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Archive for year: 2014
Intertidal Fun
Searching for Pisaster ochraceus, the keystone species of sea stars. Populations have declined drastically since the 2013 Wasting Disease and juveniles are hoped to be spotted in intertidal habitats soon. Which would indicate that the population is starting to recover slowly.
Blog Post #7
In last class meeting we had our power point presentations on the book A hope in the Unseen. I was looking forward to the presentations all week because I was curious to hear what happened to Cedric at Brown University.I enjoyed some presentations more than others. There were a couple of students with very low voices that were hard to follow but other than that I feel like I got a good understanding of how the book ended. I felt like I could relate to a couple of issues that Cedric encountered in high school, MIT, and Brown University. What I relate most with Cedric is that we both have a lot of faith in ourselves to achieve our goals and to never give up on our dreams no matter how many people are trying to bring us down. In our class meeting before our presentations we had a class activity where we randomly were given a colored star. In my scenario I got an orange star and that meant that a couple of important people in my life were “ripped” out of my life because they did not accept me for my homosexuality. This activity opened my eyes and made me empathize more with a friend that is currently going through this. It is a real shame and so sad that close people in your life like your parents can just shut you out just because of your sexual orientation. Coming out to friends and family should not be something homosexuals fear. I really hope that in the future LGBT individuals will be accepted in society and judged based on their character not on their sexual orientation.
The Goldman article was interesting to read because it had many statistics of women in higher education. Goldman mentions that women are now the majority in higher education. I am personally noticing that there are way more women around me at school than men. I was surprised to read that women are still underrepresented in STEM fields. What are more surprising are the experiences women in STEM fields reported. Women should not have to “play up” or “play down” or even prove themselves to males. Educators should encourage women into the fields and treat them equally with men. Educators should also encourage males to treat women with respect. Chapter 45 Reviving up for the Next Twenty-five years, had some good solutions to these gender issues. The one I like is “until men are fully equal inside the home, women will never be fully equal outside it.” In order to solve these gender issues we have to be equal in the home first. Children who grow up seeing their fathers do “feminine” chores and vice versa for their mom, they will learn that women and men are equal and not classify chores/STEM fields/roles as “feminine” or “masculine.”
My three questions are:
1. Why are there less men in higher education? Are men encouraged to enter the workforce right after high school?
2. Will women one day surpass men in STEM fields too? Why or why not?
3. What are other things parents can do to encourage gender equality in their homes?
Blog 7
Last class we did our presentations on “A Hope in the Unseen”. The class was divided into groups and we were all given certain sections to read and review to present to our classmates. I found it easy to relate to Cedric’s life because I have also experienced similar situations. The struggles to finish school and the fears of being rejected from my dream school were something that personally spoke to me from this story. I found it easy to follow along with my classmates presentations because I had read the beginning of the book. This helped me because when I came to present my section, I knew most of us were in tune with the stories timeline. Most of the information overlapped, but it was normal because it was things that Cedric struggled with throughout the book. I really enjoyed these presentations. The activity we did with gender roles a while back was a bit intense for me. I got an orange star, and I felt like I could relate to the ones who had a red star. It made me really upset when I ripped out my family member along with my dream job. The moment sat there in and it sucked, but I was able to empathize with the people that go through this situation in real life. I am glad I was able that experience even if it was unpleasant, because its little things like the star activity that can accomplish to bring about consciousness about another beings emotions. Sometimes that impact can brings about change.
For this blog I was able to review the readings on gender. The readings that stood out to me was the reading on Pro-Feminism. The author explained how some people are brought up in such a way that they tend not to see their own prejudices against themselves, but can clearly see them on someone else. Although sexism is mostly pointed out when it comes from men, women are also exposed to talking themselves down because of societal norms. Now a days it really is up to everyone to educate one another on this issue that can be highly sensitive for some. The readings on Sexism covered the feminist movement. In the beginning, the movement was about teaching society that women were and still are capable of doing things that only men were allowed to do earlier in history. Today, that it’s been proven, it may be time to take it a step further and convince everyone that a man can also do what only women have been allowed to do. Such tasks may include doing chores, being compassionate, to being a stay at home dad. If the norms of society were to be shaken a little and if men were allowed to express normal emotions, there a possibility that gender roles will not be a big issue anymore. Feminism is not about equality for women anymore, it’s a movement for everyone. As for the other readings we discussed last time, I keep referring to something I experienced at my old job. I have witnessed the small percentage of women who apply to STEM programs, and I’ve also seen an even smaller percentage of women that has actually graduated community college with a STEM major. The LGBT readings also reminded me of a coworker I had at my old job. He was not transgender but he did have a hard time opening up to certain people because he was afraid of judgments in the workplace for being homosexual. School systems try to work with everyone but just raising awareness might not be enough anymore.
