Lewis & Clark Moodle

Video attached below.

The ad campaign for the war on drugs in the 1980's should be kept in mind when trumps new ads are released. One 80's add which spotlights a young African American kid running through a bad neighborhood, dodging drug dealers while taking the "long way home". It ends not with the usual phrase, "just say no to drugs", but instead with "we hear you, don't give up". This is clearly a promise to the lower classes of America. Let it be said this is an inherently a racist add it, as it uses an African American to reach out to all lower classes. The add seems to acknowledge that many kids can't just say no to drugs, and may turn to the drug dealers instead because they seem to understand them and know their plight. This ad aims to let kids in this situation know that they have the government coming to help them. This of course never really happened, however it will be interesting to see if trump even attempts to connect with the lower class in his drug campaign. Seeing as how he is probably running these adds to appease his base, it would be unexpected for him to attempt to make this connection. My prediction is that the ads stick to the core values his base generally holds true. They will be focused around how drugs can destroy families, and will not criticize alcohol or tobacco products. There will also probably be at least one outlandish claim regarding the effects of drugs and something super racist.

There was an article that my sister sent to me about the governments new plan raise fees for protection as well as stricter regulation rules about where the children are coming from. The article talks about the end of intercountry adoption possibly forever because of the regulations that this new group Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity. They are supposed to make intercountry adoption more ethical which means making sure the adoptee was not stolen or being brought to a family who wants to use the child for bad intentions. I was sad and upset while reading this outrageous article. Why is it outrageous? Because there is no way possible that intercountry can be 100% ethical. Who is going to be employed to track down every parent to make sure their intentions were for adoption? What will they do about China, where there are billions of parents that cannot support a child? This group does not have enough funding or resources to track down all these loose ends. Another point is that there are rare cases of an adoptee being stolen or used for ill purposes. This sudden outcry for more ethical purposes for adoption seems to me more like a cover up for preventing immigrants coming into the country.

Intercountry adoption helps build diverse communities that would not have existed without transnational adoptees. For all the other Chinese adopted friends that I had, we formed a community that had a mixed identity and heritage. This transnational adoption community is such a strong part of people’s identities that to take it away could hurt millions. As well as, this country would have no kinds of immigrants/ diversity then. As long as Trump gets his way and there are no immigrants aloud into this country. That is an extreme of course, but this is a serious issue. I think that lack of diversity and a destruction of a community will come out of no intercountry adoption.

Adoption is a huge part of many people’s lives because it has created a different way for single parents to have children. It has been going on for a long time and has helped millions of children without families. This will affect marriage patterns, and possible lead to the decline of number of babies produced. For example, in recent years the numbers for marriage and then birth rates have been going down for various reasons. Adoption is a key part that couples or single parents have used to have a child but without this resource then people could put off having a child or use other methods. However, no adoptions will heavily affect the numbers because it is such an important thing.

I think that adoption is such an important part of my life that it is unfathomable for me to imagine an end to it. I am from China, and it is crazy to think that these people want to try and track down every child to find their birth parents. Well if they do, will they tell that child where to find their birth parents or withhold that information? There are so many questions about this new program and so many issues that I have with this. I think it is unethical for them to propose the idea to make it even more difficult to adopt a child. Not everyone in this world have ill intentions or want to harm everyone.

This weekend I was fortunate enough to attend a school trip to a local tulip farm. We learned about the challenges facing small farmers and the relations between the government and farmers in our area. There are many big ideas to unpack in this alone, however what I was interested in was the work force behind these small farms. Many if not most of the workers at the farm were immigrants, legal or illegal they did not want to specify. The owners of the farm spoke to us about how unsafe their workers felt sometimes at a days end, they explained that on some days the workers would stay on the farm for hours after hearing that immigration was waiting at their houses or along the streets waiting to catch illegal workers heading home for the day. Many of these workers have spend some if not most of their lives in this country and are making the lives of others easier by doing so. Immigrants take unwanted or dirty jobs, and are then treated as less than and live in constant fear of deportation. This is no way to live. There needs to be a reform in the way we handle illegal immigrants in Oregon, and America. I'm not sure what this change should look like exactly, however it is my belief that if there are illegal immigrants who live in this country for over a certain number of years and act as model citizens, they should be allowed citizenship and rights which other people have to this country and to this land. 

Over the weekend I went to a dance hosted by the Black Student Union. It was really fun and I danced a lot to songs mainly written by black artists. There was one thing that I noticed that my group and I were very quick to judge; there were white people. This is a common judgement that comes up among my friends and I, who are predominantly people of color, about white people and how they seem to be the first to voice opinions on topics about people of color. In class, a question was posed about the microaggressions people of color face, the first person to raise their hand was not a person of color but a white person. It is funny to me that someone that does not face racist comments, or judgements based on the color of their skin, to know more on that specific subject. Similar to when I was at the dance, I found myself judging these white people and thinking what right do they have to be here? But then I realized what makes it so wrong for them to be here? What right do I have coming to this Black Student Union dance when I am not black? Why was my first instinct to judge and feel a sentiment of us and them?

