Closing the Semester

As we close the semester and I think back at everything that has been said, everything that has been done and that will be accomplished I find it amazing how much I have grown and how I believe many of others in our classroom have grown. I started off the semester in this class pretty rough. The structure of the class startled me; from the blogs, to the observations to our projects down to all the FREEDOM we had! I have always been a person to plan ahead, have a set deadline, like to have clear-cut instructions and like to know that at the end of the process I will have an output I can measure. Well guess what this class was, the complete OPPOSITE from all that I have described above. It was a struggle but I managed to maintain my composure and not completely break down…

To the cohort I was a part of this semester; what a pleasure! The thought that I could possibly have you again next semester in some of my classes is very rewarding. Each and every one of you has shared something this semester that I took away from and learned. Yes, everyone had their different personalities and yes I sometimes believed that our class was going to be a fighting ring but never did I feel there was animosity after our discussions. We all had different perspectives and it was a great experience to hear them all.

To Professor G, what a pleasure to have experienced a classroom setting with you! You’re knowledge over social justice issues is immense and I’m sure if this class could go on forever you would still not run out of great things to inform us of. I have developed an insightful way of thinking about these issues through your many examples and great stories. Thank you once again for the pool of new knowledge that you have shared with us and of course, thank you for your oh so delicious cookies that I will try and stop by your next semester classes and steal lol

It has truly been a blessing this semester with all of my classes and all of the new people I had the privilege to meet. Hope to see you all around the school next semester if I don’t get to have classes with you. And of course, hope to see walk the stage in the spring of 2013! We are getting closer to the prize ya’ll!


I leave you with your thoughts...  

End of the Semester but Why not!

Here's a video a friend posted on facebook over "feminist" thought it would be interesting to share even though we did this section at the very beginning of the semester...

I leave you with your thoughts...

Project H

First and foremost, I want to make a HUGE shout out to my Project H members =D It was a blast working with you all and I am glad we were a team. We've learned, we've bonded and each and every one of learned took away something from this experience =) AND now we have classes together next semester! lol

Now on to my reflection on this amazing project that I honestly didn't expect much out of at the very beginning. We went from only wanting to break the stigma that the homeless population carried and making a video and calling it quits to these concise action steps and visions! I believe the ideas we came up with were great and could possibly lead to a better future for the homeless population... I can definitely see why UT prides itself in a place were changing the world starts here <3 But I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we mostly grew from our experiences "taking on the streets."

I personally did not write down an interview like the other 3 members did but I did have the privilege of meeting and interacting with Larry the man that Veronica interviewed. This man was full of "street knowledge" and that my people is crucial when you are part of this population. Knowing about theories and solving equations is not going to get you anywhere if you are sleeping outside an abandoned building.

 One of my first notions was "how are we going to go up to these people and just ask them questions?" Well there's the problem, I should have gone into this project with the mentality that I was going to go up to a person and just have conversation with them. No need to treat them like subjects, no need to feel pitty for them and definitely no need to be scared. Yes mind you that they're people that sometimes you cannot trust but trust your instinct. Now i remind myself to think "remember Irene, they are also people with a story..."

Overall this was a GREAT experience and took so much more than what I put into it (I believe, even though we put A LOT). I am extremely thankful that I picked this population and that I stuck it through. Many life lessons learned and more to ponder...

I leave you with your thoughts...

Ageism and Privacy...

With the class discussion over ageism and how we shared all of our experiences really got me thinking. First of all, this whole idea of privacy wasn't a question in my household. As a child I had no choice but to share a room with somebody. If it wasn't my sisters it was my mom and if it wasn't in my mom's room it was staying in the living room. I never had much trouble with this because it happened from the day I was born to about 13. By the time I was 13 all my siblings had moved out and only left me, my mom and her boyfriend. I of course, was left with a room of my own. Since then I continued to have a room for myself. I was always very independent as soon as my father left. I was left to do "my own thing". Hardly any questions were asked, I followed what I believed were "rules" but in reality there was none. I had my own car that I payed gas for and my insurance. I payed my own cellphone bill; all this at the age of 16. And then at 18 I was on my own at The University of Texas at Austin.

