Happy Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving is always a great time. Friends and family gather together to catch-up with one another, enjoy some great food, and relax for a few days. But, it also kicks off the frenzy of the holiday shopping season, with millions of consumers heading out to stores in search of the perfect present for their loved ones. I have been hearing a lot of people who complain about Black Friday and businesses being open on Thanksgiving. What if some people give thanks that they have a job?! I am just kidding, but not really. I wonder if all of these people who complain have families and loved ones to go home to on Thanksgiving? I happen to know that one of my good friends did not spend time with anyone on Thanksgiving and loved every minute of it, and I also know that a good friend of mine's mother passed away on Sunday and she wants to work rather than be surrounded by hurt and depressed people. Do these people think of the ones who have no families to come home to, the ones who have no where to go, because those people sometimes may not mind working on a holiday, or may not want to be reminded that it is a holiday. I hope people think of that too. 

As for Black Friday (blogger just uppercased it as if it was a holiday ha), although it gets a little rough and violent at times too, I think that Black Friday and cyber monday are great chances for parents and loved ones to buy affordable presents that otherwise they may not have the money for. Although out here in LA we may not worry about snow, winds and negative 10 degree whether but many people wait hours upon end to get those gifts for loved ones and save a lot of money. 

Who is that in the Mirror

Do you ever just look at old pictures and wonder where along the way you lost that smile, lost that laugh, lost that happiness you once had? I have. I came across this quote and this is very real, and very relatable. The World= family, friends, the government, society, media. This could mean so many different things to different people however to me, I think about how media and pop culture has played a role in my life. From trying to be something I am not, act a certain way, be more girly, be more lively, the way my hair and make up should look, my clothes. I have officially lost who I was, who I was just happy being, and I don't even know how to get her back.

Waves of Change

So as I go through this semester, I consider many things around me.

☑ graduating senior

☑ work two jobs - love my jobs

☑ full time student

☑ financially independent 

☐ what am I doing to better the world around me

☐ what am I doing to better myself

So these last two have always bothered me however it was not until last year that it really started to get to me. I was born and raise in a small town, and I always had that feeling deep down inside of me that I needed to do something more, like more to California, ha. Well it wasn't until California and working in student housing that I came across Social Justice and people that on a daily basis try to fight for social justice. I began to take communication classes, watch TED talks, and you tube videos, read articles along with educate myself and those around me. To the point, that my friends now watch what they say and make fun of the things I stand up for, how is that fair? I fight for social justice, and then tables turn and I am being teased. Well after working on my persuasive speech for this COMS class, I know this passion is not going to go away, and I don't want it to. With the passion I have, I can make a difference in the world around me and even on a higher level with a degree in the field of marketing. I am now considering a masters degree in social justice and leadership, so that I can make myself and the world around me a better place. 

Here to make a Difference

What does it mean to be a feminist? Being a feminist has such a degrading label to it, however as I am reading the #YesAllWoman tweets I can not only agree with the majority of them but I feel like I want to tell everyone and spread the knowledge of sexism and woman's rights. Does that mean I am a feminist? Does that mean that I can claim that title, or even should? I haven't even decided if I want to or if I have that knowledge to claim that title yet I am already name called a feminist, as if it's a bad thing. No one ever wants to be the bad thing, but maybe that's part of the plan, to get no one to be a feminist, then no one would stand up for woman's rights and question inequality between men and women. How convenient huh? Ha, well maybe I see this as a challenge to strive to spread awareness and knowledge to all those name callers, because then again it's not me who is afraid of what is being said.

From The Classroom To Real Life

So as I sit here, really what I am doing is avoiding homework, however I look around and observe the world, the society in which I live, the people and try to think about their lives. The crisis we have in today's world is 

