Day of Silence

Today, my school celebrated the Day of Silence. While the national Day of Silence is actually tomorrow, our school and the Gay-Straight Alliance Club elected to move our school's Day of Silence to today, due to a large pride assembly tomorrow. Day of Silence is one school day a year where students who choose to participate do not speak for the entire school day in order to bring awareness to LGBT oppression and injustice. LGBT students are forced to remain silent about who they truly are and their identities due to bullying and other injustices, and Day of Silence is one way in which other students can support these LGBT students.

LGBT people are a class of people who have been oppressed and faced injustices, no matter what their age. LGBT students are an especially oppressed class of people because they can face insensitive bullying day after day, including hearing derogatory terms in the hallways or cyberbullying. Day of Silence is just one way fellow classmates can let LGBT students know they support them and would never dream of hurting them due to their identities or who they love. Recently, more and more students are coming forth about bullying in the LGBT student community. Studies are showing a very close relationship between this bullying and failure in school, and all-around unhappiness. Day of Silence asks "What will YOU do to end the Silence?" Students are realizing it is the hands of our generation to speak out and do something. This class of people shouldn't be oppressed just because of who they are, just like another class of people shouldn't be oppressed just for the color of their skin.

It has been inspiring to see our generation take this issue into our own hands. The Day of Silence is only one campaign we have started to help end the injustices and prejudice this class of people faces every day. Another great campaign is the It Gets Better project. Started by Dan Savage, this project takes videos and stories by celebrities and posts them on YouTube, as well as into a book, that lets LGBT teens know, "It Gets Better." This project hopes to reduce the number of suicides due to LGBT bullying/reasons, especially after a wave of teenage suicides just in this past year. This project has posted many videos on YouTube from a multitude of different celebrities and adults offering encouragement and inspiring words. Kyle, from LGBT Etcetera has a great post on this project, which you can read here.

In the end, just as I have commented in my other blogs about other classes of people, LGBT people as well as students are a class that needs to be heard. Their voices need to resonate everywhere from the Superintendent's desk to the super-conservative father who just found out his son is gay. No matter if you agree or disagree with gay rights, bullying, injustice and oppression are not okay for any class of people. School administration needs to be further educated on these students to help end the bullying. Parents need to be further educated on LGBT teenagers to help them get through the teenage years. Maybe you'll participate in Day of Silence next year, maybe you won't. It doesn't matter how you do it, but how will YOU end the silence and the bullying of LGBT people?

Class and the Environment

In English class, we have recently started discussing the environment and its role in our lives. Our discussions on the environment have included how the environment is portrayed in the media and our culture, as well as the relationship between children and the environment. After these discussions, I discovered an interesting relationship between a child's class and their interaction with nature.

Many story books portray children as having the closest connection with nature. However, how children interact with nature is greatly affected by their economic class. Children from upper class homes get to experience "nature" at camp, where nature consists of kayaking, hiking and building campfires. Is this "real" nature? If it's not, what constitutes "real" nature? Parents who pay thousands of dollars for their children to travel away from home into the "wild" would argue that camp provides a "real" nature experience. However, is it real nature if it is controlled?

Meanwhile, many children from lower class homes do not have the opportunity to go to camp. These children experience nature from playing in backyards, alleys, or public parks. These nature experiences do not include canoeing or horseback riding, but rather experiencing nature in an uncontrolled environment, in any way accessible to them (read "Rich Kids Went to Camp, Poor Kids Just Went Outside" for an interesting take on this issue!) Is this "true" nature? Perhaps people could view this nature as dirtier nature, nature that is not pre-approved or controlled.

What are the future repercussions to these differing experiences with nature? Will these children develop different attitudes towards nature? For upper class children, they could develop the attitude that nature is dirty when it's in the house, and people should pay to have their houses cleaned and keep the dirt of nature out. However, nature is positive and connecting with the environment when encountered in these controlled environments such as camp or horseback riding ranches. For lower class families, nature might have much more negative connotations. Nature symbolizes dirtiness and lower class when in the house. Lower class families can't pay to have their homes cleaned or to keep nature "out." The projects, lower class housing, is known for dirtiness. Therefore, will they ever develop positive feelings towards nature, or will their feelings alway be affected by the view of their culture on nature?

In the end, interactions with nature, just like many other issues in our culture, are affected by a person's class. The consequences of these differing interactions are unclear, but they are sure to affect a person's future view on the environment and nature. It is imperative that we ensure we are experiencing nature in a multitude of different ways, including controlled and uncontrolled, to truly experience nature in all of its truest forms.

