Throughout this semester, I have felt varying emotions about this class. Initially, I felt overwhelmed by the level of independence required and the numerous websites that we had to learn to use. As the semester progressed, I grew more comfortable with it all. At this point, I feel like I understand more about how the websites work, how I will be graded, and how to do well on the assignments. Although establishing that comfort was not easy though and it required patience and an interest in learning, I do feel like I have developed.

 

My understanding of the composition progress has evolved in a different way then it has in the past. With this course being a hybrid class, I learned to write and do research a little bit differently. It was largely independent. In my previous English classes, we could conduct research in the library together or have articles given to us that we would need to pull information useful of our topic out of. In this class, we had to go search for it on our own, which I had done before too, but with such a large school library, it was a tab bit intimidating. After having done the first reading summaries, annotated bibliography entries, and built environment description, I have learned more about how to use a rubric to guide my work. I have also learned how to gather my own primary research and how to use my research and secondary research to establish a point. One thing that I enjoy about the blogs is how free they are; I can post pictures, reflections, summaries, and customize it. This course really integrates multimodality and has heightened my interest in writing.

 

As with any thing, there are strengths and weaknesses to my work thus far. One of my strengths has been turning things in on time, which I was a little bit concerned about initially because we do all of that online instead of in class. Another strength includes participating in extra credit work. I have done a study session with Samantha, visited office hours, had a group session with you, done the d2l quizzes, and used my papers as examples in class for workshop. That is probably my best strength. Of those things, I feel as though the office hour visit were the most helpful to me because they provided me with an opportunity to ask one on one questions relating to my work. My major weaknesses, however, is time management. With two jobs, four other classes, a boyfriend, and family obligations, sometimes I can’t start the assignments as early as I would like to. That makes me feel stressed and probably affects the quality of my work. Despite my weakness, I am still confident in the effort that I have put in thus far, however, I would still like to improve.

 

I plan to apply the information, approvals, and constructive criticisms that I have received up until now to my future projects and work. For example, I struggled with maintaining present tense in the reading summaries and now I understand how to do it properly. I also plan to finish my writings before class time so that they can be reviewed in workshop more often. Although I do the d2l quizzes and 2.0 exercises, I have trouble applying that information to the work we do, so I would like to get better at applying that information. All in all, I feel as though the semester is off to a great start. I still have plenty to learn, but I believe that if I am patient and focused then I am capable of taking it all in!

 

Summary of “Making Bathrooms More Accommodating.” By Emily Bazelon

Emily Bazelon’s article, titled “Making Bathrooms More Accommodating”, starts by describing the heteronormative viewpoint that our society exhibits. It illustrates the obvious differences between the Men’s restroom and the Women’s, from the signs on the doors to the “proper” etiquette that is understood. It also describes the strange position that most transgender men and women struggle through on a daily basis. Whether it is at work or in school, many transgender individuals feel isolated or looked down upon for visiting the bathrooms, which most individuals take as commonplace and fundamentally expected.

In the women’s room, the long lines have created a sense of togetherness as women stand together waiting for a stall to open up, while men can enter and exit within the same two minute period. Many feel that their sense of camaraderie will be destroyed if transgender women are allowed to use the same bathroom as them. The issue that many women see is the entrance of the male anatomy into their private escape from the patriarchal society that surrounds them. Opponents of a law that would protect against discrimination in housing and employment, the Broad equal right ordinance, made t-shirts that said “No men in Women’s Bathroom” and used fear mongering to play on the public’s apprehension, by showing a TV ad with frightening images of aggressive men threatening defenseless women. Voters rejected the Ordinance

In schools across the country, Transgender individuals are called by the gender that they assume. This major step is great, but deciding how the school district approaches showering and restrooms has been more complicated. One transgender girl in Illinois was sent to a separate room from both the boys and girls to change. Once a Civil Rights complaint was addressed the government swooped in to rectify the situation. They added a privacy curtain for her use and the other girls. This Solution is an example of accommodation and the author of this essay points out what this means.

The main aspect that she chooses to explain is “moving over to make room for others, whether you want to or not” (Bazelon). Accommodations have been made by congress in many situations. For example, those of certain religions were forced to conform to an American view of their traditions, but in the 1960’s Congress allowed them to express their faith and wear traditional religious clothing or exhibit prayer at certain times. As well, many disabled Americans had issues being in certain buildings for the reason that they couldn’t open doors, get past the stairs, or use the restrooms. In the 1990’s congress created the American with Disabilities Act to make sure accommodations were made so people could live, work, and function in the building without an excessive amount of effort. It is brought up that Transgender Americans have done most of the accommodations without much done for them.

