CWW- Katie Armiger

KATIE ARMIGER

Katie Armiger is a very young and talented country singer.  She began to sing before she could even walk.  She was born in Houston Texas in the year 1991.  She has a very powerful voice that reaches beyond her 20 year old body.  Katie Armiger stated to write poems and songs in her journal by the age of ten.  When she was 14 she entered Houston's Best Country Singer competition and she won!  She won the grand prize and also a shot a recording a two-song demo in Nashville.  This was just the beginning of her career, very soon after her two- song demo became a full album.  At this time she was a straight A sophomore in high school.  She had to learn how to split her time between Nashville and Texas.   Katie Armiger stays true to her pop-country style of singing/writing.

I absolutely love her song "Scream."  She shows off her strong voice with this song about dealing getting dumped.

 

 

 Guess I didn't know how to take it, that night we had that talk
Found out about my replacement, I just smiled and shook it off
I didn't ask you any questions, didn't beg you to stay
You said you knew that I would understand, then I watched you drive away
When there's just no words to stay

I scream at the top of my lungs
Yeah, I come undone
I crash my broken glass when no one's around
I cry out
In the silence I can't take
To cover up the sound it makes when I let my heart break
I scream

I always say the right things, at all the right times
I know I'm not the perfect girl, but for some reason I try
To be the one who's smiling and laughing, to make sure everyone's okay
I can push those tears back inside like an actress on the stage
But when the curtains fall away

I scream at the top of my lungs
Yeah, I come undone
I crash my broken glass when no one's around
I cry out In the silence I can take
To cover up the sound it makes when I let my heart break
I scream, I scream

I can't hold it in no more
I don't feel like playing nice
When I feel like getting loud
I just gotta let it out
I just gotta let it out

I scream at the top of my lungs
Yeah, I come undone
I crash like broken glass when no one's around
I cry out
In the silence I can't take
To cover up the sound it makes when I let my heart break
I scream
I scream
I scream

Instead of showing reckless emotions, like most other artists show, she has a more graceful reaction towards it.  She shows that this is not a perfect world and sometimes you just need to "scream" to let your emotions free.  She writes about how you should not beg and ask why, but instead just shake it off.  Katie Armiger states that it is alright to cry but, still remembering your dignity.  She also states as women we always try to be "perfect," but in reality no one is perfect- just as Emily Dickinson  writes about .  We are all individual and we have to remember who we really are.

I believe that this song relates back to our class because she shows how a young girl can go out and fulfill her dreams.  Often times, in class, we talk about how women need to learn to stand up for what they feel... but in some cases things are left better unsaid.  She shows how you can stand up for yourself simply by walking away.  This can also be related back to Virgina Woolf's a "Room Of Ones Own."  Miss. Katie shows how women need their own space, need their own place to release what they feel. She shows how you have to be strong, not let a man see that he can control your emotions on the out side but when you are alone you can just let it out (in reality that is what many of us do).  I feel as if every girl can relate back to this song and it shows how strong we really are!  I just love this song.. I really recommend to listen to her other songs!    

Blog Post # 4

~ Blog Post # 4 ~

After reading the piece that Phillis Wheately it really struck something in my mind. It made me start to think of all the troubles she had to go through as well as how lucky she was at the same time for having "masters" who were generous enough to recognized the knowledge she portrayed. The most interesting thing I found on Phillis after doing some research was that she was the first African-American woman to ever write and have a book published. After reading this I had a great sense of reason as to why I'm in this class Which is to gain knowledge of the women from all cultures who surround all of us with marvelous pieces of writing and the show us as females the courage and strength it takes to reach your goals. It really did show to me that, even if it's not writing, but whatever it is you want to do as a woman, that with all the struggles that come along with it takes much courage and strength and overcoming the obstacles can be done. Phillis Wheatley for instance was sold at the age of 7 or 8 years old to a family whom she did not know, didn't know what was going to happen to her, and brought to a country that she was very unfamiliar with. With all this, look at where she is today, she is printed and being known and taught all around the world in class rooms just like this one, our women writers class. That is why this class is here today.

Even though it's late into the semester it truly was a final eye opening piece and made me realize that I can connect with this class. This specific author not necessarily her piece, but the simple background and bibliography was so encouraging and eye opening for sure.

As stated earlier, Phillis was brought to the Wheatley family in Boston where she was bought as a slave, but was taught to read and write.