Well enough about my personal monologue. During our class discussion Maijah brought up a very interesting idea. Shen mentioned this cycle that we all go through. The idea that when we are kids we have our parents to enforce rules and make decisions for us. Then we get into our teen years where as teenagers we believe we can make our own decisions and rebel and it's a constant fight with our parents. That occurs until we get older and we can finally make our own decisions. We get a taste of what freedom really is!! After we have continued our life and probably have our own family we take on the role of provider and care taker to our parents. Our parents as elders have our role of when we were kids and would want to rebel. After we go through that we find ourselves in our parents position having our kids take our "freedom" and they become our care takers.

I found this whole cycle I hadn't even thought of extremely interesting!

I leave you with your thoughts....

Being A Nerd

I watched this movie last night and I was being a complete nerd while watching it. Why? Because while watching it I kept thinking like a social worker! lol The movie is based around society depending on time as their currency and has the basic idea that the United States has about money. I also believe the movie illustrates the conflict theory at its best lol So below is the trailer and if you are interested the movie is in Redbox =) 

I leave you with your thoughts... 

Therapy Through the Heart of Art

I was honestly not able to read the text because I somehow misplaced my book and cannot find it. I've been trying to get copies but I know many people use their text for reading and writing their blogs so I would hate to keep someone from writing. So I'll be talking a bit about the video we watched on Wednesday and a bit about what I have found over ableism through my own mini-research.

The video from Wednesday, I can't recall the name of it right now (sorry). At first I was a bit confused with the beginning. Not only because of the TV show it started with but just the movie itself. I was wondering "who is this?" "what is he trying to get at?" and so forth and so forth. As the movie went on I began to grasp it some more. This famous artist was back in his homeland of Brazil with the goal of giving back to his community, specifically, those who lived in the slums and worked as recyclable material pickers. I also thought that he was just going to take the pictures and sell them but the film surprised me a whole lot when they showed the Brazil citizens contributing to the art and re-making their pictures with recyclable material! The final pieces were incredible and if I had the money and a place to put such great art I would definitely do so. The recyclable material pickers grew so much with this art project and the artist himself grew as well. He confessed that he didn't expect getting close to those people who he would photograph but he did. You can tell through the video the wonderful bond they built and the hope he gave each and every one of those members. I was extremely touched by the video.

On to ableism... First of all I didn't think that was a word! I figured it was something that the social work community or other communities "made up" for educational purposes. But sure enough this is indeed a word (sorry for my ignorance). After reading some things online and articles I can see where this is a problem. A problem that is sometimes deliberate and sometimes accidental. A deliberate occasion could be that person that makes fun of a person who isn't able to walk right, talk right or use certain things. An accidental occasion (still not okay) can be a business owner forgetting to have builders place in a ramp for those who need one or like in Google's case that I read about.

Google has made it increasingly difficult for people who can't for what ever reason read their CATCHA when wanting to make a google mail account. CATCHA is the device at the end of making an account of what ever type to ensure that you are a person and not spam creating the account. Even though google has added a speaker for those not able to read the text this device does not work on the web browser Chrome, which by the way this is their web browser! Some research has been shown by Blind Bargains that showed that 73% of blind users failed at their attempt with the CATCHA challenge.

Example of CATCHA:

Things like the example given above brings worry to not only myself but to others (well, at least it should). I am able and therefore, I am able to voice my opinion and will continue to voice my opinion in what ever ways I possibly can to make this an issue of importance for our nation to address...

That is all I have for now and I apologize for not touching base on readings.

P.S- while watching the documentary of Wednesday I couldn't help but to relate it back to the Mart project that Professor G has taken on =)



I leave you with your thoughts...

Might be of interest...

I wanted to post this on my last blog but forgot so here it is.
Many of you if not all of you might have seen this Lifetime movie "Prayers for Bobby" but if you haven't I highly recommend it!

What do we consider the norm...