I think this is a common feeling among people of color and related to a bigger society issue. It is a known fact that white people have suppressed many groups of people of color over the course of history. There was slavery and then segregation that still exists today. Chinese people also faced racial injustice, like when they were used to help build the railroads. There are more examples of injustices between people of color and whites, however I am not saying that all white people or people of color have animosity with each other. I am saying that because of these events it has instilled the feelings of separation and sentiment of us versus them. I think that because of these events, people hold others against a prejudice that had backing in another time period but not as relevant today.

I think my feelings of judgement have been influenced by society. Society views people of color as different groups that are not intermixed. We are never specifically segregated but it is natural for people of color to be attracted to each other in a room because we are usually the minority wherever we go. Then, since we usually come together it further instills that feeling of outsiders or difference between the two groups. I do know that this is not always the case: as a child I would want to be friends with all types of races. However, I found it hard to make friends with the people of color at my school because they would group together. I had friends that were white, and I would want friends that were people of color. However, the people of color, for example if they were all Korean, would segregate themselves. Even though we were all Asian, I still felt excluded because I wasn’t Korean. I think that society is to blame for our judgments because the institutions that we grew up with never stopped the separateness or they ignored the differences all together.  

Lewis and Clark college tuition is $50,574, on top of that a student has to pay for room and board, food plan, books, and other fees. With that said, everyone that attends here cannot be from a low-income family. Yes, majority of us are on scholarships but only a select one or two are on a full ride. So, in theory, we all are probably upper middle class, or rich. However, the weird thing is no one wants to admit they have money. People act as if they cannot pay for a $7 meal at a food truck, but talk about their summer home in Arizona and going to Cabo in Mexico for spring break. My favorite example was when I had received a notification that my monthly payment due was coming up. A teammate saw it and asked what that meant, I said “It’s for people to space out paying for tuition each semester” She replied, “Oh, I’ve never heard of that. I paid it all with a check in the beginning of the year.”

 This comment was hilarious to me because it was a typical response from a student that can afford going to a private school. There are such sharp differences in people that will openly admit to having money or go to great lengths to deny it. Why do people act like they have nothing when in this environment it is expected that everyone has money? Is it really being humble/ shy? Or is there something larger at play? It is common to see in this era that the amount of likes and followers a person has gives them validation that they are cool. So, people post about their amazing adventures they have on the weekends, but also want to appear relatable so the next day have an edited photo of a coffee cup and a book captioned, “Just relaxing and chilling today.” Either way, this affect seems to be projected on real life, in that people are also expected to be as perfect as a picture. It seems that people here want to be seen as the really cool and adventurous person but if they tell people they can afford to go on trips in Nepal than the illusion is broken.

In society, people can sympathize with others that are of the same class. But when someone is in a higher class than you are and then talk about their amazing adventures, it creates envy and jealousy. Really there is no difference in the fact that two people go on awesome trips but one happens to have more money than another. It seems to me that society has warped the image of success and money to be a negative connotation. So, someone that talks about how much money they have would automatically make someone feel negative towards them because they are held at a different esteem. This is definitely, related to class struggles and self-esteem. No one wants to feel like they are lesser than someone else. And now it seems to be exemplified even more because of our constant need of validation instilled in us from social media affects. Technology will only continue to grow and impact our lives more which will continue to enforce this type of behavior and thought. Everyone here will continue to hide their money so they will not have to be ostracized or looked at differently if they claim to be poorer than they really are.

This article called “Did this hug end Jen’s marriage” was written by the Daily mail which is practically a gossip column and it describes a theory about why Jennifer Anniston and Justin Theroux have split up. In this article, they describe how a photo of Justin hugging another woman caused Jennifer to throw a fit and end the relationship.  Despite this being a gossip column and not usually based on the facts, there is a point that should be made about the basis of the article. The speculation that there has to be woman versus woman is absurd and typical. Social media is notorious for pinning a woman versus a woman when there is no basis for the fight. Women are constantly put under a negative light in media when they have done nothing wrong. They have taken a common divorce and blown it out of proportion, claiming infidelity to make it seem that Jennifer is being the typical jealous woman. It is a common thing to see in media that women cannot be friends and there must be more underlying the surface. Another example, the two tween stars from the tv show Shake It Up, were quoted in many articles and talk shows where they have discussed being forced to be “enemies.” They described that they did not want to hate each other but were told they had to. Again, two women are being put against one another in order to entertain others.

