Reflection

Just the thought about taking a writing class gives me nausea. I knew being in a UWP course during the summer would be challenging, but I never thought it was going to be so public. Having a professor read my pieces is frightening but having my classmates reading and comment on my writing is daunting. Before enrolling in UWP, I was not very confident about my work. However, as the days went by, I became more positive about my work. Based on the comments and grades I have received so far, it seems that my work has improved. Yet I still have concerns. Some of the feedback I received sounded negative. The comments I received made me feel like my writing was not good enough or not satisfying enough. My posts were followed by questions and more questions that dragged me into new ideas and topics. To be honest, I found the course difficult. I had a hard time being specific and developing evidence for my argument. Therefore, I had complications finishing my blogs. Overall, the feedback I received on my comments helped me to be open-minded and to consider other possible questions and opinions.

After experiencing this unusual method of teaching, I still have reservations towards blogging. I found myself having trouble setting my blogs the way I wanted them to be displayed on my profile. I usually had technical problems. During my Final, I had a hard time making my keywords bold. I spent a whole hour trying figure out the proper way of posting my work. However, because I was running out of time, I decided to leave it as it was. I sincerely hope that I never have deal with blogging in any future writing courses. If in the future I were to enroll in a course in which it was required for me to use a blogging system, perhaps that would be incentive enough to make me drop the course from my schedule. Discussion, however, was very enjoyable part of the class. I found the topics stimulating and thought provoking. I particularly enjoyed the sections on identity and technology. Most of the time, however, I found it difficult to join into the discussion because I feel self-conscious speaking in public.

One of the most interesting parts of this class was the group project. Going into it I felt like it was a great idea. As I got more involved into it, however, I began to see the consequences of participating in something like this. I sometimes felt unethical about what I had to do in order to find information about the website. While I was only there for experimental purposes, there are people that are on that website actually looking for love. I felt a bit uncomfortable with the idea that the messages that I was getting were from real people thinking that they had really found someone that they could connect with. Additionally, I sometimes felt discomforted by the topic of conversations that some of the men would think it was appropriate to bring up.

Having to attend the UWP 1 during the summer was a fascinating yet tough experience for me. As I mentioned on my first blog about listening to different opinions, I feel that this was a great opportunity to become more open minded about topics that I had not fully encountered in the past.

Unnatural

The Western word defines society in terms of norms and common practices; for instance most of the time the majority actually does rule. Within society, if an act is not common then it is considered unnatural. In context, the word may often switch meaning. The Oxford English Dictionary gives many definitions including the following: “1. Not in accordance or conformity with the physical nature of persons or animals; 2. Not in accordance or agreement with the usual course of nature; 3. At variance with natural feeling or moral standards; excessively cruel or wicked.” Its root word Natural, originates from the latin word naturalis or natura meaning Nature or the “conditions of birth, quality, character, natural order” (Dictionary.com Unabridged). As implied by the prefix un-, meaning not, the word unnatural is often defined as an act that goes against nature. In fact, in the OED, the word unnatural is synonymous with the word Abnormal and Monstrous.

“The said Johne is be the hand of God dum and defe and unnaturale.” The OED offers this quotation as an example of the use of the word in the 1500s, bringing in religion and God into its meaning. This use of the word existed little less than a century ago and today we see the existence of the word under different circumstances. Society today speaks of Unnatural Acts, and uses this to form a government and laws based on the most common act (and so deemed the most natural). Homosexuality, for example, is called unnatural by society and certain subcultures within it. The Vatican has defined the Christian doctrine as follows, “‘every genital act must be within the framework of marriage.’ Premarital sex, masturbation, and homosexuality are specifically condemned.” Further, the Christian doctrine speaks of homosexual sex as unnatural because it is sex that does not lead to procreation, in other words homosexual sex creates no offspring. As I stated above unnatural is defined as something that does not exist in nature. However, when used to define unnatural homosexual acts, it does not carry this meaning. For instance, there are many things that have been developed by society that would not, by definition, be considered natural. Yet, they are not condemned simply because they are a common practice, such as taking drugs to cure illnesses. The negative connotation that the word unnatural carries today in the western word comes from the use of this word to mean not common, abnormal, or strange.
In John Corvino’s Why Shouldn’t Tommy and Jim Have Sex? A Defense of Homosexuality, Corvino explains, “It often seems that when people call homosexuality ‘unnatural’ they really just mean that it’s disgusting” (White, 271). Similarly, we have seen other lifestyles deemed disgusting and unnatural by the popular opinion of a subculture. One example is the spread of Western Ideology with the use of globalization and missionary work taken to countries that are not as advanced in technology. The Sambia of New Guinea are an example of a way of life turned unnatural, disgusting and abnormal. The Sambia culture held the belief on initiating a boy into adulthood by the consumption of semen from an older man. As this became known in the western world it became something shameful, and slowly this way of life has come to an end.
Technology and globalization as well as culture shifts have given a new meaning to the word unnatural, changed it from its root to a negative term not meaning something not occurring from birth, or biology to a word stating deformity or burden by god, and finally to today’s meaning of something out the social norm.




“unnatural.” OxfordEnglishDictionary.com. 2nd edition. 11 Sept. 2008.

"nature." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 11 Sep. 2008.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nature<

White, James E. Contemporary Moral Problems. Learning, Inc. Thompson learning.
2006. Belmont, Ca.

Taste the Rainbow

http://americansfortruth.com/uploads/2008/06/homosexual_rainbow_flag.jpg

The rainbow “Pride Flag” is something that I see everyday. It’s a symbol that I carry with me at all times and yet I’ve never stopped to think about the meaning behind it, its history, and what its represented in the past.   Today this is a symbol that brings hope to the members of the LGBT community.  It represents “safe environments” where people can be themselves without fear of experiencing negative comments or stares.  To the “straight world” the flag represents something different.  Over the years, not only the rainbow flag but also the rainbow colors in any form, have acquired a negative connotation for those who aren’t personally touched by it. Even the website where I found this picture spoke negatively about it. “We can’t let the homosexual activists steal the rainbow just like they stole the word “gay” and are trying to steal “equality” by applying it to counterfeit same-sex “marriage”(Americansfortruth.com).” 

Nowadays, the rainbow flag is automatically associated with being “gay.”  Additionally the rainbow itself was something that is seen as feminine or something that might appeal to women rather than men. The fact that this flag now represents gay men, who in the mind of straight men, have been effeminized and no longer seen as “real” men, creates a negative stereotype about the flag and those who support it.

In order to get rid of this negative connotation and stereotypes, we need to work on educating society on the true meaning of the flag. It is not simply a rainbow that represents queer people (by  “queer” I mean people who identify themselves as Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, reclaiming "queer" as a positive connotation.); the flag has seen history in LGBT right marches since the 1970s. The multi-colored flag represents the diverse community (wikipedia.com). 

To me the flag represents my pride and my identity as a queer woman of color. It represents my personal struggle to stop homophobia. Last fall, during a pride week parade on the UC Davis campus, I held the flag. At that moment I felt empowered, and liberated. That moment having the support of others helps me neglect the fear of being myself.What society has to understand is that the queer community has not “stolen” the rainbow; instead, it has become a beautiful symbol of the hope that one day we will see the sunlight after the storm.