Thursday, February 28, 2013

Race, Class and Gender


Please respond to the following questions from your reading of Race, Class and Gender.  I expect DEPTH in your response; try to use specifics in the text to support your claims and opinions.  

Did this reading give you any new  ideas or make you think differently?  Make sure to use specifics from the chapter, “Shifting the Center” to support your ideas.  How might you change your perceptions based on this reading?  This is a very open response, but it requires you understand its ideas and to discuss what they mean to you.
Also respond to how you view the power of words.  What do they do?  Why are they powerful?

26 comments:

  1. First of all, this is the type of article that I had hoped to read more of, it is a topic that is very interesting to me.

    The reading didn't make me think much more differently than I already do, but it has given me new ideas. The fact that it is 2013, a major topic that I have seen pop up in many conversations, social networks, etc., is gay rights. Thinking back to when I had to use dial-up to have access to internet, I had no idea that this problem even existed.

    In school, we learn about women's suffrage, Holocaust, etc. but we have only scratched the surface, I believe. We never really gone deep into these subjects because some people might get offended or emotional. Also, it may have just been me but I don't even know any accomplishments or music and art done by the Jews. On majority of topics we have learned in school, we're only on the shallow end, there is so much more we would've learned and so much more we can appreciate if we get to see what they did to change history.

    "Shifting the center" is such a nice term and using photography to define it is very powerful. It reminds me of those times sitting in the doctor's office and looking through magazines, instead of looking at what the camera focusing on, I look in the background and see what is going on in there. Photos are an amazing thing to compare "shifting the center" to, seeing other problems besides the big picture. This leads back to gay rights, it has always been a problem for a very long time but just recently in the past 5 years or so its popping up everywhere and people are now noticing it. I am a fan of a page on Facebook called, "Have A Gay Day". People message them stories of their own personal life, pictures even, and the page posts it publicly but anonymously. When I read those stories, thoughts that fill my mind are, "Wow, parenting done right! How can a human being get themselves to say such vulgar words?"

    "Shifting the center is not just about illuminating the experiences of oppressed groups, however. It also changes how we understand the dominant culture and groups who have more power and privilege than others." We notice the oppressed groups and we try to make it "big". We want people to know about it and do something about it! But we also question the power of the dominant group. It changes our way of thinking greatly. If you think about the revolutions and how people start questioning the monarchy, you can see the oppressed groups and how they start to question and actually do something to over throw monarchy.

    Words have a lot of power. They are used in propaganda and can be used to manipulate as well. You can play mind games with words, you can persuade with words and you can place images in people's minds with words. During the slave era, the masters wanted to keep the slaves away from any knowledge as much as possible because with knowledge, the slaves will have these images of being free in their mind and using their words to persuade others and to manipulate. The masters had a fear of being "overthrown" by the slaves and wanted to be in control to prevent danger or harm to come towards them. The power of knowing is extremely powerful and all is needed to gain this power is with words.

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  2. First of all I like the question that the article, “Race, Class, and Gender” starts off with. “How might we see the world differently if we were to shift our vision of society from one that is typically centered in the voices and experiences of dominant groups to the lives and thoughts of those who have been devalued, marginalized, and excluded?” I like this thought because it makes me think about how the world would be different if the people in the minority had a voice in that time period when they were treated like they didn’t exist. I also like the reference to taking a photograph. It says, “For years, women and people of color-and especially women of color- were often totally outside people’s frame of vision. But, as you move your angle of sight to include those who have been overlooked, new subjects come into sight.” I think that this quote is very powerful in the sense that if people just opened their minds a little bit, and accepted people of another race, class, and gender, this country would be so much better to live in, if we just learned how to look past our differences and learned how to love one another.
    I noticed that, “Shifting the center” was referred to several times throughout the article and I thought about what it might mean. The article defines shifting the center as, “putting at the center of our thinking the experiences of groups that have formerly been excluded.” I agree with this definition but I also want to add to it. I believe that “shifting the center” is not only putting the center of our thinking on experiences of groups that have formerly been excluded but putting the center of our actions on not only tolerating a group of another race, class, and gender, but treating them like they are meant to be treated; equally.
    This article has made me think a lot more in-depth about our countries problems and what steps we have to take to get them fixed. It doesn’t matter what your age, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, physical ability, region or ethnicity is, people just need to learn how to get along and treat each other how they were meant to be treated; equally.

