Feminism explodes in Russia

The recent phenomenon of feminism in Russia has led the head of of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, to say that it could destroy Russia. I have decided that this is an important topic for myself, because I am a female and there is still a struggle today. Feminism is defined as the doctrine advocating social, political,  and all other rights of women equal to those of men. Some find this movement dangerous because woman are looking for equality outside of marriage and outside of the family. Russia has a portrayal of their women as homemakers, focusing on the children and what's inside while the men play the role of making money, this means if women destroy that image they destroy everything. Another argument shot against those in favor of feminism is they are ruining the family values because they are the center of family life. Kirill also stated he was not opposed to a woman pursuing careers in politics, business, or other professions that are mainly men, but women need to get their priorities straight. Kirill concluded with "it's not accident that most of the feminist leader's were unmarried." I think this article shows we are not as far as we would like to think. Sexist runs crazy in Russia and women's rights don't appear to be an issue at all. I feel the leader is contradicting himself by saying he is "saving" women from a feminist movement, but they can do the dirty work to bring in the money and keep the system flowing. It is sad to see how women are portrayed in Russia, a lot needs to be done in order to advance in society.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

After watching the foreign film, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, the thing that stuck with me the most was the way it portrayed a more or less ugly view of humans. It depicted a far from beautiful view of the way Swedish men treat Swedish women. The movie made sadism, murder, and suicide a normal occurrence, not something out of the ordinary.

 Parts were tough for me to watch as being a female myself, but all in all it was a good movie.Another thing that a lot of people have been talking about with this film, as it was with the book and the Swedish film, was the moments where sexual violence appears on screen. And while there are some really uncomfortable moments in the film, that's the reason why these scenes succeed. They shock you and make you want to look away. And that's good, especially when the themes of this movie as well as the source material were about this sort of thing, and the movie conveys it perfectly. And while these scenes do linger in your mind, they never distract you from the basis of this movie.

The movie, based off a book, is a mystery which follows a not so famous journalist investigating the disappearance of a wealthy patriarch's niece from 40 years ago. He hires a punk rock type girl to aid in computer hacking to try and figure out the mystery. As the two opposites work together they find more corruption beyond their wildest dreams.

The main female character in the movie has reminded me of how in society today if we see someone unlike ourselves, or out of the normal, it is like a "stay away" or warning sign, her image lives up to this perfectly. It was amazing to me how she made the movie, she aided the journalist in figuring out the mystery by her extraordinary computer hacking skills, which I find interesting. A woman, none the less a woman in sweden, had the talent to have power and intelligence in the film. 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

A Tale of Two Cities, a more difficult read for me, but unique in the same sense. To understand Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, you have to go to his personal life. He was pushed at an early age, while his parents went to prison (due to the laws) to go work in a factory type setting. He lost his family and was an eye witness to the terrible conditions of the prison. Dickens also lost his sister whom he idolized. In A Tale of Two Cities Dickens incorporates romanticism as well as intertwines it with the French Revolution, which is an overthrow of the government. he shows the executions and mob violence in his book numerous times, such as when a father's child was run over and killed by the carriage and Monsier had no remorse, just cruel emotions for the child being in the way. The government held ridiculous amounts of power and wealth while the people literally had nothing. The part in the story where the man has 4 people feed him chocolate depicts this scenario well. Power was more or less abused and people continued on grasping for more. Bloodshed was a big part of the revolution in Dickens' book as well. I feel death was added onto the slogan because people happily or without any second thought watched people have their heads sliced in the guillotine, because it was a normal everyday occurance. Death seemed, to me, the best option out of suffering from the government. my personal favorite part of the book was the wine ship, where the casket of wine shattered and people rushed to drink it as if they had won the lottery. This represents the bloodshed during the French Revolution as well as the desperation the starving people had. Though, like the revolution, the wine was cleaned up the stains remains as well as the scars of the pas. Weird to me that Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity were all apart of the slogan, but never represented from the government during the revolution. There were clear divides among the people of power and those who had nothing. In my eyes Dickens' portrays the revolution happening because there was literally nothing else for the people of France to loose if they didn't. They were starving, without money, the only thing that could happen was death, and that wasn't a big loss to them. The people of France had shown fraternity as they went to the prison and began executing those who had done wrong to them as well as free those who were wrongly convicted, but that resulted in chaos as well.

Knowing

During the past couple of weeks we have been reviewing Tao Te Ching and it has been a struggle for me. I had never heard of taoism before, so there was a lot of background knowledge I needed to study before I could find some meaning to the poems.

This website was a really useful source in assisting me understand Tao Te Ching :


http://www.phenster.com/lot-archive/Archive-Stories/Tao-Te-Ching.html

Finding that information and more on Tao Te Ching makes me feel confident in analyzing one of the poems on my blog. So reflecting on the way I see Taoism, I hope you are able to relate and make sense of my analyzation! The poem I will analyze is knowing.

Without taking a step outdoors
You know the whole world;
Without taking a peep out the window
You know the color of the sky

The more you experience,
The less you know.
The sage wanders without knowing,
Sees without looking,
Accomplishes without acting.

