The legitimacy of assimilation

 Last night I stayed up to watch a special on this annual holiday tradition from the Mexican culture, which as a Mexican American seems more distant to me as the years pass.  I wondered why this tradition aside from the religious aspect has stuck for so long? In those days (1500's), whilst many indigenous were still reluctant to convert to Catholicism, this one event changed the entire history of a country when hundreds of thousands of Aztec natives converted. The apparition is up for debate, but supposing it did happen, why did it happen to the lowly indigenous peasant, and not the superior holy clergy guy? Whatever the reason was, at that point the placement of racialization and denaturalization on indigenous by the Spanish, had been challenged and a shift of legitimacy was born. Hence, the melding and becoming what we know of as Mexican today. The connection is still there for many who migrate and feel like the Aztec who was trying so hard to assimilate to the new Spanish culture when they are trying to assimilate to the American culture as well. It is a need to become accepted by the new culture as well as keep a connection to the old.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/our-lady-of-guadalupe_n_2285175.html?utm_hp_ref=latino-voices

Not really "the good ol' days"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/bad-love-advice-_n_2279562.html#slide=1869828

Although it is meant to be funny today when we look at it, and it is, much of it was very real during the time the book was published. In this case we see how gender roles and disability were connected in those days. The ideology that in order to find a husband women shouldn't talk, they should just sit and look pretty because a conversation with substance was too much for us to handle. (Slide #6 & #12) But also, in slide #8 where it speaks of not becoming engaged to "someone who has a serious affliction of health" because of the possibility of children from "tainted stock was cruel". It was in those days a legitimate reason to not marry someone because they had some sort of disability and for women it was twice as hard when being a woman was a disability itself.

The Saddest Day for Disabled

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2012/12/06/nbc-republicans-make-disabled-people-cry-one-saddest-days-us-senate

The UN treaty which aimed to help disabled completely redundant to the Americans With Disabilities Act was turned down in Dec 4. The republican made many excuses for their act
like the fiscal cliff and fear that UN would strengthen its power. This reminded me of the lecture on disability and eugenics. It had a long history that the disabled received unequal treatment. Their rights were sacrificed when American exceptionalism used to eliminate undesirable “defectives” from the nation, and when US are against UN's impact on its households. Also, it made me feel like that US was an unique country so that other countries could not lie their influence on its politics.

Who the Best?

The commercial stars Kobe Bryant and Leo Messi who compete to impress a little child. It shows them doing crazy things so that the little kid will ask for their autograph instead. Also, towards the end of the commercial, Turkish Airlines advertise their airlines by saying "The best fly with Europe's Best Airline" having a self-made man overtone just like Kobe's quote "I just want to be the best, simple and plain." This commercial not only shows that Kobe wants to be the best in other competitions, but also shows, through Leo Messi and Turkish Airlines, that Kobe is not the only one trying to be the best. Should competitive attitudes to this extent be seen as a bad thing though?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/leo-messi-kobe-bryant-compete-impress-small-child-201213549--sow.html

Globalization Revolt Percolating?

In light of the globalization lectures we've had this past week, I came across an interesting article in the New York Times addressing how Apple will start to manufacture some Macs domestically. Apple is one of the few companies that are attempting to bring manufacturing back to the United States. Apple's investing over $100 million in the US and this may be from pressure Apple has been placed under to create jobs do to its economic influence, as the article goes to point out. Could this be the beginning of the globalization revolt? Even though it may seem inconceivable, right now, I definitely think it is a step in the right direction. Major brands and corporations didn't  just shutdown factories and establish industrial empires in foreign lands overnight. Rather, a few left and many followed. The factors of production may be less costly overseas, but there are also advantages of producing in the US such as quality and safe working environments. I think it would be cool one day to look at the back of an iPhone 20 (it's not a typo) and see the words "Designed in California" replaced by "Made in California."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/technology/apple-to-resume-us-manufacturing.html?hpw&_r=0

Women Cook, Men Work?

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/06/living/gender-toy-marketing-petition/index.html?hpt=us_c2

This article is about an Easy-Bake Oven toy being an issue because it seems as though it is  specifically targeted for girls. The product uses the colors pink and purple and the box has a picture of a girl playing with it. The problem with this toy wast that it reconstructs the ideology of women staying at home cooking and men going to work to make money for the family. Not only that, but I feel there is an ideology of color relations with masculinity and femininity. Because this product used pink and purple, it was considered a "girl toy." But would this problem be solved if they change the box and the colors they use? What do you think?

How parents, kids interact on Facebook

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/tech/social-media/facebook-parents-kids/index.html

This article reminded me of the idea, material culture. As a technical tool for sharing and communicating,facebook has become part of American life. The article listed out three findings: who friends whom, who talks to whom and what they say, somewhat reflecting how parent-child relationship changes as the child grows up and how different words are used by different genders.I think technology not only changes our lifestyle, constitutes who we are but also reflects our identities and habits.

The ugliest Air Jordans? You decide.