After beginning to do more research I saw that Phillis was not supposed to be on the ship in which she arrived on. Finding on the website http://www.gardenofpraise.com/ibdwheatley.htm : it states that the captain of the ship she was on said that he didn't want any children on his ship. However, she was "lucky" enough to get aboard. When I say lucky I'm saying that because had she been on a more tightly packed ship, then she may not have been able to have the opportunities that she had  seeing as Mrs. Sussana Wheatley chose her off the ship named "Phillis" which is where she received her name from. I found one of the only pictures of the boat that she arrived on that I could find to share with all of you.

Rebekah C., Blog Post: "Nothin here but kitchen things"

Our discussion yesterday in class about Trifles was really illuminating for me. Everyone picked up on something different in the play, and we were able to quite easily analyze the incredible subtext and subtlety that Glaspell included in the play. Part of me wonders what would have been possible for the discussion if we had some dudes in the class, but a very small part-- the rest of me is very pleased that it is just us.

This brings me to my next point, which doesn't seem at first to have much to do with domestic violence or abuse, but I think it is indicative of a certain mentality that most all of us have probably encountered.

Hale, the man who found Mrs. Wright in her home with her husband dead upstairs, says "Well, women are used to worrying about trifles", dismissing the seemingly queer preoccupation the two women have with Mrs. Wright's preserves. He criticizes Mrs. Wright's housework, and this again rouses a little protectionism from the other women, who point out the endlessness of these chores and mention that Mr Wright would have kept the place gloomy with his mere presence. However, of course, their grumblings are hardly acknowledged by the men. Both men and women are "loyal to their sex" in this play. In this play, men and women comingle but truly inhabit different worlds.
It becomes obvious while the women talk the the patterns and routines of the day are psychologically demanding, to say the least, when you are married to a working man. The men in the story leave the home to work during the day, seemingly with one another's company, loading and farming and transporting potatoes. They are initiated into the world of commerce simply by being men, and are therefore in possession of personal agency and freedom. The men go out into the world and are citizens of the world. While they do this, their wives stay home. "Not having children makes less work-- but it makes a quiet house, and Wright out to work all day, and no company when he did come in" (pg. 987). Would it be possible for any person to retain a degree of mental health in such a desolate setting? Imagine the helplessness.
Women, in Susan Glaspell's play, are confined and isolated from not only each other, but from the rest of the world. Desperate for human warmth and connection, they reach out to one another. I believe the very compassionate act of sending Minnie Foster a jar of her preserves to comfort her in her jail cell is metaphoric of the ways that women are forced to forge connections with one another in creative ways, and learn to communicate in more subtle ways than men.
 I think that though women in our society are indeed more free, we are still not raised to be competetive, and we are still uneasy being outspoken. As female students, I think that we encounter more hardships and socially perplexing situations because college is still a primarily male institution, it has only been a few decades that women have really been encouraged to go. And when we do go, we are not already quite as familiar or comfortable with concepts of intellectual competition, like men are. This makes it easy for them to find our weaknesses, and attest to our suitability for other activities, like the men in Trifles. 

Blog Post #2

I really enjoyed Elif Shafak’s talk, ‘The Politics of Fiction’. I found her messages to be very unique and eye opening. One idea of hers that I found to be particularly interesting was that people tend to form clusters based on similarity and these clusters are generally where stereotypes form about other clusters of people.  Ms. Shafka explains that the three main stereotypes associated with her Muslim culture are politics, cigarettes and the veil. I understand that clusters of people perpetuate stereotypes but I do not think people are necessarily the ones to blame.  Popular culture is the route of this ongoing ignorance. Sure, popular culture provides people information about other cultures that they may not otherwise have access to, but the popular culture industries are known for using selective exposure. Selective exposure refers to the medias way of favoring information that reinforces pre-existing stereotypes while avoiding contradictory information. In other words, the media sets the tone for what they want society to believe and guess what, it works! That is why popular is responsible for the three main stereotypes associated with Muslim culture.