Questions:
1. Why are girls more likely to be discouraged to pursue the STEM field at such a young age?
2. Is it true that Feminism is just for women in 2014?
3. Will men still be accepted as “Manly” even if they openly show emotions in public one day?
4. Will gender roles eventually come to an end?
Blog Post #7
Well, tracing back to the activity we had done in class with the stars, I only kept thinking that I would hate to be the people that had to tear their whole star apart, as for me I didn’t tear much off, but I ended up tearing off a part where I had my sister and I found that difficult to comprehend and accept considering we are twins, and I would only hope she would be there to support me if that situation was true.
I really enjoyed seeing all the presentations on Hope in the Unseen. I thought it was very smart of some groups to break apart the sections not just by chapters, but by emotions and such. It is a very great read and I will definitely will recommend it to other people I know. I already have to my mother.
I very much enjoyed the reading on pro feminism, I like that he took time took acknowledge his own blind sexism. The 1st list is too familiar for some women, but hey don’t tell a guy otherwise he will come to his defense. I’m joking, but seriously as I read that first list along, I couldn’t help but think of all the men that I know that are that way. I did like his list of the solution though I do think it would be very fair to do it in the manner he listed out. In “Revving it up for the next 25 Years” I couldn’t help but notice the section that spoke about how now we need to balance out with men, because women have proved that women can do what men can do, but now to be fair we have to give a shot to men to show they can do what women do. If we could only break these gender roles and have a balance I do believe things, would be a lot easier for both of us.
1)How many men (in the class) thought you could possibly speak about pro feminism, BEFORE you read the article?
2)After reading the article (men) did you question what sexist things you may have possibly done? (this can go for the ladies as well)
3)Has your gender defined what you bring to the table? (to society, your lifestyle, the choices you make)
4) Have you ever come into a situation in your life where you had to follow the “pack” (girls do girl things and boys do boy things) because you didn’t want to be ridiculed?
Power of Authority
The team was split into two when it came to the award challenge. Again it was Jeremy’s team vs. Josh’s team. In the end josh’s team lost and was sent back with nothing. While Jeremy’s team won a taco bar with beer and ice cold drinks. The main problem- solving reality in this game was power. The power here is negative which is putting a knife in between the tribe. They are trying to persuade people to be on their team by bashing the other guy.
Making rational decision making was smart on the winning team because they put the one person who was the biggest threat to the entire tribe and that was John. However, what no one knew was that while on exile island John found an immunity idol, which is huge game changer for him.
When the team was split into two Josh wanted to talk to his team that lost, that way he can get the target off his back and send Jeremy packing home. However, in the immunity challenge it was Jeremy who won immunity and can not be sent home. So the power of decision making had to change when it came to voting someone out.
In the end the authority is left once again in John and Jaclyn hands, but who are they going to vote off? In the end John and Jaclyn decided to vote Josh out which changed up the game completely.
Blog #7 by Scott
The last class discussions started with Julian explaining to us the importance of communicating with the right academic adviser. I like the fact that he pointed out that you can not always rely on an academic adviser to know their stuff as it pertains to you and he provided a good personal experience of exactly that. We then proceeded to do an exercise where we were given different colored stars and for a second, got a chance to feel what it might be like to hear feedback from the most important people in our lives on what it would be like to tell them that we were homosexual. I was fortunate to get a blue star, and because of that I felt much more comfortable and at ease with the people in my life. I would treat people with different orientations, such as sexual, just like the blue star people did, with tolerance, understanding, and respect that we are not all exactly the same, and we should not be disappointed in others because they are not like the “norm”. I felt for Alejandro because he had a star that represented the people in his life not accepting him for who he was. He said the people in his life would have definitely accepted him for whatever sexual orientation he was and that made him more aware and sad that the people closest to someones life could reject that person because they were different in some ways. I believe people are born to be different and for some people to gang up with the majority on a persons disposition is a real sign of weakness. My opinion is to be secure with yourself, no matter if it is popular or not, and do not judge other people.
