The Affect of Fishnet Stockings

According to Courtney Martin, the term feminism is riddled with paradoxes. The three most prevalent being rejecting the past, then promptly reclaiming it, sobering up about our smallness and maintaining faith in our greatness, and finally aiming to succeed wildly and being fulfilled by failing really well.

Addressing the first paradox, I completely agree with it in this situation, but many others as well. Feminists like herself came to a point where they wanted to reinvent themselves. Long gone was the old and matronly protesters of the 1920's and a new modern woman who bubbled with confidence replaced her. But in any walk of life, it is vital to remember where one comes from, and what it has taken to reach the place you stand today. Just as is with children; so many are quick to grow up, and once they have, seek to return to their state of youth. People who have lived the 'American Dream', and turned their rags to riches frequently address the time when they were less fortunate to keep them grounded as they continue their lives, just as was necessary with many feminists as they modernized their look and ideals.

Some times we inflate our own minds with thoughts of greatness and invincibility. Oposingly we are always told to be our own worst critic. As said by Parker Palmer, "We are whiplashed between an arrogant overestimation of ourselves and a servile underestimation of ourselves," (Parker Palmer). These two extremes exist within the human mind, and rarely ever do we seem to find the medium. I personally know that I can either wake up confident one day or hopeless the next, although the majority on the former as we all should. Yet we need that bit of criticism, the tiny bit of negativity to keep our minds on the ground. We need to recognize our capability to do incredible things more often though. Just as Dave Eggers mentioned in his TED talk, some of the kids he dealt with had no idea how great they were and needed to be shown that. Although some children are incapable of showing themselves how good they may be at something, the remainder of the world should not do this to themselves. Feel your strengths, and bring them to your attention, realize the power you hold. However, with all other skills, they become ineffective without the opposite to balance it out. From her talk, I felt Courtney indirectly brought up the theme of balance through the paradoxes, which is vital to our lives.

Again, the balance between success and failure becomes the last factor of defining the word feminism. It is the balance that made the movement, and the balance is what will preserve it and drive it forward in the future.

Although very briefly she addresses the theme of heros, but I personally found it to be one of the most meaningful points in her talk. She said that most of us fail to recognize the heros in our day to day life. Hero's aren't the people who won the Superbowl, or the singer of the Grammy winning song. They are parents, coaches and teachers. The people who make a difference on our own personal levels of community, the firefighters, and police officers. Making changes and touching people's lives and bettering others through themselves is the key, not whether or not they can throw a ball through a hoop. Celebrities are idolized in our society, and I ask why? Why do you care more about them than a teacher who helped a child finally reach his or her proper reading level? Who made the difference that will directly effect the future?

At one point she said, "we don't want one hero, we don't want one face," (Courtney Martin). Why should they settle for one? All members of the movement are heros, through their daily activity they are slowly making the world an even more equal future, for young women worldwide to live in. Each one of them is committed to the cause, and to name one of them as their 'hero' or poster face not only creates an unrealistic image of the group, but undermines their goals of equality between all.

It was a pair of fishnets that convinced Courtney that she could carry the feminist label, and it was her words that convinced me I could wear one too. She said, "It's not man hating,"(Courtney Martin), but rather seeing value in yourself and the other women surrounding you. True heros are under appreciated, so take time to find the ones in your life who make the biggest difference in your life and let them know. I think performing the task of raising a child deserves a medal, recognition for the struggle and triumph the experience is. After seeing this TED talk, my respect for many has been renewed and I feel strength in myself that every little girl should be taught to feel. Balance is essential to every life form on earth, and we are no exception. Our life is a journey to find just the right mix.

Courtney's TED talk and many others like hers can be found at http://www.ted.com/themes/celebrating_tedwomen.html

Obesity is the Answer to Hunger?

Ellen Gustafson spent her TED talk speaking of the change she seeks in the global food system. However she doesn't adress how to make this change, why it is needed, or what would to be fixed by it. I feel as though she left more than a few of my questions unanswered.

She says that America is not properly exporting food systems, and doesn't bother to elaborate on the meaning of this term. So she leaves me curious, what does this mean? How can it be fixed? She also refers to the farming problems in the U.S. and says they were caused by an oil crisis? How could it be possible that our country would allow a decline in the most vital and neccessary of all our industries? We eat, everyday, three times a day, sometimes more. How can the farming system be on the decline with the exponentially increasing popluation? It doesn't seem feasable.