The stories that were discussed in class from everyone's experience, what they have witness and maybe not witnessed were very interesting to hear. The whole sense of how media portrays the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) community is very intriguing as well. Yes, we all know that the media is a big influence in how we perceive things and it reflects what mainstream society believes. Of course people are going to have misconceptions of what a transgender really looks like if all you see on TV shows are transgenders being promiscuous with their dress and actions. Of course, people are going to believe that gay men are supposed to be flimsy and weak and not masculine and muscly (hence, the ignorant comment my significant other made). Of course, those young children, adolescents, teenagers and even grown adults struggle with their self identity and self worth because media has allowed them to believe that it is NOT okay to express yourself freely. Media has this enormous yet disgusting influence how our mainstream society views many aspects of life and it is just saddening.

Like discussed in class, in this generation you see the younger population more open to maybe "coming out" or more open to the idea of homosexuality. Could we possibly be slowly creeping up to the idea that heterosexuality is no longer the norm? That it could possibly be okay for a teenager to not fear his sexual orientation and "come out" freely to the world? I really do hope that one day this is possible. Call be optimistic or liberal but in my mind this is where I would like to see the world reach. It would be a magical moment and pivot for our society. I understand that this may only maintain as a dream but as long as there is enough of "us" who believe it can happen and believe the LGBTQ deserves to be treated equally then there continues to be hope. If this pool of "us" who believe in this is all we have at least that community has a place to go and they are not alone.

Let's continue to share our stories and to portray the message that heterosexuality might not be the answer to this "normalness" that mainstream society believes in.

I leave you with your thoughts...

Sexism just for women???

I always believed that this idea of sexism revolved around the idea of women being oppressed. Women women women. After reading the Adams text I can now see that that is not the case at all. It involves realms such as heterosexuality, transgender, bisexual, masculine and feminine roles to just name a few. LIke many other subjects we have discussed in class this area is yet another one of those socially constructed ideas that has lived on for too many years now.

With the area of sexism I can discuss several topics but I have decided to focus on feminism. A quote that I liked quite a lot and even went as far as to post in on Facebook as one of my "status updates" was "...feminism is the radical notion that women are people." I had to re-read the line a couple of times until I understood that feminism is not an attack toward men but just the advocacy of women to be treated as what is suppose to be their equal.

Our society has allowed us to believe that the system is one that will always favor men. Let that be with abstract ideas as to not being afraid to walk at night alone or concrete ideas like that we as women have been paid less since we entered the work field. This binary of masculine and feminine have not only allowed us women fight for our rights and stand beside the idea of feminism but has deteriorated the many other ideas that society sees as vulgar like the LGBTQ community.

Two articles in the Adams text I especially liked are "Violence against Women is a Men's Issue" and "Out-of-Body Image." I am guilty of not seeing violence against women as a man's issue before reading the article. I had always believed that this was a battle that we as women would have to carry out ourselves but now I understand how men have an enormous responsibility in doing so as well. I couldn't agree more over the image issue. I myself fall in the category of women that feel compelled to fit the image of this model in the front cover of a magazine. I constantly struggle with my self-esteem and confidence and I am a firm believer that the media has constructed this idea in my head. It is a battle that I continue fighting and will not let it beat me.

Let's move on to something less heavy than what was just said. While reading through all of the text even the Zinn reading I had the silly Miller Lite beer commercial running through my head so here it is:

C'mon men, you wouldn't want to loose your "man-card" (sarcasm). They loose their man-card by drinking the wrong beer but we, according to Zinn and according to history, we as women loose all of our rights as soon as we marry??? Compelling huh?

I really liked this quote: "No people does down until their women are weak and dishonored..." gives us women a sense of power and I love that.

I leave you with your thoughts...

I'm Not So Sure About This...

Just like my title describes it, religious is not a something I am not very competent in. What I know about the Catholic church (what I identify with) is what I grew up with. At the moment I don't fully practice my religion but do find a sense of spirituality from it. When I read the syllabus that the upcoming topic was religion I got a bit nervous for that reason. The thoughts that ran through my mind: "How was I suppose to discuss religion when I myself wasn't sure about it? I don't know anything about other religions. What will this section entail?" Little did I know that my knowledge about religions wouldn't be necessary.

