TOW #20 - Born Bright by C. Nicole Mason

Born Bright, written by C. Nicole Mason, is about the what it really means to be poor. Poverty isn’t just about the lack of money, but the lack of opportunity to thrive, to progress. Mason begins the book recalling a time when she was giving a speech in front of a group of “do-gooders, social workers, politicians, and policy advocates.” She was comfortable with standing before them and telling them about how the impoverished were the problem, how they needed to help themselves. However, having a background of poverty, she knew better. At this particular speaking event, she voiced her true opinion, saying that maybe “it was the systems that were broken rather than the people.” Mason’s anecdotal statement sets up one of the main themes of the entire novel. The poor are systematically oppressed; they are not given the proper chances to help themselves. Mason recounts many times in her childhood when social services did not aid her and her family. She incorporates stories of her childhood very early in the book, to reinforce her ethos. She must do this because she claims that she will be enlightening the audience to something that is not well known: why many poor people do not make it out of poverty. With many stories and remembered dialogues Mason is able to begin to achieve her purpose in the first half of the book. Her anecdotes provide an emotional appeal while she makes the logical argument of why people do not get out of poverty. She does this because if her audience is able to understand the pain in the situation then they will be able to see things from the poor people’s point of view, therefore allowing them to understand what change must happen to make things better. So far I am “enjoying” and finding Born Bright very insightful. I am very eager to find out how Mason completes her argument.

TOW #19 - Pro Bowl Kiss Cam

The NFL partnered up with Ad Council to create a public service announcement about love, fueled by love. At the Pro Bowl in Orlando, the PSA was a simple Kiss Cam that included many different kinds of couples: same-sex, interracial, elderly, disabled. The message was simple: love comes in many forms but nonetheless, love is love. It seems fitting that the PSA was given in Orlando, the same city where a shooting leaving 50 dead occurred at the gay nightclub, Pulse. While this announcement was beautiful and empowering, it was public, and anyone could see it. This brings rise to the questions, was it appropriate to show the same-sex couple with children in the audience? Yes, it was completely appropriate. Homosexuality isn’t “inappropriate” for children. Public representation such as PSAs can improve tolerance, acceptance, and encourage queer youth.

Throughout history, homosexuality, and queerness in general, has held a negative stigma, often being associated with evil and promiscuity. With the outbreak of HIV in late 20th century, the stigma worsened and many Americans believed that homosexualty was dirty and being gay would make one diseased.

For years, queer people have been fighting against the negative stigma and for positive representation in the media. In the same way as opposite-sex relationships, same-sex relationships can be and are gentle, caring, and loving. Simply, the goal of having positive representation is to show that gay people are real people that exist. They live and breath just like anyone else and they are not just people you hear about. Regardless of religious beliefs, positive representation humanizes LGBT+ people and allows children to be at the least, tolerant and accepting. Even further, representation can convey the message that “Gay is OK” and there is a community of people ready to support any youth who may need it. While doing these things, representation works to erase the negative stigma.

Growing up, like anyone else, I was fully aware of the existence of opposite-sex couples and the love one can feel from them. However, I was not provided the same awareness about same-sex couples. Granted, there are many more shows and places where acceptance is taught at an early age, there are still many areas where gay people “don’t exist” to children. This can hinder tolerance and acceptance and leave queer youth conflicted and confused.

So again, was it inappropriate to include a same-sex couple in the Love PSA at the Pro Bowl? Absolutely not. It was a thoughtful gesture that promoted acceptance and equality while giving positive representation to the LGBT+ community. I was happy to see the PSA reminding us that wherever we are, love is love.

TOW #18 - Coatesville (1912) by John Jay Chapman

In 1911, a black man was tortured to death in the public eye of the people of Coatesville, Pennsylvania. The news of the murder swept the nation and soon the man’s death was known by virtually everyone in the nation. As the first anniversary approached, John Jay Chapman felt a moral obligation to travel to Coatesville and deliver a speech to convey how it is on the whole nation’s shoulders. He does this through his use of logical statements and emotional diction.

For his audience to understand that the lynching was everyone’s problem, Chapman made a series of logical statements. His inclusion of logical statements allows the audience to understand his point of view while facilitating the establishment of his ethos. He makes the argument that,“A nation cannot practice a course of inhuman crime for three hundred years and then suddenly throw off the effects of it.” The vastness of 300 years of slavery makes it understandable that its effects cannot be eliminated in a matter of a few years. In combination with the fact that the whole nation knew of tragedy allowed the audience to see how it was on the whole nation’s shoulders. Slavery was a national atrocity that the nation had to overcome as a whole; its effects affect and affected everyone in the nation. Throughout the speech, Chapman uses words such as “guilt” and “cruel” to emphasize the horrid nature of the tragedy. He indicates that the whole nation should feel remorseful for what has happened, reinforcing the idea that the tragedy is everyone’s responsibility.

Chapman’s logical statements drove home his argument that the tragic lynching of a black man in Coatesville was on the shoulders of everyone in the country, and the just the bystanders who watched. Even today, while the effects of slavery have waned, we as an American people need to work together to completely eliminate them.

IRB Intro Post #3

For this marking period I’ll be reading Born Bright by C. Nicole Mason. Mason details the life a young black girl. She deals with struggles and hardships at home and later in the workplace. I got the book suggestion from Aryana and I’m pretty excited to read it. I want to learn more about a woman’s experience, in America especially. I want to understand more in light of the US almost having a woman president and the excellence shown by many of today’s black women. The Hidden Figures movie and Tracee Ellis Ross’s recent Golden Globe have inspired me to read this novel.

TOW #17 - "Don't Dress Your Age" by Julia Baird

It’s hard growing up. Pressures coming from all around us influence our decisions and how we act. On women especially, society places unnecessary pressure to look “age appropriate”. In her article “Don’t Dress Your Age”, Julia Baird uses a personal anecdote and logical facts to convey that women of any age should be allowed to wear what they want without criticism.

To start off the article, Baird includes a personal story that appeals to her readers. She explains how she was admiring a vintage dress when her former partner essentially told her to not get it because it was an “old-lady dress”. Starting off the article with this brief story immediately establishes her credibility, being a woman who’s been chastised about her attire’s age appropriateness. Simultaneously, the anecdote opens up her audience to feeling sympathy or empathy for her. Her feeling of confusion and disappointment in her anecdote makes it seem illogical to so heavily police what women wear. Why should women feel bad for wearing clothes they like?

Once Baird has started the article with strong appeals to her audience, she continues to appeal to logic with facts. After including many quotations of people telling a woman what she should and should not wear Baird writes “We are also told to monitor our appearance in a way men  are very rarely told to.” Since men and women are equal and should be treated as such, how come women face such scrutiny and not men? Baird conveys the idea that it is unfair to monitor women more than men.

Women anywhere in life should wear what they want, according to Baird who conveys this using a personal anecdote and logical statements. Hopefully, we can get rid of the societal pressure for women to “dress their age”.