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  3. This reading didn't give me new ideas it just backed up the ones that I already had. The beginning of the chapter makes you think right from the start. It asks "how might we see the world differently if we were to shift our vision of society from one that is typically centered in the voices and experiences of dominant groups to the lives an thoughts of those who have been devalued, marginalized, and excluded?" This is important because we to stereotype people more than we think we do. Especially in high school we hear one thing about a person that might not even be true and we judge them for it, before we even get to really know them.
    This reading really brought to my attention the fact that we don't really go into depth of women's suffrage, gay rights, and the holocaust. "... Knowledge has been constructed largely from the experiences of the most powerful groups-because they have had the most access to systems of education and communication" this is very true we don't touch on important subject just because the people in charge won't let us. They talk about how these subjects are so important to our cultural history or national history but they only tell us the basics of what happened. Plus we only get the one side of the story. Especially in dealing with the holocaust we only get the American side of the story.
    The author used a nice way of saying we need to change certain things by saying "Shifting the Center". And they way she used the metaphor of the camera really helped me understand the point she was trying to make. This article really made me think about stereotypes and made me realize I should hear the two different sides of the story before I decide what to think and not hold one decision against a person because they could have great ideas.
    Word have a lot of power. One word can mean so many different things. They can cause people to do things or think a certain way. For example in North Korea the government keeps the actual news out of the country and changes it to what they want the people to hear. The power of certain word could change their opinion on the government and cause them to revolt. Words are powerful because they give people knowledge. Words are just as powerful as knowledge itself.

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  4. The article “Race, Class, and Gender” by Margaret L. Anderson and Patricia Hill Collins opened up some new ideas and points of view for me. Although I already had thought about some of the things said I also learned some new things that have opened up my mind in a new way.
    One new idea that I never really thought about was that if you don’t know the correct information then you make the same mistakes the people before you did. “What you know frames how you behave and how you think about yourself and others. If what you know is wrong because it is based on exclusionary thought, you are likely to act in exclusionary ways, thereby reproducing the racism, anti Semitism, sexism, class oppression, and homophobia of society,” (Anderson/Collins, 3). What this is saying is that if you don’t have all the information it forces you to think and analyze it with only the information with which you have instead of with knowing all about it. If you do that then your actions are drastically different because you don’t understand the whole thing. I never really thought about this but I compare it to a math problem. If you are not given all of the information in a math problem then you cant solve it completely therefore you end up making the same mistakes over and over again.
    Some of the ideas that I previously had were that we are not given the full story on everything. Meaning that we are only told one side of the story and not the other. I already had thought about this but not in much depth. This article made me think and dig more into the idea that we are only fed one side of the story, which makes our opinion bias. “How much did you learn about the history of group oppression in your formal education? You probably touched briefly on topics like slavery, women’s suffrage, perhaps even the holocaust, but most likely these were brief excursions from an otherwise dominant narrative that ignored people of color and women, along with others. For that matter, how much of what you study now is centered in the experiences of the most dominant groups in society?” (Anderson/Collins, 2). We are only given the dominant side of the story. Therefore we are only given their reasoning’s why and why not. It makes sense until you hear the other side and realize that there is way more in this world that just the dominant American male.
    The power of words is one of the greatest powers in the world. The reason why I think it is one of the greatest is because even thought great powers include physical bombs and firearms etc., the words that people use not only affect them physically but also have the power to change their mindset and the way that they think. This is very important because it can change a person completely.

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  5. “How might we see the world differently if we were to shift out vision of society from one that is typically centered in the voices and experiences of dominant groups to the lives and thoughts of those who have been devalued, marginalized, and excluded?”
    Starting off with this question was an excellent way to grab the readers (my) attention. I think a lot of us often go through life with only our intentions in view. We don’t often stop to think about our actions and how they affect those around us. I think it’s important to realise that when we do hurt people or look down upon people its not just their mood in that moment that is being affected but rather their views on themselves, the people around them, and even their future goals. For example is someone dresses different and everyone is making fun of them they might become shy and think less of themselves causing them to be less motivated and have a less substantial future. I use this as an example because many of us don't know what it’s like being discriminated against by color or gender, two of the things listed in this reading, because we live in a town where these things don’t commonly exist. But is that kind of discrimination really that different from how our peers often treat the black sheep of the school? At arapahoe I can think of a few people in which most of us look at and think they are weird. Whether it be the way they dress or actions that are different that we perceive as strange. But how often do we look at these people and wonder what their perspective is? Although I don’t participate in it i’m sure these people have endured some kind of bullying and I’m sure many of us look at it like a joke because these people are strange to us. But what about how they feel? How does this actually affect them? How often do we think about “putting at the center of our thinking the experiences of groups that have formerly been excluded.” ? This article made me think about all of the things that hatred towards a discriminatory characteristic actually causes. It made me think about bullying and how those who are victims of it really feel. Things like slavery and the holocaust really get our blood boiling and our emotions flowing, but just because its at a lower level, we as students don’t often think about how much our words and actions affect others. This is what this article brought to my attention.

