Social Justice Event... WOOP WOOP

Social Justice Event: Vagina Monologues Open Books, Open Minds

Okay, so I went to The Vagina Monologues. I went on Valentine’s Day. I have yet to post a blog, I was going to do it today (April 10^th, 2014). After my math class though, I went to the “Open Books,Open Minds” conference or meeting for my seminar class. We were presenting my poster. I’m using this event instead since it related so much more to this class! ****I STARTED WRITING THIS THE 10th THAT'S WHY IT SAYS THAT :)

Okay, before I start this… Remember before we entered college, we were supposed to read that "Pym" book? I wasn’t too upset about it, I love reading. Except for this book… I couldn’t get past the 5^th page. But on the bright side, it’s a nice decoration on my book shelf. Anyways! There were six students in the front of the room talking about all of the different themes within this book. Kaleena and I kept staring at each other because it was so relative to this class!

One of the students was talking about racism. He also related the author, or the protagonist in the book, to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. He was saying that they faced many difficulties in their lives and couldn’t be heard. This reminded me of Rodriguez, Collier, and Delpit. All three of these authors had a general theme that there

are many cultures within a classroom. In addition, it reminded me of our SWAAMP activity (Straightness, Whiteness, Americanness, Able-bodiedness, Maleness, and Property). We already have these preconceived ideas in life and our lives are constantly being influenced by these dominant ideologies. Within the story Pym, with the main protagonist (Pym himself) being black, he was already struggling. People were already giving him a hard time and no one would listen to him just because of his skin color.

They were also talking about how there was actually violence within this book. There was a tension between Pym’s ship, when he was on sea, and the Native American’s. People were being killed, yet miraculously Pym and his partner, Peters, didn’t die. They end up becoming friends with one of the Natives who ends up admitting that he has a fear of anything that’s white, which is another sign of racism. Or maybe he’s scared because he thinks that they’re racist towards him. This reminded me of, in a way, to Johnson. He openly admitted that he was afraid of someone from a different race and he was talking explicitly about his issue. He knew that white people had more power than him and he was actually afraid of that concept. I also think this is an anti-August situation since this person didn’t feel safe. He wasn’t comfortable in his surroundings, or society.

Another student was talking about a homosexual couple. She was saying how differently they were being treated on this adventure. This reminded me of August because we talked about homosexuality in that article. It’s not necessarily that this homosexual couple didn’t feel safe, but it was more of the fact that they didn’t feel comfortable and were not accepted. August says that you need to feel connected and included, which clearly these characters didn’t feel since they were being treated differently from the rest. Just because they weren't a straight couple, it led to them feeling left out.

Overall, it was a good event for this class. It was kind of funny since I went to an event, the Vagina Monologues, and paid money for it to use as my blog post but instead a chose a completely opposite event. I only was at this event for another class but it was crazy how relative you could make it to this class! I didn’t like the Vagina Monologues that much… I mean, it was funny but for future FNED students – I wouldn’t go to it :)

HERE'S A PICTURE OF ME WITH A SUPER COOL PIN FROM THIS EVENT

And I doubt you want this, but here's a link to buy "Pym" on amazon in case you want to buy it!