Wolfson's use of the court case Turner v. Safely

I think that Wolfson uses this court case as a rhetorical device to stir up emotions about how even people who are convicted of crimes, can get married but law abiding good citizens that are gay cannot get married. He is showing how we do not deny the rights of convicts but we deny the rights of gays which is discrimination. I that when people read about this it will really put the situation into perspective for them. It is incredibly unfair to discriminate and that is what is happening. I think this was a wise choice on Wolfson's part to put this in. I think it would upset people and they would come to realize, hopefully, that this needs to change. If the court considers prisoners normal people than it should definitely consider gay people normal people. This is just what I think of course, and reading about this court case really fired me up.

Analyzing the Plane Metaphor

Santorum is saying in his plane metaphor that a single parent home is less likely to be as successful as a two parent home, although both can be successful. I think that he uses some statistics that show that this statement has some truth to it, when he talks about the percentages that show that two parent households have less violent kids, less child abuse etc. Like I said in class though, those are just statistics. There are definitely families that only have one parent, or two moms, or two dads, or both parents that end up providing perefectly stable and loving environments and I think that is what it takes for successful families. Single parent households may have a harder time of keep the environment stable, and loving because I'm sure that they have a lot of stress and probably have to work and many other things that make them have to work harder. Santorum says that we would all choose the second plane if we could because there is a better chance of making it to the destination, and of course that is true, but people can't choose their families and cannot always choose their family circumstances. I definitely think that the circumstances of each family is what dictates whether or not, to quote Santorum, their family "plane crashes or makes it to the destination."

Appearances

I think that Vazquez does not disclose the fact that Brian and Mickey are not gay until later because she wants us to understand how badly people are being treated and even if they are not gay, but happen to look stereotypically slightly gay, then they are subject to the same treatment. I know when I first read about them I assumed that they were gay, and I think that was her goal. She is showing us that having gay characteristics is considered bad. This article is all about appearances, therefore the title of the article. I think that maybe the issue of antigay violence changes when we recognize that sometimes its victims are heterosexual because there might be even more sympathy, and sadly that might be what actually makes people want to do something about it, but I don't really know. Either way no form of this kind of violence should be happening anywhere, especially in this country.

Things my mother and other relatives taught me

This is how you set a table, these dishes are for special occasions, this is how you make an arrangement for the table, this is how you plant flowers, this is how you know when to water the plants, this is how you make your bed, this is how you peel carrots and potatoes, this is how you wash lettuce and fruit, this is how you cut an onion, light a candle when you cut an onion so you don't cry, this is how you pick herbs, this is how you cut herbs, this is how you cut flowers, this is how you roll out dough, this is how you know when cookies/bread/etc. are done, this is how you dust, this is how you dress on sundays, act like a lady, don't put your elbows on the table, chew with your mouth closed, this is how you iron shirts, this is how you wash dishes, say please and thank you, this is how you clear the table, this is what you do when you get cut or scraped, the list could keep going on and on. Obviously I do not remember everything my mom and other female relatives have ever taught me (well at least the ones on my mom's side of the family), but most of the things that they did teach me have to do with domestic duties. And this will probably be a common theme among the girls in our class.

Manliness and Sensivity

I personally think that a person can never be equally manly and sensitive. Most of the time, in my personal experience, men who are manly are not sensitive at all. Very rarely do I meet a person who is both manly and sensitive. So I guess I would agree with Mansfield in that the two qualities are not compatible. I do not know part of why these two qualities rarely exist in the same person but I think that part of it is because society expects you to be a certain way and maybe there is some other reason. When I think of these two qualities, I think of them being exact opposites, and I think that is partly because of the people that I know that are either very masculine or sensitive think badly of the other. I think this is a really hard question, I do not really know how to explain why they can never seem to exist together.

The Last American Man

According to Gilbert, Eustace Conway is the last American man. This goes back to when America was still expanding into the west and there were frontiersmen who lived out in the dangerous areas and had to live off the land and maybe not live exactly like Eustace did, but similarly. We have all of these tales today that Gilbert mentions in the book like Pecos Bill, Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyon etc. that were all frontiersman and lived like Eustace. When other people from around the world visited America and saw frontiersmen or people like them they were impressed and considered them to not only be part of American democracy and way of thinking but as what the definition of an American man is. A lot of us heard these stories when we were little and of course we admire them and grow up thinking that is what a "real man" or even a real American man is like. In Europe they do not tell their children stories like this, at least not that I am aware of. Eustace is going back to the original true American men by living like he does. He is actually living out what as Gilbert says in the book a lot of men wish that they could do or want to do but do not actually ever do it. There is a part in the book in which Gilbert talks about how when Eustace left Turtle Island and talked about his life men would say "I wish I could do what you are doing" and Eustace would say "You Can." But of course very few men would actually be as determined and committed as Eustace and go out and actually do what he did.

American vs. European attitudes toward women

Tocqueville talks a lot about the differences between how American and European women are treated. It seems like he mentions at least one in almost every paragraph, so I am just going to pick a few. One of I thought the most interesting things that he says about European men was that "It has often been remarked, that in Europe a certain degree of contempt lurks even in the flattery which men lavish upon women..." He then goes on to say that in America, men do not really compliment women but they often show how highly they think of them. Tocqueville also says that in America, a young and unmarried woman can travel long distances alone and not worry. So we assume that in Europe it is not that way. I think that is really interesting considering he wrote this in the 1800's. As far as democracy and the freedom of women, Tocqueville says that American democracy forces men and women to be on completely seperate paths. Then he goes on to say "the object of democracy is to regulate and legalize the powers which are necessary, and not to subvert all power."

I really like the way that Tocqueville ends his essay by saying that "...in which I have spoken of so many important things done by Americans, to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply, To the superiority of their women." I wasn't expecting this kind of ending and it was a nice a surprise because I guess I never thought that American women were better off than European women.