#writ200

[sailing-ever-west]

WRIT200 Blog Post #5: Spiders

Will this blog one day have a real theme? Who knows? For now, I'll continue simply talking about anything I find interesting. This is Letters From a Not-Quite Lunatic, after all. Maybe by the end I'll achieve full lunatic status and enter my final, most powerful form, but regardless, today is the day I talk about spiders.

I think maybe it all started when I was little, out of a desire to be fearless (or perhaps, the simple recognition that I was fearless about uncommon things, just as the things I did fear were usually odd). My mom and brother were both terrified of spiders, so when my dad was at work (a.k.a. most of the time), it fell to me with my concerning ability to switch off my emotions for a task to be the slayer of these mighty, tiny beasts.

I took pride in my warrior's status for years, only having one or two big scares (wrapping a towel around yourself out of the shower to see a huge wolf spider right on the front of it is not for the faint of heart), but over time I went from apathy to an actual affection for them.

The seed was planted most likely by my nana, who told me she was glad to have spiders around because they were good for her garden, eating all the smaller bugs that preyed on the plants. They were protectors, in that way. Nature's guardians.

I kept this in mind as the years passed, especially as I found myself to be a rather odd and lonely child. What was so offensive, I wondered, about a little creature who traveled alone and ate flies? We don't even have more than two species of venomous ones in my state. I pondered this, as I tended to ponder things. 

My life changed drastically at twelve when my mom had my little sister and we outgrew my childhood home. We moved to the east side of town and bought a house built in the 70s with problems I don't even blame the seller for tiptoeing around. It was my parents' first time buying a home, being just ahead of millennials in being able to do so at all, and it was certainly an experience. 

The house had a finished basement (a somewhat generous term, in hindsight), and I alone slept down there in a room we had to erect a small wall to create. And perhaps it was the eerie backyard pool just outside my ground-level window (by pure coincidence and having been built in the 70s, it was the exact same blueprint as the one they filmed at in season 1 of Stranger Things), or the fact that the stresses of school difficulty and caring for my little sister were beginning to truly wear on me, but I couldn't find it in me to worry very much about my constant roommates, the basement spiders. 

I think I used to kill them at first, but there were so many of them that after a while I got tired of it, and unless they were in or near my bed I began to leave them alone. I would idly watch them crawl along the wall or the floor, and something like compassion for them began to grow in me. We weren't so different, really. Small, lonely things who kept to the shadows and watched as good, social, normal people turned up their noses. As time went by and life changed, another sibling came along and school got harder, we moved again, twice, and I grew only more wracked with anxiety, I began to almost see spiders as a sign of good luck. A small moment of companionship between me and the creature, two otherwise unconnected beings who despite the so-called ways of the world, had no desire to kill each other.

A couple of years ago I even got a plush spider at a gift shop. It looked cute to me, with its big shiny eyes, and it had just the right constitution to squeeze. I named it Paolo, and with the exception of my youngest two siblings my family found it rather horrid. 

"What's with the spider?" a relative asked. "Why would you get something scary for a stuffed animal?"

I pointed out that bears were quite scary too if you actually came across one, but had been the standard stuffed toy for around a century with no complaint. 

"Well, you can at least see the good things about bears," I was told, "like how they care for their young. This is just…creepy and evil."

I didn't say that spiders protected gardens, or often died for their young. I forgot. I was quieted. 

But despite their rampant unpopularity, I still find myself defending the little creatures, perhaps all the more because they're so universally hated. I tend not to trust human vitriol, I suppose. We often aim it at things, or even people, who have committed no sin but inconveniencing us or being a bit too "different" for our personal comfort. 

It does things for the soul, I think, to love a horrible little creature who can give you nothing back. Perhaps, then, there is hope for yourself, too.

#writ200 #school blog #spiders #blog rambles

[itswrit200-blog]

Gender Equity In the Workplace.

The purpose of this blog is to highlight the factors that influence gender inequalities in the workplace. It will also cover significant scenarios from different employees who experienced gender inequality within various work industries.