I started thinking about what stereotypes popular culture has taught other cultures to associate with Americans, but more specifically, American women. I searched the top U.S. television shows viewed worldwide and found CBS’s, ‘Two And A Half Men’ and ‘How I Met Your Mother’ to be the most popular among foreign viewers. Although I have to admit I find both shows to be entertaining, it is distressing to think that other cultures see these characters as what the stereotypical American is like. Being that this is the culture we live in, we understand that these characters are extreme representations of Americans, which is why the shows are funny. However people from other cultures do not see it this way. Take a look at the video below and let me know your thoughts about what is assumed about our culture. As a woman, how does it make you feel to think other cultures may stereotype you in this way?

I appreciate the way Ms. Shafak uses storytelling to open her eyes to new cultures. She says, “Through storytelling we can catch a glimpse of other cultures and even like what we see.” I like her way of thinking because it is nearly impossible to accurately learn about a culture without any personal experience. Her thinking reminds me of many other women writers we have discussed this semester. Sharing stories is one way to spread awareness of different cultures instead of relying on popular cultures narrow lens of widely distributed information. 

 

CWW: Adele

Adele 

 

Adele is one of the few artists in the music industry that can appeal to almost anyone with fans ranging from children to senior citizens.  Adele’s jazzy and soulful voice has earned her the fame at 24 years old that most musical artists never achieve in a life time.  Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on May 5, 1988 in North London to her mother Penny Adkins and father Mark who left when Adele was 4.  Adele’s passion for music began to emerge while she was just a toddler and developed with artists such Lauren Hill and Destiny’s Child.  Because it was clear that Adele had talent, her mother enrolled her into a free performing arts school encouraging her to explore her options.  However, when Adele was 15 she found jazz records of Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald and she deems this moment in her life as her true awakening to music.  While attending the school for performing arts, Adele cut a three track demo which was posted on her MySpace page and then discovered by music executives from XL Recordings.  Therefore, four months after Adele graduated in November, 2006, she was signed for a record deal.  Adele’s first album was titled 19, indicating the age she was when she began recording it.  Hits from this album were two popular singles, “Hometown Glory” and “Chasing Pavement.”  It wasn’t long after the release of her album that Adele skyrocketed on almost all charts and became an instant success.  Following 19, Adele released her second album 21 which was again named for the age she was when she recorded it.  With hits such as “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” Adele reached historic markers in the music industry which can only be matched by the Beatles in 1964.  For her largest accomplishments Adele broke the solo female artist record for remaining Number 1 for 11 straight weeks and swept the Grammy’s earning 6 awards including Album of the Year. 

“Rolling in the Deep”

“Rolling in the Deep” was written and produced by Adele and Paul Epworth.  Adele categorized this song as “dark bluesy gospel disco tune.” Adele wrote this song and essentially the album in response to the break up with her unfaithful boyfriend.  Adele states “It's me saying, 'Get the f--- out of my house instead of me begging him to come back. It's my reaction to being told my life was going be boring and lonely and rubbish, and that I was a weak person if I didn't stay in a relationship, I wrote it as a sort of 'F--k you.”  

"Rolling In The Deep"

There's a fire starting in my heart

Reaching a fever pitch, it's bringing me out the dark

Finally I can see you crystal clear

Go 'head and sell me out and I'll lay your ship [shit] bare

See how I leave with every piece of you

Don't underestimate the things that I will do

There's a fire starting in my heart

Reaching a fever pitch

And it's bringing me out the dark

The scars of your love remind me of us

They keep me thinking that we almost had it all

The scars of your love, they leave me breathless

I can't help feeling

We could have had it all

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

Rolling in the deep

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

You had my heart inside of your hand

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

And you played it, to the beat

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

Baby, I have no story to be told

But I've heard one on you

And I'm gonna make your head burn

Think of me in the depths of your despair

Make a home down there

As mine sure won't be shared

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

The scars of your love remind me of us

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

They keep me thinking that we almost had it all

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

The scars of your love, they leave me breathless

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

I can't help feeling

We could have had it all

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

Rolling in the deep

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

You had my heart inside of your hand

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

And you played it, to the beat

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

We could have had it all

Rolling in the deep

You had my heart inside of your hand

But you played it, with a beating

Throw your soul through every open door (woah)

Count your blessings to find what you look for (woah)

Turn my sorrow into treasured gold (woah)

You'll pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow (woah)

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

We could have had it all

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

We could have had it all

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

It all, it all, it all

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

We could have had it all

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

Rolling in the deep

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

You had my heart inside of your hand

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

And you played it to the beat

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

We could have had it all

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

Rolling in the deep

(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)

You had my heart inside of your hand

(You're gonna wish you never had met me)

But you played it

You played it

You played it

You played it to the beat.

