Category: McCoy 101 Fall 2017

While visiting the African Burial Ground National Monument I was able to realize that some of the subtler abuses of the stragglers in Zone One had a deeper historical base stemming from the mistreatment of slaves in NYC’s past. Many of us could pinpoint similarities in the way in which the stragglers were treated in Zone One to some of the other abuses we have read about throughout this semester. However, after visiting the monument I was able to realize that Whitehead incorporated more historic abuses than I had originally noticed when I first read the book. As I came to learn, there were many more similarities between the way in which his characters and real life oppressive whites mistreated the bodies of those they saw as subhuman. I will highlight these findings in two posts with this one addressing how Gary’s method for neutralizing stragglers mimicked a practice of restraining slaves and will then explain how the sweepers mistreatment of neutralized stragglers mirrored the disrespectful manner in which the bodies of deceased slaves were treated. Realizing these subtle inputs of historic abuses and how they were incorporated into Zone One helped me to better understand the deeper symbolism I believe Whitehead intended for his story and how these issues impacted people in my city’s past.

Continue reading “The Subtle Similarities Between Gary & Slave Traders”

The events of Zone One center around the streets of New York City, specifically near the African Burial Ground Memorial. As someone who has only ever been to the city twice, I was a bit confused and never truly appreciated the details Whitehead worked so hard to create. Throughout my reading of the novel, what really sparked my interest was the mention of Buffalo. Usually, the biggest mention of my hometown I see in writing is about our wings, so it excited me to see it spoken about with such high regard, as an integral location in the rebuilding of society after the virus. I know this wasn’t the intentions of the author, but the decision of placing Buffalo as the new epicenter of civilization creates a strange connection in my head. Continue reading “Hometown Connections”

(The songs I write about in this post use foul language and some videos are very graphic. If you do decide to listen to these songs I would recommend listening all the way through.) Earlier this semester I wrote about how important communication was to work out problems. In class we discuss literature and I have learned a lot about new perspectives though our readings. Another powerful tool people are using to discuss issues is music. One of my favorite genres of music is rap and last week a song came out called “I’m Not Racist” by Joyner Lucas. It’s a very powerful song that shows people that there are always two sides to every story. Hearing people out before making generalization is very important. Taking a second and putting yourself into someone else’s shoes could change a person’s view completely. Exposure to things that a person can’t experience in their life could be portrayed to them in music and literature. Continue reading “New perspectives through music”

Looking back on all the information we have taken in across this semester is a daunting task, but I feel as though there are some stings of connection between all the topics we have covered. The prominence of racism in places one would never imagine it, or rather not want to imagine it. The importance of vocabulary and how the smallest detail can change an entire piece. Overall, I think the most important topic mention is how common it is for people to categorize things as good and evil.  Continue reading “Distinguishing Good and Bad”

After reflecting on my personal growth in this class in my previous blog post, I began to think about the progress of the class as a whole. Our advancement as a class was evident through our recent class activities.

In class this past week, we worked on our class collective course statement. When we began the project, we focused on Geneseo Learning Outcomes for Baccalaureate Edition (GLOBE). As we were working on this portion of the project, I began to take note of the differences from the beginning of the semester, to now. I also realized how the learning outcomes were evident in our work.  Continue reading “How Far we Have Come”

In the beginning of the semester, we were asked to identify the pronouns we prefer to be used when being referred to in class. It came to my attention that not enough teachers put their students preferred gender into consideration. Gender has evolved throughout history and is no longer black and white.

 

Across different religions and various societies, the subject of gender binary is interpreted through various lens. Gender binary is the social construction of gender in most societies in the world where gender is a contrast between male and female. Male and female gender expectations, roles, and functions are very specific. The presence of alternate genders is ignored, or made oblivious. Health, body, sexualities, education, family, work, money and law are the more predominant subtexts in culture that aid in defining gender roles. As a society, we must begin to break the stereotypes and educate one another on what the gender binary is how to conquer its strict canon.

