PC for Eskimos?

Today I learned about the Inuit people, commonly referred to as Eskimos. I found it interesting to learn that Eskimos is a negative way to refer to these people of the north, because "Eskimo" means "eater of raw fish". This name first originated from the Algonquian family in Indian languages. Because these Algonquian languages were the first the English heard first, this is how "Eskimo" got added to the English language. I found this presentation interesting and these group of people interesting. Like discussions of other group cultures in class, I wondered if Inuits are upset about how they were being referred to as "eater of raw fish" as opposed to Inuits, which means "the people". Overall I found this information interesting because we are always talking about unrepresented groups and I think Inuits are one of these groups. Inuits are not Indians as many commonly believe, they are a separate group of people with a culture and language of their own. Some Inuits still live day-to-day as their ancestors have before them while others lead more modern lives.

California Milk

Yesterday I watched the movie MILK, a movie about Harvey Milk who was the first openly gay individual to hold public office in California. Harvey Milk was a Public Supervisor in the late seventies and he triumphed over great adversity in order to hold that position.

Watching this movie made me think back to our discussion in class last Wednesday and about Miss California's response about same sex marriage. I wondered if her response was taken more to heart and affected more people because she represents California. California is a state that has had a lot to do with the Gay Rights Movement. Many people came to San Francisco in the mid-seventies for this very reason. Everyone in class had said, "Miss California is entitled to her own opinion" and had felt that the audience, Perez Hilton, and the general public gave her too hard of a time for expressing it. But, getting a brush on my history of the Gay Rights Movement I can understand why more people would have expected a different response from Miss California.

LGBTQ Terms

Just in case you wanted to know... (taken from http://glbt.appstate.edu/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=4)


Straight - A term often used by LGBT people to identify persons who are thought to be heterosexual.


Transgender - 1. a broad term for all individuals whose gender anatomy and identity are incongruent. For example, a person who possesses a female gender anatomy yet experiences their gender identity as male.

2. an umbrella term for transsexuals, cross-dressers (transvestites), transgenderists, intersexuals (hermaphrodites), transgender butches, and people who identify as neither female nor male. Transgender is not gender/sexual orientation as are straight, gay, lesbian and bisexual. Being transgender stems from understanding and accepting the authenticity of one's gender identity.


Transgender Butch - Masculine lesbians who do not identify as women, but may not identify as men either.


Transgenderist - a person who lives either full time, or most of the time, in the gender role opposite the role associated with their biological or chromosomal sex.


Transition - a complicated, multi-step process that can take years as transsexuals align their gender anatomy with their gender identity, this process may ultimately include sex reassignment surgery.


Transsexual - Individual whose gender identity is that of the opposite sex. There are female-to-male and male-to-female transsexuals. A transsexual may or may not have had sex reassignment surgery.

Boy Meets Boy

I was really floored by David Levithan's Boy Meets Boy. I loved the language he used while writing, almost at times like he was pairing his lyrics alongside a song. When he says things like, "I see trees of green and dresses of white...what a wonderful world" to in the acknowledgments where he says, "all the umbrellas in London couldn't stop me from showering my editor praise" he just has an amazing way of hitting the reader with the right words. I even love how the narrator has a familiar voice that youn can connect with and the comic relief in every turn of a page. I love the scene where Joni kisses Paul and they both say "what are you doing" and Paul says, "I'm gay" and Joni says, "okay cool". This scene and others make me laugh and make me relate back to my own friendships.

I also enjoyed reading Levithan's article addressed to librarians and their important roles in society. I never thought of a librarian as having such a vital role in society, but now I know exactly what is is. I love how Levithan says librarians don't hold a collection of books, but a representation of books. They alone control the flow of books on display and can help students realize their identity. He also talks about how people how people have homophobias that keep others from accessing important and rich literature and how it is no different than discrimination. I agree, and I am further agree that many people don't consider homophobia as a form of discrimination. More importantly, not just people but our society as a whole. I am still appalled to this day that hate crimes have not been added to legislation just as Levithan mentions people not considering homophobia as a means of representing it in the classroom. This really aggravates me, homosexuality is not an issues like Levithan says...it's an identity.