I chose to pick Rolling in the Deep by Adele for a number of different reasons.  First, the song is powerful and radiates the message that women are strong and more than capable of being independent with lines such as “Don’t underestimate the things that I will do.”  Moreover, it touches on a few of the current downplayed and accepted social norms that young men seem to engage in such as “playing” a girl or cheating on her.  Adele however makes it clear that these actions are not acceptable stating “You'll pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow” and “I'm gonna make your head burn.”  All in all Adele’s writing reminds me of “Talking Back” by Margaret Cavendish with her very public way to basically get revenge on the boyfriend who hurt her.  Adele’s ability to use her connection with music allowed her to speak her mind and get the message across to her boyfriend that she is going to be more than fine without him.  This song also reminds me of the poem “For My Lover, Returning to His Wife” because it is from the opposite view of Adele however in agreement with her.  In the poem the mistress is explaining to her lover that his wife is the better choice and if Adele is symbolically the wife, she would agree but would ultimately not take her husband back after his unfaithfulness.  Also, the poem is dealing with the same topic as the song, cheating, just from different points of view. 

http://www.biography.com/people/adele-20694679?page=2

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=21312 http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/adele/rollinginthedeep.html

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/adele/rollinginthedeep.html

 

CWW

Blog #3

I decided to do my 3rd response on the play Trifles by Susan Glaspell for a number of different reasons.  First, I have always had a love for reading mysteries or suspense novels because I enjoy trying to figure out whatever it is the reader is supposed to uncover.  Trifles like many other popular stories or movies deal with a very heart wrenching topic such as the unhappy, abusive marriage.  In my experience with these sorts of stories the point of view is generally from the woman.  In addition, these unhappy marriage stories commonly deal with abusive husbands whether that abuse is verbal or physical.  According to statistics from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 85% of domestic violence is against women which means it is not surprising that there is an overwhelming number of stories on the issue.  While I understand that Trifles does not conclude that there was necessarily an abusive relationship, I feel like it is a common theme among women as far as a motive in killing their husbands.  When I read Trifles it reminded me of these novels I have read including the most recent novel I read over Thanksgiving break titled Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. Safe Haven is a novel about a women named Katie who escapes from her abusive husband and constructs a new life across the United States.  Katie originally ran away from her husband because he would physically and verbally abuse her for being the house wife that he had forced her to be by taking away any means in which she would be able to be independent for herself.  Then, he would beat her for practically no reason at all and degrade her for being a "helpless" woman.  Trifles reminded me of this because of a couple of lines that the men in the play stated such as "Well, women are used to worrying over trifles."  This line made me pretty angry because society has created social norms which keep women busy with home issues such as cooking, cleaning, mothering, etc, and those social norms were essentially created by men, the leaders of society.  Therefore, men have put women in this role and then criticize them for worrying about petty things.  However, if you would like to read a good, quick read, I would suggest Safe Haven because it deals directly with gender norms that are correlated with women and it is extremely intriguing.  Furthermore, this book is being turned into a movie which is coming out soon and deals with a topic that is way more common then we all may think.

                                                           Official Trailer for Safe Haven

Domestic Abuse Statistics
http://www.ncadv.org/files/DomesticViolenceFactSheet%28National%29.pdf

Blog Post #4

Trifles by Susan Glaspell was an interesting play that I previously read in a composition class at a community college. The first time I read it, I didn't recognize the gender differences.  Reading it again, for this class I saw the differences more clearly.  Throughout the play both women, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale stayed together while the men went off doing the investigating.  Not only was it kind of ironic that the women sat in the kitchen but also that they found more evidence and reasoning behind the murder than the men did.  Its interesting because the women were just the tag along to the men and they actually found more information about the case.  The women were definitely more understanding and sympathetic toward Mrs. Wright.  The men on the other hand were much more close minded on the case and weren't interested in why Mrs. Wright may have murdered her husband but they were more interested in just finding evidence to use against her in the court.  This really shows the difference in both sexes.

Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters found out that Mr. Wright killed his wife's pet bird and was very controlling over her.  She had stopped doing the things she loved because of his demanding nature.  Mr. Wright forced her to stop singing and expected her to be the typical housewife after they had married.  Not only was he controlling much of her life, he was also physically abusive.  Her feelings about her husband grew into hatred and eventually lead her to commit murder.  The fact that John Wright demanded her to stop doing the things she loved, she stayed in their house and cooked and cleaned.  I believe this eventually made her go mentally and emotionally insane.  I think anyone would be a little crazy if they were forced to be a housewife and were dragged away from the things they loved.  This idea of husbands being controlling over their wife's lives reminded me of another short story that I read in high school.  Its called The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman Perkins.  The story is about a women stuck in a room all day, everyday.  She had psychological problems and used writing to help her get through it.  Her husband, who was a doctor refused to let her write, which eventually made her go crazy.  Their husband and wife relationship  reminded me of Mr. and Mrs. Wright.  

The Yellow Wallpaper is a very well written short story that I think connected with this play, Trifles.  Not only is this a interesting story but its relate able to class discussions. Here is the link to this short story.

http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Charlotte_Perkins_Gilman/The_Yellow_Wallpaper/The_Yellow_Wallpaper_p2.html

CWW: Chelsea Handler

Chelsea Handler

Funny, Bold, and Talented

Background

-She grew up with her Jewish Family (whom she frequently pokes fun at in her books) in Livingston New Jersey. Her family wasn't very wealthy and she was the youngest of six siblings. So at age 19 she moved to California to pursue an acting career, and two years later she got her start as a stand-up comedian for various clubs and events.

-In 2007 Chelsea broke out and began starring in her own late night comedy series on E! called "Chelsea Lately" This was a huge hit. She averaged in at more than half-million viewers for the show (way more viewers than most late night shows). The first 20 minutes of her show consists of a round table of comedians and chewy who is her little person friend that makes funny comments on the side. Then the last 10 minutes she usually interviews some kind of celebrity (not always A-list).
-In March 2011 Chelsea also starred in a spin off of her show called "After Lately". Where Chelsea and her hilarious staff bicker over various matters having to do with the show. 

-Chelsea is the author of four books all being on the New York Times Best Seller List, three of which have been ranked at #1! Her first book My Horizontal Life is a collection of stories about her various one-night stands with different men. Handler also wrote Are You There, Vodka? It's Me? Chelsea (2008), a collection of humorous essays that had a print run of over 350,000 copies. She went on a nationwide tour to promote her third book, titled Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, which was released on March 9, 2010. November 15, 2010, it was announced that Handler's publishers gave her her own publishing imprint (Borderline Amazing/A Chelsea Handler Book). After this she signed a three-book deal with the imprint, the first of which is called Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me, where her coworkers and family members discuss the funny things Handler had done to them in the past, which was released in May 2011 and also hit number one.

-She now performs stand up nationwide, and is constantly all over the media for her bold personality and straightforward humor . Making guest appearances on The Tonight Show, The View, Oxygen Network, My Wife and Kids, etc. Handler was also the second woman to host the MTV Music Awards in 2010. Other accomplishments being her latest show Are You There, Chelsea? which was an NBC sitcom, based on Handler's 2008 best-selling book Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, which aired  January 11, 2012 but unfortunately was canceled on March 28th of that same year. Also Time magazine placed her on the list of its 100 Most Influential People and in April 2009, she won the Bravo A-List Award for "A-List's Funniest".
Interview Question about Chelsea's first book My Horizontal Life:

Q: When guys have a lot of one-night-stands it is considered a badge of honor, but it’s not the same for women who usually hide it when they do it. Why do you think it’s such a double-standard?
A: I don’t know. I think that’s changing a lot. I think there’s a stigma that goes along with it… You know, the funny thing is that men think that when they have sex with a woman on the first night, that oh, well, she’s not marriage material. Or maybe that’s not the type of girl I want to go out with again. What guys don’t understand is that we’re doing the same thing. If we’re having sex with you on the first night, we’re probably not that interested in seeing you again either.
Appearance on The View

