My message this week is mainly about the essays we are writing. I find it interesting when reading and critiquing other papers that they read much like mine! Is this telling me something? Maybe we are more alike than I had thought. One paper I read started almost exactly like mine in the first few paragraphs, and others seemed to grow-up in the same household environment as I did! This was something I did not expect. Maybe in a certain way, we all think our home is very different and not as good or comparable to other families, but I see that others lived a home life much like I did. As for Coontz, I did find her a bit biased on her opinions, and much of her work comes from a woman's point of view. Overall, I would not go to her for sound and concrete data and information on the American Family. That is my thought for the week.

My thoughts: Well I have been keeping up with the homosexual males in Florida that are unable to adopt the children the have fostered. Why is this even a debate in any state? I am for homosexual rights and I think if the couple or person is loving and caring then a child should be able to be raised by them. A straight couple doesn't make them better parents. There are a lot of heterosexual couples that shouldn't even have children. Why is it when a gay couple wants to foster or adopt a child they are usually given the sick children or the children that heterosexual couples don't want? We are America - we should be able to have interracial, interreligious, gay, straight, single parents--do they love, take care of their children and each other?-- Now thats what American families should be about! (just my thoughts).

This week has been very interesting, in terms of writing my own paper and reading others as well. I have never really ever thought about what my family is like. Writing this paper has really brought to my attention how much my family has changed in the past twenty years. Also, from reading about other families, I have begun to realize how far from the norm my family is. Overall though, I have really enjoyed writing about this topic and reading what my classmates have to say about their families as well.

This week has been extremely enlightening as to how my family situation relates to other family situations. As Joe said, we aren't so different after all. It is interesting to hear how others grew up and to find that they all seem to have had the same types of problems, values, and situations as I have had in my own life. The notion that a generation makes a difference in the way we grow up doesn't fly in the face of what we have shared and discovered this week. Is that a blessing or a curse, I wonder? Hopefully, we all will understand that no matter what type of family we came from, we turned out all right. Who is to say, that if our families had been different, we would be where we are today? And where we are today is certainly a fine place to be, as far as I can tell. How about you?

As with writing my personal essay, I found it extremely hard. After the first paragrah, I really did not have anything else to say about my family because I defined the "traditional" family as it pertained to my family. So, I decided to compare and contrast my family with sitcom families and learned a great deal about my family as well as gaining insight into the sitcom family. As I was reading my fellow classmates' papers, I learned that as the family is concerned, a lot of us had similar upbringings.

I am responding to the comment about the gay couple wanting to adopt. I find it repulsive that we keep children from loving homes based on RELIGIOUS beliefs of some people that have nothing to do with the STATE. How can we say that these children will be better off without someone to love and care for them? How can we say that, especially when we know that the chance is great that these children will never have another chance at a family before they die, because they are generally unwanted due to their conditions. There are many, many types of families in this society and culture today... as we may have known before, but definitely know now that we are discussing it in this course. I think it's time that people should realize that a loving home does not necessarily consist of a mother and a father. In fact, there are times when that combination is more much more hurtful than nurturing. It is my opinion that a family is a unit that sticks together, cares for eachother and finds strength in the bonds they have created together. For some people, this is a mother and father. Some people find it in extended family. Others may only have friends that they can truly count on. In this situation with the gay parents, there is nothing that I think could be better for these children than to have a unit of strength to be a part of while they are still happy, healthy children.

As for christian ideals, I think it is anything but christian to keep children from being loved in a world that shuns them otherwise.

I agree that Anya in that I think a gay or lesbian couple has every constitutional and moral right to adopt children, especially when no other couples have stepped forward to accept the challenge of raising HIV positive children. It is my belief that a family is a unit who support, love, and care for one another. Family goes far beyond blood, sexual orientation, race, creed, etc. As long as this couple has proved they are competent, loving, and supporting, I believe they should be granted the opportunity to raise these children.

Writing the family narrative was, indeed, a difficult task. First and foremsot, it caused me to take a close, analytical look at my family. Next, it required me to look at it in comparison to that of the 'traditional' family. Both tasks were very taxing. I found, by scrutinizing the short length of my rough draft, that I was unwilling - almost reluctant to do so. After the class critique I had to step back and ask myself why I had only skimmed the surface of my true narrative. It very well may be that I am unwilling to share this experience with others for fear that they will not understand or judge it by their standards and their family. My roughdraft sort of said, "Here is my family, this is how we are." No detail. No examples. No insight. No disclosure. I question the open mindedness of my readers, and was limited by that.

While reading my classmates' essays, along with my own, I noticed that a lot of us had the same sibling relationships with our siblings. Most of us who have siblings notice that many families have a stereotypical younger daughter who is a tattle-tale (sp?) who very seldom gets in trouble with the parental units, and has to do a lot less work than the other siblings. There is also a stereotypical son who is a "mama's boy" and everything is handed to him on a silver platter. Then we see the stereotypical older child who is supposed to be more responsible than the other children, who is supposed to look after them, and who is supposed to be able to do more chores around the house. For those of us who aren't/weren't the spoiled baby, we tend to have a somewhat bitter attitude towards the 'little brat.'

My reason for stating this is that, even though we know many families possess such children who fit these descriptions, we very seldon see them, full force, on television. The Adams Family is the only sitcom I can recall where the children were at each other's necks... literally. The funny thing is that I am not the only person in our class who can compare his family to the Adams' family.

Yes, yes, I know. I'm starting to realize that I am the slacker in the group. But really I promise I'm not. I work at WOUB in the RTV building. And Friday I was gone from early in the morning, until late at night. Yes, I know that this is not really a valid excuse. But I felt that I should still post something because something is better than nothing.
 
I have found this assignment to be very interesting. I'm not sure about other people but I have felt very exposed by telling so many details about my family. By writing about issues and concerns that I probably haven't even shared with my friends. I am sure that in a way others have felt this. I also think that this is a good assignment because it helps us all to realize that we are not alone. Everyone's family is odd in one way or another, or are even messed up, or perfect. That is the "beauty" (for lack of a better word) of families, they are all different. Nobody has the same experience than someone else.