Although there have been various gender movements in different platforms such as news and social media, there are still some instances of gender inequality that occur in the workplace. In Erica Southworth's article, she highlights how the 20th-century gender role stigma on women is still additionally retained on employees besides the LGBTQ community (Southworth, 2014). She also metaphorically emphasizes six valuable points which are "When job 'paradise' becomes constricted, trapped in the old skin, shedding the gender stigma skin, emergence of a new animal, a 21st-century rebirth, and recommendations for action" (Southworth, 2014). Likewise, Tricia Dawson's article talks about the significance of gender, class, and power in analyzing the pay inequalities in the workplace (2018). With the gender proportions by each department, it briefly describes that during the past decade, "only 2.6 percent of men worked mostly with women, whereas over 83 percent worked mainly with men" (Dawson, 2018).

In the book “The Other Women's Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America” by Dorthy Sue Cobble,  Women inequality within the workplace is explained through the years of WW2. Women have been struggling with inequality within the workplace for many decades. In this book the author Sue Cobble summarizes the book as “fascinating and relatable”. It touches on women struggles in the WWII era post war experience being a “Rosie Riveter”. This book uncovers the specific women leaders in America in their “struggles for equality in their unions and labor federations as well as in the workplace and in the domestic sphere.” (Winning, 2006) we would think we have passed the inequalities between men and women in the workplace, unfortunately there is still much work to do. 

This blog will also highlight how Gender equity in the workplace is very important. It will also address some of the issues of how women are unvalued, and underpaid in a workplace although the workload is the same. According to the Women's Voices report “ I wouldn’t be asked to do so much for free if I wasn’t a woman. There is this automatic assumption that because it’s a nonprofit and because we are women, that our time is free. I work a lot of overtime and have lieu hours but I have so much to do that I can’t take it off. I see the burnout in my staff, they are sick and not taking time off” (Women’s Voices, 2018, p.16).  Interesting facts about the article. There are many interesting facts and figures about this report that focus on how unfair women are treated in the workplace, organizations, and in daily life and how women don't have the skills and abilities that men have. This report shows how some people could judge the ability of women even though the workload is the same. This report focuses on women's voices and that they are able to do anything. The report shows how unfair pay wages between men and women are, even though women work as much as a man would and have the same abilities. Also, the report talks about racism, how racialized women shared experiencing racism as well as witnessing it and how they are treated less in the workplace. There are many women around the world who suffer from gender equality not only in a workplace, for example in the Middle East, when receiving a family inheritance, a woman has a lower percentage than men.Gender equity is important because people are able to access and enjoy the same rewards, resources and opportunities regardless of gender.   

By:  Marielle Badua, Amya Gill, Maryana Amanuel 

#writ200 #humber #blog #gender #equity

[writ200-blog]

Gender Diversity In The Workplace.

This blog will discuss the limitations and unfair treatment of women in gender-diverse workplaces. The history behind working women has changed over time, but it has been made evident that we still have a long way to go when it comes to creating equal opportunities for women. In Sudheer Reddy and Aditya Mohan Jadhav’s article, they mention the under-representation of women in boardrooms despite being as capable as their male counterparts (Reddy & Jadhav, 2019). Policies like gender quota legislation have made it compulsory for companies to hire women to diverse workplaces but piggybacking on this law are treatments that do not promote growth for women in workplaces.

As the war on gender diversity continues to produce some results, we constantly see more practices that disrupt this progress and make it more challenging for women to attain the status men have. These practices are reflected in women working extra hard to prove their worth, salary discrepancies as mentioned in Skills4 article, “What is Gender Diversity in the Workplace? Why is it Important?.” Women, in most cases, have to put in extra hours to make the same amount as men in the same positions. The video “Megan Rapinoe Speaks Out About Gender Discrimination, Equal Pay” (2021) highlights the unfair treatment and payment of the U.S women’s soccer team despite performing much better than their male counterparts. This illustrates that working harder and doing better than the opposite gender might still not be enough. There are various stereotypical jobs that women are not considered to be “strong enough,” jobs such as engineering, mathematic, and technology. And according to a report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “only 4.6% of women work in STEM professions, compared to 10.3% of men, as of 2015” (Corporate Wellness Magazine). Based on that, every society treats women and men differently, and as it is believed, women are not strong enough in some positions above. In some cultures, a woman’s first priority is taking care of her family. Gender-diverse organizations show better performance than companies that are not.