http://youtu.be/q-rcilkZoo8
Analysis
The two women writers that I thought Chelsea Handler was most relatable to are Bell Hooks with Talking Back and Audre Lorde  with Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power. Handler as a woman has a lot to say and does not hold back. As you can see from her interview on The View she pretty much says whatever is on her mind, and is very well known for being an individual in this way. She also has worked very hard to have the voice and influential power she has today. This truly relates to Talking Back because in her story Bell Hooks works diligently to find her voice, and not just any voice but one she can call her own. Much like Handler the things Hooks says to her family are not always appropriate or “things a young lady should say” but yet she says them anyways. With both these writers it’s all about having the confidence to express one’s voice and not really caring what others may think or say. Then in Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power Lorde discusses how instead of suppressing our inner ideas or sexual desires we should unleash them. There is a double standard society places on woman when it comes to sexuality and expressing themselves. Handler doesn’t sleep with men to get ahead in life, she does it out of pure enjoyment and then tells the world about her experiences in her first book My Horizontal Life. This is a form of empowerment all on its own. Also in the first interview of her book Handler brings in a woman’s perspective on one-night stands and puts the power of the sexual relationship in the woman’s hands. This is how Handler takes control of her inner erotic by stating her opinions and saying the things that are not normally said. Primarily though Chelsea Handler breaks societies social norms for a woman and reinvents them by having fun and exuding confidence.

   



Blog Post 3: "Trifles"

I actually read this play in high school for my advanced dramatic literature class and performed of the scenes and it was actually one of my favorite pieces I read in that class, so I was excited to see it come up in this class as well. Gender roles play a large part in this play. After the death of Mr. Wright, Mrs. Wright is the prime suspect. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters essentially figure out the murder when they find the dead bird but the Attorney and Sheriff push them off because they are women and they don't value their opinion. The fact that they are the women really devalues who they are in the play. Since the men are the "stereotypical" male figures in society, smart, always right, knowing what is best essentially, they do not see that Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters figure out that Mrs. Wright did what she did out of resentment toward her husband.
When women figure something out before a man does or they do something better than a man does it is immediately devalued or not taken seriously in society. This premiss is still alive today, women and their ideas are constantly devalued in certain social situations. Especially when it comes to figuring something out. The female brain and the knowledge that comes from a women is not always seen as on the same level as a man which is extremely frustrating as a women. I enjoyed this play a lot and I wanted to see what this play was like staged and I bet the rest of the class was wondering it as well, so here is a playlist of youtube vidoes of the staged show. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFUaCXvIjY4&playnext=1&list=PLD2ED2B856710A0E4&feature=results_main

Blog Post #3 "Trifles"

Although I was a little skeptical about reading a play, I really enjoyed reading "Trifles". After reading it, I think I've read it sometime before and parts of it seemed familiar to me. I found the plot very interesting, but also thought it hightlighted some of the main ideas men feel towards women throughout the piece. It also shows what men expected of women at this time, and how much men believed the women's main role was to take care of the house. One of the first places I noticed this in the play was on page 982 when Hale was talking about when he first entered the house. "Well, I was surprised, she didn't ask me to come up to the stove, or to set down, but she just sat there.." This shows how women were supposed to automatically greet anyone, and be a great host to guests coming into their home. Another similar part is on page 983 when the county attorney notices the dirty towels in the apartment and says, "Not much of a housekeeper, would you say ladies?" It was kind of crazy to me that they would be making these subtle comments while investigating a death in the house. They also make jabs at them later in the text for talking about what type of quilting she was doing. When the women talk about Mrs.Wright, they talk about how happy she used to be before she was married. It seems that becoming a housewife changed her in a negative way, and the women act like she wasn't herself after being married.

Even though this play was based a while ago, I thought many of the aspects still applied today. As we've talked about in class, it's still always thought that when a baby is born the women will take off work and take care of the home. Many men who are stay at home dads get a negative view, and mocked because it's not "the normal". Women are always depicted as the "housekeepers" and I think women still look down on other women if they don't keep their houses neat and tidy, like a women is "supposed" to.

Blog Post #1

"Poem 508" Emily Dickinson

I've always been intrigued with Emily Dickinson's pieces since the beginning of high school when I actually first started to understand her writing. I find it so interesting that no matter how many pieces of hers I have read, I still seem to be introduced to more and more of her pieces that I've never read or seen before. This is true for one of the poems we read over break, "Poem 508."

I found this poem to be extremely effective because at this point in my life, and I'm sure many others in the class feel the same way, I could relate to the piece one hundred percent. Not only with religion which Dickinson introduces with the line, "Baptized, before, without the choice," I have found that in this point in my life I seem to be straying away from my parent's values and ideas in order to define some of my own. Lately I have been battling with religious beliefs and how different they are from my parents' and what I was taught to believe or follow. I think it is very important that young adults our age branch away from what they've been raised to follow and instead, go out and look for their own beliefs and values, whether it be religiously, spiritually, politically, or anything in between.

