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We all know that Little Bee is a work of fiction.  Its poetic text, symbolic prose, and beautiful imagery—while stunning—are not describing real people or events.  But it is based in reality, and the fact remains that there are thousands upon thousands of refugees around the world.  Many of these refugees bear horrific physical and/or emotional scars that we cannot even begin to comprehend.  And yet, despite our acknowledged lack of comprehension, it is only natural that we want to help these refugees.  We are all human, after all, and the thought of other humans forced to flee their homes (and sometimes forced to lose their conceptions of their bodies as home) is hard to understand and subsequently ignore.

     After reading Little Bee, I know there was some conversation in class about what can be done to aid refugees.  It is my hope that my web event will serve to further inform and thus continue that conversation.  I think that by better understanding the international refugee crisis, how we can help, and hopefully implementing our new knowledge, we can build a right relationship (or at least a better, more just relationship) with the refugees scattered across the globe.  Anyway, because I want this web event to continue our in-class conversation, I have written this web event in what I believe is a conversational tone.  Finally, I want to mention that this web event is by no means a complete discussion of all that can be done, but it is a start.  Thanks for reading.

When I think of academic writing, I think of a composition that utilizes sophisticated language, complex sentence structures, and, quite frequently, an abundance of sources to support its main argument. With this definition in mind, I most certainly believe that the majority of academic writing is classed for two specific reasons. The first reason is author orientated – for in order to have a firm grasp of how to successfully compose an academic piece, one must presumably have the background of a good education that has laid the foundation on which such academic writing is constructed. Education, as we have defined it within our class, is also a rather classed institution that is often seen as discriminating against the lower class, and as academic writing is a result of education (and is also intended for the use of education), it may also be seen as discriminating against lower classes in a similar manner. The second reason that academic writing might be seen as classed is audience oriented. For in writing anything, one writes with a specific audience in mind and it seems that in academic writing, with all of its complex words and flowing sentence structure, the intended audience is always meant to have achieved a “good” education, just as the author of an academic piece presumably has. 

Searching for the Right Relationship Between Agency and Subjectivity

Web Event #3

December 4th, 2011

            Every person has the capacity to obtain agency to an extent.  Agency is the ability to make active decisions about one’s life.  Agency is something that is impossible to completely achieve because of cultural, gendered, ethical, and economic restraint.  To possess all-encompassing agency involves removing a right relationship between the individual and their society.  The amount of agency an individual has is determined by their culture, ethics, gender, and socio-economic status.  Agency is subjective.  For example, one woman might see the act of wearing a veil as restricting a woman’s agency or even worse, judging the woman for denying her agency while the woman wearing the veil feels empowered because of her devoutness.  Agency can be seen as “the interaction between our self-conscious self and the social context we find ourselves in.  It is embodied in that individuals may be more, or less aware of how their environment, social context and upbringing affect their lives and their decision-making. (Williams, 39) Transnational marriage migration of ‘bought brides’ in East Asia is a phenomenon in which agency meeting subjectivity. 

Gender Pay In-equality: A Call to Action In Orange Art

Attached are two documents:

Word.doc With pay gap data & reflective writing.

Artistic reintrepretation of possible road signage: photos of 14 different painted caution signs included.

SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/leecwacker/Documents/Senior%20Yr./GENSEX%20CORE%20COURSE/web%20event%203.doc

Lee Wacker

Web-Event 3

Gender Pay In-equality: A Call to Action In Orange Art

[Figure 1]                                                        [Figure 2]

I am not unfamiliar to comments on my papers that say something along the lines of, "beautiful language, but what are you really trying to get at here?"  The notion of academic writing has really affected my own writing, to the point where sometimes I try to be so academic, it detracts from my paper.  I am always extremely aware of my choice of vocabulary and beautiful sentence structure.  For some reason, subconsciously, I tend to think, "if I just sound smart, they won't notice I really have no clue what I'm talking about." The sad part? A lot of times it works.  In this sense, academic writing is definitely classed.  Because of the education I've received and how I've grown up, I've learned to write well, even if what I'm saying is a load of nonsense. If academic writing were more about the ideas and less about how they are presented, things would be a lot different.