A Call for Action, Help

These past few days, CNN and other news stations have had much to talk about. Last Friday, March 11, Japan was hit by a 8.9 magnitude earthquake near the city of Honshu, releasing tsunami waves and leaving many dead and many more missing (read more about the tragedy here on BBC's special page dedicated to information and updates regarding the happenings in Japan). This is a horrific tragedy, and one that will leave lasting consequences of the people and the government of Japan. Now, more than ever, there is a class of people needing help. This class of people is the survivors of this tragedy, the people now seeking food, water and other aid. Some of these survivors have lost everything. Their families. Their homes. Their most treasured possessions. This class is distinct in that they all share two common bonds. They have all survived this disaster, and they all need help. Below are three different charities that are helping provide immediate relief to this class of people, the survivors.



1. Lady Gaga designed a "We Pray for Japan" bracelet, with all proceeds going directly to tsunami relief efforts. This famous icon in American society, known for her outrageous outfits, is also known for her humanitarian work and her work for LGBT rights (read a great blog post about Lady Gaga and LGBT rights on Kyle's LGBT blog), so it should not come to people as a surprise that now Lady Gaga is stepping up and promoting aid efforts to the people of Japan. Whether you like or dislike Lady Gaga's music, approve or disapprove of her outfits, and support or don't support her work towards LGBT rights, we can all certainly appreciate the help she is trying to provide this class of people. Buy your bracelet here!


2. Zynga, the creator of popular games and applications such as FarmVille and CityVille on Facebook and Words with Friends (an Apple application) has begun a fundraising drive to raise money for the children affected by the earthquake/tsunami tragedy, going directly to
the Save the Children charity, which has created a special branch, Japan Earthquake Tsunami Children Emergency Fund. These games will now have a "Donate" button where users can give directly to the charity while playing the games. Facebook will donate credits for the games to donators. Zynga also did this when Haiti was struck by a horrific earthquake and raised $1.5 million. Get gaming and donating! (Source: http://www.develop-online.net/news/37276/Zynga-begins-Japan-quake-charity-drive
online.net)


3. Google has created a crisis response site to help people search for missing people, read alarms and warnings from the government, post shelter and transportation information and much more. Google is also sponsoring the Japanese Red Cross Society and is collecting donations through their website. You can donate as little as 100 yen (all donations mus
t be in yen- $20 is about 1600 yen) and all donations go straight to the Japanese Red Cross. The Red Cross is using the money to purchase and distribute aid to the survivors and help atte
mpt to bring normalcy to their lives again. Although you won't get a cool bracelet, unlike if you donate to Lady Gaga's charity, you will be donating to a charity in which the money is truly helping the people.


As you can see by just the few pictures I have posted, this class of people, these survivors truly do need our help. Hopefully one of the charities I have posted has inspired you to do more and reach out to these people. If not, hopefully I have at least inspired you to find a charity you do find meaningful and offer some type of support to the survivors of this tragedy. Let's all unite as one class of people and help our neighbors in Japan!

Wisconsin: A Clash of the Classes

Maybe you haven't been keeping up
with the news lately, or maybe you've been living under a rock, but there are some very important discussions, and protests, happening in Wisconsin these past few weeks. These discussions, mostly stemming from a $3.6 billion deficit in the state budget, include many measures such as limiting collective bargaining for unions and cutting many services throughout the state. These budget cuts will, most likely, affect some of the state's poorest and least fortunate. The state, however, is in a little bit of a bind, as 14 Democrats refuse to return to Wisconsin leaving the Wisconsin government in limbo and bipartisanship is pretty much non-existent.


With a new republican governor, Scott Walker, who took office January 3, 2011, the republicans and democrats have had much to discuss (or argue) about. Recently, Walker proposed a $96 million dollar plan that included cuts to low-income health care, programs for the disabled, and public works (lincluding snow plows). Many of his cuts will most directly affect the lower class, especially a $500 million cut to Wisconsin Medicaid, which serves 20% of Wisconsin residents. Here is a quote from Walker regarding the proposed cut to the social service while giving his budget address:

"Medicaid continues to outstrip growth in general fund revenues. While maintaining services for our most vulnerable, we must also refocus those services and find efficiencies where possible."