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  6. Race, Class, and Gender had me questioning my thought process the entire time. I never really thought about “shifting my vision” to see something a little differently, but during this reading I noticed a lot of good points being brought up. On page one when it said “For years, women and people of color especially women of color were often totally outside people frame of vision. But, as you move your angle slight to include those who have been overlooked, new subjects come into sight.” I caught myself asking myself if I to overlook things and just see only the big picture or thing standing out and the answer was yes. I never really think deeply into something unless being asked to, and I only see what I want my mind to see. I thought it was kind of sad. As a society we are all guilty of that as well. It’s not like seeing something from a new perspective would be all that hard but it would be challenging you have to allow yourself to have an open mind and know that sometimes you aren’t going to like it. For many this would be a difficult thing to do, but is it something everyone needs to do? Also, another thing that stuck with me was on page two in the second column when it said “The public view of Asian Americans is a lot like that of Casper the Ghost: we’re either white or invisible.” This goes to show once again that Americans have only one or two view points on life and they see what they want to see instead of seeing the little things that really matter. I thought it was a very unique way of putting how Americans see those of different skin color. The power of words can do so much for people. They are what shape and form our government; the words that people value so much like “I love you” and words that make us feel wanted and needed. Words tell a story of your life that may not always be good or bad but it’s how we live and how we learn from our mistakes. Without words what would society be like? It would be nothing but a boring silent place with nothing to hear. Words are what get you through your day, it’s the quotes that motivate you to get through the deepest part of life and bring you once again to the light. It’s allowing you to hear what other people say and shift your mind and persuade you to listen to them and that they are right. Words are what shape our society for some many reasons. Words are always around us and they are what allow us to live and see as many view points and be shifted in so many different directions. Race, Class, and Gender brought so many new thought into my head and kind of made me see how I need to really look beyond at what is being asked or shown to me and let my mind see what exactly I’m trying to be told.

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  7. In this chapter of this book, "Race, Class, and Gender," by Margret L. Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins, the reality brought forth was, to a degree, shocking. As Kat said in her post, this is the kind of stuff I was expecting to read and am glad we are reading it. When people are blunt and open in there writing and speaking like this, it really excites me because I know we are getting an unbiased, emotional response based on what someone actually thinks and not what society thinks they should think.

    Now, as for the question we were told to ponder, I know that it easily made a difference in how I think. Ever since we started looking at some of the slave narratives, I started broadening my thinking about how much we lost in terms and intelligence and skill that we are never going to get back. But this chapter opened my mind to the thought of the oppression that occurred. One line in the chapter that really displayed this to me was: "But shifting the center is more than just valuing the diverse histories and cultures of the different groups who constitute society. It is also recognizing how groups whose experiences have been vital in the formation of society and culture have been silenced in the construction of knowledge about this society." Hearing this after the line when he says: "knowledge is constructed largely from experience," makes me think about the knowledge, and experience that was overlooked and both figuratively and actually beaten into suppression. And for a time this made me both angry and sad. I thought, What have we lost? More importantly, where could we have been? But when I got to the part when he asks: Does reconstructing knowledge matter? I began thinking. I was conflicted, I wanted to say yes because of the fact that if it was true, un-tainted knowledge then we could include everyone without fear of one becoming 'above' the other. But when he mentions that partial, distorted knowledge has real consequences, I know the answer is no. Without true knowledge, which I believe to be non-existent because we cannot match God, the situation of exclusivity would only worsen and be detrimental to our society. While I believe that the words used in this part of this book are amazing and powerful, and they can greatly improve the current stances in our society, I don't believe any amount of words can completely grant our ever-lasting incomplete human knowledge.

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  8. This article really came to me and the part that really stood out was the part when it talked about the photography and how it never let women or colored people. It is outragous to think that people would go out of their way to hate people who were either women or colored or of another race. It doesn't make white people better than another race. I wonder who was the first person that discriminated on another race. MY perception hasn't changed at all on this idea because it's so incredibly ignorant to hate another person just because they are the opposite gender or another race. I don't know how someone can walk up to some total stranger with talking or interacting with them and hate them! It makes no sense what so ever and it makes me mad when someone is mean to someone but to hate someone for no apperent reason besides the fact that they are of a different age, class, gender, or race. The only word to describe it is stupid. Discrimination is the stupidest form of hate on our planet and has no point.

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  9. My perception on the matter hasn't really changed it is wrong to dislike a lperson based on their race, class, or gender. I was raised on this and will stick to it till the day I die. The part of this chapter that really stood out to me and opened my eyes on this subject was the part on how colored people espesially women were out of the view finder or frame of view. When I read this I was amazed that a person could not be considered important because in my eyes everyone has an important purpose in life. All in all discrimination is the worst thing on our planet and it really brings our civilization down as we can not have peace while haters are in our presence.