So I was reading an article today about the new Air Jordan xx8 expected to release in February of next year. They carry a $250 price tag and are billed as the lightest and most tested Air Jordans to date. Even professional NBA players are claiming that they really like the shoes. This things also look just god awful, and yet I already know people will pay the money for them. This got me thinking about what makes people go and buy these shoes. Is it an ideology that we have created were shoes dictate social status? The article's author Jeremy Thomas makes some interesting examinations,  "When it comes to style of a person, a pair of shoes can say a lot about them and the type of look they like to showcase. Money can usually dictate the kind of shoes women and men can buy and the stylish look they represent.  However, it just seems to be the brand name that sets expensive shoes apart from your everyday kicks." Perhaps this widespread desire for said shoes is a a result of the globalization of Nike brand , and subsequently the Air Jordan name. There are so many factors that it could be anything. Make I'm just weird and people actually find these things cool looking.

http://z6mag.com/featured/air-jordan-xx8-release-date-february-2013-unveiled-1616315.html

Today in Native American Studies we watched a film entitled "California's 'Lost' Tribes".  This film dealt with the different implications and viewpoints that go along with Indian gaming.  Several times during the film, the people being interviewed mentioned the American Dream and how the revenue brought in by the casinos helped the local tribes to achieve that.  It made me think about how many, many times throughout American history, the American Dream has been racialized and not accessible or achievable to everybody, as it claims to be.

Higher and Higher Technology

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/united-787-diversion-idUSL1E8N4CZP20121204

Since De la Pena's lecture, we have been making connections to America's drive to use technology and constantly beat the current standards. The transportation industry has been one of the most effected by electricity and technology. From the automobile to the plane, we now have the ability to see our entire "exceptional America" within a single life time. With the rapid desire to improve, however, mistakes are more common as well. A new plane, the 787, took flight after being approved for fly time and had to make an emergency landing. Luckily, it was able to land safely in a New Orleans airport, but this goes to show we are constantly trying to improve ourselves and our advances, and sometimes errors occur. We need to be cautious with the rate of progression to ensure that our health isn't compromised by our ambition.

Decreased Immigrant Birthrate

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/category/immigration/

This article discusses how America's birthrate is currently at its lowest point in history.  This trend seems to be especially applicable to foreign born women not originally from the US; their birthrates have been on the decline for nearly 20 years.  In terms of our class topics, I feel that this topic relates to the concept of failing to achieve the American Dream.  As this article explains, there is a correlation between this drop in birthrate and the decreased wages given to immigrant families as compared to white families in America.  As seen with the Chang family in Typical American, this idea demonstrates that not everyone in America is rewarded equally for for their contributions to society.  In short, the smaller immigrant family sizes reflects the consequences of decreased wages, which in turn demonstrates the idea that some people receive more benefits from the same amount of work than others.

Tricare and Autism

The Fine Print: A question of what Tricare should cover

What does the American Dream mean for disabled individuals and the families of disabled individuals? Well, for many those with disabled children have a hard time obtaining the dream because of the costs of treatment and care for these children. So, the proposal of an amendment to Tricare to cover the treatment of disabled family members, specifically autistic children, of active, and possibly retired, servicemen's children seems to be one step forward for these families in attaining the American Dream.

The Office: China (S7-E10)

Being college students, many of you may have had the chance of seeing the US version of a TV show called “The Office.” In season 7, episode 10 of the show, entitled “China,” there is a large talk brought upon by regional manager Michael Scott into the office with regards to objects being made in China. He exclaims that “stuff used to be made here in America, but now we're falling behind.” this reflects upon me as a remnant of the xenophobic racialization of degradation brought upon by the Chinese immigration scare during the 19^th century. It also demonstrates the extention of american exceptionalism into material culture, by giving this premise that anything china makes, the US can make in a much better quality.The underlying artifact of xenophobia is further expanded by the comments made by receptionist Erin Hannon, and saleswoman Phyllis Vance, when they showed distraught and asked “What do we do? How do we stop this?”

The episode hinted upon material culture, but seemed to primarily focus on foreign fear, not wanting to be bested by foreigners, such as in the case of the debate between Michael Scott, and Accountant Oscar Martinez. Oscar is portrayed to be the smartest peron in the office, completely contradicting Michael Scott's thoughtless and foolhardy mind process. The debate was with regards to China, and michael was clearly overwhelmed, but he gives a small speech with regards to freedom, which is completely out of the topic, and manages to win the cheer of the employees. Even though Michael scoot was completely incoherent at the end, he is a white male, and was then portrayed to being victorious.

Not everything in the episode is negative with regards to foreigners. Oscar does give the remark that nowadays, everyone uses china as a scapegoat, being similar to japan during the 1980s, due to the immense economic boom of the time (Japan had the second highest gross national product in the world, just behind the US, thus bringing up concern from Americans).

