Giving others Hope

           http://www.tgpdenver.org/The Gathering place is a very worm and open facility. With the philosophy of it is already hard to be homeless just add two children to the equation and it becomes even more difficult. With these struggles in mine it offers to meet the immediate needs of the woman that walk through the doors to even providing a save family place to celebrate birthdays and holidays.  This organization is offering a normalcy that is a human right; but for one reason or another, these women have fallen on hard times and as a result struggle to even be able to offer a safe loving space to offer to their own children.  These philosophies struck close to my heart and even brought me to some tears.  It is so gratifying to know that I could hopefully make an impact in these people’s lives.

                How are we helping these people? Our mission is to be able to offer an activity or day trip in a bag. This means that we are searching for back packs, donations for food, pamphlets of free culturally enriched activities and bus passes. The largest hurtle would be to acquire bus passes. Truth be told I am overwhelmed with joy but also fear. This organization has given us a plan but has also cut us lose.  At first meeting I was expecting more guidance rather than free though.  However though this free though has given us the power to take joy in offering a fun day for a family that would otherwise struggle on a day to day bases.

                Second of all the clientele there is inconsistent. There are some clients that come in for up to ten years and other that only come in once. Now The Gathering place has met my expectation of providing a safe and fun place for these women to spend their days. But not only do they do that, they also offer food, a quite room to nap in, and private showers. These are all things that we take for gardened but are a key right and staple to living a happy life. This is seen in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, the need to have shelter food and safety. This is something that I saw to be amazing!  As we had read in chapter 7 both women and men have a number of cultural pressures to fit in to their gender role. However these women are expected to really be “Super Woman”. Take into the consideration that woman already bear 70% of responsibility in a relationship, but they must also work and provide sensitive supportive love for their children.  So with all of those stressors they are also homeless, that can drive a person to losing hope.

                Hope is the biggest expectation I have for this organization. In turn The Gathering Place also provides hope without judgment. Fortunately, The Gathering place is supported by the community. Ninety-eight percent of all of their proceeds are privately donated. With these donations The Gathering place is capable of offering these opportunities to others. I personally think that this may be one of the most recognized nonprofits in Denver. I just hope that they can keep getting the support and funding they need to help these women shape their lives into happy, healthy long lives with their families.

Sock it to the man!

       

           It has now been a little over 90 years since woman were given the right to vote.  This brave movement has now spanned a number of woman’s liberation forces over the years and throughout the country. Although there have been a number of movements there has also been a lot of confusion as to what it means to be a woman.  Throughout history woman have always worked unless they were a part of the upper class so the idea of a house hold with one working parent has been somewhat wrong.  This was something that was not always discussed with first wave feminism that it was let by upper class woman.

Traditionally women have always had to work. Until the 1950’s, this gave a skewed perception of what it meant to be a woman. At the time the economy was good so there was no need for both parents to be working; also it is good to keep in mind that there was the cold war as well. The cold war had a social back lash causing America to act in wholesome ways, drive big cars and to also have a different balance with in the house hold.

Within second wave feminism this is where the idea of breaking that class ceiling becomes a philosophy of most women. Woman at this time worked the same jobs as their male counter parts and strived to prove their credibility as an asset to a job or even as a bread winner at home. Personally I think this is where people developed the wrong idea of what the woman’s movement was all about. Woman were not out to burn their bras or castrate men, rather to survive and get the respect they deserved.

I personally identify with the revalorize movement. I do think those women need to be recognized for the way they impact society and life.  This is because for so many years woman have been doing what is called the second shift. So not only are they now working a full time job, but now they are coming home to clean, feed the family and so on. These tasks have now been expected rather than valued.  In fact most divorces are anticipated by the women rather than the men, because not only the second shift but also because they are responsible for seventy percent of the relationship.  Is it that hard to just appreciate that hard work?

In conclusion, the woman’s rights movement has been a long hard road. Sometimes it is easy to forget how much the woman before us have fought and struggled. From getting to vote, same pay act, and so on,  a lot of woman before us had to struggle and fight for those rights.

What is a Name?

