Petition to Secede

Here is a link to the article and video that I watched

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/texas-petition-secede-reaches-threshold-obama-comment/story?id=17701519#.UKKbjYZ7XQI

Election Day 2012

This past Tuesday  was election day, as we all know. I spent the majority of dinner time at a The Fire on Mineral Spring Avenue in North Providence (pizza is great there by the way). The atmosphere was great, not to loud not to quiet but the buzz did not seem to be around the presidential election, or nothing that I could hear. I think the problem was a lot of polls had not closed yet. But anyways, the table next to us just brifly touched upon the presidential election. The African American man had said he was voting for Obama, while the man next to him had been explaining that the majority of his work had voted for Romney, other than one individual. They did not get into debate about why, but it was just interesting to hear what individuals wanted. 

I started watching when Romney was ahead in electoral and popular vote. Obama at that point had won the northeast along with some major states in central US, while Romney had taken Texas  (stout republican state) and Virginia, a key battleground state. My hopes were high at that point considering I wanted Romney to win. 

Me and my girlfriend had left there to watch the rest at home because there was not much talk about the election at The Fire. Once home I engaged in some heated debates with a few friends over skype. Four out of the five wanted Obama to win, but really did not have any reasons to back up their assertions. So realistically I was doing the debating. Local elections had been tallied at that point and Democrats took most positions. 

On a positive note!, RIC is getting the funding for the new buildings. Also Twin River will now be able to compete with Massachusetts and Connecticut casinos. It also means more jobs and revenue for the state! 

Overall I did not engage in a good experience. I guess I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. For us Rhode Islanders I would like to know why we did not change our views on our leaders when we remain to be the second highest state of unemployment?

"What Are Little Boys Made Of" by Michael Kimmel (Reflection)

     I can agree with what Kimmel has to say about the subject of male behavior and whether or not it is biologically formed or based on surroundings. Growing up I was always favored over my other siblings by my father because I played sports and was always into being hands on, doing 'manly' things. It was what my father did. He was an auto mechanic and a compressor technician. I always had an interest in doing those things, always standing by his side trying to learn the trade. He was a very aggressive man, but one of the nicest people I knew. I heard countless stories growing up about his fights with people and how he was the protective older brother who wouldn't allow guys around my aunts.
     My father and his older brother joined the navy when they were young. They gained a sort of "machoness" from it, especially my dad. When my dad passed away I received a phone call from one of my father's close friends in the military, a female actually. She began to tell me stories of the countless times my father stood up for her and fought for her at bars when men were being pigs, not because he fancied her but because he was protective and showed aggression. One of the most memorable stories was when my dad got demoted to the lowest rank because he punched a guard in the face for making fun of his mother. Typical male issue, "Don't talk about my mom like that".
     While I did gain a lot of my father's traits, I can't say I inherited his aggression. I was a small kid growing up, never had much size until recently. I used to get picked on for hanging out with girls during recess on occasion and even getting bullied for it. In second grade I remember being tackled from behind by someone because of it. I never really understood why back then, but looking back at it now I was just incapable of defending myself because of my size and couldn't get along well with those who could. I guess I was almost an outcast by choice.
     Once third or fourth grade rolled around I joined football and the youth wrestling team. That is when I began to bulk up and gained some aggression, but just for the sport. I realize now that sports is what got me out of being picked on and where I began to be accepted as a male I guess. I really can not put it into words, but yea I began hanging out with males, playing sports during recess, and I got into my first 'real' fight not to long after. It wasn't that I started the fight that made me realize I was becoming more masculine I guess you can say, but more the fact that I did not back down and coward out of it.
     Even though sports and having male friends gave me aggression, it never really changed my view of females. I was still okay with having female friends and never thought of them as unequal in the sense of physicality. I remember in middle school females trying out to join the wrestling team. My coach had to let them try out, but you can tell he did not want a female on the team. He had them wrestle-off the best wrestlers and pretty much punish them to show they 'were not' cut out for the sport. And when our wrestlers lost to females, they never heard the end of it. I remember losing to a female in my second year of the sport and got my balls busted for the rest of the year, even though she was wrestling since she was five. I just never understood why they cared.
     I was always the nice guy of my group of friends. I never show aggression unless I am severely angry. I always tended to hold my aggression in and my friends always said I was going to snap one day. But I havn't yet. I always showed more emotions than my friends. Whether it be because of pain or just being sad or depressed. I just didn't care if I showed it. They always hid it.
     But I guess what I am trying to get at is that it is not biological in the sense that testosterone is what makes a male be aggressive. I have no tendencies to shout or or be aggressive. I personally think it has to do with how you are brought up and the environment that surrounds you. I personally did not take to aggression and took my respect of females from my mother.