 

Cultures throughout the world partake in the specific separation of the idea of only two genders. Throughout the past, gender has been seen as having only two spectrums, male and female. But as a society we are slowly adapting to the idea of the existence of more than two genders. Currently there are up to 58 ways to classify one’s gender. An example of modern day society adjusting to the shift in more than two genders is, Facebook allowing their users to customize their gender along with allowing their users to select from three different pronouns, “her”, “him”, and “their”. Facebook software engineer Brielle Harrison told the Associated Press. Harrison, who worked on the project, is in the process of gender transition, from male to female, “there’s going to be a lot of people for whom this is going to mean nothing, but for the few it does impact, it means the world”. With this slight adjustment, it helps humanity be more aware of the fact that more than two genders can exist. Another modern-day example of the slow modification of the belief of more than two genders is the creation of gender neutral bathrooms. Although gender neutral bathrooms exist, society did not react as positively as planned. Howard Blume writes in his article, “anyone looking for confirmation of the nation’s cultural divide can add education and gender-neutral bathrooms to the list of proof points. North Carolina sparked a national furor by requiring transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates, citing risks to children in schools as a primary justification”. Gender neutral bathrooms are simply open to all genders to make the user more comfortable without putting stress on other users. Gender separation is a major factor to the constant assumption of only two genders. However, certain college campuses are taking a stand on banning gender separation. Freya Preimesberger states in her article, “Harvard instated a ban on all gender-segregated groups such as fraternities, sororities and single-gender clubs. UT research shows that this ban is well-founded — separation by gender is detrimental to students”. Gender separation in various cases can have its benefits along with its non-benefits. Society as a whole can work together to try and rid the idea of the existence of only two genders.

After reading this article titled, UN poverty official touring Alabama’s Black Belt: ‘I haven’t seen this’ in the First World, I was brought to the focus on human rights. The United Nations describes human rights as, “rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.” The article on hookworm and sewage discusses the problem of contaminated water caused by sewage disposal. “‘I think it’s very uncommon in the First World. This is not a sight that one normally sees. I’d have to say that I haven’t seen this,’ Philip Alston, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.” The article then later on discussed that it is a basic human right for people to live decently. “‘There is a human right for people to live decently, and that means the government has an obligation to provide people with the essentials of life, which include power, water and sewage service,’ Alston said.”

The comments made by Alston connected me to the book, Zulus by Percival Everett. In Zulus, Alice Achitophel was stripped of her basic human rights. When the government was informed that she was carrying a baby, they wanted to take the baby away from Alice. This is a violation of multiple human rights. In specific, Alice was discriminated against due to her weight. She was overweight which was looked upon as taboo and she was treated as if she was of a lower social class. Alice was also held hostage due to her pregnancy, which is another violation of basic human rights. In Zulus, all the citizens in the communities were automatically violated when the government forced them to be sterile. Basic human rights are not something to be messing around with and can result in serious consequences when breached.

Throughout the course, one of the most important topics we have discussed is consent. Recently, Dr. McCoy sent us an article about consent regarding a very uncomfortable topic: death. Continue reading “To Help or Not to Help”

When I talked to my mom about college classes the number one thing that I would bring up is that I really like English classes. When she would ask me why I would say something like, “well, in most classes I would usually only know the people that sit next to me, but in my English classes I know every person’s name. I really like the group comradery in it. It feels a lot like I’m back in high school”. This has become probably one of the main reasons that I continue to take English classes and why I made it my second major, almost like it feels like a breath of fresh air compared to some of my other classes where we all stare at a PowerPoint and try to jot down the notes as fast as possible before the professors changes the slides. Continue reading “English Class Trust”

In my last blog post “Supply and Demand,” I wrote about how an individual’s environment severely affects their rights and, therefore, their identity.  Depending on the environment, certain behaviors and actions are either stimulated or repressed because of their social and/or economic standpoint. Some areas restrict/control an individual’s ability to marry whoever they want, live wherever they want, work whatever job they want, etc.  However, a person’s reaction depends on what they define their identity to be made of after these influences have affected them. In this case, will the backfire effect help or prevent positive progress from being made? Continue reading “Following the Flow of Fulfillment”