Names are the things that we care most about, it shows our love and attachment to something; it alternatively also gives names to things we disapprove of or even hate. Names give power and explanation to a feeling. The book Gendered Lives uses the example of sexual harassment, that there was never a term for sexual harassment until the 1960’s before it was always refunded to has getting out of line. One the term sexual harassment was coined for that term it finally gave consequence for the act.  An alternatively explanation would be that we give names to things we care about. Take for example breakfast at Tiffany’s, Audrey Hepburn has a cat during the whole movie, she just always referred to the cat as cat, because she felt the cat was nether hers .Ironically neither was she anyone else’s. Meaning there was no direct ownership nor was there a commitment.

                One good example of names having power is in a relationship. When two people love each other very much, they give each other pet names. These names help to define the relationship. Such pet names as Baby, Love, Chicken and so one are a way to add meaning or awareness. These names also let you know where one stands in the relationship, you could be called Baby or babe for years, but once there is a fight over one needing space, suddenly you  (or the other)are refuted to as you birth given name. By doing this, the partner is now taking away the statues of the relationship or perhaps the relationship all together.

                Names can also change meaning over time of an object, idea or a person over time. Take Shaun Colms for example and he’s evolved as a person over the years so has his name. In the early 1990s he Puff Daddy rapping with Biggy Smalls, that’s who he was Puff Daddy. Subsequently it changed to P Diddy for whatever reason, and now to Shan Colms (He’s much funnier as Sean). The moral of the story is that even though his name has changed a number of times he is still physically the same person, but he has developed into who he is as a person today.

                The moral of the story is that a thing, a person a feeling has no power or awareness until we have given it that name. Regardless of if it is in a positive light such as pet names, or a negative connotation such as sexual harassment or bullying; even in the realm of identity it changes the meaning and the power of the thing.

What my Mom and Dad didn't Tell About Being a Girl

      Gender is something that has been expressed to us whether it had been from family members, the media, and social groupings and so on. This idea of gender has been expressed as perhaps role fulfillments. For example, men are supposed to be emotionally detached and “the provider”. On the other had woman should only show tenderness, happiness, and are reasonable for the caregiver role. Even though no authority figure has said that is how it is, over the years, the public has chosen to accept how either gender is should behave.  Again gender roles can be expressed be the media, family, friends and learning institutions. I cannot say that my exposure to gender roles was necessarily clear.

                I grew up in a two-parent household, but unlike popular media would express; there was a gender role reversal between my parents.  My mother was a nurse and generally worked fifty hours a week and my father was a computer engineer working the normal nine to five Monday through Friday. With my father’s more open availability it left him open for the care-taking role. Meaning, he would make us breakfast, get us ready for school and in the evening cooked dinner and made sure our homework was completed.  My father really identified with being a father and was progressive as well. 

Gender roles were not expressed, both parents taught us how to cook, fix cars and so on. It was my parents’ goal to raise us girls to be independent, self-sufficient individuals.  I think this individualist philosophy may have confused me while growing up; I was just always under the impression that everyone was that way.  Even throughout middle school, gender role were still unclear to me.   Throughout the socialization process of school, I am sure that gender roles had been expressed to me, but I cannot recall anything in specific.

                The first expression was not until I was  twenty-five and moving in with my boyfriend . It was the day after I had moved all of my belongings in to my boyfriend’s house and my grandma called me to ask how it was going. I reported that everything went fine, and that is when things got serious.  Grandma asks me “So what do you plan on making for dinner for the next week?”  She went on further to say that, my responsibilities have change as a woman. Meaning I was no longer taking care of myself, but my new responsibilities were to take care of the house and my boyfriend, and if I needed to I should quit my job and just focus on school and the house work.  Furthermore did she not only express that my social role as a woman was to take care of the house and my boyfriend, but it was his responsibility to pay for us.  This is still confusing, I just feel that both genders should work together to get things done.

                History and social learning has taught us that women are to be responsible for care taking and men are responsible for “bring home the bacon”.  However, I am hopeful that in these modern times those gender roles have become gray and fuzzy. I only say this because now that I am in my late twenties everyone needs to bring home the turkey and the other bring home the bacon. Economic survival has become so hard that having one stay at home partner is no longer an option.