A briefing on the Loma Prieta earthquake and future predictions.
Just in case, my broadcast via youtube.
12.07.2009
My High Budget Broadcast
A briefing on the Loma Prieta earthquake and future predictions.
Just in case, my broadcast via youtube.
11.30.2009
Copy Edit the World
The lead sentence of this article on DoubleX misspells "twentysomethings" as "twnetysomethings."
It's one the featured articles too!
It's one the featured articles too!
11.22.2009
Daughters
My inner feminist wept after reading an article I found via Double X, a site compiling various articles aimed towards women. A father compared the reception his announcements of his baby’s genders. He had his boy first, met with unanimous enthusiasm. Then a few years later, he received a range lukewarm sympathy to outright contempt for girls when his daughter was born.
Surely, in this day and age in America we’ve moved beyond stereotyping before birth. We love our sons and daughters equally. We teach them the same lessons and provide them with the same skills to live a fulfilling life. We know better than to assume girls will be crazy teenagers and moody babies because they are women.
According to the ever-accurate Wikipedia, an estimated 90 million women are missing in the population due to sex-selective abortion in seven Asian countries. The cultural preference for male heirs begins before birth is especially prevalent in China and surrounding countries, as well as India. By 2020, India will have 25 million extra men. China will have 35 million.
These are extreme examples, but it is dangerous to assume America is immune to discriminating against their daughters. Even more confusing, the discrimination can come from a place of love. Mothers want to pass their knowledge and experience to their daughters, while fathers want to do the same with their sons. It creates a noticeable gap.
As an only child, my parents had a single outlet for their parental guidance and I was lucky enough to learn from both of them. I got a tool set and taken to football games with my dad. I got a sewing machine and fashion advice from my mom. I am well-rounded for the equity of their efforts.
Earlier this very year, Science Daily published the results of a study of women gifted in math and science that opted out of a career in their field for a family. Women drop out of the field as they advance because of family and as a result, are underrepresented in physical sciences and engineering. Would this statistic remain if children were not groomed for their traditional cultural role in society?
In the work place, women are still paid less. In 2008, they were paid 77% of what males make. They are in fewer leadership positions than men, often for family reasons, but also because of resistance. I heard a sentiment that made me cringe during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign that I hope dies soon- she can’t lead because she’s too hormonal and when she has PMS she’ll press the red button.
The idea women are predisposed to certain a temperament or inherent femininity makes them less qualified is unfounded. Why are we so unused women leaders? I believe the problem starts at birth.
Surely, in this day and age in America we’ve moved beyond stereotyping before birth. We love our sons and daughters equally. We teach them the same lessons and provide them with the same skills to live a fulfilling life. We know better than to assume girls will be crazy teenagers and moody babies because they are women.
According to the ever-accurate Wikipedia, an estimated 90 million women are missing in the population due to sex-selective abortion in seven Asian countries. The cultural preference for male heirs begins before birth is especially prevalent in China and surrounding countries, as well as India. By 2020, India will have 25 million extra men. China will have 35 million.
These are extreme examples, but it is dangerous to assume America is immune to discriminating against their daughters. Even more confusing, the discrimination can come from a place of love. Mothers want to pass their knowledge and experience to their daughters, while fathers want to do the same with their sons. It creates a noticeable gap.
As an only child, my parents had a single outlet for their parental guidance and I was lucky enough to learn from both of them. I got a tool set and taken to football games with my dad. I got a sewing machine and fashion advice from my mom. I am well-rounded for the equity of their efforts.
Earlier this very year, Science Daily published the results of a study of women gifted in math and science that opted out of a career in their field for a family. Women drop out of the field as they advance because of family and as a result, are underrepresented in physical sciences and engineering. Would this statistic remain if children were not groomed for their traditional cultural role in society?
In the work place, women are still paid less. In 2008, they were paid 77% of what males make. They are in fewer leadership positions than men, often for family reasons, but also because of resistance. I heard a sentiment that made me cringe during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign that I hope dies soon- she can’t lead because she’s too hormonal and when she has PMS she’ll press the red button.
The idea women are predisposed to certain a temperament or inherent femininity makes them less qualified is unfounded. Why are we so unused women leaders? I believe the problem starts at birth.
11.15.2009
Taking Pictures and Telling Our Stories.
I’ve never given much thought to feeding myself. I don’t think much about how often I clean. I don’t honestly know how much time I spend alone everyday, but it can’t be more than a few hours a week. I function without thinking, but for those with mental illness everyday tasks are intimidating challenges.