The readings about gender in higher education showed that there is a big improvement in women attending colleges. It also pointed out a disparity with women not entering the STEM fields. But reading the study the author conducted with several women in the STEM field program it seemed that for the most part they were comfortable with their situation in a male dominated field of study. I personally see women doing great in these type of fields of study. I do not know if women are equally represented in the professional ranks, but they are well represented and on their way from what I experienced in my many STEM courses at Ventura College. I have seen an enormous improvement in the inclusion of women in STEM courses from when I first started college in 1981, to the present. I think people tend to follow stereotypes, but as the authors in the readings have pointed out, more and more women are stepping up to the challenge of entering the traditionally male dominated fields.
Do we acknowledge enough female heroes from the STEM fields?
Are we doing enough, at an early age of teaching, to break the stereotype of the male dominated science field?
Does the massive influence of the media portray men as the “gatekeepers” of the science and technology fields?
Blog #7
Our previous classes consisted of discussing the topic of sexual orientation, where we conducted an activity lead by Jaimie. This activity I found very surprising, at first when we were filling out our stars I did not know what to expect, but as the activity continued it begun to make sense. I was very fortunate to have a blue start which basically meant I was supported by my family, close friends and workplace even if I was gay. It was crazy to see that other classmates had to literally rip people out of their lives people who you’d expect to be accepting of you no matter what like their mothers and childhood friends. It is just sad to realize that people who do decide to come out do not get accepted by anybody and at times are thrown out to the street. It goes to show that our society is very messed up that even when a family member comes out, they aren’t even accepted by the people who they thought were always going to be there. Our second class consisted of our presentations of the book “A hope in the unseen” I really enjoyed these presentations and although the book was split into different sections, the story was as clear as if I had read it completely. It was interesting to see what type of life Cedric had and how is educational journey played out. It mainly focused on his journey and how his race affected his education in various ways.
This week’s readings focused on gender in higher education. A few of the readings were already discussed in previous classes, but I still enjoyed re-reading them. I still find it very interesting that many women tend to not go towards STEM fields, because they seem to think they are not smart enough or simply see them as mainly male type of fields. I hope that in time these statistics do change and make the STEM fields somewhat equal in regards to gender. The other readings focused on feminism and how it has developed throughout the years and how it should continue to progress in order to have women be completely equal to men. I found it interesting when the author focused on the fact that women cannot be treated equally until men are equal as well, this meaning that men should take responsibilities in the home in order for women to be treated equally outside the home. I never thought about it that way, but it does make a lot of sense. I also found it interesting that the man who wanted to speak about feminism was having a hard trouble trying to figure out if he had the right to speak about feminism since he was a male and he thought it was better suiting for a female to do it. He explained that although he was pro feminism approach, he unwillingly expressed sexism all throughout their daily lives. These topics were very interesting and I very much enjoyed the different topics especially because they focus so much on the equally of women and people in general.
- Do you think that genderqueer individuals will ever find a community where they can feel completely accepted for who they are?
- How can STEM fields be more appealing towards females trying to pursue careers in those particular fields?
- Is it possible to unwillingly express sexism as result of traditional customs?
Final QI trip of the Fall
Just returned from Santa Rosa Island for the last time this semester with the weekend proving to be productive and eye-opening in a variety of ways! We completed 6 more transects in Quemada- five along the banks and one within the riparian zone. We also took GPS points of all Willow Trees (an indicator species) within the creek. We counted 38 trees in total and will get working on a map to analyze trends in their location.
A member of our team marks the GPS coordinates for Salix lasiolepis (Arroyo Willow)