She also spoke of the change that has happened in the food system within the past thirty years, yet again doesn't explain what the change has been, or the influence that it has had over the food system not only in our country but globally either. Her foundation Project 30 has the motive of once again changing the food system in the next thirty years but quickly talks through the goals of the organization and expands little on them. What difference will her foundation make in the food system? She says it will focus on the long term effects of the past change in the food system, so I ask her, what are those long term effects?

There is truth in the words she speaks about increased violence in hungry countries, yet it seems irrelevant to the point she tries to make. It appeared too that most of her information was clumped onto her slides, and she didn't elaborate on what was written there or bother to even mention the information on them at all. She spoke very quickly, showing obvious nervousness, and spoke vaguely throughout her entire presentation which gave me, as an audience member, the impression that she was fairly uneducated on the topic which she spoke about. I also would have liked her to address the link between the problems more, and how they both can be solved by the same solution.

I am in agreeance that a change needs to be made in our food system, as she said, "There are 1 billion people hungry, and 1 billion people obese," (Ellen Gustafson). I think that supporting 3rd world farmers, and giving them the tools necessary to quickly become independent and not only self sustaining but profitable is the answer to this problem. If they can produce food plentiful enough for themselves and people living in their villages hunger will be a thing of the past.

Ellen's TED talk can be found at http://www.ted.com/talks/ellen_gustafson_obesity_hunger_1_global_food_issue.html

Others can be found at ted.com as well

Once Upon a School

Dave Eggers opens his TED talk with a story about educators. He knows many but is not one himself, he is rather a writer. He tells of their struggles with many students, who needed one-on-one time to comprehend their materials. However, with the low teacher to student ratio it would be impossible to give students this opportunity, and if attempted only a single hour of one-on-one instruction would be available to each student per week. 

Students struggled with keeping up with their reading and writing grade level, often in under funded schools. The answer to these problems could all be solved simply with more people to help. Dave knew many writers, like himself who had incredibly flexible schedules, and were willing to help, so he took action. With the purchase and renovation of a retail property into a pirate supply store -in order to pay the rent- these writers now had a location where students would be able to come after school for additional help and tutoring.

Another factor comes into play here, refered to by Clay Shirky as Cognitive Surplus. As described in a previous blog post of mine, Cognitive Surplus is.... It was demonstrated in this situation. There were many writers with free time and willingness to help these struggling students. This Cognitive Surplus sparked exponential growth in the idea, and the organization which grew from 12 to 1400 volunteers. Any free time volunteered was appreciated, and people began coming in more and more often, sometimes directly after work, simply to help the students in need.

The compassion and devotion of these volunteers drove these students to new limits, and far past the old ones they had set for themselves. Students were even given the opportunity to write books, ones that would be published and sold to the outside world. The store grew in popularity once the books were published and sold within it. Inspired by the tremendous success of the store and tutoring, similar organizations opened, like the Brooklyn Superhero Supply.

Since Cognitive Surplus played such a large role in the development of the program I feel that it makes for an even more inspiring story. Hundreds of selfless people with a little extra time put it towards a cause greater than themselves. Knowing that just one or two extra hours of your time a week can make a significant difference in a students education will hopefully inspire more people to get out and help others, no matter the amount of time they are able to commit.

Dave's talk opened my eyes to the devotion that people can have towards local organizations. These people didn't have to take on massive projects to make a world wide difference. They were able to just take what they had, an apply it on a small scale. As more people did the same it grew to become known world wide and inspired others to take part in volunteering locally.

We have talked in my English class about the significance of one-on-one time with instructors. As Dave said, "It's been proven that 35-40 hours a year with one-on-one attention, a student can get one grade higher," (Dave Eggers). Imagine what the world could look like if people shared their knowledge with children more often, on a more personal level. The education system would make leaps and bounds, new discoveries could be made faster and ultimately a greater future would emerge. The children of today are quite literally the future, so investing our time and talents in them is the best of gifts possible to give to the world. The only way to expand human understanding of life is through these forms of Cognitive Surplus, and everyone is able to and should contribute.

I would have preferred the talk to have ended with a challenge rather than a wish. In my mind a wish typically represents unreasonable wanting or hopefulness, yet not always. A challenge to the audience would have ended the talk on a stronger note, igniting the flame of competition. Not that competition should be the driving force behind volunteering, but it would have been a source for the motivation of knowing that someone wants you to better the world for no other reason than because it is the right thing to do.

Website with information on the tutoring organization:
onceuponaschool.org

Dave Eggers TED talk:

Others can be found at ted.com