Time To Get Serious.

My class Leadership for Social Change, is a very productive class. I learn a lot of things everyday . The CYA (California Youth Authority) is a very important thing that I learned about that I never knew before. The CYA is known for their beatings and abuses, both sexually and physically. The CYA abuses have been going on for years . What I also did yesterday was do a campaign to stop Nike from selling shoes, clothes, shirts etc. because of their use of sweatshop labor. There are sweatshops in places such as Honduras, China, Japan, and even in Thailand. What I really didn't know was that there are other U.S. territories that nobody really knows about that also use sweatshop labor to make clothes and shoes . These include things that say made in U.S. and is really deceiving because you would never think that sweatshop labor would go all the way into the U.S. Immigrants get tricked by corporation owners because they say that the immigrants will get a job, and will be able to live in the U.S. But what they didn't know that the U.S is also United States Territories such as the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan, Guam, Rota etc.) My campaign is based on getting the principal to help support us by sending newsletters, e-mails, phone calls, etc. to parents and probably other schools to inform them on how bad sweatshop labor is, on how they hire even little kids such as Iqbal Masih who escaped child sweatshop labor at a young age and was assasinated at the age of 12 trying to make a difference. I want people to know about how sweatshop workers get paid less then $1 a day, maybe a little over if they are lucky, but still don't have enough money to support their families, even when they work over 60 hours a week. I also want to inform the students about how in the sweatshops it takes only $3 to make the shoes, but we pay over $100. Not only are we getting ripped off, but we are also continuosly buying a new pair of sneakers and that helps supports sweatshop labor. I not only want to help the people in my community, I want to also help suffering people around the world. When I first got here, I was only thinking about myself and talking about things such as buying hats and such, but that's not the issue I should be adressing. I should be focusing more on how I want to make a change, how am I spending my time, and how I can use this time at Brown to my advantage. You don't need power to make a change. There are a childrens groups everyday that make donations, or even make web pages to help eradicate sweatshop labor. When I first got to Brown I didn't think about doing any of this. I thought that just because I didn't have power, just because I wasn't an important person, nobody would listen. Now my thoughts have changed. How did the people making a change get to where they are today? They started off right where i'm at right now, and that's by thinking of ideas. Ideas that not only change my community, but to also change the world. A leader is someone who influences others, and in my opinion makes a difference. I learned that Adolf Hitler is a leader, even if he wiped out millions of Jews. Adolf Hitler had a cause, and people followed his cause, that's a leader. Martin Luther King Jr. had a cause, people followed him because they believed the same thing that he did, he was a leader. Ruth Simmons believed in diversity enough to get over $1 billion, because people believed in her and her cause, that's a leader. Now if I have beliefs, hopes, and dreams that I think will change the world, I KNOW that people will follow. I know that people feel the way I do about getting younger crowds to know about life changing opportunities, such as having a summer at Brown, so that they wouldn't think that they couldn't make it in life, or that they couldn't make a difference. I once thought that too after my junior year. Knowing that football isn't everything, or my grades weren't good enough, was what had me declining even further. I use to sit at home thinking about my future, thinking that I wasn't going to make it. But since I came to Brown, all that is gone, because it's never too late to make a change. This whole trip to Brown is not only about changing the environment, communities, or even the world. It's about changing yourself and knowing who you are and what you can do as a leader. All of these things are up to me, and the only question i have nowadays is,How far am I willing to go?

Insomnia

So it's two thirty in the morning, and I'm still awake. It seems that I haven't quite gotten used to east coast time. Or maybe I just need someone to make me go to bed.

This morning, I headed over to health services to get my blood drawn. I was nervous at first, but it wasn't so bad. They took a test tube worth, which I think is four ml.When we go into the lab, we purified white blood cells from the blood through centrifugation and lysis. It's amazing to think that a week ago I knew nothing about working in a lab and now I'm confidently working. Tomorrow I will even be purifying DNA from my blood.

Also, we looked at the results from a lab we did yesterday, and my cells were some of the only ones in class that grew on a certain plate. This means not only am I now working confidently, I'm also working competently. It's quite comforting seeing as I was struggling so much at the beginning of the course.

Tomorrow should be an exciting day because my building is throwing a party.