Is Law School Worth it

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/opinion/is-law-school-a-good-investment.html

This article discusses the dream of going to Law School and becoming a lawyer. It gives a realist side of how hard it is for our generation to enter the job market. This relates to the topic of meritocracy. In reality if a person works hard and follows the rules they are not promised anything in life. In fact if they do go through law school and put in the time and investment they could end up worse than before. In present day America the youth are told they can do anything if they work hard enough, however that is not the case.

Men's health ads

http://www.nugenix.com/report/testosterone.php?t202id=610292&t202kw=

I was browsing Yahoo news and noticed this ad on sidebar. Ads about health-boosting vitamins are nothing new, but seeing as this one was through testosterone boosts, it made me think about views of masculinity in tandem with scientific knowledge, kind of like the case with the electric belts. So I clicked it out of curiosity to see how the ad in this product would argue its case. The ad claims that restoring lost testosterone answers solves a variety of health problems, mainly fatigue. The way this ad argued its case made me think about the marketing of DES to females and made me realize that even decades later, society hasn't changed much. It still uses scientific knowledge to "justify" certain views of aspects in society. This ad claims that men just need testosterone to help their fatiuge. I'm not even 20 yet, and I feel fatigued all the time. I guess I'm simply just not a man?

Robots: a fantasy of the present?

A slideshow, on MSN. com, called "Rise of the Machines" cause me to rethink how close we are to having robots become apart of our everyday lives.  The slideshow depicted robots, each with a unique and human like name, preforming a multitude of task, ranging from catching a ball to cleaning dishes to interacting with kids to attaching to paralyzed limbs to pretty much everything imaginable.  As technology continues to progress it seems as if there is no limit to the involvement it will have in our lives; parallel to De La Pena's  article technology will continue to "invade" our lives.  From raising our kids to becoming part of our body humans will continue to form an intimate relationship with machines that will lead humans and machines to become indistinguishable.

17 Principles of Environmental Justice

Here is a link to the 17 Principles: http://www.ejnet.org/ej/principles.html

The 17 Principles of Environmental Justice was created to maintain Mother Earth, which includes preserving the ecosystem and the interdependence of all species. It guides us to always consider the danger and safety of our environment and to be accountable for our own action in producing pollutants, paying the costs and keeping the world clean. It opposes war, and exploitation of lands, peoples, cultures, and any life forms. This was created by the people of color to prevent oppression and colonization from exploiting lands, peoples, and cultures, and prohibiting political, economic and cultural liberation. It also protects from the genocide and extinction of species or group of people.

In this globalization era, open trade or capitalism was meant for specialization and the ability to obtain the optimum amount, which is profit maximization. However, many multi-billionaire corporations and private owners from America have exploited foreign and home lands, peoples and cultures for their profit and create toxins, chemical wastes, and many pollutants in our air, water, and food. From class, the movie Blue Vinyl was a great example, showing how multi-billionaire corporations can get away with it and how consumers should find alternatives. The reason why multi-billionaires corporations have so much power and control is consumers kept buying from them instead of finding better and safer alternatives. Americans are apolitical and materialistic but mostly because our government failed to fix negative externalities and help the poor and unemployed so that they do not buy cheap PVC products. And most of the poor population are minorities.

No to College?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/fashion/saying-no-to-college.html?ref=education  --pretty interesting article


 With the increasing costs of undergraduate education and the availability of free educational resources (google, wiki) college, as this article suggests, may be overvalued. This article claims that talented individuals will succeed regardless of whether or not they attend college. In fact, attending college may slow down their progression. I agree with this claim when it pertains to a small segment of "superstar" brains. However, I believe that for the majority of high school students college  is not only necessary but undervalued. The unemployment level of college graduates is at 4%. For those with only a high school diploma the unemployment rate hovers around 13%. There are millions of jobs that go unfilled every year due to a lack of education. College does not teach the tools required for a specific job function, but it provides the resources to develop the communication skills and professional attitudes necessary for employment. For some reason, American culture steers some students to college but steers others to low paying, dead-end jobs. It is not due to a lack of ability that some parents and counselors push young adults away from college. But rather it is due to diminished early childhood education and inadequate secondary education in some areas of the country. Perhaps if everybody was given the opportunity to obtain adequate early childhood education we could all be "superstars."  

Gun control has been a very sensitive topic. The Second Amendment allows United States citizens to possess armed weapons. Kansas City linebacker, Jovan Belche, shot and killed his girlfriend and then shot himself later on. Bob Costas, a famous sports commentator, ranted about the the fact that having a gun does not protect ones' safety, but instead, it is a reason that people turn to when they are upset.  This raises the question whether or not Americans should be able to possess guns as a right. Although I do not own any guns, but I believe that possessing a gun will harm the safety of the community because some may not know how to put it away in a safe place where children can easily access it. In fact, there has been a personal experience where my school was on lockdown for two hours because a student had access to a gun and brought it to school harming the safety of everyone. People should have a safe place to lock their firearms before purchasing them. 

http://fox40.com/2012/12/03/a-gun-control-halftime-show-should-bob-costas-have-spoken-out-on-belcher-suicide/