Just like Professor G informed us, many of these topics will interconnect and there you have it. Religion interconnecting with oppression. The thought of being part of a dominant group because of my religion (one of the most common ones down in the Southwest) and being "privileged" by belonging in this group had never really crossed my mind. This struck my mind as I read the "Breaking a Sacred Taboo" essay in the Adams text with eighteen examples of the "Christian privilege."  Things as small as having restaurants provide fish during lent like mentioned during class as well was mentioned in the list. Other things mentioned in class and also in the list was having Sundays off with the connotation of our religion. One of them that made me think was the fact that a child receives all these Christian holiday symbols from school and that's okay. I understand that the Easter bunny or eggs doesn't mean much for a 6 year old other than a holiday where they hide plastic eggs filled with candy but in the background sense of it its a Christian holiday. So much for separation of state and religion huh?

Something that was address quite a lot in the text and also during class was the Jewish religion. I can't help but try to imagine those days that the Jews were oppressed and ask myself how these people would be identified. Sorry for the stereotype but like Proffessor G has stated, usually people think of Jews as white, blue eyed and blonde (our typical white person). This topic in class has sparked an interest in learning about more religions, for example that of Jews, to not only become more informed for the purpose of my career but also for my own personal growth. I leave you with a quote that hit me close to home just for the fact that I don't know who I am completely; "...the fear that we do not know who 'they' are or perhaps that we do not know who 'we' are. As Americans, we are literally afraid of ourselves."

I hope that this nation becomes aware of who they are and allow others to identify with what ever they may identify with without fear of themselves or of others.

-I leave you with your thoughts...

What I Came Across on FB

As I was "surfing the web" aka "on facebook" I came across friends post. Mind you that I usually overlook looooong status updates because it's usually a rant about how a guy cheated on who knows who, or how much someone "loves" their significant other of 1 month and what not (sorry for my bluntness). This post caught my attention because it's a friend from high school who rarely updates and hence in seeing it I read it. Just thought it would be good to read because I'm sure he's not "friends" with all of you I copied and pasted it below:

"I don't often voice my opinion publicly about political issues, but this is not something I can remain bipartisan on.

Just got out of my all-white Honors American Politics class, minus myself of course, where the topic of discussion was Affirmative Action; Could you guess where the discussion went? For 30 minutes I heard how Caucasian and Minority, more specifically African American, students have the same opportunities and if a Caucasian student performs equally academically then they have the "same work ethic" and that if they perform better than they had a "greater work ethic,' nevermind the fact that those speaking were inherently privileged with professionals/college graduate parents, often times with Masters and Ph.Ds, easy access to college information and preparation, attended private high schools and were likely lavished beyond necessity from a young age.

This ignorance is not bliss, and this blatant disregard for understanding equality does not have merit. Until the equality of opportunity and outcome in America stabilizes further for underrepresented groups; Women, African Americans, Hispanics, Middle Easterners, Native Americans, the Disabled, The Poor, and the Disadvantaged I say, as would former Governor of Alabama George Wallace, if he were Black, 'Affirmative Action then, Affirmative Action now, Affirmative Action forever!'"

— at TCU – Texas Christian University

 

I leave you with your thoughts... 

What We Over Look... Too Many Times

Let's leave the racism topic and go on to classism... Well, not really "leave" but lets shift focus because I'm sure we are bound to see the area of racism crossing within classism.

As I read the Adams text I can't help but to place scenarios in my mind that I have not only witnessed through life but I have personally lived through. Adams hits the spot in many of the writings. When the text goes into detail about paying for college and the debt that inquires within the years it left me dumbfounded. Those numbers have left me disgusted and wishing I had been around those days where government grants and scholarships was enough. Just like the essay in the Adams text reads "The Debt Trap" leaves me questioning how far this trap will be taking us.

Another reading in the Adams text that had me pondering so much that I had to stop reading after finishing was the text about the household workers that are hired by other women. As soon as I began reading this text it reminded me of my mom and how she has always been employed by people like this. I hate the fact that as a child I might not have known about the happenings of her employment. For us, it was a blessing for her to have this type of job and it sure was a blessing to receive the "gifts" that were given to us as of what I now know replaced the idea of receiving a bonus paycheck. My mom did complain about the longer hours she had to stay and about the extra work she had to do but in the end of it all it was a job that payed the rent. This quote summed everything up "... Thus, middle-class American women aim to 'liberate' themselves by exploiting  women of color- particularly immigrants-in the underground economy, for long hours at relatively low wages, with no benefits."