In the piece, "Poem 508", Dickinson introduces the ability to imagine new dreams and aspirations for oneself, and allowing oneself to stray away from what has been assigned to an individual from birth and parental figures.  Obviously this piece is a question of a identity and the courage to break free of an identity one has been assigned essentially without one's permission. Are we really supposed to be or become the person our parents have molded us to be? Are we supposed to withhold their beliefs and values that have been instilled in us since birth? Did we decide to have any of these values? Dickinson shows through this piece not petty teenage rebellion, but instead the start of a journey of leaving an identity given to her to finding her true identity. Simply with the first two lines, "I'm ceded--I've stopped being Theirs--The name They dropped upon my face," Dickinson portrays the liberation from the identity she was cast into from either birth or Baptism and her decision to break free from what she was otherwise expected to be. Especially for women our age, I believe it is valid for us as young people to look at the individual we've become because of the way we were raised, but also consider the possibility that those values instilled in us aren't our true beliefs. As Dickinson states, "With the Will to choose, or to reject," it is essential to find the courage to defy previous roles and identities in order to define a true identity.

Blog Post #4

Trifles by Susan Glaspell is amazing. I love plays, so this was one of my favorite pieces throughout the whole course. Overall, I think this play really pointed out the major characteristic differences between men and women. This piece highlighted that men tend to be rough, and self centered, whereas women generally are more sensitive and observant. This was shown through the whole investigation of the murder. On page 983 and 984, the County Attorney is picking apart how the woman cleaned the house. He made it seem as though that is a woman's only job, so she should keep the house spotless and perfect. The men laugh off the house work like it is such a miniscule job. The attorney said, "Not much of a housekeeper, would you say, ladies?" He also said, "No—it’s not cheerful. I shouldn’t say she had the home-making instinct.” This piece is trying to show that all men can see in women is that they take care of the home. That is all that women have as an identity. Sadly, for Minnie, she was a singer. She had something that made her cheerful, but her husband killed it for her. Multiple times as the women were examining everything about Minnie’s house and life so carefully, it was mentioned that her joy came from singing. On page 985, Mrs. Hale said, “She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively, when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls singing in the choir.” That was taken away from her by her husband. The women kept searching throughout the house and found the dead bird. This is when the women really started feeling sympathy for Minnie. Even though she had committed murder, her husband had already emotionally killed her. He took all joys out of her life that she had ever had. On page 988, Mrs. Hale said, “No, Wright wouldn’t like the bird—a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too.” This piece shows that women are more observant and that they can piece together that there is more to a story than meets the eye. The male investigators didn’t bother looking into the woman’s world to uncover the story for the motive; just the man’s world. As horrible of a crime as it was, the women still feel sympathy for Minnie for living so unhappily and emotionally abused. Minnie had her identity stripped from her. Once you lose your passions and self, there is no happiness left. The male investigators couldn’t even imagine that as a motive because the only identity they saw Minnie having was being a housewife.

            I have a connection to this piece that may be random, but I think it shows how important a woman’s identity is, and that men still take for granted women in society. I watched a special on 20/20 over break on families that live in a polygamist community that follow the FLDS faith (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints). These are very strict communities, where the people must follow the word of their prophet. This special followed a family, whose husband left them, and they snuck out of this very controlling and threatening culture where not much is known about how they truly live. This now single mother with many children had to learn how to live in a real society. Her children were uneducated and so was she. They finally learned how to live in a normal American society. In one part of the special, the girl children all got their hair cut for the first time and it is an extremely emotional and exciting moment for them. Girls and women are not allowed to get their hair cut in their old community. This was a very liberating moment for these girls. Also, the girls found hobbies and loved going to school. They found out that there was more to life and who they are than just following the commands of a male prophet. When the women reflected back on their old life, they couldn’t imagine going back because they wouldn’t want to be married so young and be only housewives. They like having unique identities.

Here is the link to the special on 20/20 if interested in watching: http://abcnews.go.com/watch/2020/SH559026/VD55250801/2020-1123-breaking-polygamy-secrets-of-the-sect