#diversity #gender #writ200

[sailing-ever-west]

WRIT200 Blog Post #2 - Opinion: It's Time to Let Realism Die

Before people come after me in the notes, no, I do not mean philosophical realism or that nobody can make cool paintings that look like photos anymore.

What I mean is that blunt artistic realism as an approach to modern media is no longer serving art or audiences as a whole, and we desperately need to let ourselves grow beyond it.

Before color film, we wanted color to make things look more real and accurate. Now, our phones have filters to turn photos black and white for aesthetic purposes. Popular 3D animation used to strive for totally lifelike textures and as much detail as possible, and now with things like the Spider-Verse franchise we're seeing it branch out beyond that into artistic symbolism.

As humans, as audiences, we instinctively understand that the most technically realistic depiction of something is not always the most entertaining, aesthetically pleasing, or effective in its message. Hence, things such as hyperrealistic CG lions are certainly an impressive feat of special effects, but they don't capture audience hearts the way that the original, distinctly stylized cartoon did. Can you imagine if something like The Muppets was computer-generated rather than actually puppeteered? Perhaps it would look more like characters moving on their own, free of the signs of human intervention, but in its attempt to look more "real" it would actually lose its authenticity. We wouldn't feel like it was more realistic, because we are accustomed to and enamored by the way that puppets move when real people operate them.

It is my solid belief that humans crave the handprint. We don't want things to be accurate so much as we want to see ourselves and each other in them. We want to see that they were crafted with a purpose, not just copied or imitated from what we can already observe.

One of my favorite examples of this is the way I felt sitting in the theater at the start of TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, and appreciating a small but telling detail in the art style. The camera panned forward over the city, staying long enough that I could clearly see a stoplight above an intersection, and I noticed that each circle on the stoplight (red, green, and yellow) was a different, roughly sketched shape.

It is not difficult to make perfect circles in any art or animation program. A realistic stoplight would have been an incredibly easy, almost thoughtless choice. But that wouldn't say anything. A stoplight on its own is just a stoplight. A scribbled-in, oddly shaped stoplight gives the audience the additional imagery of childhood drawings, New York's chaotic atmosphere, and the inherent strangeness of a film about mutant turtles with martial arts skills.

Realism isn't bad, but it's so often used as a thoughtless default that it no longer communicates enough information to be truly interesting. Realism has just become static, perfectionist copywork, and in doing so, has lost its human touch.

So let it die, or let it sleep, and let us be moved by the implausible and decidedly alive.

#writ200 #school blog #opinion article #realism #hyperrealism #mutant mayhem #itsv #atsv #media #stylization #art trends

[sailing-ever-west]

WRIT200 Blog Post #6 (PROMPT - Poem From Observation):

"Leeches"

Medicine has not done away with leeches

Not in the place I am from

They live in each hospital, hungry maws whetted

And waiting for fresh blood to come

People fear healing

They fear to be emptied

While told it is just the way things have to be

"We still need them, you see"

So we bow and believe

Though the doubt in our stomachs, the weight on our chests 

Tries to tell us that in some deep way

We've been grieved

Still daily we bleed

For the substance that keeps us alive

Is always the favorite of greed

The leeches are different now

Sanitized

Evolved past medieval 

And yet still archaic and grim

Black, inky, and constant

Other lands look on with horror

And think that our souls must be dim

For still letting them in

But my country is loud 

It will not hear its sin.

And the crime perhaps most of all

While we run all the numbers

And leave people open to kill

Is that we are too cowardly

To say they are leeches

Instead, we call them a bill.