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  10. "...indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." This is the pledge we recite every morning. After reading this, it makes me wonder, is there really liberty and justice for every American citizen in this society? A society where women are seen as 'the weaker gender?' where people are still racist towards people of different origins an of different cultures? where gays aren't even allowed to be legally married in many states? Where is the liberty? Where is the equality? When people think about America or when people come here because it is 'filled with promises for the future,' they picture everyone being happy and free and being able to do whatever they desire to do, but that is far from the truth. 'Free in America,' only seems to apply to you if you are a middle-class white male with a family and no problems in your life. When you think of America you see what people want you to see, we exclude the truth. "What false or incompolete conclusions does this exclusionary thinking generate?" if the world knew the truth about this place, how great would we really be? "Exclusionary thinking is increasingly being challenged by scholars and teachers who want to include the diversity of human experience in the construction and transmission of knowledge. Thinking more inclusively opens up the way the world is viewed, making the experience of previously excluded groups more visible and central in the construction of knowledge. By shifting our perspective..." We exclude the truth of our past and the place that we reside because we are ashamed for the world to see who we really are. We are supposed to be all about the promise of equality and freedom, but that seems to be more of a shadow cast upon the rest of the world to keep them in the dark while we continue our lives living behind lies. We are not 'indivisible,' we are torn.

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  11. While reading “Race, Class, and Gender”, by Margret L. Anderson and Patricia Hill Collins I realized that I was one of those people who can associate with the white superiority in our society. The reading really inspired me with new ideas. With being in the 21st century we have so many advancements in terms of technology and people don’t even realize what really matters in this world. So many people in today’s society take so many things for granted and don’t even realize it at the time. Also people don’t think about what happened before their life to be where they are now. In the very beginning of the story it asks “how might we see the world differently if we were to shift our vision of society from one that is typically centered in the voices and experiences of dominant groups to the lives and thoughts of those who have been devalued, marginalized, and excluded” This quote really brought home for a couple of reasons. It made me realize that there are so many people that are judged on a daily basis just because of one simple action that was judged. I have been one those kids and it’s one of the worst feelings in the world. It makes people think that they don’t even belong in this world. Also the story made me realize that so many kids are stereotyped each day. This story was very inspirational to me.

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  12. This chapter provoked a lot of questions to me. However one of the major ones I focused on was based on the paragraph starting with, "Second, having misleading and incorrect knowledge leads to the formation of bad social policy." Later on in that paragraph it talks about how what we know frames who we are and how we behave. So why then do all of us student act so differently. I mean if you think about it we are all basically learning the same thing yet we all understand it in different ways and form our own ideas based on it. If I were to change something about this paragraph I would change that how you behave is not based on what you are taught but how you take in and understand what is trying to be taught to you.

    This piece didn't really change my perspective it rather reinforced the perspective I already have. The part that i most agreed with was the extended metaphor about taking a picture. "It means actually seeing things differently, perhaps even changing the lens you look through-thereby removing the filters." I believe this is one thing that i am actually pretty good at, seeing things through another's perspective, and i try to do it as much as possible.

    Words are very powerful tools. They can change people willingness to fight or not to fight. they can change the mood of a crowd or a country. The most obvious example of this is propaganda. Words have been used throughout history to insure the publics positivity to events and to wars. At some times it has even helped finance wars. On a smaller basis they are used as ways of both good and evil that we all see everyday. Some people hopefully mainly kids use words constantly to put others down and hurt their feeling. however there is another side to this wich is to give people compliments and help out their confidence.

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  13. Race, Class, and Gender had me thinking throughout this entire article. I've realized that I am blind and haven't thought much about seeing things differently, I guess I am just used to already seeing how things go that I don't imagine seeing them any differently. In today's society we believe everything we hear without having true proof and go on living our lives with the lies that just keep pilling upon people. “What you know frames how you behave and how you think about yourself and others. If what you know is wrong because it is based on exclusionary thought, you are likely to act in exclusionary ways, thereby reproducing the racism, anti Semitism, sexism, class oppression, and homophobia of society,” What he is saying that if you believe what other people say and follow what they are doing it only impacts what type of person you are and how you act in the end. I have thought of this before but you never fully understand until it starts happening to you, which sooner or later it will eventually happen to everyone weather we choose for it to happen or not. I believe this is an on going cycle. You realize that you changed and then you change into something else, you are always constantly changing constantly making the same mistake over and over again. Will we ever stop changing and stop making the same mistakes over in life? Another idea that stuck out to me stated “The public view of Asian Americans is a lot like that of Casper the Ghost: we’re either white or invisible.” describing that Americans only have one or two views on life and we only want to see what we want and miss out on the little things. Will we ever fully open our eyes and notice what actually happens around us, or will we always constantly be blind? The power of words are the most powerful thing in the world. Words are stories that are said instead of being shown. It's the way people communicate it's the thing that impacts the people the most leaving them scared or wanting more. Words are how we treat people and how society carries on, where would we be without words? Race, Class, and Gender left me questioning what would the world be like if everyone only saw the little things? As for myself I need to look and open my eyes more and realize that sometimes the littlest things are better than the big things.

