This meditation had the purpose of forgiveness. Forgiving others for hurting you, or yourself for hurting others, or even hurting yourself. It was a chance to think about wrongdoings you have done or that have been done to you and forget them. They are not worth holding onto forever. Forgiving and forgetting about them will relieve so much tension in your life that you will feel better about everything afterwards. Its just as simple as letting go.
Eve Ensler describes social justice as men and women finding their “girl cell.” Everyone has this cell, that is suppressed for various reasons around the world. She describes it as passion, and vulnerability, which she believes are out greatest strengths. We have, however, been taught the exact opposite; we are taught that vulnerability is weakness. It is for that reason that everyone is trained not to be a girl. She relates this to the mass amounts of rape and genocide happening in other countries. There are just a few women who embrace their “girl cell” and make a difference about what is going on in their situation. She also witnessed that when a man’s “girl cell” is completely suppressed leads to violence. They pretend to be fine when they are broken inside. She finally relates her entire speech together by saying imagine what we do to other girls in the world, just based on what we do to our inner girl. Girls are raped, killed, enslaved, etc. They are objectified in many societies.
This form of social justice is different than any other we have discussed this term; mainly because she relates it back to what we do to ourselves. She is discussing feminism; however she is not just discussing cases of feminism, she is showing how we suppress our “inner girl.” The amount of unfairness we give out “inner girl” is just a small comparison to the amount of unfairness people give to other girls. The cruel treatment that girls are put through in many countries can be stopped is more people embraced their inner girl. Doing so would raise more awareness about the injustice that is occurring, and possible decrease the amount of suppression that is occurring.
So far the research process has not been too terrible. I have never been one of the people that moan and groan when a teacher announces that it is time to start the annual research paper. I don’t find it hard at all. Although a lot of work must go into the paper, its not hard, or worth the complaining.
As far as my topic goes, it has been hard for me to find a variety in the information I am finding. There are more than plenty of sources, however they all the information they contain is basically the same material, just said in a different fashion. I’m sure there is plenty more information out there just waiting to be found, I am just going to have to dig and rummage through a lot of stuff to find it. I feel that will be the hardest part of the entire research paper; even with as simple as that task is. It is also hard to break the habit of going directly to Google to find any information i am looking for. Database searches aren’t much different from a Google search, however it is the principle. It has always been as simple as going to Google.com to learn anything and everything you want to know; and now the world wide web is forbidden for this paper.
Annotated Bibliography
Kelly, Rita Mae, and Jane Bayes. “Implementing Comparable Worth In The Public Sector: Theory And Practice At The State And Local Level.” Policy Studies Review 5.4 (1986): 769-775. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.
The information in this academic journal is somewhat dated; however it is an example of the progress that women have made in the fight for equal compensation in the work force. The origination of the fight for equity in salary among men and women originated with the Federal Equal Pay Act in 1963. The pay equity movement for women it based on the assumptions that gender discrimination in the workplace should be deemed illegal and that men and women should have an equal opportunity to possess equal positions. It is also states that “women’s work” should possess equal worth as “men’s work.” Examples of women’s work are professions in the areas of childcare, nursing, and teaching; while examples of men’s work are professions those that require strenuous physical labor. This source also states that there was a common thought that equalizing the value of men and women in the workplace would cause women disinterest in the effort of trying to achieve true and complete equality in the workplace. Another factor causing hindrances in the efforts of women to gain equality was the fact that either a woman’s salary would require an increase, or there would be a need for a decrease in the salary of a man. This stated, a company would have potential of losing millions, potentially billions, of dollars by increasing a woman’s pay; but at the same time it would drive men to quit their jobs if their salaries were docked. This source will be useful for describing the trend in the fight for equal pay among men and women, starting back during the Kennedy/Johnson administration.
Meric, Linda. “Women still seek paycheck equity.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution [Atlanta, GA] 7 Feb. 2010: A23. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.
This article is based on the most recent US Census when it was written; taken in 2010. The facts stated from the census showed that “the pay gap between men’s and women’s earnings actually widened slightly between 2007 and 2008, from 78 percent to 77 percent.” The salary gaps in ethnic groups other than the white working class are slightly greater. In the Latino ethnic group, women only make 68 percent of a man’s salary while doing the same job. Lilly Ledbetter, a woman fighting to receive compensation for the discrimination she faced in the workplace that was reflected in her salary, filed a lawsuit in attempt to close the gap in salary. Although her court case was overturned, it was the beginning of a new effort to receive equality. This source will be useful due to the fact that it has statistical information backing up the evidence of sexual discrimination in the workplace.
