Pink vs. Purple

As many people know, October is breast cancer and domestic violence awareness month. Statistics show that 1 in 4 women and one in thirteen men will experience domestic violence in their lifetime, and one in eight women will be diagnosed with some form of breast cancer. I don't believe that either breast cancer or domestic violence are more important than the other. It seems somewhat strange to me that during October, you see A LOT more pink than purple. Breast cancer awareness has more backing then domestic violence awareness does. But if they're both of the same importance then why is this? Breast cancer awareness is backed by many organizations and corporations. There is a lot of events that donate their proceeds to breast cancer research, such as benefit concerts and volley for the cure games. You don't see many events that benefit domestic violence prevention however. It always seems to me like breast cancer awareness over powers domestic violence awareness due to the publicity and sponsorship. With all of the publicity and hype around breast cancer awareness, domestic violence prevention is over shadowed. Domestic violence awareness doesn't receive the justice it deserves due to it being in the same month as breast cancer awareness. If the two were in different months, domestic violence prevention would receive the justice it deserves. When you look around, during the month of October, you will see pink billboards, pink shirts, pink water bottles, etc. I'm sad to say however, very rarely will you see a purple billboard, purple shirt, purple water bottle, etc. Myself and my family are all very passionate about both breast cancer awareness and domestic violence awareness. My Mom has worked in the domestic violence field for over 20 years, and she was diagnosed with breast cancer just over a year ago. My Grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer about a year ago as well. I'm sure everyone knows someone that has or had breast cancer, and that was a victim of domestic violence. Many times domestic violence awareness is looked over during the month of October, and it deserves more justice then what it is getting. 

Life and Death....

One of my favorite quotes ever is,"Live life to the fullest." A lot of people take life for granted and don't realize how great life really is. Everybody goes through struggles, but that's just a normal part of everyday life. Its really easy to go day by day taking advantage of the fact that we are here. A lot of times, people don't realize how valuable life is until a tragedy happens. Its true that you should never judge a person before you've walked a mile in their shoes. It seems to me as if a lot of bad things have happened to me and my family over these last 18 years. There have been accidents, deaths, disease, and much more. The bad things that have happened that really stick out to me would be my Dads accident, cancer, and deaths. In July 2005 my Dad had a motorcycle accident. He was in a coma for 14 days and spent 3 months total in the hospital. He now suffers from brain damage and can't work. To this day, this tragedy still affects me. Just over a year ago, my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and a couple months after that my Grandma was too. Luckily both of them are survivors and are still alive and well. Deaths aren't something that are very common in my family, that is up until almost two years ago. In March 2009 my Great Grandma, on my Moms side, died at the age of 94 i believe. It was very much out of the blue and unexpected. Even though we didn't really have a good relationship its still sad that shes gone. The saddest part would probably be that now we cant ever have a good relationship. In that same year, on my birthday actually, my Grandma on my Dads side, passed away as well. This came out of the blue as well, and especially on my 16th birthday. I hadn't really seen her in a long time but deaths are always sad. Losing family is never easy, but when you haven't seen someone in a while, i feel its just that much harder. My family seemed really insensitive and fought over a lot of her stuff. It was all really childish and quite frankly sad. Through all the things that have happened in my life, it has been sad but at  the same time made me the person I am today. Without having all these tragedies happen, i wouldn't be as strong as i am today:)

Power Wheel Activity

For the Socratic Seminar this week we looked at the power wheel and had questions to respond to about the wheel.

Power Wheel Activity
a. Identify where you fit in all of the areas on the wheel
b. What do these aspects of our identities reveal about us?
    What do they not say about who we are?
    To what extent do they matter at school?
    To what extent do they matter outside of school?

Identify where you fit in all of the areas on the wheel
Gender: Women
Race: European-Anglo Americans
Class: Rich, Poor, Educated
Ability: Able
Language: English
Appearance: Young
Sexuality: Heterosexual

What do these aspects of our identities reveal about us?
All of these aspects of our identities reveal how society views us. Society either puts in one category or the other, either your marginalized or your not. With this power wheel and society in general there is no gray area, just an area of black and white (figuratively speaking). Everything is either one way or the other.

What do they not say about who we are?
These aspects have nothing to do about who we are as individuals. The wheel groups us up by a lot of things that have little to do with the people we are. Just because an individual is of color and i'm not doesn't mean that i am any better or worse then they are. This same thing goes for ability, class, gender, and all of the other categories in the wheel. I don't think a wheel should define a person and what they are about.

To what extent do they matter at school?
I don't think any of these categories on the wheel should matter in school, unfortunately, it seems as if they do. Many teachers, administrators, and students alike see people not as individuals but as a group defined by such a wheel. Its kind of sad that we all can't be our own person, and are defined by where we came from, what we prefer, or how we look. In a place such as school, every one should be able to be their own person and not be limited by our identity and how others see us.

To what extent do they matter outside of school?
I feel the same way about this question as I do the one before. The aspects defined on the power wheel shouldn't matter outside or inside of school but they do.