Same Difference?

During our last class I began to think about a common phrase that is used quite often. This is "same difference." To me this statement seems completely contradictory. I believe it is actually an oxymoron, though I have never fully understood the purpose of these. I started to question how this phrase impacts thought processes when people are trying to categorize others. For example, in Project Mulberry, Mr. Dixon calls Julia Chinese though she is of Korean heritage. She goes on to mention how people often assume that she is either Japanese or Chinese as if those "are the only kinds of Asians anyone has ever heard of (140)." Her thoughts about why she thought someone like Mr. Dixon who was African American and had probably felt the effects of prejudice and racism would make such a careless mistake.
This moment in the book referred me back to a scene in a movie called "The Replacements" where this happens with adult football players in the lunch room. One player, an African-American, is commenting on the weight of a teammate that used to be a sumo-wrestler and calls him "Chinaman."
Player 2 responds: I'm Japanese, not Chinese.
Player 1: Same Difference
Player 2: What?
Player 1: It's the same difference man, all that woo-ka-chow (imitates Asian Languages).
Player 2: You do know that China and Japan are two different countries, right?
Their confrontation continues for a moment and starts to get physical, until a third and fourth player intervene and try to physically separate Players 1 and 2. Player 3 has an English accent, and Player 4 is the brother of Player 1. Player 3 gets the first two to calm down by reminding them that they are on the same team.
Player 4: The Mick's right, man. Chill out!
Player 3: I'm not a Mick! I'm bloody Welsh!
Player 4: What-ever man!

I shared this moment because I think it highlights the fact that such false assumptions can be made on numerous levels in regards to this idea of "same difference." The only sense I can make of this term is that it indicates that two things or people share something in common but have more pervasive differences but the viewer refuses to acknowledge the differences and lumps the two together. As we have seen and discussed, this is a very negative thing to do. It's harsh and makes the heritage of someone feel like it isn't important, as with Julia in project Mulberry.
I really appreciated her questioning of whether the intention of the assumption mattered or not. I think she is right, that not knowing and not bothering to ask is just as bad as voicing a deliberately hurtful negative assumption.

I wonder if this phrase "same-difference" should be one to pay careful attention to when we hear our students or friends saying it. Should this become one of the taboo phrases that should not be used when discussing others' identities? I am not sure, but I am trying to figure this out for myself. Please let me know your thoughts on this, as well as other phrases or words that stand out to you in a similar manner.

A Brief Philosophy

As a MSU student issues and ideas of diversity have been ever present both inside and outside the classrooms. Prior to attending this university, I had rarely given much in depth thought to diversity in the way it is discussed here. As a strong believer in the importance of an equal and fulfilling society for all, I feel the by discussing the issues, negative and positive, surrounding diversity will help me to help create this society. As a future teacher I believe in the power of literature and what better way to break the ice for discussion with students than to have them read about issues, directly or indirectly. Literature will be so fully entwined in my future classroom that students may not be able to distinguish when we are focusing on just the literature or when we are using it in other ways, hopefully. I also know that my class will be vastly diverse and including literature that appeals to and represents my students is important to me as I know it will be to them. However, after taking the TE 348, I realized that there is so much more to selecting a piece of quality literature for students to work with. When I heard about this course, I continued to think about how much I didn't know. I sort of asked myself: "Well, if you didn't realize how much was entailed before the 348 class, and now there is an entirely separate class dealing with diversity and multiculturalism, this probably means that you know even less and will benefit from TE 448." I came to this class to learn more about how to select and use appropriate children's literature. This meant learning more about my future students and about myself to do this. I believe that a diverse and compassionate person has a much higher chance of success in today's global society than anyone else. It is also immensely fulfilling to know one's own self and to know enough about others to be able to recognize and connect through similarities or appreciate and respect the differences. I want to help my students achieve such successes and the first door to them is through literature. In short, I believe that multicultural education is the best type there is and that it exists even if it is not blazingly obvious. This type of education needs to be enriched in diverse ways and considering that literature has a hold on practically every academic subject that exists currently, and those yet to be implemented, this seems like the most logical way to provide such enrichment. One of my biggest concerns for the future is that my students will not be as responsive to diverse literature and ideas as I am and I wonder how much of a challenge this will bring about in my teaching. Now that I have a greater aptitude to locate quality resources, or at least to look for them, I am interested to see how the literature of traditionally underrepresented groups changes and grows in time. I hope that it proceeds forwards and is never halted, and perhaps I can influence one of these future writers by showing them that they do exist in the literature and it is important to tell their story.

Does reclaiming a label work?

Recently I have heard a lot about different groups of people reclaiming words that have been used offensively towards them or tends to be considered derogative. I wonder whether or not this actually works.

I know that naming and labeling can be crucial when self-identifying, so how does saying that a group is “reclaiming” a term affect the group, those affiliated with the group, and anyone else that might not be directly affiliated? How does saying that a word is being reclaimed empower the person?

