I chose to complete Question #2 involving Gabrielle Raley's article "No Good Choices". It took me quite some time to thoughtfully answer this question. Although I had both read and reread the essay, drawn a rough outline of my argument and answer, and reconsidered it several times, I still found it difficult to provide what I felt was a justified, adequate answer. There is so much to be said about the issue of teenage childbearing. When given a chance, one may not know where to begin, nor where to end. I suppose that this is where the mechanics of rhetoric comes into play. I found, through this exercise, that I often go for the "pathos" appeal. In most instances, I balance it with logic.

For this particular quiz, and on this particular issue, I let my emotion attached to it cloud and confuse my writing. I do not live in poverty. I have not carried or bore a child. I have had expensive, college preparoatory training. In other words, the desolate teen in Raley's essay does not represent me. But it represents many of those I know. I could live in a well-to-do neighborhood. I could afford to go to a college prep high school. I received support and education about sexual commodification. But why is that? Because my mother has gained an economic foothold that has left me advantaged. And how did she gain that foothold? Through her father, my grandfather, who was determined to send her through college (here at OU to be exact) so that she could do so in her lifetime. You see, I look at my family and see that I have been one of the few lucky ones who are not in the cycle of despair, yet my position allows me to observes others and see this desperate cycle taking place before my eyes. I see my friends who couldn't attend private schools drop out of disadvantaged public ones where they used our old books. I see them struggle with work at McDonald's. I see them become pregnant. I see them hopeless and regretful. That is where my emotion comes from. And it is from that emotional basis that I answered the question about teenage childbearing.

I am anxious to see how THAT turned out!

Larae, like me, wrote on an emotional topic. Mine, however, will remain for the most part a mystery, since I am no longer working with a friend who became a lesbian several years after I first knew her. This week our topic in class about gays and the ensuing brouhaha over it made me challenge some long-held ideas and beliefs. I don't believe we have the right as individuals to foist our personal belief systems on certain sections of the population. This is tatamount to discrimination of another kind, only this time, it blankets not only blacks, but all races who may have gays in their ranks. And blankets smother. We need to understand that everyone--man, woman, child, black, ethnic, gay, or straight--has the inalienable right to pursue their own happiness in whatever manner they so choose, as long as no one is harmed in that pursuit. We don't have to approve it or condone it. It is not our right as human beings to judge what others clearly see as right for them. We only need to judge what is right for ourselves as individuals. To that end, whether we like the idea of gay or not, we need only accept it and those who choose to practice it. Put yourself in their shoes and try to feel how they must feel. They are only trying to give love in the only way comfortable and natural for them. And isn't that what we do? Think about being heterosexual in a GAY society, and having to endure ridicule and hate because of who you are and what you represent. Paints a quite different picture, doesn't it? All I'm saying is, as Lennon very eloquently put it--"Give Peace a chance." Until we can live in harmony, accept others as we hope to be accepted, there will be no peace. Reflect on that. (And forgive the soapbox.)

I chose to answer the question pertaining to teenage childbearing. It is an extremely complicated issue and it is impossible to come to one simple conclusion to solve the problem, therefore I found it difficult to organize my thoughts in an essay format. My emotions played a big part in the way I answered my question. It angers me the way some people stereotype young mothers as wanting children just to get $90 more in welfare. And although I've never known an impoverished mother personally, it still angers me when they are blamed for their situation. There are so many factors that come into play that result in a vicious cycle of poverty, and although it's easy for many to say that these people are lazy, which some of them most certainly are, it is not true that all of them are. Many of them have no other choice, or very limited and poor ones at that.

I chose to answer the question about same-sex marriages. I decided to write about this topic, not only because it was the last topic discussed in class, but because I know a same-sex couple personally. Now, they have been together for a long time, and even helped raise one of the partner's children, however they do not want to get married. Even though that is the case, I think they should have that option if they wanted. Since they have been together for so long and live together, what would happen to one partner if they decided to break up. That partner has no rights to any of the possessions that they have obtained together. Is it me, or does that not seem fair?

Edited by author 05-17-2002 03:27 PM
Well, I thought I liked the text, "American Families" more than "The Way We Never Were," but I am now convinced I don't. The essays are one-sided and unfair the way they are written. As we mentioned before, Coontz knows a lot about this topic, but pushes her own personal view onto the reader too much. As for the test essay, I wrote on the way America is changing in the workplace. I understand the points of the workers interviewed, and how they want to protect their jobs. However, I have traveled overseas quite a lot, and I have dealt with people in the business industry to see how they conduct business and observe their work ethic. It is by far, better than what I have be subjected to here in the states-especially in the United Kingdom. I personally feel America has become lazy, and we need to take a hard look at some of the immigrants that come here with nothing, and prosper. I recall many times getting on the phone to call a company pertaining to business, only to be bounced around ending up on some answering machine. Furthermore, I have worked in offices where people purposely set the answer machine to say they are out of the office so they don't have to be bothered. We in America have lost that professionalism, not only in the workplace, but in our colleges and schools. I think we need to wake up and take notice of what is happening to out ethical views, and not go off complaining about finding an Indian here, and and Asian there, but look at ourselves and ask how we can do better. I still remember JFK's words, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," and believe we need to apply this kind of philosophy to our to our inner self

I chose to answer the question that delt with the issue of teen pregnancies. I chose this question because I found it to be one of the more intersting topics that we read about. Also, I feel that it is a very imortant issue that is becoming a problem among teenagers. I feet personally that america in general is "lazy" when it comes to topics such as these. Our government needs to start getting involved with the issue instead of just brushing it aside, like offering free or reduced birth control instead of charging the ridiculous prices that they do. I also feel if there weren't as many teenage pregnancies then maybe this would help solve the problem of so many people being dependent on welfare. Just a little something to think about.

