington Post article, the Maijuana people of Peru were granted a reserve that is close to a million acres. The article makes it sound like a step forward for the people, and I really hope it is. I like to think that this is part of a snowball created from the "Kayapo Resistance" and that because of the Kayapo, indigenous people around the world are finally getting justice and the rights to the land that they deserve.

Arrested Development

The TV show "Arrest Development" is a hysterical show that is based around satirizing kinship and what it means.  The show's storyline centers on the Bluth family, a formerly wealthy, habitually dysfunctional family who loses everything and has to depend on each other. The show pushes the envelope about familial relations and what and who constitutes family and why. If you have never watched this show you missed a gem and I highly recommend you start.

http://www.hulu.com/arrested-development

My Crazy Family

Above is a kinship diagram of my extended family, if you look at the key I symbolized by the yellow circle. Although I live with my father, my diagram is heavily matriarch\ favored. I am much closer to my mother's family and have not met the majority of my father's biological family, partly due to them being deceased and partly due to unknown reasons to me. My mother's side of the family is 100% Belgian, I am in fact the part of the first generation to be born in the United States. I also decided to create a diagram of my fictive family.

I added a diagram of my fictive family because they are the family I grew up with, which is why I made the background pink. My fathers parents died when he was young so he was practically adopted by his best friend's family. I consider them my family and call them my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents.Before I came to college I had never lived more than 2 miles from any member of this family, which is why I am the closest to them. My father's best friends daughter is my best friend and sister, I even lived with her family off an on during middle school and high school. My fictive family is a giant stereotypical Italian family, and even though I don't have a drop of Italian blood I have a lot of Italian mannerisms and can make insanely good marinara sauce due to their secret family recipe.

I definitely do not have the typical American family. But I am lucky enough to have a big Italian family and a big Belgian family and I would not trade it for anything.

Five-year-old boy lives as girl in youngest case of Gender Identity Disorder

I stumbled across the article Five-year-old boy lives as girl in youngest case of Gender Identity Disorder when I was browsing on barstoolsports.com. The link goes to the original article posted in The Telegraph. After reading the article I could not help but think that 5 years old is a little young to be making long lasting gender decisions. Although it is great to see the parents and school system supporting this boy's decision, what if he changes his mind? Then the entire diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder becomes less of a disorder and can be seen as a personal choice which degenerates the validity of the disorder, which is unfair to those who are old enough to know that they will always feel the way they do. I also am very surprised that it is referred to as a "disorder," to me the word "disorder" has a very negative connotation, meanwhile the rest of the story has a supportive tone,

AAA 's "Official Statement on Race"

 Race is defined as of now as an unscientific judgement of someone's culture and society. Biological factors and evolution have proven to be the source of the color variation of people and how the cultures interact with each other. The AAA has attempted changed the idea of "race" by studying other cultures, in order to better understand other cultures and improve relations between cultures. The variation of physical traits and biological backgrounds help the AAA to find a better understanding for people across the world.