race

Blog Council Report

This week’s blog proposal about identity and racial issues brought up a lot of very insightful and interesting posts. Amanda’s “Pass me the ball, I’m open!” post we felt resonated well with the women in the class, especially those who have been on sports teams. Another post that sparked class interest was Lauren’s post about the rules of dating between men and women. Ben’s “High School Track in the ‘Burbs” told a great story about his experience with racism on the track team, while Caitlin’s story about growing up as an equestrian was informative and she threw in a daughter-dad story to make it a real tear-jerker. Derek provided a different way of looking at the issue, by blatantly saying he did not want to talk about it, but was still able to write a high-quality piece. As always, Joey provided some very intuitive media examples of racist comments among politicians, and we feel the class benefited from his strong opinions. Will a champion of Republican ideas step up?  The gauntlet has been laid down.

But WHO was the winner??

Our criteria for the best blog of the week was:

1. It is insightful
2. It contains many personal examples
3. It takes an idea and questions it

The blog of the week award goes to Beth, for her “Pass the Chicken Nuggets” post. We found it to be entertaining, thought-provoking, and extremely honest. We enjoyed the way Beth used so many personal examples from her finance internship over the summer, and we found it to be a very real issue that women just want to be seen in the same light as men. Beth also writes in such a way that she takes an idea, poses a question to analyze, and then does so. We found her post to be entertaining, yet inquisitive, and highly realistic.

High School Track in the ‘Burbs

Back in high school, I ran track.  I specialized in sprinting (100m, 200m) and the polevault.  I know what you’re thinking.  I’m short, white, and don’t look particularly fast.  Well, those things are all pretty much true – but I wasn’t a terrble sprinter.  In today’s America, we are predestined to beleive that African Americans are better sprinters.  They’re faster.  And history (as far back as they were allowed to compete), doesn’t really tell us any differently.  Is this fact?  Or Is this racist?  First, I’ll tell my story. Continue reading →

My Polly-Pocket Perspective

When I first discovered what we were supposed to be writing about this week, I was not excited. That hasn’t changed. Therefore, I apologize in advance for any lack of enthusiasm that will be exposed too from this post. My main lack of excitement for this subject is simply because I think people get too focused on it. This subject distorts people’s vision of the world, and the negativity involved in this area is too frustrating. This subject is too concentrated on subjective experiences, preconceived notions, generalizations, and assumptions that I prefer not to dwell on it. And it is easy for me to restrain from worrying about gender and racial issues mainly because I am a white male, so I admit that my own perspective is riddled from the lack of subjective experiences I have had. Also, I do feel awful for those individuals who have experienced the sting of false racial or gender biases. However, focusing on the philosophical side of such an issue innately turns me off.

To put it simply, I don’t care. I don’t care if someone is black, white, yellow, or green, male, female, or androgynous, or tall or small or skinny or fat. Each and every one of us is living our own life, with different backgrounds, experiences, demographics, interests, and talents. Therefore, we should all make the best effort possible to appreciate one another for what we bring to the table. Do we have to like everyone? Nope. But how can you truly rationalize to yourself that you have any negative (or positive for that matter) opinion about who an individual is simply based on his or her appearance? Continue reading →

White Walls

For this week’s post, I wanted to track my education, starting with elementary, and see how this has enabled or disabled  me to succeed relative to my status as a White man. As you may or may not know, I am a Texan and damn proud of it. I’m from good ole San Antone where the heat and taco stands are as prevalent as the rain and squirrels are here in Lewisburg. I grew up in what has become the “Bubble” of San Antonio in Alamo Heights. As the name alludes, the area is predominantly home to middle-class Whites who send their children to the notorious, Alamo Heights School District (AHSD).

I attended AHSD in elementary school and up until middle school where I switched to private school in 6th grade. I created many lasting friendships while at AHSD, and in fact I still keep in touch and hang out with many of the kids I grew up with. This transition from public to private school is what I credit for “making me the man I am today”. Continue reading →

I Hate Being White

Race is not a biological category.  There is no Black “race” nor White nor Asian nor Native American.  One way you can tell is that in my lifetime the numbers of races keeps fluctuating.  Growing up in the South in the 1970s and 1980s, we would hear about the “White man, Yellow Man, Black Man, and Red man.”  This, mind you, was in the context of treating all “colors” the same.  Well, what in the hell are the new waves of immigrants, the “Latinos,” then?

This post is a very raw, un-researched post on my part. Continue reading →