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  14. This reading didn’t necessarily give me new ideas but it definitely made them erupt back up and again and became a main focus. In this time, the different groups he was talking about that can still be affected now are with the gays. In some states, they still don’t allow same sex marriages, they can a civil union which is just their marriage being legally recognized. I feel as if that represents a separate status that’s completely unequal to marriage. A quote from the reading says, “It is also recognizing how groups whose experience have been vital in the formation of society and culture have been silenced in the construction of knowledge about this society.” Those gay people’s voices are being somewhat muted, allowing the civil union may have silenced some but not many. I feel that somewhere in the United States there’s voices of people still wishing to get married in a church and be recognized as married couple by their state. I feel as if the government doesn’t understand what the gays go through, on a daily basis. I know some may still find judgment and receive harsh statements about their preferences. The government doesn’t know what they live or why they want the things they do. The government needs a person who’s gay to help them make a decision that affects the gays. That way they know that whatever decision they make will be right, instead of speaking for them and doing what they view is right. I feel as if in school we have barely scratched the surface. We’ve talked about slavery and everything but I feel as if we haven’t had a true chance to look at what they were experiencing. 2 weeks ago, I watched almost half of Django and I feel that in those parts of the movie that I’ve watched I’ve learned a lot more than I have in school. I want to understand how big of a deal the Emancipation Proclamation truly was and wasn’t. I may have given the black their freedom but it wasn’t like that socially either. I want to see what people wrote or said about them, how they treated them. I want to be in their shoes to truly understand the depth of what they went through. That’s what learning truly is. To understand the depth of something, so you can relate or feel a connection to. I felt that ‘shifting the center’ was a very good central message for this reading. It became a very powerful statement when he used the photography to make us understand. For example, a quote says “it means actually seeing things differently, perhaps even changing the lens you look through—thereby removing the filters (or stereotypes and misconceptions) that groups bring to what they see.” This quote says to me, to stop judging a book by its cover. It doesn’t matter the color of the cover or what genre the book may be but just open it and read it and after you’ve fully read it then share your opinion. To stop thinking about race or sexual preferences just focus on the person and who they are on the inside. Another powerful quote says, “By minimizing the experiences and the creations of these different groups, we communicate that they have no history or that their work and creativity and is less important and less central to the development of culture than is the history of the White American men?” This quote goes back to what I was talking about before. How we don’t truly understand what the slaves went through, the Jewish people, the women, etc. Django may be rated R but there’s a reason for it, the violence and language used were awful. That’s how it was back then, Django is just being brutally honest which is what allows you inside the depth of the world of slavery. If we can’t tell the story right, why tell it at all?

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  15. I had never heard anyone refer to changing their mind and accepting other races, classes, and genders as shifting the center. When I read this essay I interpreted this saying as putting someone else in the spotlight, recognizing others ideas and seeing everything differently. This idea is good because it shares that people need to notice the minorities, hear others ideas, and uncover different views. I thought the quote “…perhaps even changing the lens you look through – thereby removing the filters (or stereotypes and misconceptions) that groups bring to what they see” explained the main idea of this essay very well. The author strived to share that our perceptions of the world and the people around us are often clouded by what we have grown so accustom to seeing. The author urges us to look at the less knowledgeable groups and recognize the less powerful groups. This essay wants us to shift the center away from the popular culture in order to discover the culture and people standing on the outside.

    Although this essay had an interesting message, it didn’t really give me any new ideas. I understand that not everyone is always recognized and that many, many people besides the most powerful and knowledgeable go unrecognized. However, I do not always think it is the most important thing to be in the center. The center is just a location that often brings on the most stress. I think that people can be recognized and given acknowledgement even if they are not in the center. I don’t think the center of the picture has to be moved, I think that the picture just needs to be zoomed out, widened, and expanded so everyone can fit in the picture. In fact if the picture is zoomed out enough we will all come together to look like one and you won’t even be able to see who is in the middle. In this circumstance the center doesn’t matter, instead we are all one voice, influenced by different races, classes, and genders.

