Oh, the Joys of Talking about Race and Gender :D

Monday, September 10, 2012

                Well, today, I spent 10 hours of my time in class. So after class I finally got the chance to do to other things. Consequently, I had the need to go to Walgreens, so my friend Jake escorted me. To me, as a woman, it has been instilled in me that it is dangerous to be alone especially at night. Considering I am in a new place, I feel very insecure. As I walked down Virginia, I felt like I only kept bumping into guys. It doesn’t help that everyone always talks about the high crime rate and the number of rape cases that are reported each year. I’ve noticed that many girls around campus practice safe traveling as I do—constantly having a trustworthy male around. Even as I walked out of the safety of my dorm room, I couldn’t help but observe that as I walked through the halls and out the doors, the less secure an area was, the less girls by themselves. However, there were plenty of males walking around and lurking about. Naturally, as I walked with Jake, I questioned the intentions of the many men we passed. Some were menacing and others very direct in where they were heading. As we finally made it to our destination, there were five guys just standing there outside of the front entrance. It actually made me feel very uncomfortable because their presence didn’t seem very purposeful. I mean, who is out at almost midnight on a weekday. It was just bizarre to me.

                Even during the day, I’ve noticed that gender does play a big factor in the politics of socialization. Living in a wing that is all girls, it has seemed natural to ask one another for help. It is no issue. Asking guys is a little different. I know I am in college and we are all more “mature” or whatever, but I still feel like working with guys has been denoted as having an ulterior motive; not in a bad way of course but more in a trying to meet girls or guys type of way. 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

                Having this walking journal prompt on racial settings in our community hits home considering it is the eleventh anniversary of the nine-eleven attacks. I personally feel that I have grown up in a time where race wasn’t really an issue to me. However, the people around me, especially older adults have consistently made it an issue: Obama running for president, illegal immigration, terrorist organizations, and of course crime rates. Each of these things comes back to the whole race card. Today, as I walked to my one class of the day, I really tried to see the role that race plays on the campus. As I passed the Stoop Kids (the name I like to call the boys in Lincoln who just hangout playing the guitar on the steps), I couldn’t help but see that there were kids of all color. I don’t really know how to put this. People don’t really talk about race to me all that much, so when I do I feel as if I am being racist unless I’m trying to identify someone. I feel as if having people of diverse races on campus just adds to the cultural experience of being a college student. It hasn’t been an issue. So as I pondered this more throughout the day, I decided to head down to the DC Store to get some late dinner. As I sat there in the corner waiting for my dinner to be ready, I watched all the tables and the interactions among the students. In one corner you had a group of African-American girls laughing having a good time and at another there were several girls of various races seemingly have just as much fun. Scattered throughout were more interracial groups of students just being kids. Even in my personal life, I have had friends of every race and it never occurs to me that there may be differences across the board. I feel that is our similarities in culture based on the way we were raised is what makes the biggest difference. It is not the color of our skin but more our personality which will be the deal breaker for a friendship. Furthermore, one of the tables that I noticed was full of Chinese foreign exchange students. I don’t feel that other kids don’t sit with them because they are Chinese but rather they don’t talk to them because there is the cultural boundary of language that doesn’t seem all that important to deal with since it is not necessary for the time being. They seem to be the “out of place” group just because of this little obstacle called language. Regardless, I don’t see that much segregation by choice here. I think it is because of the characteristics of a college student. Being a college student implies that one is open-minded and here to learn not only about math and science but learn to be well versed in the culture around them. For us, here in America, that culture is based off of diversity and acceptance of all. So I think that that is quite interesting the overall picture of things.