#writ200 #school blog #college #poetry #free verse #medical bills #american healthcare #poetblr

[sailing-ever-west]

WRIT200 Blog Post #3 - The Enforcement of Secular Femininity in Christian Circles

A while ago I (Christian) was talking with my dad (also Christian) about the double standards I experience as a woman as far as how I'm supposed to dress. I explained how comfortable and utilitarian clothing like loose shirts, sweatpants, and cargo shorts seemed to be considered gender-neutral or masculine, and if I wanted to be seen as feminine I would often have to give up comfort or practicality. I don't personally feel the need to be seen as feminine all the time–people can see me how they like and that doesn't mean it's the truth–but it's especially difficult in Christian circles where adherence to the traditional gender binary is seen as a sign of orthodox faith, and divergence from it is seen as inching into sin. The problem is that the gender standards being enforced are often not Biblical but cultural, which makes them fallible to going against other values of the Faith such as modesty or even simple mercy (if you don't understand the latter, know that I once did a full stage play in heels that I had to run in at one point and a dress that didn't allow me to lift my arms above my head or easily expand my middle to breathe).

I think the rest of the conversation I had with my father illuminates my point rather well. When I complained that many useful and comfortable things weren't seen as feminine, he pointed out that you can get feminine cuts of many different clothing items without having to be seen as masculine or remove them entirely from your wardrobe. This is true, but then I asked him to think about what makes something a feminine cut. At that, he understood. 

With the exception of some long skirts which don't need a feminine cut since they are seen as feminine inherently, a feminine cut is almost always one that simply shows more of someone's body. Pants that are skinnier to show the shape of a leg, shirts that taper in at the waist, lower necklines, shorter shorts, thinner material, see-through lace. 

And people in the church, bless their hearts, see this simultaneously as fundamentally feminine (certainly a man couldn't wear them) and as immodest, creating both a deep association between the two things and a nearly impossible standard for women to reach. Show off too much of your body, and you're asking for men's attention. Show off too little of your body, and you're trying to be a man. Unless you dress like a 19th century prairie woman (and even then, watch the cleavage), you are constantly on the edge of being perceived as sinful. 

The most interesting part is that most people enforcing these standards don't even realize that they're still telling women to dress for the pleasure of men; in fact, saying that phrase would often go directly against their professed beliefs. "Women should dress to honor God," they would say. But when did God ask us to adhere to the ever-changing standards of fashion? And what if those standards are set by people with non-Christian and furthermore dehumanizing values?

People seem willing enough to recognize this when it comes to significantly revealing outfits or fashions associated with the LGBTQIA+ community, but mainstream feminine fashion is treated as though it's somehow inherent to womanly nature. It leaves women with a narrow range of options and the constant threat of being shamed. If we as Christians claim to love women and men equally, we need to have the humility to understand that our subjective cultural standards for gender were not directly dictated by God, and that we can and will be wrong about them.

So, fellow Christ-followers, the next time you see a woman in baggy cargo shorts or anything else you instinctively deem unfeminine, consider why you label it that way, and whether you actually believe that femininity is dependent on the standard you are drawing from.

#writ200 #school blog #femininity #Christianity

[sailing-ever-west]

WRIT200 Blog Post #7: "Two-Hundred-and-Fifty"

Long ago I gave up on coloring-books

The kind always given to me on birthdays and Christmas

I started to hate the lines

On restaurant menus and print-outs in Sunday school

So I turned them over, and drew

I have only ever been good at switching things ‘round

‘Til I can see the muse

I am afraid

I’m too much of a poet

Two-hundred-and-fifty, I can give you, I know it

It’s not the spreading of colors

On paper, it’s the pattern

That wearies my hand and my lungs

I once couldn’t muster three-hundred

On some subject or other 

The Hauntings were much too strong

But a song

Plagued my mind.