We're All Human

I wanted to comment on this for a while now, but due to hashing out a battle with this blog I couldn't sign in till now. I mentioned class last week about Obama's comment about Special Olympics in a joke on Jay Leno last week in class. When I first heard of his comment I was driving in my friend's car and I felt so hurt and let down by Obama. Up until this point he was virtually a perfect leader in my eyes and the radio had said "I guess the Democrats can finally take that!" And I began to think about this with a friend, how yes this was the first "slip up" on Obama's part that we've seen thus far. I began to think about what he had said, but more importantly on what I have said as a student about to become a Special Education teacher. Just the other day I said "what are you retarded!?" to a friend and I am embarrassed to admit repeating it now. I can't imagine someone taping it and putting it on national television! There are so many times that I say things because they have been droned into my everyday language. I remember back when I was in Elementary and I used to always say "that's so gay" until one day my mom had said to me "do you realize what you are saying?" and we had a long discussion over it. Thinking back to what Obama said, I sympathize more with him now than scold him for what he had said. This only makes him more human, like someone pointed out in our class last week. More importantly, what he said has forced me to reexamine what I say everyday and to alter the vocabulary that has been associated with my language for so long.

Pura Belpre Award-Group Presentation Information

Information on the Pura Belpre Award:

-The award was established in 1996
-“It is presented to a Latino/Latina writer and/or illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.” -Association for Library Service to Children
Presented every two years to author and illustrator
-Committee members-follow intense criteria
-1993- Oralia Garza de Cortes, Sandra Rios Balderrama and Toni Bissessar of REFORMA and Linda Perkins, President of ALSC proposed joint book award
-According to the American Library Association the award is intended to “encourage Latino authors and illustrators in their efforts to produce children’s works celebrating the Latino experience in the United States”
-The award is also co-sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), and the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking (REFORMA)
Award inspired by:
-First Latina librarian from The New York Public Library
-Children’s librarian, storyteller, puppeteer and distinguished author for over sixty years
-Born in Cidra, Puerto Rico in 1899
-Moved to New York in 1930’s
-Attended the Library School of The New York Public Library and Columbia University
Criteria
-Original work that portrays, affirms and celebrates the Latino cultural experience
-Must be published in the U.S. or Puerto Rico during past 2 years
-Recipient must be resident/citizen of U.S. or Puerto Rico
-Nonfiction and fiction in Spanish, English, or bilingual forms acceptable
-Honor books
-Possible to present now award-none found
Works Cited
"The Pura Belpre Award Committee Manual." Association for Library Service to Children . 2004. American Library Association. 25 Feb 2009 http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/belpremedal/Belpre_Manual_Aug05.pdf

CONTACT
-Main website ALA-American Library Association
-Main libraries that pop up are in New York and Texas when you search via internet
COMMITTEE
-This selection committee is made up of seven members, including chair
-3 are reps of the Association of Library Services for Children
-3 are from REFORMA
-The chair alternates from ALSC and REFORMA
-majority are librarians, but all have background in literature

Today I was a little shocked to hear my friend tell me that some woman in an interview asked her "what are you?" My friend Michelle and I always joke around about how people think she is bi-racial when in actuality she is a white-caucasian female. It is funny to us because people won't even let her open her mouth sometimes before they ask her if she is and she doesn't know why. This really made me think back to our discussion last week in class when one of our class members said someone asked her if she was Native American because she had dark hair. I think that a lot of people will say things like this and it is offensive. I don't think it is offensive in the sense that my friend cares that people find her bi-racial, but the fact that people feel they have the permission to just ask. I don't go up to people asking them is they are gay or if they are black. To me it isn't relevant either way so why ask?