Until then,
Joseph Young

Autism & Geniuses

So I recently read the ending to "Thinking In Pictures." At first, I mentioned that I felt emotionally detached from it but then I found myself indulged in her informative style. She noted that autistic people are not necessarily unable to learn. It is said that most autistic people possess extreme knowledge in a certain subject but will lack in others. For example, Albert Einstein is one of the most well known scientist in the world! Did you know he had autistic traits?! It is the same case for Van Gogh and Wittgenstein. To take it back to the present, Bill Gates had autistic traits as well.

My views of autistic people have changed since. I learned that they are not necessarily that different than us. They just have a different mind set. Actually, they may possess knowledge far greater than we expect from them. Who knows? Maybe the autistic person sitting next to you in class may be the next Einstein or Van Gogh. As in Temple's case, she is a visual person. Although her communication and writing skills are not up to standards, her visionary skills far surpass those of "normal" people. This leads me to the question, what is normal anyways?

The last time I checked, there was no real specific definition for a normal person. In this society, there is so much pressure for people to fit into the social norm which causes people to shun those who are diagnosed with autism, a mental disorder, or anything out of the "ordinary." What I do not understand is the power of the media and the pressure to fit in. What is so great about fitting in? It is the uniqueness in each individual that makes that person who they are. I have learned to respect people for who they are.

By the way, I looking forward to going to New York this Friday and Newport on Saturday. I am anxious for this weekend to come.

Ropes Course

Today I had to wake up really early because I had a ropes course that was 30 minutes away. I got up at 6:30 a.m. to make sure I'll have enough time to eat breakfast. Once I got over to breakfast I found out that our ropes course was delayed because of weather. So we had to wait an extra hour and finally they took us to another place to start our activities. There we talked to Dean Rose and did teamwork activities. In the activities we had a lot of challenges some were blind folded, muted, then some could see but they talk. The challenges turn out to work better than when everyone could talk and see.



Then later on the weather cleared so we went to the original place for the ropes course, but most groups only had time to do one activity because it really started to storm. My groups activity was called the "Magic Carpet." It was eleven of us and we all stood on this small tarp, that we had to flip over while all of us was still standing on it. It was very challenging but we got through and actually completing the activity without anyone stepping off the tarp.



Today I would say my leadership lesson was adapting to new surroundings or challenges. Today I had things thrown at me and I had to think of new ways to adjust to it and it really worked. I will carry this lesson for the rest of my life.



-Tiffany Carter

Conformity and Sympathy.

I thought this week’s reading in Thinking in Pictures was hard to digest but beneficial. However, it was interesting to read about autism from someone who actually had it and had to adjust to her society. It was interesting to read about how she didn’t even know she was different until much later. It’s true that her book is really repetitive, but at the same time, I enjoyed reading the parts about the way she thought and how she was such a visual thinking. I can’t imagine being able to store images and videos in my brain and being construct from that knowledge.

“From as far back as I can remember, I always hated to be hugged. I wanted to experience the good feeling of being hugged but it was just too overwhelming.”

What is it like to be different? Everybody talks about how they think they don’t fit in, but here is a girl that really doesn’t fit in. Temple doesn’t understand our society and she doesn’t think the way we do. I understand how it would be very difficult to grow up in a society that is so focused on conformity. Our society is all about fitting in with the norm, following what is “popular” and the “trend.” Our society influences everybody using media and the temptation of materialism. So what would it be like if you didn’t even understand what our society is about? What is it like to be such an outsider? I sympathize people who have psychiatric problems because they are so far away from our reality. The quote above shows an example of how Temple doesn’t understand what we do and how we show affection. She may understand the comfort of touch but she has to use an artificial machine to get this feeling. I feel like Temple understands that she doesn’t understand and she understands that she is not the same. It is such a great ability to be able to look at your situation from the outside and realize that you are different. Even Lori thought that she was normal after a while with the voices but Temple understood that she was different.

People who are different and people who have psychiatric problems are left to pave their own way in a world that doesn’t know understand how to accept them. It’s great that in both books, Lori and Temple found support systems and found their way in the world but not everyone can do what they did. They found their way, they found what works for them and they’ve adjusted. What happens to the people who cannot adjust? What happens to the people who do not find their way in this world? Temple wrote this book with the purpose of explaining to the world what autism is and how people with autism feel. That is what I appreciate most about the book. By reading parts this memoir. I’ve been able to understand more about autistic people. Like schizophrenia, I have never studied this disorder in depth and this psychology class has enabled me to do so.

