(Post 5) I could fill a book with what I don’t know

In recent class discussion we talked about socially acceptable terms for different races. This is an uncomfortable subject for me, mostly because I’m an ignorant small town white girl, but also because in my opinion discussing race terminology is further acknowledging racial separation.

I don’t understand why it’s culturally accepted to call an East Indian person “brown” or a Caucasian person “white”, but it’s faux paux to call an African American person “black”. You have to refer to them as “person of colour” or “African American”, even though we are all technically a colour, we are all technically persons and we don’t refer to Caucasian people as “Caucasian American”. On the opposite side of the same coin it’s offensive to call a person of colour “coloured” because it touches too closely on a time of segregation. Why is it offensive to call a person from Pakistan “Paki” but not to call a person from Australia “Aussie”? Another term I don’t understand being offensive is “mulatto”, which to me sounds like a delicious drink I’d order at Starbucks rather than being something hateful.

“I’ll have a Grande caramel mulatto, extra whip, please”

I brought the topic up to my roommate who refers to herself as south Asian. She told me a story about how in her first few months of living in Canada she was trying to cross the road on a cross-walk where a car had stopped at the designated stop sign waiting for her. In her country cars have the right-of-way on the road so she automatically stopped to wait for the car to pass when a strangers told questioned her and said “why are you stopped? Pedestrians have the right of way”. She was immediately flustered and angry thinking that this stranger had called a derogatory term.

I’m sure if we stopped telling people certain words are bad, they would lose their meaning and become non-existent or even take on a completely different meaning like in the case of the following word that is common place:

Gyp

informal

verb

1      cheat or swindle (someone).

 "Man, five dollars for a candy bar? What a gyp!"

This term is originated from the word Gypsy, but nobody in this day would make that conclusion because the word has lost meaning. This is why I think the action of simply talking about race is reinforcing the separation of different racial group. 

http://www.cracked.com/article_16967_8-racist-words-you-use-every-day.html#ixzz3IuhAY6py

#IsThisWorking?

Not For You

Growing up in a household with 4 older brothers really pushed the idea of gaming on me as a serious hobby. I remember for Christmas 2001, we all pooled our present quota together to get the new Gamecube system. I never thought it was strange that I was the only one of my girlfriends to have an interest in video games, and I even tried to introduce gaming to my friends when they came over to my house with no avail. As I hit adolescence I realized that gaming wasn't marketed towards women and I started being embarrassed to talk about my interest in video games openly.

How To Be A Good Roommate.

Over the past 8 years of my life I have moved a total of 9 times and have been switching roommates every time. I usually find a person to live with online and have many different experiences with many different kinds of people. I highly recommend not just living with a stranger out of convenience of location or price. Here's a list of what to look for in a roommate/how to be a good roommate:

1) Schedules.
If they work nights, and you work mornings (or vice versa) this could create confrontation. Make sure you're being respectful of other peoples schedules.

2) Fridge Space.
Take into consideration how much room you have in the fridge/freezer. If you're living with 2-3 other people chances are you won't be able to buy a months worth of groceries at once. If this is a problem for you, buy a mini-fridge to keep in your room. Also, keep track of what's yours and don't take without asking.

3) Water Pressure.
This is more of a general rule of moving somewhere new. See if the building is using low-flow shower heads and ask if the hot water runs out quickly. Nobody wants to take a cold shower in the middle of January especially if their roommate decided to take an hour long hot shower before them.

4) Closet Space.
Nobody wants to have to dig through bags of old clothes/shoes/random junk to get their winter coat in the mornings. Organize your storage in a way that doesn't look unsightly to your roommates, and if possible, keep it in your room. Nobody likes to live with a hoarder

5) Pets.
Make sure if you have pets they are people-friendly, and make sure your roommates are OK with animals. Don't expect your roommate to take care of your pets for you, if they make a mess, clean it up.

ARGUMENTATIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENT

But Where Are You Really From?

Is it ever OK to ask someone what race they are? Or is it less abrasive to ask "What's your background"?

In my opinion I really don't see how this is ever anything but uncivilized, uncultured, and ignorant. In the short story 'So What Are You, Anyway?' a young girl is inundated with questions about what kind of race she is by an older couple on a plane. In the story the young girl refers to how she feels “as if he is asking her something dirty, or touching her in a bad place” when she is questioned about her parents skin colour. Although she is not socially developed she can still feel that a stranger asking her these questions is wrong from a gut instinct. Even though this story was written in the 1970’s I still feel like these intuitions are true to this day. Maybe you don’t know any better because grew up in a suburb of Oshawa so you think you can get away with being ignorant. When it comes down to facts in no situation would a stranger need to know someone’s race other than to make a cultural judgement or opinion strictly based on why they look the way they do.

Towards the latter half of the story the young girl is starting to have a break-down and people around her on the plane start noticing and speaking up on her behalf. If you feel like you have to be quiet when asking a stranger a question so that the people around you can’t hear you, there’s a good possibility you shouldn’t be asking those kinds of questions in the first place. Asking someone where they’re from is an extremely personal question and I understand how it is still such an untouched issue in such a diverse city as Toronto.

(Post 4) Talk About Sensitive

My attention was recently caught by an internet argument on facebook about harassment towards women on the streets, catcalling in particular. It started when a friend of a friend (I use the term friend loosely, as she is more of just a facebook friend I met once in real life and never talked to again) posted a video on her wall about street harassment towards women with the title "this sickens me". *I posted the video below*
My curiosity and tendency to procrastinate homework got the better of me and I watched the video. It starts out with an average looking young woman who has a person in front of her discreetly filming her as she walks through New York for 10 hours with the reactions of people walking by her being filmed. The "harassment" include comments such as "How you doing today?" "Have a good day" and "God bless you". I was astounded by the flood of berate feedback on the video of women saying men are pigs/creeps, men don't respect women and my personal favorite "No woman should ever feel scared walking down the street period".
It seems so ridiculous to me that a man simply talking to woman would scare her enough to not want to walk down the street. The act of simply saying hello, no matter who the person is never comes off as creepy to me. I was raised with the belief that everyone should be treated equally and I think everyone should treat each other the way they would want to be treated.

 http://youtu.be/b1XGPvbWn0A

(Post 3) Digital Story