    Words have the power to make people think, evoke emotion, and bring up questions. Words can have so many different meanings in the English language, both denotative and connotative. This often creates conflicts and arguments based on misunderstanding; in this way words have the power for harm. Another strong way that words display power of harm is through gossip. On the other hand words can also hold the power of love, peace, and unity. Words have the power to spark memories, start conversation, and bring people together based on the common language or topic of conversation. The power doesn’t just come from the words though. The people thinking the words, forming the words, and saying the words hold more power than the words themselves.

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  16. This article hasn’t changed the way I view others, it has only reminded me. Ever since I was little I’ve been grown up to live a life not judgmental of others and part of that is thanks to my parents! Everyone in this world deserves to be listened too and recognized for who they are. “Thus, shifting the center is fundamentally about reconstructing what you know to include those whose perspectives and life experiences have not been heard.” We all must realize that we’re not the only ones in this world; we must remain humble and generous to others and treat them the way you want to be treated. Unfortunately this world has been shaped to placing others in “groups”, like gender, race, and class. It’s sad to be known as white, black or gay instead of being known for the person you are. It has become natural to view others as different or weird because they’re not like you.

    After reading this chapter, I’ve come to realize that it has shaped my way of thinking of others. Living in America is a pretty cool thing to say because we are known for having so many different races and cultures brought together as one. Just thinking about what it feels like to live in the Middle East gives me the chills because being a woman there you only have limited rights controlled by a certain group of men. We must remind ourselves that we are lucky to not have it that bad and must prevent it from ever happening. It’s okay to be different from others just as long as you accept who you are and not be afraid to admit it. My perceptions haven’t really changed other than the fact of how lucky we are not to be defined as a certain group unlike some countries.

    The power of words goes far beyond than the quantity, but rather the quality. Every word has a meaning and a purpose to formulate what you are trying to say. Words provide explanations by expressing how you feel and what you’re trying to say. Words could be used for good and bad situations though. They surround our lives with thought, curiousness, and willingness. You can’t describe something without using a proper word to define what you are saying. By saying one word to someone could change their life and that’s what make words so powerful.

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  17. Reading "Race, Class, and Gender" made me pen my eyes even more to the reason why there was racism and sexist people, that maybe they didn't choose to be that way, they just were raised that way and didn't know any differently. The anger that African-Americans had towards whites may have been called for, but we some may have not taken into account that this was the mindset that many grew up with and that, although it may be hard t believe, they may not have known any different from being racist. This anthology also made me think of how we can always shift our mentality. They really grasped this concept by consistenly using the term: "Shifting the center", in which they show different ways of seeing things differently, particularly race, class and gender. "Think of the process of taking a photograph... as you move your angle of sight to include those who have been overlooked, new subjects come into sight." I liked this qoute because it really shows how easy it is to change a perspective if you just change the angle that you are looking through. The power of words are the most powerful things in the world. They open peoples minds to what is true. The show color and movement to the the people blind to what is wrong or taken for granted in our world. They speak to every race, class, and gender. They touch every person in the world. They unite us, and tell us in words, what we can't show in life. These stories we read in class haven't just changed our classes views, they've changed the nations, maybe even some of the worlds views. That's why words are power, they shed light on the darkness, even when it seems like we may never see the light again. They keep hope alive, when many may think it's dead.

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  18. This chapter in the book Race, Class, and Gender supported my already strong viewpoint towards social prejudices. I find that as a society, we would be much stronger if we could ignore the blinding prejudices that rule our world. We have much to learn from people with different backgrounds. "Thinking more inclusively opens up the way the world is viewed, making the experience of previously excluded groups more visible and central in the construction of knowledge." People who have struggled, and who have triumphed have learned of their own qualities, and offer much to society, but prejudices silence their voices and make our society ignorant.
    With each different background, people offer new ideas and new knowledge to the world around us. Part of learning, is what happens after we learn. We have to consider that piece of information with every aspect of our lives. "It means constructing new analyses that are focused on the centrality of race, class, and gender in the experiences of us all." When we learn, our entire viewpoint changes, and our ideas of how we fit into the world change with it. "Finally, knowledge is not just about content and information; it provides an orientation to the world. What you know frames how you behave and how you think about yourself and others." This quote reminded me of DuBois' term 'double consciousness'. Because blacks could see how they fit into the narrow minded world around them, and because they knew themselves, they could see how they interact with each of the worlds- white and black.
    Because we are the majority race, and we are of middle to upper class, does not mean that we don't have knowledge to offer to the world. We can still think and relay our background to the world, and we can learn of others trials and triumphs, and constantly learn of our place in the world. "The purpose of the articles in 'Shifting the Center' is not to appropriate others' experiences but to begin uncovering the structures of race, class, and gender that are embedded in the experiences of all people."
    The power of words is more of a power to the individual, rather than the whole. What I mean by that, is that simple words can sway a person, it depends on the person. Words are similar to music. Each person can read a piece of literature, or hear a speech and can learn totally different concepts from each piece. I think a lot of that has to do with how people relate to the words being said. So, words can sway and influence, but I think the real power of words has to do with the self. Like art, words are a means of self expression, probably the most commonly used. With words, we can speak our minds, and create beautiful places, and people that may or may not exist. Words fuel imagination, and can relay beauty to the world that cannot be explained in any other way. Words are a means of therapy for the soul, for someone to cope with events, tragic or wonderful. There are just so many aspects to the concept of words. They can be powerful, but they can also be weak. Like the common cliche, 'Actions speak louder than words.' Someones actions are more important the what someone says, but often words can be the influence behind the actions.