“Equal pay is not only about fairness – it’s about survival Gender * Sex discrimination persists as a real problem for women in the workplace.” St Louis Post-Dispatch [MO] 25 June 2009: A15. Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources. Web. 10 Oct. 2012
In modern times, the fact that women do not receive equal compensation for the same job as men is more of a matter of survival than equality. The “breadwinner” in a lot of modern families is the women; therefore it affects the overall financial status of a family. “In Missouri, the typical woman had to work from January 2008 through April 2009 to earn what her male counterpart received in 2008 alone.” “The Paycheck Fairness Act is a comprehensive bill that would create stronger incentives for employers to follow the law, empower women to negotiate for equal pay, and strengthen federal outreach, education, and enforcement efforts.” This article also brings to notice that the inequity in male and female salaries is not just affecting the current financial status of a family; it also determines their security in retirement. This source will be useful in describing specific examples of how families are affected in modern times.
In today’s library session, there was a lot of talk about the databases and other sources available to the students at JWU. All of this information will be very useful while compiling information from many different sources during the research process. I really like the the library catalog doesn’t only search for books located in the JWU stacks; it looks for online articles, magazines, videos, and various other source mediums. I feel the databases are going to be the most useful to me. With a topic that is still under scrutiny, there probably is not a lot of literature in the stacks. Most of my information will come from news articles and other similar sources discussing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, President Obama’s first piece of legislation. It is also good to know that theses sources are still available to us when the library is closed, that way our schedules do not have to be planned around library hours to ensure all necessary research is completed. I feel that I will be frequenting the GREENR and Academic Search Complete databases more than any of the other ones that are available. I have checked both of these out and they both have a lot of information on my research topic that comes from various sources. Since these databases are so broad, there will be a variety of information on any topic that needs researching.
Wasichu was the name that the Lakota Indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota gave Aaron Huey when he went to visit. the name Wasichu is a word that means non-indian or the one who takes the best meat. He relates the name that the Indians have given him to social justice. He says it is unjust that the native people of the land that is the United States have become prisoners in a place that was originally theirs. The government has almost completely stripped them of their rights. During the 1800s, America’s greatest victories during wars was the defeat of the native people. Huey says this is a social injustice due to the fact that most of what we knew back then came from the Indians. The early American civilizations would not have survived without the knowledge they obtained from the Indians, however the Indians are treated as if they were a nuisance.
In 2010, 75-95% of the Lakota Indian population were living below the poverty line. The infant mortality rate in the Lakota population is higher than the US National average. There is a 70% dropout rate among students attending school. The life expectancy of a Lakota male is only 46-48 years. These statistics are all pulled back to the topic of social injustice. If they were here before any settlers, why are they prisoners of war? Why do they not receive funding for schools? Why is their health care poor? They did not choose to live on a reservation. They were TOLD to live on a reservation. Those who are born on the rez. are born into poverty and would have a very hard time venturing off the rez. into American society, so they just stay where they are. It is not fair that these people have to live in such a dirty, poor, and illness infested area. It is not a life that anyone desires, however it was forced upon them by the government. Why is the US so proud of their victories in the 1800s when they wouldn’t have been possible without the people they were in combat with?
I agree that the way the Lakota, or any other Indians on a reservation, have to live. The lifestyle was forced upon them, even though I’m sure they dream of more.
During the TED Talk “We Need to Talk About an Injustice” by Bryan Stevenson, he talks about how he was raised, his decisions, and his career. He relates social injustice to the fact that one in six people put on trial and sentenced to the death penalty is actually innocent. After being sentenced, the case is later brought back up to find people to be innocent, thus wasting however many years that person spent in jail when they could be exercising their rights as a working class citizen. I agree with the fact that this is a social injustice. I’m sure a majority those innocent people who are founded guilty for a crime are those that cannot afford to choose their lawyer. Instead they are appointed a pro bono lawyer that may not be able to argue their case as well as any other lawyer could have.
He also discusses the abuse of the mentally ill people who are incarcerated. This is also an injustice in society because those people did not choose to be mentally ill. It is what life handed them, and they may not know how to deal with it. This fact should not lead to unfair and unjust treatment while incarcerated. They have not made the choice to be mentally ill, and should not receive unfair treatment for something that cannot be prevented.