I had never explored the concept of classism until the texts that I am getting the privilege to read now and it is honestly a mind boggling concept. I'm looking forward to discussing this in much further detail in class and get a glimpse of what everyone else in the class has to say.

I leave you with your thought...

Mind boggled by racism...

This whole time I figured I had a good grip of what racism was actually all about. I actually went home a couple of weeks ago and a friend saw me reading our Adams' text and saw "racism" in there and asked me, "Well what is race? This always gets me confused when they ask in applications and what not." I sat there and pondered for a few minutes and I finally answered with i don't even remember what; because as of now I'm pretty sure what ever I told him does not even come close to being "right".

Reading over the Critical Race Theory, the Zinn book and our our Text (which I may add, I absolutely love some of the last essays) has me a bit confused and not to mention the articles as well. My mind can't seem to make up it's mind and my heart continues to be angry. As Gwen has mentioned in class before, this topic not one she likes to address and finds it hard for her and I think we can all agree that it's not a very easy topic for any of us to talk about.

Racism; a social construction at its finest dated ever since our land was discovered and only getting fed more and more by society. One can maybe even call it, societies worst success. And unfortunately, as much as we would like to change this as social workers it is way to powerful for us. This doesn't mean we will ever stop attempting. We've seen it through history which Zinn has allowed us to relive as well as our quick glimpse into the Fatal Flood in class and with the article; we've seen it in society which our text gives us a couple personal anecdotes about and lets not forget we've witnessed or experienced it ourselves.

Still confused over this matter I hope to slowly but surely gain more understanding of it and be able to answer the question that was posed to me weeks back with greater quality and less ignorance. Like I mentioned earlier, I loved some of the small essays written in the text so I leave you with a quote that hit close to home;

"Cradled in one culture, sandwiched between two cultures, straddling all three cultures and their value systems, la mestiza undergoes a struggle of flesh, a struggle of borders, an inner war."
-Gloria Anzaldua

-I leave you with your thoughts...

Their History

As we get "assigned" the readings for the Zinn book, I think I can speak for the class when I say that, I am completely shocked. Well for the most part. I say for the most part because some of this had been covered through some of my history courses taken in the past. But nevertheless Zinn expresses history through a whole different perspective.

As I read Zinn and as we discuss in class about taking on perspectives and knowing about who is telling us our history I can't help about a recent event that impacted me personally and others in the community.

A couple months ago, those in charge of what the public education's text books presented were stuck in a dilemma. They had chosen to expel some significant components from the history textbooks that teachers would HAVE to use and districts HAVE to make MANDATORY. Significant figures like Cesar Chavez and Malcolm X would be taken out of the text and in response out of the curriculum. These significant figures are as important for a minority student to learn as any other student. Why take away from the U.S. history? Should this be considered lying? Is this a social problem?

"Is this a social problem?" the question asked by our guest speaker this past week and a very important question in a broad variety of issues. What we consider social injustice is in the eye of the beholder, and in my eyes the above topic is definitely a social problem.

Zinn in many ways has made me not only a more intense critical thinker but also a more open minded being.



-I leave you with your thoughts...

New Wardrobe for SW =)

Just thought this was funny =) Possible new attire for us ha ha

A Sigh of Relief!

I applaud Dr. Aguilar for his visit to yesterdays class, he kept me engaged the whole class period and questions ran through my mind.

What can I do as a future social worker NOW to improve my later work field?
Should I tunnel myself in these of ideas of theories, proposals, concepts throughout our readings?
How will I manage my case load? Mentally? Physically? Emotionally?

Not much or better yet said, not enough can be said in a time of an hour and fifteen minutes but a lot can be asked and there was much asked. I titled this blog "A Sigh of Relief" because it did exactly that, it made me a bit relief but at the same time created some troublesome ideas.