The first big reclamation of a label was during a writing class about women my freshmen year here. We read “The Vagina Monologues” and watched a portion of the HBO special in class. There was an entire monologue about reclaiming the word “cunt” as a positive term for females. Even though after learning the true origins and meaning of the word and trying very hard to share this with others, I personally still do not feel that the word “cunt” is positive. If I were to poll most of my classes this semester about whether or not they feel the term is positive in either describing the female reproductive organs or a female herself, I highly doubt any would say so.

Other reclamations of terms I have heard include the terms “queer” and “fag.” People within the LGBTA community have been attempting to reclaim these terms. However, I still do not feel comfortable using these terms. Why is that? Though I would be using the terms in the newly constructed positive way, how would I be viewed by others. I consider myself an outsider to this culture/group of people, so is it okay for me to use these terms rather than the terms “homosexual” or “gay.”

After we read the excerpts from Simi Linton's “Claiming Disability,” I thought more about the terms “handicap” and “disabled people.” Through all of my classes here at MSU I have been taught to use the people first method when using labels, but these excerpts totally changed my thoughts on this. I still feel that using people first is important, but reading these really reiterated my ideas of asking people what their individual preference is. Does a community of persons with disabilities reclaiming the label “disabled” actually affect them or the community or is it still all a personal identification?

Also, the word “invalid” surprised me when I read it in the article “ . I am sharing my own ignorance to the term right now. I had heard the word pronounced by never connected it to how it was spelled for some reason. It is rare that that happens with me, but it did. When I saw the word spelled out, I started to consider how many other words have implied meaning in the spellings but are pronounced slightly different in hopes maybe to distract from these implied meanings.

There are many terms and labels that I have not included in this, but I am sure I will be coming back to this idea again in the coming weeks. There were also many other ideas in the Linton readings that I will likely be referencing. The article was well written and provided a basis for numerous topics related to names and labels.

Mapping the Beat

This year I am part of a traveling children's theater group called Kinetic Energy that performs educational pieces that are based in the Michigan Curriculum Standards. The piece we are doing this year is called "Mapping the Beat: American History from 1776-1865 through music, geography, and social studies." I love being a part of this show and applaud what we are trying to do, but when this semester began and I started my American history class and my diversity in children's literature courses I started to question many elements of the show. The show is aimed at 5^th -6^th graders, although depending on which school we are at we actually perform for students ranging from pre-k through 7^th grade (so far). The show relies heavily on audience participation. I am getting great practice dealing with incorrect answers from students even though every now and then they throw a new response out that we have not heard before.

One of the most prominent elements I have questions about is our portrayal of Native Americans. We did take precautions to use the most appropriate terminology for every group we discuss or mention in the show. There is a section of the show in which we discuss “typical” and “traditional” Native American things like clothing, living arrangements, and music. I now know more specifically that there is no such thing as “typical” to portray Native Americans in early America. Though many Tribes had similarities, and these increased when tribes were forced to ally and merge when Europeans took more and more land, there seem to be more defining differences than similarities.

The living arrangements we describe break the Native Americans into two categories. One is sedentary and the other is nomadic. The issues I have with this is that many tribes, I now know, were a mixture of these two types. The other issue I have is that we describe the nomadic tribes as moving in pursuit of buffalo herds. Though I think this is true, I think there were other reasons for nomadic nature.

Also, we play “traditional” Native American music. When I hear the music it is what I think of when I think of traditional Native American music but I wonder if I am correct. Our director selected all of the music and I wonder how much research he did into what he chose. I hope that we are not playing something that will offend the heritage of anyone in the audience, or elsewhere, or something that perpetuates a stereotype that I was unaware of.

We also present “typical” Native American clothing. This I know is not accurate at all. Our costume designer did not seem to research anything and went with her stereotypical notions of “Indian Dress.” Student from the audience wear these pieces. I fear that we may be offending someone by this portrayal. I wonder even more after seeing the effect of Chief Illini on the family in the film “In Whose Honor.” Even though our section about Native Americans is so brief, I question what its underlying impact might be on the students. We are trying to educate them and teach them new ideas, but are we simply reinforcing some stereotypes?

I am in a personal debate about this because I know that there is no way for our show to teach these students everything about these topics. We cover so many things in an hour, that I hope that their teachers will discuss the material further with students and bring out any questions or simplifications of our topics. I think that it is important to teach about these topics and I know that they should be initiated early in an educational career. I guess I wonder mostly if its okay to allow the students to dress in this manner since we are simply trying to shed light on the topic and not necessarily saying that all Native Americans were like this. Since we are presenting to elementary students, I question whether it is acceptable to present something in a stereotypical-ish manner even if there is no offense implied. I know that I feel that if someone is offended, even if it is unintentional that it is not okay. However, since this situation is a little different, I just don't know. I am not sure that I am making any sense with my question.

