Masculinity

Learning about masculinity and how the media advertises it so much really opened my eyes to see it everywhere. When we watched how many Disney movies portrayed that men are supposed to be big and muscular, or they are weird and not as important, it really surprised me. Disney movies have always seemed so uplifting to me, but when you look it at in from that perspective they put people down. I was recently watching Mulan and I noticed all of the things Mulan had to become to be a "true man." She had to become strong and she couldn't ever mess up. It's hard for me as a girl to really know if guys think that they need to be strong all the time, but I'm sure they do because the media makes women feel like they need to be certain things too.

Killing Us Softly

I really loved watching Killing Us Softly. I knew that I was getting the idea that I needed to be this person it's impossible to be, but I didn't know it was literally impossible to be the model type girl we see in magazines. These girls we look up to are edited, and if they aren't they are dying from looking that "good". What was terrible is while I was watching that film, I was thinking wow those girls are so skinny, they look so good! And I never knew where I got the idea that being stick skinny was gorgeous, but now I know the media puts it in my head. There is a website called Tumblr that I've noticed really impacts me. It has the perfect girls, perfect couples, perfect everything. It's really changed my view of myself and makes me want to be more like those types of people. Everything around us really impacts us, so we have to be careful what we surround ourselves with.

Gender

Today in class learning about the stereotypical things boys and girls might hear, I realized I never really directly heard any of them as a child. No one ever came up and told me, girls are supposed to be cookers and boys are supposed to be manly men. Even though no one told me that directly, I still grew up knowing it. People around me, my society, taught me these things. Moms always cooked dinner, dads always came home just as it was ready. Even if we don't grow up hearing those stereotypical things in our home, we are shaped by the way different sexes act around us in every day life.

Feral Children

Hearing about this made me really upset. Sometimes I don't understand why or how any parent could ever feel like this is acceptable to do to their children. It makes me wonder how they were raised, because obviously something went wrong. They must have been raised to believe neglect is okay. It amazed me how one girl we learned about, her eye sight actually adapted to ten feet because that's how far she was away from the door. A lot of things that we think are just set and stone are things that we can actually adapt, like eye sight and feeling temperature. Also, one girl was scared to talk or make noise because she had been abused if she made noise in the past. It just shows how crucial our child hood is to the rest of our lives.

Tuesdays with Morrie

I absolutely loved this movie! Just like Mitch was afraid to love people I think that a lot of people in our world are a fraid to love others because they might leave them. It really is scary to throw yourself fully into something when it could so easily slip away from you. I think we are afraid because of death because even if the person loves you back, death can overtake that. You could have a beautiful relationship with someone, but the next day they be gone. I personally think love is the most important thing to get out of life, but it's also the scariest. It is a risky thing. In the movie Morrie says that death may take away the person but it doesn't take away the relationship and the things you have learned from it. Sometimes, it sounds awful, but I think the death of a loved one can be a good lesson to one.

St. Thomas Soup Kitchen

On my way to the soup kitchen with about 15 other students, I felt excited. I have been to one soup kitchen that I remember when I was in freshman year. I really enjoy serving people so I was not dreading it one bit. I was a little nervous though because you never know the way the clients could be. I expected it to be almost exactly how it was. A big room with a bunch of tables and chairs. People in dirty clothes, some with smiles on their faces, some not making eye contact whatsoever. What I didn't expect was one man I saw looked like he just got out of work; he was in really nice clothes. I handed out the salt, pepper, cream and sugar. People wanted  A LOT of that stuff.
 I would say 95% of the people there were so grateful for us. The other people would not look me into the eyes when I came by. It was so awesome to see people with so little being so thankful for our service. There were only like three kids that I saw. They had the greatest joy in the world, with the biggest smiles on their faces. They didn't notice they didn't have a cellphone or an ipod, they were just happy. Also, there was a woman that had an I love Jesus hat on, and it nearly melted my heart. She was so little and cute. It just continued to amaze me, I could feel her love for God even though she had nothing.
As I went home, I was scared for them. They didn't want to go back out to the cold. They wanted to stay forever, with warmth and food. I was so thankful for everything I had. As I went home on the bus I pulled out my cellphone and my Ipod, and just thought wow, I am not too impressed with these electronics I have, but they are SO happy to get one filling meal. I just thanked God for all that He's blessed me. It was a great experience. February 28, 3pm-7pm. St. Thomas Soup Kitchen

God Grew Tired of Us

I really liked the movie God Grew Tired of Us. I found it sad, amusing and eye opening. It helped me understand that other cultures don't have everything that we have here in the US, like electricity. And because we are in the culture with the electricity and other things, we think it's a little crazy that they don't have that stuff. But other cultures looking in on the United States think things we do are strange too. Like in the movie the men felt so alone because everything they did was alone; they had no time for family, and that was a big problem for them. In America we are used to seeing our family for only half of the day, and it is enough for us. Other cultures are a lot more family oriented than we are though. Contrary to these guys, sometimes I get a little hectic if I don't have my personal time. Every morning on the bus I like to listen to music and not talk to anyone, and if I don't get that my day is a little different. People in America need more time to themselves, while other countries want to be in a community for the most part of their day.