First Woman Ascends to Top Drill Sergeant Spot

Last week, Tuesday, September 22, 2009, the Army made Command Sergeant Major Teresa L. Kin, 48, Commandant if its drill sergeant school in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Yes, that’s right. Her name is Teresa, and yes she is a woman. The reason why I’m over-emphasizing her gender is this is a monumental moment; as it is the first time in the United States army history that a woman will command this post. As I read this story, what didn’t surprise me was how tough this woman really is, rather how the army, a basically male-driven fraternity has allowed its organization to have women commanding men. This is big because it will break down a whole slew of stereotypes why women cannot do this or that in the army. This drill sergeant-now Commandant- will show us that you don’t have to be a man in order to get the job done. (She will oversee drill sergeant training for the entire army). One thing King said that struck a nerve with me was that when she looks in the mirror, she “does not see a woman.” She said she sees “a soldier.” That is what she believes in and really that isn’t a fault of her own. But to me, she is kind of “de-sexing” herself in order to cope or fit in, I don’t know. I could be wrong. But I don’t understand why she is saying that. Maybe she is trying to say that being a woman is not something that is going to limit her from achieving her goals. Or maybe she is simply stating that she isn’t going to use womanhood as a card like the race card. I don’t know. I would like to know what some of you thought about that.

This story is amazing. Slowly, but surely you see this happening in other arenas where it is thought that men are the only ones to hold certain kinds of positions. I was watching a men’s basketball game earlier this year and, as a mental note to myself, I saw that one of the officiating referees was a woman. I thought nothing of it at the time, but really that was big in and of itself. I am sure that it was not always as widely accepted for women to be referees for men’s sports. But now these women are paving the way for equal rights for younger women who share the same kind of interests.

Cultural Proficiency

Have we accepted that we have to live with people of other cultures in america yet? I feel that some americans find it hard to deal with different cultures. I think other cultures find it hard to deal with american culture as well, Im not sure. But i am sure that different cultures have different "norms". What we see as out of the "norm", others may not, and I believe this causes for some americans to judge and or stereotype other cultures. I see this at work, shopping, and neighborhoods. Where some americans might find it hard to adjust to what are other cultures "norms". Using myself as an example, I find things such as not speaking when being greeted, not saying excuse me when bumping into someone, not offering friendly gestures, etc. as rude. However, this may be considered the "norm" for someone of another culture, and not rude. I can recall times discussing with others that someone of another culture was rude or disrespectful, because of such things. I've also seen and heard others judge and ridicule another culture, because of what is normal to them. My workplace is where I have observed this a lot! Where my co-workers frequently are stereotyping someone because of their cultural. This has made me wonder if all employers should offer workshops on cultural proficiency. I believe that with so much cultural diversity in America now, it may be a good idea. Maybe this could be a requirement for customer and public service offices. Could this help Americans and individuals of other cultures learn strategies for accepting another cultures "norms"? Could it help us get a better understanding of the way other countries cultures differ? Would it help us with our judgements of others "norms" which are not always exactly NORMAL to us?

Stereotyping is everywhere

So the other day I was in a store with my mom at the mall. I picked up something and looked at it and I noticed that a man was keeping a very close watch on me. I began to think that I was only being watched because I was a teenager or how I dressed. This made me think of a time that I was in a supermarket and I picked up a magazine. I was about twelve years old and I remember a security guard telling me to not walk off with the magazine. I was shocked when I heard this because there was an older lady that had a magazine and he said nothing at all to her. At that time I thought about what I was doing. Was I acting suspicious? Was I putting my hands in my pockets? I had no idea. So what I did was put down the magazine, ignored her and walked off. I thought this was the right thing to do because I was not doing anything wrong and being embarrassed like that was not worth reading some dumb magazine. I told my mom about this and she began to tell me how they watch for kids like me because we are known to steal more than grown ups. Now, I realize today that people can be very prejudice about many things. They might not mean to be, and are just doing there job, but they should do so in a much better way. After watching the movie with the kids and eye color, This made me think of this incident for some reason. I thought to myself how people are very prejudice all the time, even excluding skin color.

Who is there to Blame?

