Zookeeper's Wife

I know I'm basically a year behind, but I'm a mom and I use that excuse widely. 

If you're looking for an emotionally, eye opening, heart wrenching, thought provoking movie look absolutely no further. The zookeepers wife proves to be all of the above and more. 

It has always been hard for me to imagine the Nazi era, but I have been working hard to educate myself over the last years to better understand the histories of people around me. I still struggle to wrap my mind around the ingrained hatred that worked to motivate Word War II, and honestly I don't want to understand it. But, I do want to understand what led to it so that I can be best educated in how to prevent this level of hatred again.

I recently read Small Little Things by Jodi Picoult, and it too opened my eyes to experiences of racism for PoC. While I may be "woke" to the reality of these things existing, I am privileged in the sense that it isn't my daily life. 

I can't help but take a step back and reflect. How am I actively working against hatred? How am I pursuing a society of equity? How will I continue to respond as the hatred seems to be more vocal, more blatant, and more celebrated than ever before in my short life? These are questions that are quite literally keeping me up tonight. This movie. Oh my heart. This REALITY of so many- these babies being loaded in a train to be killed because of their looks and their beliefs. And a family who risked their marriage, safety, lives, and children to help others. 300+ people were saved because of their sacrifice. What will I sacrifice? What do I sacrifice? How could it be more? 

Days Off

#147: Days off, at home, are few and far between.  I am grateful for a FULL Friday and Saturday of laying around, catching up on sleep, hittin the gym, and attempting to catch up on homework.
#148: Speaking of the gym...it had been awhile.  Grateful to go to a gym with LOTS of windows that overlook a beautiful lake..
#149: A non-frozen lake, may I add!! The weather in Michigan has been incredible.  Sunny, bright, and not freezing!!
#150: Though grading papers is sucking the life out of me, I am making progress!

Today I really realized how incredible my life truly is.  I was reminded of all of the privilege that I experience on a daily basis.  In sections last we, my students discussed whether or not they could be grateful for the privileges they have.  I think we can be grateful...but part of that gratitude has to translate in to working to help ALL people experience these privileges. 

So on a beautiful day like today, I spent time reflecting on how I dream of a day that your access to education, high paying jobs and health care no longer depends on your ethnicity, race, geographic location, or your gender.  I am working towards this dream by educating you all on the fact that these things DO impact access to resources and opportunities...

Check out the video series Unnatural Causes if you don't believe me...

This is but the trailer to six hours of research...

Planned Parenthood vs Susan G Komen

It all began just a few days ago when Susan G Komen spokewoman announced that as of April 1, 2012, Planned Parenthood would receive no funding from their organization.

Then the country cried out on behalf of the women that are served by Planned Parenthood.  And videos like this were created...

And women and men around the country used their voices to support such a powerful organization. 

And Then...articles like this came out today.  Komen came back and said that PP will still be eligibale for grants, even if they don't receive them.  Still shitty, really, but a better move.  The best part was that they admitted to falling in to the political warfare rather than supporting women. 

#141: Women should not be stigmatized for having sex.  It's a part of life.  I am honored to go to class every day with the people in the video above. 
#142: I like that we can laugh while we fight for the cause of women's health.  "Don't fuck with 'em, Don't fuck without 'em"
#143: A day off to enjoy being lazy and get caught up has been incredible. 
#144: While I am struggling to get through all of my grading...I recognize how grateful I am for playing a huge role in these students' academic careers. 
#145: Feeling honored, loved, cherished today.
#146: My snickerdoodle is one year old today!!!!!!  I love this puppy so much :)

Body Image

Have you ever thought about why women are so much more likely to develop an eating disorder than men are? What made this to be?

In Women's Health, I ask my students to consider where they learned about being a woman and where they learned about what "good" women look like. Most students report that they learn these things from the media, magazines, Victoria's secret and other fashion stores. If this is true, what do these places teach us?

To be sexy, to congratulate being dangerously thin, to be scantily clad and to present your body as a pleasure island for the men around you.

We congratulate people for losing weight without knowing how they're going about losing the weight. You don't have to be 70 lbs to be anorexic. Yet we never question the healthiness of our means because being thin is so important.

I have skipped meals, skipped weeks of eating and have stood in front of mirrors for hours marking every imperfection. My teenage years are a blur of disappointment. My body was never good enough for me, so seeing that it was good enough for men was my only boost of self confidence.

I tell you this because I am taking a political stand for the bodies of women and for the health of women. It is not about being liberal or conservative, but instead about wanting all women to love the way they look, an celebrate other women for how they look, too.

Use your voice. The personal is political.

Feminism

I am loving teaching...seriously.  And what I am loving the most is seeing the wheels in the minds of so many start to turn; grasping the concepts of feminism and grasping how feminism has, and will continue to, impact their lives.

So few people truly understand what feminism is, and what it represents.  It has a reputation of standing for man-hating, femi-nazi's, and wanting women to rule the world...when in reality feminism represents a fight for equality, for all people based on gender, sex, sexual orientation, race, SES and more.  Feminism represents the voice of so many, and has been the movement that has made voting by females possible, reproductive choice possible, and has allowed women to enter the workforce. 

Some of my students are so tied to the social constructed gender norms for men and women, and watching their walls come down surrounding this is incredibly rewarding.  Men don't have to be the bread winners, and women are not made for nurturing and mothering alone.  We all have gifts, talents, and dreams...and who we are on paper should never stop us from achieving our dreams!

#124: I am proud to be a feminist, and grateful to live in a time and country where saying that does not put me in danger.
#125: Grateful for my role in opening the minds of so many. 
#126: Loving the fact that my students were emailing me about the Roe anniversary this weekend.  Proud moments.
#127: Excited for the day where shame behind feminism, abortion and women's rights disappears.
#128: Male feminists are sexy.  Grateful they exist.
#129: Freedom to be the woman I want to be is huge.  I am always worried about becoming too domesticated or too stereotypically womanly...but in reality I am free to be who I want to be...and if I love children, cooking, cleaning, laundry, working, and playing...well so be it :)
#130: Free Speech

Oppression

In advance, please forgive me for this overly academic post.  I have written seven papers in the last 24 hours, and though they were only around 2 pages each...it was still 7 papers.

Six of the papers were responses to readings for a class I am currently taking.  It is a required Women's Studies course on Feminist Theory.  The class is dense, to say the least.  I was dreading taking it, but I just finished reading some life changing articles.  It is kind of funny because when people learn that I am a feminist, their responses are unpredictable.  Some freak out, some applaud, some are ambivalent.  To me, being a feminist means that I do not support oppression, and will never support inequality.

I love that Pink did this!

Today at church a woman mentioned that she felt the place of a woman was in the house.  Let me say that her opinion in no way represented that of the church's or the congregation.  When she said this, though, I cringed.  Women are capable of anything they want to do, just like men are.  Black women are capable of anything white women can do.  And the list goes on. 

As a social worker, I look forward to facing these inequalities head on.  I also recognize that it will be incredibly difficult to fight against long-standing views of so many.  At the end of the day, each person is entitled to their own beliefs, but if you ever ask me what I belief to be true, my answer will be love and equality!