As shown here, these budget cuts, as well as limiting collective bargaining (read more about the issue here!), could severly affect some of Wisconsin's most struggling citizens and would greatly affect the lower class. There are two class conflicts occuring in Wisconsin right now: the democrats v. the republicans, and the government v. the lower class. As I've discussed in other blogs, classes don't always necessarily need to be economic classes. In this case, there is a battle occuring against an economic class, but also among classes of people in power, the democrats and the republicans. This class conflict and division, between the people in power, is harming the state's citizens and the state's resources. Local services, education, health care, and arts and culture are all programs/resources that are at risk if the government and classes cannot reach a compromise.

What do you think? Do you think these budget cuts are necessary for the goverment to stabilize? Or do you think the government is short-changing the lower class and "the most vulnerable" in the state? If these cuts are reduced or rejected, how should the government make up it's $3.6 billion deficit? It seems that although cuts are needed to be made to the budget, but how to make the cuts effective, yet not hurt too many people, would be an art and an incredible compromise. Whatever happens, the classes need to come to a compromise soon, or otherwise a government in limbo is of no use at all.

Source: wisconsinrapidstribune.com

The Weak vs. The Powerful

In English, we are reading the very well-known, well-loved play Hamlet by William Shakespeare and learning to view the play from different approaches, such as psychoanalytic, feminist, Marxist, and new historic. Since my blog is about class and the effects of class on our society today, I felt it would be appropriate to connect to Marxism and just take a look at some things happening in both Hamlet and our world today that have to do with class.



Both King Claudius (right) and rulers in the Middle East have a few things in common. One, they are both "above" and "superior" to the other people. There are class divisions and conflicts both within the castle in Hamlet between Claudius and his courtiers and soldiers, as well as between Hosni Mubarak and the citizens of Egypt.

Currently in the Middle East, there has been much unrest and uprising by the people against the government (below: former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak). These governments, some monarchies and royal families and others "elected" officials who have been in office for 20+ years, have faced criticisms of corruption and denying the lower classes some of their rights. Mubarak is not the only Middle Eastern leader who has been facing conflict, but also Gaddafi of Libya and Khalifa of Bahrain.

While there may not be as evident, full conflicts created by class division in Hamlet as there are in the Middle East, the class division is still very evident between the ruling family and the commoners or the people working in the castle.

Is it inevitable that the two classes, the royalty and the commoners, will always come into conflict? It seems as though in most books and plays they do, and it seems that in all countries the poor always want to revolt against the rich, the weak against the strong, the commoners against the royalty. Is there any way to avoid it? If it IS inevitable, leaders must learn how to deal with the uprisings and their position on conflict. In some of the Middle Eastern leaders' policies, their positions include firing on the protestors and releasing tear gas into the crowds. In the United States, our leaders have adopted the policy of letting the lower classes protest peacefully. (Right: Current King Khalifa of Bahrain)

This picture below is a picture of a protest in which many Egyptians flooded one of main streets/squares. This picture shows you just how strongly the people were fighting against the government/royalty for basic rights like freedom of speech, free elections and release of political prisoners:

Hamlet has been praised for being a play that is relatable to people of all classes because of its portrayal of conflicts which are relevant to all societies. This conflict is particularly relevant today because of all the class conflict and uprisings happening in the Middle East, especially as shown in Egypt. Class conflict is inevitable for society and it is important to maintain a Marxist lens and critical approach as one reads a work of fiction to understand underlying motives and conflicts that exist between characters which are not always clear.

Fork Over $100 (at least!)

It is February 14 (Happy Valentine's Day!) and that means we are just about halfway through the three month waiting period between applying to college (deadline January 1) and the most common notification date (April 1). While some colleges have earlier notification dates and some students' plans for next year are beginning to take shape, many students are still anxiously awaiting April 1. After going through the college application process, a process which took about three months for me (October-December), I have had time to reflect back on the process. While reflecting, I realized just how much my process had been affected by my class and ecoomic status.

For those of you who haven't applied to college yet or had children who have applied to college, the high cost of just applying in itself will shock you. Fees quickly add up, from the cost of sending a transcript (about $5- Docufide transcript service) to sending ACT or SAT scores (either $10 or $30 dependent on the date which you send them- read more about the ACT here) to the actual application fees themself (about $50, but can even reach $90 for Stanford). The cost of applying to college alone can frighten students (and parents off) from applying to college, which puts the students at a disadvantage. Some students qualify for waivers, but the students who are at the in-between, the class of students who don't qualify for the waiver but who can't afford to apply to colleges they want to, suffer. The students who can pay to apply (and attend) for higher education receive the diplomas, and can then pay for their kids when it is their turn to apply (and attend) college. It's the beginning of a vicious cycle of the rich get richer and smarter.