So I wrote that, instead

Vomited my soul onto a page

I think I cried

And I lost myself in it

Egregious grief

At things that no one even thought strange

But had hurt me, a small thing

Who wanted only to see mountains

And believe that hands could be gentle

And resigned that I wouldn’t taste happiness

If God thought me too strong

And when I finished

Three whole papers had been written

In numbers

Nine-hundred, the song was

Nine-hundred words all together

And I fear I have not gotten better

At shutting myself up in prose

But two-hundred-and fifty, I can do.

And non-fiction, too

For the poet’s role is not to lie

But to strip bare the truth

In all its disappointing glory

With words that do not ease the pain

But perhaps make it just a little prettier

Like a battle brushed in oil

Showing the art in senseless blood

And letting you see, for once

The fear in a young man’s face

As clearly as the end of his bayonet

#writ200 #college #writing blog #poetry #poetry blog #word count #academia #free verse

[sailing-ever-west]

WRIT200 Blog Post #1 - Relationship With Writing Itself

I love the craft of writing, in theory. I love the feeling of choosing just the right word, of creating intricate depictions of humanity. But I am also, unfortunately, a little impatient and constantly tired. I get ideas all the time, but rarely finish them, and I struggle to follow through on my creative projects when I no longer feel as inspired. Even now, I struggle to write this because the prompt is so general and academic. Nonfiction is admittedly difficult for me at times, which I will have to work through since the school assignments on this blog are required to be nonfiction, but I hope to find a niche and a love for it along the way. This will get graded poorly. It’s too short. But this is what I have today. 

#blog #writing #writblr #writers of tumblr #school assignment #writ200

[sailing-ever-west]

School Blog Master Post

How d'you do, fellow students?

For any WRIT 200 classmates following me for required blog post assignments on here who are very confused about all the other stuff, I've made it easy to find the posts that are relevant.

All of my school posts will be tagged with "#writ200," and I will indicate their purpose in the title as well. I also plan to link them here in this pinned post as I create them, so all you will have to do is go to the top of my blog to access all of them.

If tumblr kicks you out for not having an account, click the other link I'll be adding to the shared blog list the professor made, which will be a google doc with the text of all my posts on it, and feel free to email me at that account to leave comments.

Post #1 Link

Post #2 Link

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Post #3 Link

Post #4 Link

Post #6 Link

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[Missed a Week]

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Post #5 Link

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[Missed a week]

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Post #6 Link

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[Honestly not even certain how long I've missed but gosh darn it I am going to keep posting these whenever I manage to write them]

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Post #7 Link

#school blog #assignment #writing blog #nonfiction #writ200

[sailing-ever-west]

WRIT200 Blog Post #4 - Audience in Writing

Prompt: You’ve read several writers who are exploring the role of the audience in writing. What do you think? In your own writing, what considerations have you made for the audience and how has that shaped what you’ve written? Feel free to provide specific examples from your writing, as well as relying on the essays you’ve read this week.

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I make a lot of audience considerations when I write, from style to content to editing. I think the basis of it is probably what I learned in elementary school, which is that you should always use words your intended audience will understand, or define the ones they won't. So when I am writing something purely for an audience of tumblr followers, there are collections of words I can use that won't even sound like comprehensible language to the rest of the internet at times, let alone people who aren't on the web much. Across all demographics there are little translations that need to happen if people are going to understand my words the way I actually mean them and not just the way their previous associations make them feel. So when writing to a specific audience, I often avoid words that have a negative connotation with them, or if I must, I define those words to clarify that I mean them literally and not colloquially. 

In addition to simple word choice, I make decisions about how deep I'm willing to dive into controversiality. It's a careful balance between telling the truth and connecting with those receiving it. I must always strive to be respectful to others wherever possible without compromising my message or identity. Truth as a weapon makes the listener an enemy, but truth molded to pleasure is no truth at all.

I think that in summary, the audience consideration I am always making is whether the truth I am telling will be understood. It needs to be both accurate and accessible; with only one of the two it is useless gibberish.

#writ200 #school blog #writeblr #writing

[writ200-blog]

#writ200 

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#writ200 #GenderDiversity