My analyzation:

Taoist principles stemmed from Confucius, Tao means way. The main focus was balance, in order to have balance, you must lead a happy humble life. Tao Te Ching used opposites to reflect an understanding, for example, the more you experience the less you knokw. These opposites make a fuller meaning, experience brings about change and excitement to ones life, you never know what will come, these experiences can bring changes or activities you will never understand, but have done.

Another example "without taking a peep out the window, you know the color of the sky." This relates to the Taoist idea that we are always focused on what we don't have rather than what we have. We don't value the sky for the clouds, the sun, sunsets; we just know it is there, never taking the time to study it or be thankful it is there everyday and night. This poem could also relate on the fact we need emptiness to make us whole. If we didn't go through trials and tribulations, we wouldn't be thankful for the good times when we have them. The line "The sage wanders without knowing," makes me think of the way in Taoism, there is no right or wrong in the way, so it is possible for the sage to wander without knowing. The line "sees without looking and accomplishes without acting." brings me to the understanding of how we reach our "humble" life. As said before Taoism relates to opposites and how they integrate with one another, the point is to not necessarily find but live a balanced, peaceful, humble life.

As Simple As An Onion

Today I've decided to go back and reflect on the poem "The Traveling Onion" by Naomi Shihab Nye. First reading the poem, I did not get why someone would write a poem about an onion. Not being an expert on poetry, I found it odd. Going back and rereading the poem, for me, gave it a deeper meaning. I don't think Naomi is literally talking about an onion, but instead the small miracles of life we don't appreciate. We all go through our day to day lives not realizing what we have or how far we have come, a lot of what we have is taken for granted. I think this relates to this part of the poem:

How at meal, we sit to eat,
commenting on texture of meat, or herbal aroma,
but never on the translucence of the onion,
now limp, now divided,
of it's traditionally honorable career

We always look for what is right in front of us, the easiest way out of a problem, the end product, but never what it takes to get there. I am always thankful for what I have, but never for the process it took to attain what I have.  I like how the author took something as simple as an onion and could relate it to such a bigger picture. I enjoyed reading this poem, because it was easier for me to depict because I struggle with understanding poetry.

Evil Twin or Crazy Girl

After finishing the book The Icarus Girl in class, I was extremely confused and mad there was no clear cut answer for the conclusion of the story. I tried to go back and reread certain sections of the book, but still didn't find any evidence.

I did further research online and with our class discussions I realized that the author, Helen Oyeyemi, mixes reality and spirituality into this piece. She incorporated Nigerian mythology into the story which assists in it making more sense.

The story is about Jessamay, and 8 year old girl who doesn't seem to fit into the norms of an average 8 year old girl. Her mother is Nigerian and her father English, living in England makes it difficult for her to know her place in the world. It is not  until she takes her first visit to Nigeria and meets a girl named TillyTilly who seems to "understand" her. Soon, with Jess's extraordinary imagination, TillyTilly's presence becomes disturbing and Jess becomes more and more afraid of her and even more afraid to let go.

At first, I as a reader, felt that TillyTilly was and imaginary friend, all apart of Jess's imagination, but after further reading found that couldn't be true. How would TillyTilly and Jessy have broken into Colleen's house and not have anybody see them? TillyTilly reveals herself as Jessamay's twin and I feel most confident in this explanation.

''Stop looking to belong, half-and-half child,'' TillyTilly intones. ''Stop. There is nothing; there is only me, and I have caught you.'' This quote from the book hit me with the most feeling, it finally struck me that TillyTilly was trying to take control of Jessamay's life and everyone in it. She went from being a playful childhood friend to evil.


Though I am still disappointed with the ending of the book, it is one I can keep reflecting on and make new connections with. I think the reason I was so disappointed is I like to know exactly what happened, not have to make up my own mind. Overall I felt it was an extremely interesting and unique read.

Hello, is anyone out there?

Growing up my cousin was my best friend,  we got in trouble, played outside, and got spoiled at our Grandma's house. The only difference I saw between us was he was a boy and I was a girl. Getting older I realized Casey was "different".

Getting to middle school I enjoyed reading, writing, and of course my friends. Casey was stuck in the past, he watched cartoons and isolated himself from the world. He was difficult to understand and always had a dazed look in his eyes. I asked my mom what was "different" about Casey where I was told Casey had down syndrome and his intellect would never go past a 4th grade level.

To fast forward, as I got older I became more and more involved in Casey's life. I helped at his school Syble Hopp, as well as the Special Olympics he was apart of. That is why I am here, at Silver Lake College. 

I am going for a degree in Special Education to help those students, like Casey, that need that extra bit of help he and others deserve.

This blog will help me develop my writing styles as well as reflecting on past readings and films. This will be important to my future as my writing skills improve. I am hoping to get a sense of different types of Authors and what makes their works unique. 

Casey went from being my best friend to my inspiration to my future career, I relate this to my blog as well. I am a new blogger, but after this class I hope I will gain skills to become a better writer for my future.