One thing I was pleased about when we were editing through this script was the removal of a pow-wow and war dance demonstration for the Native Americans. They were removed because we could not find a demonstration to learn and share specifically. However, after being in my children's diversity in literature class, I feel much better knowing that we did not attempt those dances because they could have been considered sacred and would could have strongly offended some people.

Another area that I question is our references to slaves and the slave trade. We added a line that defines what an abolitionist is, but we barely make note that abolitionists were fighting for something positive. We also ask the audience to look at a map and share where most slaves were being shipped from in Africa. We do not share that Africans were being kidnapped and sold all across the continent even though the departure points to the Americas were only in the western countries. I feel that this is important for people to know because this impacted the entire continent of Africa and not just a few countries. It completely changed all of the cultures there and the effects can still be seen and felt today there. I just don't know if the students need to learn everything all at once, or if I can leave it in the hands of them and their teachers to learn more about what we present to them.

Please don't get me wrong, like I said I think we are attempting to do great things with this theater program and have had a positive impact on our audiences. I just question more because I think it is my responsibility to do so. I wish that my entire diversity class could see the show and share feedback.

Autobiographical Poems

When the assignment for autobiographical poems was presented the first week, I was very interested but also a little nervous. I have been learning about myself in so many ways over the past few years and this is in part to classes like this one that force me to think alternatively. Well, alternatively in regards to my original thinking. I was not sure what to write, but I knew that I wanted to share all I knew about myself. I found it hard to narrow it down to what others might think are the most important aspects of myself. When I thought about it even more as I was writing, I reminded myself that it did not matter what someone else thought was important about me, but what I found important and telling about who I am that matters. I really enjoyed writing the poem and could have continued, but since I had a deadline, I had to stop. I truly enjoyed and felt privileged to hear my classmates' and instructor's poems. There were several surprising pieces of my classmates that I was unaware of.

After submitting my poem, I reflected on the process and what I was feeling as I wrote. As I wrote, I had to think about everything that I thought I was and even about what other people thought I was or was not. This poem was like a declaration of self. It was remarkably empowering. It helped me to think about what I wanted to share with others as well as areas where I could or want to improve or change.

One of the biggest obstacles I faced when writing this was which style to use. In another TE class, I was asked to write another autobiographical poem. However, this time the style was explicit. Thus, I was able to write a second poem that was actually completely different than my first one. I was much more impressed by my second poem than my first though. I did not post them in this blog because they are both 3 typed pages long, but if you are interested in reading them, message me and I will send them your way. My first poem presented my frustrations while my second one dug more into my past that has helped me to develop into who I am currently. I feel that both methods I have seen for structuring this assignment are useful. I think that if I were to use this with children, I would give an explicit style to work in, while allowing those that wanted to stray to do so as an extra part. I think that by having everyone complete the same style, everyone will be thinking similarly. Oh boy, now I'm not making any sense. I think I am trying to say that focusing on the same style will focus on the same aspects of each person but provide the opportunity to see the differences and similarities. For example, the first poem I wrote was the depiction of one side of a typical conversation. This focused on the questions I am asked all the time and some of the are just plain silly, but people ask them. The second poem was in the context of where I was from, and this I interpreted as childhood, as many of my classmates did based on the examples. Both of these poems expressed who I was, but in different ways and I think that is key for others. This writing helped me to feel empowered and as I have said I am not one that is typically thought of as underrepresented, although if you read my poems you will see that that is not necessarily true.

You might be asking yourself: What does all this have to do with our class themes? Well, I thought a great deal about my own diversity. I never really thought of myself in the "majority" standard when being labeled. But through our class discussions, I realized that I do fit in some places of that large category. I believe that the mixed feelings about self-exploration and positive feelings about expressing this written piece of myself that I had can be applicable to everyone. I thought about how to connect this assignment to other aspects of my life and how to use this to increase the multicultural understanding of others around me. I definitely fill the role of perpetual teacher and try to share everything I find value in and think is important to helping others develop, though sometimes it might not be appreciated. I believe that this assignment of writing and autobiographical poem would be beneficial for literally everyone to do. I believe that by writing about your own identity you start to think about that of others in relation to yourself. When you share these pieces you may be completely surprised and some of your unfounded assumptions may be erased and you will likely also find many commonalities that you never knew or even thought existed. I've actually sent both of these poems to some of my family members, particularly my stepfather, and have asked them to write their own. I hope to receive some interesting pieces. I will also be using this with several staffs that I am a part of in the Department of Residence Life, which will hopefully then be used on various floors across campus. Additionally, I feel that it is acceptable to explore children's literature written by children that is not published, such as in class work.

This connected when we read Bronx Masquerade. It was an amazing novel that explored the identities of several students through essentially autobiographical poems. Although the book was a work of fiction, each poem was well developed and different. If taken out of context, I think that many of those poems could have applied to the same person at different times in his or her life. This idea also indicates to me that writing a poem like this should be done more than once at different times.