Autism mentioned on the radio

I was listening to 97.5 yesterday and a woman called in and said that her daughter, who is in 6th grade, has autism. After picking her up from school her daughter told her that she had been made fun of and her peers had thrown things at her. She also told her mother that she didn't want to go to school ever again. Her mother called the school and left many messages and the school didn't call her back. I think this is really sad! It's not right for the school to ignore this situation! They should be doing all they can to help this girl fit in and educate her peers about autism and show them that what they are doing is wrong! Her mother is worried that if nothing is done to stop this, her daughter will drop out of school. I really hope that the situation doesn't end with this result!

Family Guy Episode

I was watching Family Guy the other night and in this episode Peter takes a test and finds out that he is "mentally retarded". I cringed every time I heard this label used. As a result of his discovery, he begins to change his behaviors to mimic the stereotypical behaviors of those who are mentally challenged. First, he calls an old girlfriend and tells her that she should have tests done to make sure that she didn't get it from him. He also asks Joe, who is in a wheelchair, how he deals with it. Joe, in turn tells him that he is not "mentally retarded", he is "handicapped". Then, Peter began throwing plates, going into the girls restroom and opening the stalls, getting his own food at McDonald's because "he didn't know better". This episode really frustrated me. I know they were trying to be funny, but how would someone who is mentally challenged feel after seeing this episode? I feel like I would only see them making fun of me. Also, I've always wondered why they had Joe describe himself as "handicapped" and not "disabled". According to the definition, you are handicapped when the environment is stopping you from being able to function. For example, you are disabled if you are in a wheelchair and handicapped if there is no ramp. I wonder if they knew the difference between these terms when they had Joe identify himself as "handicapped"?

Personal Connection with Confessions of a Closet Catholic

While reading "Confessions of a Closet Catholic", I couldn't help but think about my cousins. Their uncle is Jewish and their mother is Catholic. My cousins have grown up celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah and all of the other holidays associated with both. I can't even imagine how confused they must be. The beliefs of these two religions are very different and to bring them up believing both just doesn't seem possible. I think what makes it easier is that both are not very religious, so their kids may not completely understand the meanings behind everything. They are probably getting pressure from both sides of their family too. My uncle's family is calling them to be Jewish and my aunt's family is calling them to be Catholic. When they are old enough to make their own decision, I wonder what they will choose.

Chilren's Books Including Family Members Who Have Had a Stroke

A long time ago, I mentioned in class two books that included family members who had experienced a stroke. In one book the grandparent got better and in the other book, the grandparent did not. I finally got the titles of those books. I'm not sure which is which.
"Now One Foot, Now the Other"--Tomie Depaloa
"The Two of Them"--Aliki
Even though it's hard to explain these things to our students or children, I think it's worse to think that they can't handle it. Jussy explains this well in "Confessions of a Closet Catholic", "I mean they're so worried about trying to protect us kids from knowing scary stuff, they don't seem to realize that we can tell when they're lying, and it makes us even more scared" (76). My mom said that by reading these books to her students, the students who was experiencing this at that time understood better what was going on and wasn't as scared. My mom was worried that the parents of the student wouldn't like that she had read these books, but the parents thanked her.

"Diverse City"

TobyMac is one of my favorite Christian artists. One of his songs really applies to this class, in my opinion. It's called "Diverse City". Here's a youtube link to a video made by someone that includes the music and lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfl_hqhKhfU. Even though this song talks about bringing all people of all races together to praise God, I think TobyMac's message can go beyond that. TobyMac's main point is that we should bring all people together and "together we make diversity". We should all appreciate and accept everyone's differences. Even though each person is different, we are not all that different either. We are all people, we just have different backgrounds and identities that shape who we are. That's what makes us individuals. If everyone was the same, there wouldn't be such a thing as diversity. I think that diversity is what gives this world flavor and to see it not appreciated or respected is really sad.

Another thing that TobyMac is doing is raising money for a school called New Hope Academy. According to the school's website (http://www.newhopeacademy.org/), this school's families and teachers are "from over 35 different religions and denominations, and represent more than 25 nationalities". The website also says that "although our backgrounds are diverse, we have in common a love of God and a set of shared values". I think that what this school is doing is really cool. To be able to go to a school where so many different religions and nationalities are represented would be an amazing opportunity. Coming from a school where the majority of students are conservative and white (basically no diversity!), I can't even imagine what this would be like. No religion classes are offered, but teachers and students are able to share with their students and classmates their traditions. This is something that I never really was able to learn about before coming to college and I wish that I would have had the same opportunity the students of this school are having!

Class-to-class connections

Today, the topic of two of my classes (ENG210 and TE448) revolved around homosexuality and the gender roles assigned to boys and girls. In ENG210, we read Coud9 by Caryl Churchill. One thing that Churchill did her play was cross-casting. Some of the female characters are played by men and a male character is played by a female. Therefore, when seeing the play, those who are homosexuals are actually with someone of the opposite sex. For example, Betty is played by a man and her servant, Ellen is played by a woman. When seeing the play and they kiss, you are actually are seeing a man and woman kiss, not two women kissing. I wonder if this makes this scene more comfortable for the audience. Edward, who is played by a woman, is a young boy who likes to play with dolls. His father does not like this though because he wants Edward to be a manly man. This belief points to a big topic what was discussed in both classes. Why are certain things considered manly and other things considered girly? We thought in English that maybe by giving children both toy trucks and dolls that we might be able to break away from these labels. I think it would be really interesting to see if this is true. Due to the deeply engraved ideas of what makes a man a man and a woman a woman, I wonder how long it would take to break free of this.

Miss California and Gay Marriage

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517137,00.html

"When asked by judge Perez Hilton, an openly gay gossip blogger, whether she believed in gay marriage, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, said 'We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised.'"

After hearing about this on the news. I was really proud of Carrie for what she did. A crown was at stake and she still chose to stick to her personal beliefs. Instead of doing what some people in society desire her to do, she said no. This would have taken a lot of courage. If I was in her position, I hope that I would be able to do the same.

"Waiting on the World to Change"

This video was shown in my deaf education class and I thought that I would share it with everyone. It's "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer in ASL (American Sign Language). D-Pan made this video and many others of other popular songs. Quotes and significant dates also are a part of the video. I love the message of this video and I hope that you enjoy it too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKnF9CCYQPQ