Audre Lorde's: "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House" (Argument)

     Author Audre Lorde argues in her article,"The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House", that the feminist movement as whole, mainly white privileged women, disregards lesbians, black women and poor women as legitimate feminists. This means they really don't care to legitimize them by taking their opinions or allowing the to be a part of the interdependent group they have going. Lorde relates this to the patriarchal society as a whole. The feminist movement has black women, lesbians and poor women under its oppressive umbrella. Lorde pretty much states that those who are being oppressed stand alone and do not have the sense to unite due to pressures and just being scared, I would assume. But Lorde also states that to deny interdependence among women as a whole is just insanity because the overall goal of the feminist movement and  the right of independence of women from men, can not be achieved without relying on one another. This is the main fear of patriarchal society, the unity of all women to fight against the oppression. But because white 'privileged' feminists deny black, poor and lesbian women as legitimate feminists, this cannot be achieved. She states "no community, no liberation" meaning just that.
     The main thing i plan to bring up in class is the title of the article and what I think it means. If feminists are using the same oppressive tools that they are fighting against, the house can never be brought down. Below is a link to a wordpress article that elegantly, but simply explains the same ideas that Lorde puts forward in her article.

http://dearwhitefeminists.wordpress.com/.

Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence

     What I got out of Rich's article is that compulsory heterosexuality is just the act of being heterosexual due to societal pressures, whether or not that is a person's sexual orientation. Rich uses the example of lesbians in the work place. A lot of lesbians are almost forced to be in hiding not only in the workplace, but in public in general, because they do not want to be judged or fired based on that reason.

     As for Lesbian Existence, is there really such a thing? From what i read and understood in Rich's article is that they do not really 'exist' per se other than what i believe to be a fantasy world. It isn't right that they have to keep their feelings hidden from people. Why do they have to live double lives?

Economy: Feminist Issue at Large.

     The Center for Working Class Studies is a website that provides info about the "working class". What I found most interest is their view and what they feel is the working class. According to the authors the working class cannot really be defined. How you are classified into the working class is based on a few questions though. They include: what kind of work, how much they earn, social/economic power, education, lifestyle and finally culture. Really that goes for all class infrastructures. Another thing i though was pretty awesome was the fact that they help people understand how they should be paid and provide info to help make sure you are being paid properly. They call it wage theft. Some employers don't pay overtime or withhold pay illegally, which are some examples of wage theft.
      People like us focuses on class difference and how it effects certain peoples lives. They say that we have this generalization that all people are created equal. But the class separation is the polar opposite of being equal. Our class more or less decides how we are brought up. It shapes your education and people's overall attitude towards how they work. But it also affects how people look at individuals. One example story was of a woman who lived in a trailer and worked a job that paid her minimum wage. She refused to be on welfare and her daughter, who had moved out and was considered to be in the middle class, picked on her and pretty much called her 'trailer trash'. All this because she wanted to EARN her living and not have her life handed to her by the government.
     We miss judge people based on appearance and how they live their lives. This is one of the main reasons why the economy is a feminist issue. Also the shear fact that there are millions of women who are being under paid and are experience wage theft in the United States, never mind the world.

These Gas Prices...

     I do not know about the rest of the class, but as a commuter and a pizza delivery driver, I can say that I am overwhelmingly fed up with the rise of gas prices. Whether or not they are trying to push new energy efficient vehicles, there is no excuse for the recent $4.03 per gallon that I just paid. Right now oil is at about $99 dollars per barrel and in July of 2008 when oil hit an all time high of $145 dollars per barrel with a gas price of $4.10 per gallon. Why is it that we are paying relatively close to the same amount now when the crude oil prices are almost $50 per barrel cheaper. Its more than aggravating. Rather than tap into the 300 years of natural resources we have sitting under the United State or tap into the oil reserves we have in various states, we continue to import our oil. Our president does not have the back bone to stand up to OPEC or the oil refineries. Not for nothing but if one of the largest importers of oil threatens to stop buying, OPEC will have to listen. But that is besides the point. Mitt Romney appears to have the answer to these problems.
     "As president, I will unleash American innovation and productivity to make full use of our natural resources", Romney states in one of his speeches on the energy issue. He suggests that if he becomes president he will make sure we invest in the research on multiple energy sources and the expansion and innovation of others. They include: Liquified coal, bio diesel, ethanol, safer nuclear energy and the reuse of it. One thing that struck me in the face was the fact that he was more than realistic about the time frame in which this could happen. Romney explains, in Coralville,Iowa,  that it will take ten maybe twenty years to reach full energy independence from foreign nations, maybe even more. Its the initiative that he is willing to take in order to save us from those monstrous gas prices, that get excited to vote this upcoming fall. Well, one of many.
    One major thing that needs to happen in order to reduce the current gas prices and get us moving into new technologies is to permit off-shore drilling and approval of the keystone pipeline from Canada. In an article in The Columbus Dispatch, Romney states: I will increase production... I will permit access to our resources in the Gulf of Mexico, the Outer Continental Shelf, western lands and the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. I also will partner closely with our neighbors. Canada and Mexico have extraordinary resources of their own that can provide secure, reliable supplies for our economy. This starts with my approval of the Keystone XL pipeline on Day One". It will reduce gas prices to an extreme low (compared to four dollars at least). One of the main reasons the United States has not drilled in our own territories is the fact that most of the oil refineries are severely outdated and are costly to produce gasoline. If all we did was update, it could save us billions in the long run.
     Romney states so elegantly at the end of the Dispatch article: "This pro-jobs, pro-market, pro-American energy policy will bring energy prices down today, secure an affordable supply of energy for tomorrow, send fewer dollars overseas and create millions of jobs. America can be the world’s next energy superpower, if we give ourselves the chance". We are THE superpower why not remain on top and do it efficiently.