A Few Photos from Sunday's Brunch

Thanks to Prudence Kent for sharing these wonderful photos from their brunch on Sunday morning Don't they all look sharp in their Sunday finest?

Interviewing

Since many of the girls already talked about what we did in class today, I just wanted to share an event held for the people in my hall.

This evening, my RA, Sophia, set up an ice cream social for the girls on my floor. Not only did she put together this optional event to help us socialize and know more about each other, but she also turned it into a Q and A about interviewing. I'm not sure if the other RAs here at Brown plan functions like these, but I'm glad mine does! Just like the college Q and A I attended last week with Meuy and Mercedes, I was given much advice about interviewing whether it's for a job or college admission. Sophia even did a mock interview with another RA and then we analyzed the strong and weak aspects. Some of the pointers our group was given were:

• be sure to look up information about the college
• know exactly why you want to attend
• keep eye contact with the interviewer
• when asked a question, take some time to think of the answer rather than starting and then gathering your thoughts in the middle of answering
• whenever you are asked about a time when you acted as a leader or resolved a conflict, talk about the experience, relate it to yourself and your qualities, and then try to explain how you would use these characteristics for the school you're applying to
• try to make the interview seem like a conversation instead of a question and answer routine
• always be prepared to ask a question at the end!

I definitely like how here at Brown there are several activities planned to help answer questions about college or the application process. Attending these events will be helpful for me in the future, and the information I share with others will be useful if they have an questions about applications or interviewing. 

This Whole Day Was Late

Today I woke up late. My roommate said that he would wake me up becuase he always wakes up early, but today he ended up waking up at 8:00 . That gave me only a little less time to get ready and grab a quick snack right before class started. Class was pretty fun today. We were assigned a project about Nike and about the sweatshops that are used all over the world. My group has to find a way to make students stop buying Nike items and we have to make Nike stop distributing these items as well. I learned where all of my clothes came from today too. Mostluy in Honduras or China. Then I was late again. I could have sworn that we didn't have a meeting today, but I was amazingly wrong because we had a meeting today with the dean! I didn't know this so I went to the gym with my RA's and friends, and I got a phone call from Tiffany about an hour or two later. I ran back to the dorm as fast as I could, but I ended up running the wrong way and got lost. I then had to ask a lady directions to the Sciences Library (because that's my landmark for this city) and she pointed me in the opposite way I was heading! If it wasn't for that lady I probably still would have been lost haha. But I made it back in time to hear Dean Rose speak and I apologized and everything was fine. I just got back from playing a game of MANHUNT with everybody from Harkness. It was pretty fun until somebody ruined the game and try to make a "better" version. That's when everyone left and then I wrote this. Hope everyone is doing well.

Eating Disorders

We had a presenter come present to us today on eating disorder. Amanda, a Brown student, was diagnosed with anorexia in her freshmen year in college. Now she is going to be a senior and graduate and she wanted to inform people about eating disorders, especially since she went through it herself.

What I found interesting was that people do not think they are anorexic or bulimic even if they are beyond unhealthy. An example Amanda used was that when she use to look at herself in the mirror, she would see a fat lard. Then she would look at another person who was exactly the same weight but she would find them in the nice weight spectrum. This is the complicated part; people diagnosed with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia only find flaws within themselves.

Eating disorders are due to the pressure from family and friends to be perfect. Amanda said she did not know this until she was finally diagnosed with anorexia but when she was younger, she used to be chubby and her mother would watch what she ate. For example, when Amanda picked up something containing a lot of fat, her mother would retort " Do you know how much calories is in there?!" This kind of attitude towards her led to her eating disorder.

I used to get disgusted when I see interviews of people with eating disorders. Some people just do not know when they are going overboard and jeopardizing their life! However, from Amanda's personal experience, I understand why sometimes they feel an urge to purge or binge; it is difficult to stop especially in today's society. There is a huge pressure for females to be a specific weight and look a specific way. This lead some girls to believe that they have to purge or binge to lose weight and look like a "celebrity."

I found out that eating disorders are very hard to treat as well. In Amanda's case, she had to go through a 12 step treatment and they were closely watched every hour of the day. They retained no privacy even while in the bathroom. They had a specific dress code in case they hid anything in their sleeves or anything of that sort. Now, I view them as strong people because they have to go through so much to get treated. It shows how dedicated they are to rehabilitating so now I respect them.

Well, good night and expect another blog tomorrow.