Why are women continuously being put against one another? This negative portrayal is detrimental to women in society because it makes women always seem petty and trivial. Women have been trying to excel in society despite all of the set backs from men telling them that woman cannot. The institutions that are limiting women from being truly successful are trapping them into boxes with unflattering labels. In every day life, girls in high school and any social setting judge one another and are quick to label another girl unfairly. Girls grow up with social media everywhere telling us how to look and act to be liked. When we see other girls that are more popular we want to tear them down because we have seen it over and over in media. This phenomenon will always be present and spreading through out generations as social media expands. There should be ways where women are not seen as the villain anymore and portrayed as the heroes and comrades to one another.  

There has been plenty of discussion of class in our classroom. We seem to use case studies to better understand these issues and to generate solutions. So I thought I would offer a perspective of my own. Hopefully it raises a few question and offers more solutions. My mom is a travel writer and my dad a car salesman. My moms side of the family is made up of doctors, and scientists. My dads side is made up of laborers such as constructions workers and grocery clerks. There is a clear difference in class between the two sides of the family. It is often that I hear about my aunts new jobs working with NASA while my dads side of the family struggles to find work. I have noticed two main differences in the outcomes of this economic disparity. One is the difference in education that the children receive, and the other is the opportunity to travel. Regarding education, the kids on my moms side of the family are always prioritizing school, they go to private schools and attended preschool as well. The kids on my dads side go to school as often as possible, but don't have the same resources as my moms side of the family to go to fancy private schools. The opportunity to travel has also effected these families. My moms side travels much more often than my dads side, and travels farther on more expensive trips. This gives them a broader worldview. My moms side is also generally liberal while my dads side is conservative. I'm not sure how to piece this all together, but if you have any insights as to what this might mean or if there are any patterns associated with the books we've been reading I would be very interested to hear about it. 

When I am at swim practice I usually have to change how I act in order to match the people around me. I am more upbeat and open around my teammates versus when I am in the classroom, I barely talk and keep to myself. This difference in how I act around different groups of people relates to the want to be normal/ the same. Everyone wants to fit in and be a part of something in order to feel special and wanted. When someone goes to a new place, they automatically seek out a new friend group and may change their style and interests in order to fit in. People learn to adapt to their surroundings because of the need to be normal and accepted into the community.

The reading by Erving Goffman about “Presentation of everyday self,” seems relevant to the idea of fitting into a group/ setting. Goffman talks about putting on a façade to try and mask your true feelings by putting on a different face to the public. This is similar when someone is out with a new group of friends or in everyday life. Someone who is trying to assimilate into a new group would want to be polite, make jokes, be friendly but not reveal too much about oneself. I think it is interesting that when we meet someone for the first time we are not being our true self because we are trying to be accepted as someone else first. When I was receiving advice from friends before coming to college, many people told me to not act like my usual self when I meet new people. They were afraid that I would not be accepted if I met people as my energetic and bold self. This affected how I presented myself every time I met someone because I knew if I wanted to make friends in this new environment I would need to make sure I pretended to be calmer than I normally am. I know that people can be their true self when they are with people they are most comfortable with but I want to know why we cannot always be ourselves in any situation without the fear of being judged.

That point is another factor in society that makes It hard to want to share your true self; judgement. It seems that society has made it so people have to be a certain way in order to be accepted. Social media has also turned into a place where we have to mask who we really are or else no one would want to follow us or like our posts. People want to show their followers how cool they are or else no one would care about their lives. Why does society get to dictate practically every aspect of our lives? Why can we not be ourselves and not be judged? Do we like being told what to do and judging other people?

Recently in the news there has been lots of talk about the Florida school shooting in which 17 people were killed and many lives were affected. The young man responsible for this was Nikolas Cruz who was expelled from that same school and came back with an assault rifle that he legally obtained. This has sparked many discussions from the family and friends of the deceased about stricter gun control. In an article by BBC news called “Florida school shooting: Trump links FBI's missteps to Russia investigation,” they talked about all the factors that lead up to the shooting as well as what is the aftermath. Many of the students who spoke out at a rally are upset and call for more action by the president.

This debate over gun control has been happening for many years. It is sad to see that the conversation is only brought into the headlines when there is another mass shooting. In class, we have discussed what makes people in the age range of 16-18 want to commit these crimes and the logic behind mainly targeting high schools. There are no concrete answers that we had come up with, but probably that target stems from the negative experiences a person had with that place. I think the age range is interesting to analyze because the shooters are mainly teenagers. There are many factors that can play into how these mass shooters were created. I know that violent movies and video games have been a worldwide phenomenon but only America is having this issue. Despite this, I think the main factor that causes shootings from teenagers in America is social media. This new generation is known for technology and having this huge influence from the mass media. Since everyone has iPhones and a platform to share instantly anything with everyone it is easier to become noticed. I think that these teenagers that are seeing ways to become famous are expounding on it as well as they are hearing about these shootings. The want to be famous as well as show to everyone their anger. There are definitely other factors that shape these shooters motives and with further analysis and research there would be more conclusive data about this topic.