Another component of this cycle is the AP tests. Students who complete Advanced Placement classes (read about Advanced Placement tests here through the College Board), or feel prepared to sit for an Advanced Placement test on a certain subject, can take about a 2.5 hour test and if they receive a score their intended university recognizes (usually a 4 or a 5), they have the opportunity to earn credits towards their college graduation requirements, thus getting college credit without paying for that class or making room in their schedule to ensure graduating in 8 semesters. The catch, however, is each AP test is about $87 (again, waivers are offered if a student qualifies). Therefore, students who can afford the tests will take them and earn credits, thus saving money, but students who can't afford them or don't qualify for waivers will have to pay full price at college. Thus, the cycle continues.

Finally, the last aspect of this cycle is the private college counselor. This is the most extreme aspect, but definitely still present. A college counselor is only for the richest of classes, with some counselors charging $40,000/year of counseling, enough for a whole year of tuition and fees at some schools! Counselors assist students with essay writing, resumes, applications, interview prep and making the final decision (read a great article about it here). However, who can really afford this kind of prep? Are the students who do everything themselves, have their parents read their essays, and go into interviews based on their own knowledge at a disadvantage? The wealthiest of wealthy are the ones receiving all the preparation, guidance and assistance, and can therefore help their children receive all that as well when it comes to be that time. What do you think about this cycle? Are students at different, unfair advantages with one another?

4 Essential Things to Know About Class in February 2011 (Quick and Easy to Understand!)

With President Obama halfway through his first term as president, the recession officially finished and unemployment rates dropping to 9%, many Americans are claiming the sun is shining on America again. However, there are still people struggling. Families are still facing foreclosure. Parents are still unemployed. Children are still hungry. Below is a list of things you need to know to be a well-informed American citizen in 2011.

1. "More than 50 million Americans are still without health care insurance, including more than 7 million children" (http://www.covertheuninsured.org/). Although Obama's health care plan was passed in March 2010 (almost a YEAR ago), with more Republicans in office now and a call for health care reform, health care insurance and coverage is still shaky for many Americans. It was a great victory for the Democrats, but with much controversy and approximately "58% of likely voters at least somewhat favor repeal of the health care law, 44% strongly favor it, 37% are opposed to repeal and 26% strongly oppose health care repeal" (according to Rasmussen Reports) America will have to revisit the issue once again. Look here for a map of America and to view the range of uninsured workers in the state!


2. There are still people going to bed with their stomachs growling. Although the recession is technically over and the future is brightening, food pantries are still hard work. According to a 2010 CNN study, "4 out of 10 visitors to a food pantry are under 18 years old and 50% of food pantry visitors say they often have to choose between food and home utilities" (Why Are Americans Going Hungry?) According to the Hunger Report 2010 by the organization Feeding America, there was a 46% increase in 2010 from 2006 in the number of people who needed Feeding America for food supply (25 million people in 2006, 37 million people in 2010). Out of these 37 million people, 36% of the households had at least one family member working. It's not only the homeless or the unemployed that are hungry, it can be anybody. Finally, the number of children Feeding America is providing food to has grown by 50% from 2006-2010. Hunger is everywhere and affects everyone.

3. The jobs still aren't there for some people. Yes, unemployment has gone down since its spike at 10.1% in October 2009. However, at the end of January 2011, unemployment was still reported at 9.0% (according to tradingeconomics.com) , a pretty high statistic. Jobs and unemployment continue to rock our country and our economy even post-recession. Although a job isn't the key to everything, employment plays a key factor in many of the other topics discussed here, including health care and battling hunger. See the graph below for the fluctuation of unemployment rates:

4. Fourth, and finally, people are still losing their homes. Foreclosures peaked during April 2009, there were still approximately 36,500 mortgage modifications during December 2010 and foreclosures are expected to increase due to "major financial institutions' poor record with modifying home mortgage loans", according to a report released today and the Los Angeles Times. According to Diane Pendley, a co-author of the report, Obama's plan of attack on foreclosures "has made little more than a dent in the large volume of of outstanding distressed loans." According to the Los Angeles Times report, the Fitch Company predicts 4 years of market growth and fluctuation to overcome this real estate crisis.

There are still many problems our country is facing post-recession and inequality is still high. Americans must be aware of these 4 issues to be well-informed and knowledgable regarding our country's status. When these issues are addressed and corrected, our country can be in a better place, and equality and prosperity can (hopefully) return for the majority.