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  19. This reading gave me thoughts on why we don't go deeper into learning the different perspectives of different races, classes, and genders. As in "Shifting the Center," said, "There are real consequences to having partial or distorted knowledge. First, learning about other groups helps you realize the partiality of your own perspective..." Before coming into this reading I never thought much of going outside of my comfort zone and looking into groups different from mine. Of course, we all learn in school about the tough times of slavery, the Holocaust, and so on. But for some reason we just study it from our own point of view, feel bad, end of story. Or even with gays and lesbians we simply judge, but don't put ourselves into their perspective. I think each voice from every different kind of person needs to be heard.
    Now I want to go out and explore more knowledge from the outside world, and not go with the flow of society. We need to understand this diversity of the world, and on not act in exclusionary ways, and which it said in Shifting the Center, producing sexism, class oppression, etc.

    My mom has always told me: No matter who you are in this world, there will always be people who have it worse than you, and people who have it better. I believe we should accept the nationalities, the physical abilities, sexual orientation- because truly, each of us is just a person. A person struggling on this world no matter how little or big our problems. And we develop such hate for one another when in fact, we don't even bother seeing their angle, their view. We don't give any other groups that are foreign to us a chance.

    Words are the most exhausting yet potent things we have. We can so easily speak one word- and that single word can change a life, lead a life in another direction, develop a feeling, and so easily do they slip off of our tongues without any going back. Words can display beautiful languages interpreting so many perspectives from millions of people. But then words can turn around and stab some one so deep, they will never recover. I think we need to be careful of what we say, for the stabs will not heal, and the scars will not fade. We go through the motions of life so easily, but never think about what we say about some one, can quickly hurt them to the core. But we also have this power to use our words to an advantage. To express ourselves, each gender, race, class. And show to this world what we can do with our diverse thoughts and ideas.

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  20. As for myself, I have never heard "shifting the center". This such a great way to put it. When I first read the title, I thought about how everyone needs to stop being selfish and take themselves out of the center of attention and focus on people around you. On the last page in the left column, I read " how does the world look different if we put the experiences of those who have been excluded at the center of our thinking?" this quote made me think back to when I was little at Sunday school. We were taught to live our life based upon "JOY". Joy means: Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. This is how everyone should base their life. If everyone did is, not only would our world be free of sins, our world would be so compassionate and caring. At another part in the reading, it said "you are prone to understand society, your own life, and the experiences of others through stereotypes and misleading information." when i read this, i immeditately thought of the stereotypes that cheerleaders have. Since i am a cheerleader, i know that we are not the girls who party, who are dumb and mean, and all of the other ridiculous things people think. Cheerleaders at arapahoe are some of the smartest athletes in the school, and no one is a partner or anything. As much as we try to have a good reputation, no one realizes it. People judge us from other stereotypes. Where we're these stereotypes created is what I want to know! None of the stereotypes are true and all of the information is wrong.
    "inclusive thinking means seeing the interconnection between these experiences and not reducing a given persons or groups life to a single factor." this made me look at the world and every person in it as a team. We are all helping each other indirectly basically. If we realized this though, our world would be more caring. From this reading, I didn't really take that the race, class, and gender part into much heart.. But basically the bigger picture of putting yourself into someone else's shoes. Who are we to judge if we don't like being judged?

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  21. This this reading really opened my mind up to different views than what I previously thought. I'm a very open minded person and I like this reading because it provided me with new ways to look at history and current situations. This reading really made me realize how important equality is. The quote that really stuck with me was "Shifting the center is not just about illuminating the experiences of oppressed groups, however. It also changes how we understand the dominate culture and groups who have more power and privilege than others." This quote stood out to me because it makes you realize that you can't just focus of one factor of the situation. You have to look at each side and see how the sides interacted with each other. No side should be focused on more. In order to be open minded and understand inequality you have to look at the whole picture and not focus on one side more than the other.