“Taking Pictures and Telling Our Stories” provides insight to the lives of San Jose’s mentally ill community. It provides photographic windows into their world and, coupled with their captions, exposes misconceptions others may have.
The exhibit is free to the public at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Public Library on the fourth floor in the exhibition area. It will remain until November 17. Presented by the San Jose State University Department of Occupational Therapy, real clients anonymously opened their lives to the lens of a camera. The exhibit includes a dozen pictures from four contributors diagnosed with a mental illness. None identify their illness.
Despite this, all speak of similar symptoms. They feel isolated. They have their pets to ease the loneliness and well-appreciated friends to help them along, but every picture seems like it was taken from the outside looking in. This is their perspective and I felt a barrier between the subject of the photo and myself the viewer.
I never before realized the effort it takes for a mentally ill person to be a part of society. “The DLS (daily living skills),” as contributer D put it, don’t come easily. D’s pictures of an apartment barely recognizable for the layer of trash and laundry are overwhelming. The medicine cabinet is stacked deep with bottles and boxes of prescriptions.
“People don’t understand how tired we get from our meds and how stress affects them… People don’t consider us truly disabled and we really are,” D said of the prescriptions.
And I find remembering my allergy medication more stress than I can take. Having a pill schedule controlling the hormones and chemicals in your body is more than I can imagine.
Just this weekend, I visited a bio major friend in Chico and commented on the homeless population there. She said it was pretty large since people were sympathetic there. Most suffer from untreated mental illness because treatment is too expensive.
That experience put the exhibit in perspective. The contributors are doing well. They receive therapy and medication and still look at the world from the outside in. I came away thinking of the people in my world who are part of this community that I could possibly pull in.
“Taking Pictures and Telling Our Stories” provides insight to the lives of San Jose’s mentally ill community. It provides photographic windows into their world and, coupled with their captions, exposes misconceptions others may have.
The exhibit is free to the public at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Public Library on the fourth floor in the exhibition area. It will remain until November 17. Presented by the San Jose State University Department of Occupational Therapy, real clients anonymously opened their lives to the lens of a camera. The exhibit includes a dozen pictures from four contributors diagnosed with a mental illness. None identify their illness.
Despite this, all speak of similar symptoms. They feel isolated. They have their pets to ease the loneliness and well-appreciated friends to help them along, but every picture seems like it was taken from the outside looking in. This is their perspective and I felt a barrier between the subject of the photo and myself the viewer.
I never before realized the effort it takes for a mentally ill person to be a part of society. “The DLS (daily living skills),” as contributer D put it, don’t come easily. D’s pictures of an apartment barely recognizable for the layer of trash and laundry are overwhelming. The medicine cabinet is stacked deep with bottles and boxes of prescriptions.
“People don’t understand how tired we get from our meds and how stress affects them… People don’t consider us truly disabled and we really are,” D said of the prescriptions.
And I find remembering my allergy medication more stress than I can take. Having a pill schedule controlling the hormones and chemicals in your body is more than I can imagine.
Just this weekend, I visited a bio major friend in Chico and commented on the homeless population there. She said it was pretty large since people were sympathetic there. Most suffer from untreated mental illness because treatment is too expensive.
That experience put the exhibit in perspective. The contributors are doing well. They receive therapy and medication and still look at the world from the outside in. I came away thinking of the people in my world who are part of this community that I could possibly pull in.
11.12.2009
word #10
Found while stumbling upon...
Sheila-na-gig, noun: figurative carvings of naked women displaying their genitalia, typically found on churches, castles and other buildings throughout Ireland and Britain.
"Her suggestive pose, like that of the sheila-na-gig, referred to female sexual mysteries in particular."
Heinz Insu Felkner, The Mermaid
Sometimes, I think the girls posting their weekend pictures online think they're sheila-na-gigs.
Sheila-na-gig, noun: figurative carvings of naked women displaying their genitalia, typically found on churches, castles and other buildings throughout Ireland and Britain.
"Her suggestive pose, like that of the sheila-na-gig, referred to female sexual mysteries in particular."
Heinz Insu Felkner, The Mermaid
Sometimes, I think the girls posting their weekend pictures online think they're sheila-na-gigs.
11.04.2009
Japanese Internment Memorial
A bronze-cast block without fanfare or flash, San Jose’s Japanese Internment Memorial had never before caught my eye walking down Second Street until I took the time to examine the intricate details etched into the metal.
The monument is an aerial reflection Asawa’s life before and during internment, with one side looking over farm life and family and the other separation and camp life.
Walking around the memorial will lead the viewer along a time line, first with an explanation of typical life for Japanese-Americans and a display of family crests.
