Blog #1

 Prompt One:

Hello, I’m Breanna.

I’m female, English-Scottish, Caucasian, 20 years old, heterosexual, non-disabled, blue eyes, blondish hair, 5’8 (5'9 on a good day), right-handed, and I wear contacts. I live in Southern California, middle-class, agnostic, in the process of working towards my teaching credential, and I’ve worked at Ralph’s for almost two years (time flies). I would love to move to Washington when I’m older, the sound of rain makes me happy, I love reading and concerts, and I’m very excited for this semester in general. I’m a daughter, a sister, teacher-in-training, and a procrastinator. I’m shy, but that’ll change once you start talking to me. I online shop waaaay too much, I have no idea where I want to get my Master’s, and I love In-N-Out too much for my own good. This prompt has made me realize it’s really hard for me to talk about myself. Now on to prompt two!

Prompt Two:

I’m proud to be able to say I’m college educated. Or rather, I’m proud to be able to say that I go to college. Many people don’t even get the chance to experience college, and I am lucky that I am able to do so. I think it was more of an expectation for me to go to college and get a degree, more so from society than from my parents. But in the long run it will be a positive experience for me, because a) I’ll be able to get a degree in something I’m passionate in (in this case, teaching and psychology), and b) I will be gaining knowledge I otherwise would not have had and experiencing new things that otherwise I would not have experienced. I’m excited to be able to finish my college education and one day be able to say that I have a Master’s in my field of interest (maybe even a PhD, who knows!).

“Other-bodied people” is something I’m proud of being as well. However, some people have different definitions of what that means. But as we discussed in class, what really qualifies someone to be other-bodied compared to someone with a body that fits the cultural standard of beauty? Is “other-bodied people” people who aren’t a size two? Size four? Who don’t have straight teeth and blonde hair? Personally, it’s been a struggle for me. But I’ve been learning to love my body, because body positivity should be something that everyone embraces, regardless of what society says. Every body type is beautiful, and I think we as a society are starting to recognize that more. It’s not only for women, it’s for men as well. I feel as if women have more of the pressure to fit a cultural standard of beauty though, because liked we discussed in class, older men are considered “foxes” while older women are just “old”. Your body is something you should be proud of, and society shouldn’t be able to dictate what is considered a good body or a bad body. There is no wrong way to have a body.

Prompt Three:

An intersection of two of my identities would be heterosexual and white. These two identities are both under the agents column, and with these identities comes privilege. We were also discussing privilege in my education 364 class, and my professor asked if any of us have ever been followed in a store. He identifies as Chicano, and he said he has. He said that people of color tend to be followed more in a store, solely because of their ethnicity. Me being white, I have had the privilege of not being followed in a store, or for being pulled over based on my skin color, when the cops will say I have a “broken tail light”. It’s crazy how much skin color impacts how society sees us. Why does one’s skin color dictate how good or how bad of a person we are? Skin color isn’t an indicator of anything! Unfortunately, that’s not the way society sees it. However, being both heterosexual and white in today’s society, I am considered privileged. My skin color allows me to be able to do things without people getting suspicious of me. One of these things is being able to walk around in a store without the worry that I will get followed around. My sexuality allows me to be seen in public with that person and not get disapproving stares. It’s crazy to think that a decade ago, some people couldn’t marry who they wanted to. Now, anyone can marry anyone. In the future, I think being white and heterosexual will still be considered privileged, but hopefully so will being Mexican and queer.