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  22. The reading Race, Class, and Gender exposed me to many different views that I had not previously thought about. One new idea that I have gotten from this reading is about if you don’t know the correct information then you make the same mistakes the people before you did. “What you know frames how you behave and how you think about yourself and others. If what you know is wrong because it is based on exclusionary thought, you are likely to act in exclusionary ways, thereby reproducing the racism, anti Semitism, sexism, class oppression, and homophobia of society,” If you are asked something and you only know part of the facts, the reason that you give can be different then what really happens. This is like problem solving. If you don't know the whole problem you are not going to fix the whole problem. You well only fix a little portion of it.
    This reading has changed my thoughts and made me think more. Take a step back and look at the even bigger thing then just is what is in my perspective at the time. Listen to more then just one side of the story. “How much did you learn about the history of group oppression in your formal education? You probably touched briefly on topics like slavery, women’s suffrage, perhaps even the holocaust, but most likely these were brief excursions from an otherwise dominant narrative that ignored people of color and women, along with others. For that matter, how much of what you study now is centered in the experiences of the most dominant groups in society?” When i see this quote it makes me think are we hidden from the truth. I say that because even the best story's have a little twist in it and we might believe that twist unless we hear the side from the other groups.
    The power of word is huge because we us them to speak and when we speak that what people. People judge by what they hear.

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  23. Well the article doesn’t really change my mine but it does give me a new perspective to look though so I like that aspect. When we say that we need to shift the center its like saying that we need to see the different area that is trying to be shown and in doing that it will cause a shift in our center or our core. When I read the quote “How might we see the world differently if we were to shift our vision of society from one that is typically centered in the voices and experiences of dominant groups to the lives and thoughts of those who have been devalued, marginalized, and excluded?” it questions a lot of things that we do. I feel that we don’t see things from our own point of view but the point of view that we have been taught. See if we take the vail off that covers our eye we could see the real point of view that we have.

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  24. This reading really made me think of how broad my perspective of people is. I am not necessarily a prejudice or discriminating person but I have rolled my eyes and said things about certain groups of people that I shouldn't have. It goes to show how unintentionally I have been a part of this "shift" or idea that people are categorized into groups. Like it says in the passage, " We believe that shifting our perspective by thinking about the experiences of those who have been excluded from knowledge changes how we think about society, history, and culture." I would say that this statement is one-hundred percent true. For example, if I lived in a country where every single person I knew was of a different sex, gender, race, or sexual orientation, I probably would have a less prejudice mindset towards all people. This would only be because I was raised with every type of person around me, broadening my idea of what the culture I live in should look like. Living in a country where we constantly "compete" for the next big thing, we often create ideas of people or groups of people that are entirely false or based on stereotypes that are not truthful. This creates distance between people, causing discrimination.
    The power of words is something I think we will never truly grasp or understand. How can words on a page change someone's entire way of thinking? That is a question I don't know. I think words have such an impact on me is because I become informed of things I would otherwise never know. In the case of being informed, knowledge is truly power. If everyone in the world believed that they could make a difference by simply picking up a pen and sharing how they truly feel, maybe we wouldn't live in such a boxed society. Teenagers I feel especially need to write more. We need to open our minds to the idea that there is more out there than simply our own ideas and what we have been told. Going out and exploring the unseen, tasting life for the first time. Having an unprejudiced and open mind. That is the world I want to live in, and it starts with words.

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  25. This article didn't really change my thoughts but i think by reading it defiantly gave me a new perspective and out look on this topic. we live our life and do things and say things that aren't really the okay thing to do we look down on people, and say things about people or groups of people and we don't realize how it affects them...honestly I'm not going to lie iv said thing about people and thinking back on it it really hurts me because they didn't deserve it. I feel like were kinda "blind" to our own perspective we have just gone off of what we have been taught
    I believe that "shifting the center" is not only just thinking, i think its also treating every race, class, and gender, equally because to me iv grown up learning to treat others with respect and treating other how you wanna be treated.

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  26. This article didn't really change my thoughts but i think by reading it defiantly gave me a new perspective and out look on this topic. we live our life and do things and say things that aren't really the okay thing to do we look down on people, and say things about people or groups of people and we don't realize how it affects them...honestly I'm not going to lie iv said thing about people and thinking back on it it really hurts me because they didn't deserve it. I feel like were kinda "blind" to our own perspective we have just gone off of what we have been taught
    I believe that "shifting the center" is not only just thinking, i think its also treating every race, class, and gender, equally because to me iv grown up learning to treat others with respect and treating other how you wanna be treated.

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