The relief of a typical day shows farm trucks and children running while mothers cook in kitchen but as the relief gets closer to the end, these trucks get filled with families headed toward badge-bearing officials.
The opposite side is bordered by watch towers holding snipers looking down over the barracks of people in tattered clothing.
Moments of precious normalcy are shown on this side, like the children playing jacks and a paper airplane ascending beyond the barbed wire overhead.
Ruth Asawa created the monument, a Japanese-American woman detained at the internment camps created by the U.S. government following involvement in World War II.
She was only 16 when her family left their home in the agricultural city of Norwalk in southern California and move to the Santa Anita Racetrack, where her family lived in stables.
It was there in the stands that Walt Disney Studio Animators detained in the camp gave art class to the children at the racetrack, according to Asawa’s website.
Asawa and her family were later to moved to Rohwer War Relocation Center, Ark., where in 1943 she was able to leave the camp and attend college in Milwaukee, Wisc.
She spent a total of 18 months in internment but would not see her family again until 1948, after the end of the war.
Most of Japanese descent immigrated to America to work agricultural jobs in farming communities and many children in these families were citizens of the United States.
Order 9066 was issued in 1942, requiring 120,000 people to leave their homes, businesses and possessions behind and relocate to cramped camps across the western United States, according to Wikipedia.
The side of the monument separating before and after depictions of internment holds a copy of the order as it was sent to residents of Santa Clara County.
They were told to at the Men’s Gymnasium at San Jose State with only 150 pounds of belongings, mostly clothing and survival necessities.
This building is now known as Yoshihiro Uchida Hall, named for the renowned judo coach of Japanese descent at San Jose State.
Uchida was a student at San Jose before he joined the military and avoided internment, but his family was sent to camps in Arizona for four years, according to the Spartan Daily.
On a personal note, I found my grandmother’s family crest on the monument, which set me back on my heels.
Internment influenced more lives than the 120,000 placed in camps.
The monument is an aerial reflection Asawa’s life before and during internment, with one side looking over farm life and family and the other separation and camp life.
Walking around the memorial will lead the viewer along a time line, first with an explanation of typical life for Japanese-Americans and a display of family crests.
The relief of a typical day shows farm trucks and children running while mothers cook in kitchen but as the relief gets closer to the end, these trucks get filled with families headed toward badge-bearing officials.
The opposite side is bordered by watch towers holding snipers looking down over the barracks of people in tattered clothing.
Moments of precious normalcy are shown on this side, like the children playing jacks and a paper airplane ascending beyond the barbed wire overhead.
Ruth Asawa created the monument, a Japanese-American woman detained at the internment camps created by the U.S. government following involvement in World War II.
She was only 16 when her family left their home in the agricultural city of Norwalk in southern California and move to the Santa Anita Racetrack, where her family lived in stables.
It was there in the stands that Walt Disney Studio Animators detained in the camp gave art class to the children at the racetrack, according to Asawa’s website.
Asawa and her family were later to moved to Rohwer War Relocation Center, Ark., where in 1943 she was able to leave the camp and attend college in Milwaukee, Wisc.
She spent a total of 18 months in internment but would not see her family again until 1948, after the end of the war.
Most of Japanese descent immigrated to America to work agricultural jobs in farming communities and many children in these families were citizens of the United States.
Order 9066 was issued in 1942, requiring 120,000 people to leave their homes, businesses and possessions behind and relocate to cramped camps across the western United States, according to Wikipedia.
The side of the monument separating before and after depictions of internment holds a copy of the order as it was sent to residents of Santa Clara County.
They were told to at the Men’s Gymnasium at San Jose State with only 150 pounds of belongings, mostly clothing and survival necessities.
This building is now known as Yoshihiro Uchida Hall, named for the renowned judo coach of Japanese descent at San Jose State.
Uchida was a student at San Jose before he joined the military and avoided internment, but his family was sent to camps in Arizona for four years, according to the Spartan Daily.
On a personal note, I found my grandmother’s family crest on the monument, which set me back on my heels.
Internment influenced more lives than the 120,000 placed in camps.
11.01.2009
Word #9
homily, noun: a commentary given after the reading of a scripture.
"In her between-song patter, she offers light-handed homilies about life being bigger than high school, about dreaming and daring to be different."
Hans Eisenbeis, XX
After spouting off the essential ideas of her philosophy, she added a homily explaining further her feelings on the subject.
"In her between-song patter, she offers light-handed homilies about life being bigger than high school, about dreaming and daring to be different."
Hans Eisenbeis, XX
After spouting off the essential ideas of her philosophy, she added a homily explaining further her feelings on the subject.
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