Young teenagers these days act so grown. I remember when I was a young teen I was not exposed to half of the stuff that teens are exposed to nowadays. I work at Victoria’s Secret as a pink associate. PINK is a brand made for young girls between the ages of twelve to early adulthood. They sell loungewear, sweats, sleepwear, and bras and panties. From my experience working there I see so many girls who look like they have to be at least eleven to thirteen getting merchandise that they shouldn’t even know what it is. But whom can we blame? And it’s not like associates have the right to take freedom away from the customer as for what to purchase and what not to purchase. The first group to blame is the manufactures, because if PINK is designed for young teens than they should make panties with cheesy and dirt phrases such as “shut up and kiss me” and have motorcycles with “ride me” printed all over it. I do not think young people need to even be exposed to stuff like that. So many young girls come with friends from the ages of twelve and fifteen come to try on lingerie and think that they are so cute. I wonder if their parents knew what they come do at the malls, they would stop leaving them alone to shop. When our generation was younger we would play outside all the time: riding bikes, playing hide and seek, jump roping but in the present society we do not see many young teens doing that. Instead they are on computers chatting and socializing, watching television shows they aren’t supposed to be watching. Or are the parents to blame because they are so careless of what their children are doing?

The Media and Women

Media has a lot of influence on a lot of things that people do. The media tells groups of people how they should act or be and sometimes they are unrealistic or unsafe. The media portrays women most of the time in very unrealistic ways and as objects many times. Women are often seen as sexual objects when advertising things for men and women and it tells women from a young that they are supposed to be sexy as opposed to smart and beautiful. It is also portrayed that skinnier women are more desirable and women and young girls go to great lengths to be skinny and it will probably lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. Women are also portrayed through the media to be seen as vulnerable and are silenced in a sense but it’s sexy to be this way. Women are rarely seen as men are. Men are usually portrayed as the strong, overpowering, smart, intelligent and they body doesn’t sell products the same way a women’s body sells products. A lot when women’s bodies are being advertised the focus is one a part of the body like the boobs or butt and now they are not even entire person they have just been reduced to a body part which is now looked at as an object. Even after a lot of women are aware of what the media does and how it is unrealistic it’s so embedded in our lives that a lot women will refuse to be different because they want to found attractive because they think that what the media is portraying is attractive. There was an episode on the on the Tyra Banks show where little girls were asked if they would rather be seen as pretty or sexy and they said sexy. With little girls thinking that they have to be sexy its kind of like them setting themselves up for less than their full potential.

drugss

Drug abuse presents a significant problem in America - especially amongst teenagers. Abuse is defined as habitual use of drugs to alter one's mood, emotion, or state of consciousness. Thus, the abuser spends money, causes barriers in families, as well as causes other conflicts to arise such as actual damage to ones health. Drugs such as tobacco, alcohol and over the counter drugs like cough medication are often abused because of addiction. Other drugs such as Marijuana and Cocaine cause significant damage not only to one's psyche, but physical structures as well. When individuals get hooked or addicted onto drugs, they start frivolously wasting money to get drugs to satisfy their addiction. Often the user spends money that their family depends on financially. This leads to financial adversity within the family because the money is used for unprofitable endeavors. The addict's spouse or children most probably leave the individual to help their lives, thus escalating the issue to a breaking point so the user takes refuge in even more drug abuse in order to appease their pain. In turn, the addiction forms into a vicious cycle, in which the user must go back to the drug because of their addiction. Not only does it affect the structure of the family, but directly influences the psyche of the children through the environment that they are constantly infused with. The children feel that it is acceptable to do contraband drugs since they perceive that their parents doing it makes it admissible. They also hear society saying its acceptable and brings change in their minds. Although the initial feeling of the first time exposure to a drug may wield a high, that feeling will never be obtain again. However, most addicts throw away their whole lives attempting to obtain their first time exposure to a drug, but its all for nothing. Thus, in attempting to pursue "fools gold," drug addicts loose everything they ever valued for something of empty value.

Procrastination...the worst

Procrastination runs rapid through everyone, there is no denying it. If someone actually tries to say they have never procrastinated before they are bold face lying. If you haven’t procrastinated before then what medication are you on to focus and how much does it cost? Procrastination seems to creep up when you know you have limited time and it’s something very important that needs to be completed. It’s so irritating how your mind can be set to finish that paper but that feeling just stops you from actually typing the paper. When you are in that state of mind the slightest thing can be distracting. God forbid you have to use the internet for the assignment because facebook will be right around the corner.(I’ve gotten so bad that I will automatically type in the facebook address when I really mean to go to a different website) Facebook is about one the most in genius websites ever created. If someone could add up all the hours I have spent on facebook in a life time I think I would probably have to really take out time to re-evaluate my life and then procrastinate on re-evaluating my life by being on facebook. But hey, refreshing your home page over and over again to make sure you don’t have a new notification sure does beat focusing on homework. Or even taking a quiz like “What type of alcohol are you?!” is more entertaining than doing homework or actual work. Procrastination always involves focusing on something that really won’t matter the next day and ironically the thing you are suppose to be doing will most likely matter then next day. Why as human beings do we have a focusing problem? Why does procrastination even occur? (I’m a firm believer that everyone has a slight case of A.D.D.)