If bathrooms are slightly modified and people are more accepting, Bazelon believes that coexistence is possible. She finally raises the fact that humans all have the need to belong, but also the right. No one should have to change themselves to fit it, yet the Transgender Law center says to either not look at anyone, or try and prove that you are the gender you identify as by pointing out the characteristics that you share with the stereotype of that gender. In my eyes this seems like a truly terrible thing to advise someone. If you identify as a woman but you have a penis, low voice, and muscular features, then who cares. You don’t need to explain yourself or why you are a woman to anyone. If you identify as a man, but you have breasts and a vagina, you don’t need to avoid eye contact and act like you don’t exist to be accepted. You only need to act how you would any other way. Changing yourself to fit it, isnt fitting in. It is being pretending to be something you aren’t.

Summary of “His & Hers: Designing for a Post-Gender Society” by Suzanne Tick

In Suzanne Tick’s article “His & Hers: Designing for a Post-Gender Society”, discusses how United States textile designers are arguing for more gender-neutral designs. The year is 2016; in this day in age, the line between man and woman is extremely blurred. There are plenty of women who identify as men and men who identify as women. She described this as “a time of gender revolution” (Tick). She argues that the designers should focus on the issues facing society and support acceptance and change.

 

Tick goes on by describing the widespread and popular modern design. She claims that such a design does not adequately represent both genders. It focuses more on the male gender because the males tend to dominate the work places and occupy a majority of the power in the offices. What about the women, though? Do they not count just because they are the minority? As the wave of feminism and LGBTQ rights movements have gained support, more companies are starting to see understand the importance of gender equality and support it.

 

As the article goes on, tick gives credit to the corporations that have started to make changes for equality. She uses Google as an example and recognizes how they now have gender-neutral and unisex bathrooms, in addition to conventional restrooms. Their goal with that is to allow “all individuals to feel comfortable, safe, and included- and not have to choose a gender while in the workplace” (Tick). While that goal was accomplished, Google is one company; others should follow in their actions.

 

A major example that Tick uses in the article is her comparison between accommodating the disabled and accommodating the varying genders. She says that if it can be made mandatory that we adjust establishments for people in wheelchairs, then the same accommodations she be made for other people. Tick does not believe that it should be approached in the same way, though. She admits that “it’s unbelievable how hard it still is to find accessible bathrooms and entryways” (Tick).

 

While Tick expresses the many ways that companies should be making changes for the changing gender roles, she also acknowledges the confusion associated with the changes. She understands that it can be difficult to make modification for a subject that is not yet understood. However, Tick provides an example of students asking to have their gender unspecified and their schools accepting that. Although it is difficult for people to comprehend amongst the confusion and disapprovals, she goes on to say, “as designers, we can’t fall behind in embracing that, too” (Tick).

 

Like Tick, I believe that as the world continues to develop and grow, we need to learn how to progress with it. All of those alterations are only the beginning. Tick believes that as the definitions of masculine and feminine change, the way that we treat them should change as well. People be able to should feel accepted regardless of where they are. In our post-gender world, it is important that we be mindful of individual needs.

For my external built environment, I chose Downtown, Atlanta. Over the course of the past two weeks, I have spent a few hours exploring and observing the downtown area. With an area as large and as broad as downtown, how could just one image or location properly depict the city? Thus, I collected digital records of various significant places that represent the area pretty well, such as the Atlanta Street Car, Centennial Olympic Park, Woodruff Park, the Jackson Street Bridge, and Octane Coffee. To get to Centennial, I took the Streetcar. When I first moved downtown, over the summer, I rode the streetcar almost every time that I went to the market or to the Centennial area because it was free and easy to access. The night that I went to observe Centennial, it was extremely cold outside, so I opted for taking the streetcar like I did over the summer. This time, however, I had to pay one dollar each way to get there. I personally did not mind paying the dollar because it saves me a two-mile walk. After realizing that the streetcar only takes cards, I was immediately off put by it. It lacked accessibility for the homeless people who use to spend a lot of time on the streetcar during the heat of summer. I felt sad for them when I thought about the fact that they would not be able to ride from point A to point B because many of them do not have debit cards with money on them and it was roughly 20 degrees outside. Each of the other places that I chose to record is public and open to people of all races, genders, and socioeconomic levels. That quality about them was important to me because I wanted to see downtown from the perspective of the average person. Anyone could have seen downtown like I did. Each place offers a sense of comfort and made me feel happy. The past couple of weeks have been particularly cold, so I was shocked to see the fountains at both Centennial and Woodruff parks still pouring with water. I expected them to be frozen and quiet. The bridge filled my heart with solace as I watched the buildings light up the city skyline. Cars zoomed by, some coming into the city and some departing. It was simply beautiful. As for Octane, it is a cute coffee shop that was full of light and busy people. There were people working, reading, studying, and conversing. My favorite aspect of the sites is there inviting nature and the diversity that they offer.

 

This is a picture of the Atlanta Streetcar. It allows people to travel throughout Downtown Atlanta. I rode it to get to and from Centennial Olympic park. It was only one dollar each way, which totally beat walking a mile there and back from my apartment.