I absolutely loved that he shared his personal experience with us. I'm sure many of us could relate to him either by being first generations college students, juggling a job and school, juggling family, juggling with identity... shoot! We are related to him in the sense that we are undergraduate students and share common yet not so common experiences. It felt absolutely comforting to know that some people have overcome adversity and have done so extremely well, he kind of provided hope for me. Not that I think I can't make it but many people out there believe I won't. And like Cody stated, all odd are against "us."

Not only did my sense of relief come from what was stated above but also from the one questions he told us we should as our clients when we enter the field. "What can I do for you? How can I help you?" and really mean these questions. Lets not assume what kind of help they need but simply ask and find out for ourselves. Why waste time with something that may not "work" and get down to what the client wants.

My last sense of relief would have to be the idea he told us at the very beginning of his visit. We are drowned in theory and believe we need to memorize each and every single piece of them when in reality we need the concepts. Us as future social workers in teh field and not academics need to know how to APPLY them not memorize them.

Once again, I applaud Dr. Aguilar for his visit and it truly was a treat for me and I'm sure it was for the class as well.

-I leave you with your thoughts.

Who am I? Please do tell me...

Irene Acosta,
20 years old,
Female,
Mexican American,
Third year college student, and
Youngest of five.

Am I going against what you think I should be? Is this what you have made me believe I am or is this really me? Have you fulfilled your job society? Is this what society wants me to be?

The text begins its discourse with self identity, leading to group identity which then dealing with labels that so happen to be placed there by social constructions (theoretically) and thus continues with oppression and privilege to finally get to the "good" stuff: social justice.  If there seems to exist any social justice at the end of it all.

Self identity for many might not SEEM extremely hard at the moment but for others can continue to be a struggle. Let that be for a person under oppression or for a person experiencing privileges. We all have an identity that we are told is all about us and not necessarily about no one else but are these statements true? I unfortunately do not agree. We are the mirror image of society. We are in a constant (if not stopped) cycle that makes us believe that what ever we might be doing is what is suppose to be done. I know who I am in a micro level and yes maybe in a mezzo level as well but how or where do I fit-in throughout the macro level?

Not only do we have to face our "self" identity but then we are faced with the fact that with what or how we identify ourselves takes us to some type of category. We are either oppressed, privileged or belong to both categories. Which of the latter is better? Honestly, I couldn't say. At this point in time my mind is boggled with this. I am in essence oppressed; as a young female minority student but in essence I can also be privileged; by being able to not say I am "disabled" or homosexual. But, "I don't oppress," I say. Well, maybe the person next to me in a wheelchair thinks otherwise? Or maybe the homeless person who just asked me for change sees me as the oppressor? As a future social worker, the idea of me being an oppressor is a very nerve wrecking idea. How do I stand a chance against a fight for social justice when I feel as if I can't even provide such social justice on my own behalf?

This cycle of socialization is one I believe one as a social worker should try and affect in a positive way either in a micro, mezzo or even macro level. A bit unrealistic? Maybe. But then again, we are aspiring to be social workers with our intention to change the world plus we come to the best university of Texas where "What starts here changes the world" it is like its meant to be.

--I leave you with your thoughts.

Social Workers against it all??

First "official" post! Exciting stuff I tell you!

I must be honest with you all, while reading the Pelton essay I had to pause a couple of times and take everything in. By the first paragraph let alone the first page of the essay, I questioned my understanding of justice as I know it. Not to mention, my understanding of social work itself as well. As I lay here reflecting on the essay I find myself stunned and discombobulated with ideas (I must admit, I have yet to create a stance of my own). This has brought me to see many different angles of not only social work but of discrimination as well as nondiscrimination. I feel as if within the aiding circle (social work) their are plenty of enemies (discrimination) of many forms we must face but then find ourselves as future social workers as "enemies" as well?? Very compelling idea that I hope to dig deeper into on Monday in class.

I might also add, writing my thoughts out in cyber space like this is a very different experience. My opinion can't be graded as right or wrong but the idea of being completely different from others perspective gets me antsy... don't hesitate to comment; I love constructive criticism or just a different POV.

-Goodnight for now. I leave you with your thoughts!

Something new? Why not!

Never have I blogged EVER in my life. The closest to blogging I have done is probably Facebook! Let's see how this new experience treats me...