I am interested in writing about gay and lesbian families and relate issues of homosexuality to television shows like Ellen, Will and Grace, and Roseanne. I can't wait to hear others ideas monday in class. This past week of class I really enjoyed hearing others opinions and thoughts. ****Christina will you be teaching any classes next fall? IF so, any Junior Tiers. I recommended your class. Plus I would like to take a class with you again.

I chose to answer the question that dealt with teen pregnancy. Personally, I think that most Americans who think that people do this because they are lazy are simply looking for an excuse to not do anything about it. While it is true that some people do put themselves in this situation because they don’t want to do anything else, they are by far in the minority. Most people in that situation got there because they either had little other choice or because something happened to put them there.

I’ve known a few people in that situation and they were not there because they wanted to be. In fact, one of them ended up in that situation because she was running from her now ex-husband who abused her and her children and later took to stalking them. Thankfully, she has, for the most part, managed to pull herself out of that situation. It just goes to show you that some things happen for reasons that you don’t see, and that you should not be so quick to judge another person without knowing where they’ve been.

Rose, I couldn’t agree more.

I also realize that I have said “I know” a great many times in the posts and in class. (Un)fortunately (it all depends on your point of view, I suppose), it’s true. This life has been one long, often strange, trip and I have not exactly been sheltered through most of it. It tends to give one an interesting perspective on life and the people who you come across in it, because, after a while, you begin to learn to take people on the basis of being people instead of being a skin color, religion, dating preference, or other divisions that you could think of.

Just remember, it’s not about the cards that you’re dealt in life, because those are largely left up to chance, but rather what you do with the things you’re given that’s important.

I completely agree with James. Most people who have never been through what those teenage girls have been through somehow feel all high and mighty, as if they have all of the answers and as if the reason their lives are all going so well is because of them and them alone. Truth is that they've more than likely been born into and grown up in a better situation than those girls, have no idea what those girls have to go through every single day, and, most of all, they are so high and mighty about being right that they haven't ONCE given thought to the real reasons why those girls might be in that situation. However, what goes around comes around...everyone goes through at least one period of problems and misery throughout life....whenever it happens to them they'd better hope that people understand their situation better and treat them better than they've treated others. As for my paper topic, I think I will either do one on a sitcom or write about the effects religion has on the American family.

This is pretty much my quiz answer to number 6... I think

The struggle for gays and lesbians to gain custody from previous heterosexual relationships began nearly fifty years ago. However, same-sex relationships have historical evidence that documents the practice of sanctioned and/or socially visible unions in the West (Stacey 374). Even with its historical presence, he notion of gay and lesbian families is still a late twentieth-century development and nearly impossible until recent developments in reproductive technology (375). Now that there is an increase in the number of gay and lesbian relationships who want families there is an increase of need to provide for their pursuit of happiness. While our current law system does not exactly combat their pursuit of happiness, it allows interpreters to use laws as a way to express their homophobic fears and force members of the GLBT (Gay Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transvestite) community into a form of relationship oppression. The laws, and many firms in America, provide benefits for married couples that love each other and have chosen to join in matrimony, why does it not provide those same benefits to members of the GLBT community who share the same feelings for each other? While I do not approve of GLBT relationships, I do support their struggle to be recognized by the government, and some form of that relationship should be legal.

Marriage is a Holy matrimony sanctified by God. With that, a GLBT marriage would seem contradictory to the evangelistic purpose of many religions that compose an extremely large majority of America and her governmental leaders. At the same time, the United States’ government is built on the separation of church and state and therefore has no right to either ban or legalize GLBT marriages. It does, however, have the right to recognize those marriages. An example of what the American government should do has already been done in 1989 when Denmark, Norway, and Sweden were the first countries to recognize a form of gay marriage, termed “registered partnership (373).” This recognition is important because it is an example of how our laws should change to effectively maintain a separation of church and state. If all marriages were recognized by our government as “registered partnerships,” the argument that “marriage” is reserved for a man and a woman will still be applicable, but not to our laws.

Gay and lesbian relationships should not only be legal, but there should be no question whether or not they are illegal. For every liberal activity to which America claims to adhere, there are equal as many that America frowns upon. Even though individuals who feel religiously bound to oppose these relationships dominate our government and population, there must be an ability to effectively ignore their beliefs and put their biases aside when dealing in matters of the law.

 For my quiz I decided to answer the question on the gay marriages. I felt that gay marriages should be legal due to the fact, who is the government to decide whether or not a couple loves eachother. And isn't that what marriage is supposed to be about, that you love the other person so much that you want to spend your life with them & have a family. So why couldn't they be allowed.
 Now there are people who say that it is morally wrong and just flat out don't agree with it. But what business is it of theirs. Again, what gives them the right to tell a gay couple what to do.
 This was recently brought to my attention when 20/20 did a story on the gay couple in FLA who adopted all of these children affected w/ AIDS because no one else wanted them. They were the most loving fathers ever. I just thought that was nice, because they showed so much love for one another, as well as the children.
 So I just feel that the government should not be telling a couple whether or not they are allowed to marry one another, its just not there business.