Another point discussed in this TED talk was the trial of children as adults. As a lawyer, Stevenson has represented a thirteen year old black child who was being tried just the same as a seventy five year old white male would have been. I believe this is also an injustice. Although the child’s crime may have been severe, they are still a child. Oftentimes a trial for children is altered to where it does not scare the child, and the people in the courtroom are friendlier. There is a reason for this. I feel that a trial for a child being tried for the crime of an adult should still be altered for the sake of the child. Although the punishment may be more severe, they should not be tried the same as a 75 year old man. It may be seen as a way to scare the child into shape, however the child should not be scarred for the rest of their life from the events occurring during their trial and punishment. This opinion can also be altered based on the crime committed by the child.
Pecola’s inner conflict was solved when she went to see Soaphead Church to have her eye color changed. He said if she took the meat he was giving to her, gave it to Bob, the dog, and he acted weird upon eating it then she would receive her blue eyes. Sure enough, after giving Bob the meat, he wondered off into the yard coughing the cough of a sick man, stumbling over nothing, and eventually dying. This off reaction meant Pecola was going to receive her blue eyes that she had asked for. The catch, however, was that nobody could see the blueness of Pecola’s eyes except for Pecola herself. When she looked in the mirror, she believed that she truly had the bluest of the blue eyes, while everyone else still saw her as ugly Pecola Breedlove. This causes Pecola to go mad and get kicked out of school.
I would say the climax would be when Pecola finally decided to ask Soaphead Church for her blue eyes. This event causes the most dramatic change in the main character. She had convinced herself that she had the bluest eyes, and that was all that mattered to her. She felt beautiful and everything else didn’t matter one bit. She was, in her own mind, the most beautiful thing ever. She had changed so much that she began to be secluded from all of her friends that were present in the beginning of the book.
Pecola, the main character in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, is facing a conflict in her life. Of the five types of conflict, Pecola is expressing characteristics of a few. Hers mainly seems to be man, or girl, vs. self; however her internal conflict is caused by the opinions of society. She is having an inner struggle about her appearance, which is ultimately driven by the opinions of the members of society at the time. Her struggle with appearance is caused by the common belief that a person is ugly unless he or she has blond hair, blue eyes, and light skin. “The lighter the prettier.” Society has caused her to believe that she is not beautiful, which no young girl or boy should be thinking. Starting at a young age a struggle with society, like the one presented in this book, is what gives kids a complex all through their lives. If you believe you are ugly starting at such a young age, you will convince that you really are, when in most cases it is the exact opposite. Nobody is ugly; we just aren’t beautiful in the same ways. Someone with the biggest, deepest blue eyes, seemingly never-ending, that could captivate you for hours, is just as beautiful as the person with the darkest eyes anyone has ever seen. The dark, complex eyes that seem to hide so much add just a touch of mystery to the beautiful person who possesses them. Pecola is so young; however, she does not realize that a stereotype does not have to be met to possess traits of beauty. Her struggle with society is the cause of the struggle with herself. If every stereotype of beauty was met, everyone in the world would seem as if they came from a dough and were all cut with the same cookie cutter. Nobody would possess true beauty. If Pecola had blond hair, bright blue eyes, and light skin she would not be the Pecola that was born and raised into the Breedlove family. She would be the Pecola that was cut out of dough. The puppet made to please the opinions of others. The girl who would not be teaching others around her life lessons. Possessing the traits that you desire would change fate, which should not be tampered with. Everything happens for a reason. Said reason may not make sense at the time, but in the end it will all play out.
During today’s meditation session, we were asked to find a meadow. It took a few minutes of calming my mind before I finally came to a place that was full of white and yellow flowers, seemingly untouched. The luscious green grass was slightly cold and dewy, as a hint of early morning. Birds were singing, crickets still chirping, and flowers swaying. Overall it was a soothing place, worthy of a nice picnic or even a nap. As I was walking toward the tree line, I began to notice a path through the woods that was never-ending, or so it seemed. Walking along the path, I noticed the small things, like the toadstools growing at the base of the trees. Even vines growing upward along the trunks of the mile-high trees. There were tiny green frogs with the brightest orange eyes, hiding from the world in the greenery, however they were not too successful. With eyes the color of the hottest fire imaginable, there was no chance of missing them. Eventually as the path led on, the trees got thinner and more sparse; with the exception of one; a great willow tree that was inviting me to sit at its base and take a rest. Take a moment to myself just to think and observe. I sat and thought about the recent events of my life; good and bad. It gave me a sense of serenity and peace. It seemed as if all things were alright. No need for stress, no matter the amount of chaos and uneasiness occurring at the time. It portrayed the feeling that everything that happens is teaching me a lesson, and in the near future everything would come together perfectly, the way I had always intended it to be, even before the turn in events.
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