As I began to write about the above journal entry, headphones in, typing away, two women approached me, introduced themselves, (I pulled out one headphone) and they proceeded to invite me to their bible study. I apologetically declined, and informed them I was not interested. (slowly putting my headphones back in) She then asked if I believed in God, I responded with "now that you ask, no I do not". Before I could put my headphones back in, they began to ask me an assortment of questions, what my major was, where I was from, what high school I went to, and then, of course, began to talk about their lives with God. So I thought, why not apply some of the things I have learned in COMS 225 to have a healthy and structured conversation with her. I began to make my argument, state my position and my examples and reasoning behind this. (You could tell she did not take COMS 225) She went on about her experiences, her beliefs about God and religion, and did not ever have a counterargument for my original position or example. While she was talking I put out a finger for everything that I wanted to make a counterargument about, and was making notes in my head, since I thought it may be rude to take notes while she was stating her side. So after about 15 minutes of her not letting me get in a word, I began to take my side of the argument, backing it up with testimonies, life examples and research I have done in the past on the subject. I even finished my argument with a cross examination question so she had the chance to openly speak about her thoughts of what I had just responded with. She finished with her conclusion, where she only continued to speak about her side of the argument, and did not try to resolve the counterarguments I had explained nor answered my cross examination question. (She definitely had a violators point of view on the subject) So I concluded with letting them both know that I understood what her and her friend were trying to do, (convince and inform students on campus about their religion and to attend their bible study) but that I wanted provide them with some perspective and understanding about how some people may feel about the subject. (She hopes that I will meet with her in the future so we can continue this conversation and she can "convince" me)

I believe this is a crisis because although I had apologetically declined their invitation to sit down and start this conversation, they proceeded anyways. Some students feel pressured by this sort of engagement, and I do not think it is right to press your beliefs onto another when it is unwelcome. There are plenty of students who engage with the people who sit at the tables with information, who are wanting to learn more. However, lucky for them, they found a student who was looking to practice some COMS 225 skills.

"one-size-fits-most"

Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/14/brandy-melville_n_5978626.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063

Crisis: These types of stores promote the trend of degrading women, to look and feel a certain way. This Brandy Melvin store only allows women who are a size small to try on clothes, or sometimes even walk into the store, and then women work to lose weight to fit these sizes, with some unhealthy habits.

How Have we seen this in the past, present and future?

In the past, women have struggled to feel equal compared to men in society, such as not being as strong, not being as smart, and not being as fun however, they have also been degraded for their size, looks and the way they dress. Not enough clothes, she is either a whore or she is sexy, depending on her size.

In the present, women are encouraged by society that sexy is how you want to look, and sexy is skinny, tan, and beautiful. Fake hair color, fake tan, fake nails, and sexy outfits, and this is what our younger generations try to conform to. Younger generations are experiencing these situations on an everyday basis and are already starting the trends of losing weight, dieting, wearing make up and sexy clothes.

If this continues then in the future, it will only get worse as we have seen, women are already trying to be something they are not and having very unhealthy ways of trying to lose a lot of weight really quickly. These younger generations are starting dangerous habits at young ages and will continue to get worse as they get older.

Trick Or Treat....smell my feet, give me something good to eat...

Halloween is my favorite holiday, I love dressing up, I love picking out my costume, going out, making memories.  Then I go through the list, do I be the creepy girl from Beetlejuice who believes in ghosts, or do I be a sexy superhero, or even the dead bride. 

As I sit here picking out my costume, and going through the lists, I begin to question myself. Why do we celebrate a day where we promote woman and sex appeal, making fun of other people, or celebrating the death of those who may have been greatly effected. In the past, I have seen costumes to mock obese females all the way to a dead bicyclist. There is something greatly wrong with participating in the embarrassment of people or the other extreme of reminding them of a past experience, they may have personally had to deal with. 

Obviously halloween has been around for quite some time, and has reached a new limit in the last couple decades with sexy costumes, but can we even begin to wonder what it will be if we let these negative rituals continue. Next generations could potentially create a dangerous atmosphere for others to be around, and backlash the movements made towards equal rights, if the celebration continues to spiral out of control. 

A solution to this celebration could be to bring back the fun and joy of halloween with nice, respectful costumes, and encourage your friends and those around you to be aware of how their costume could be offensive to others. 

"But if I took off my clothes, maybe you would notice me."

Claim:
The use of sexual attraction in advertising boosts sales for the company, yet slows down the efforts to portray woman as equal instead of an object.

Evidence: Victoria Secret is a prime example that uses sex to increase sales, to both men and woman. In a study done by Professor Gal Zauberman of the Wharton School and Professor Kyu Kim of USC Marshall School of Business, the reactions of heterosexual men were studied and found that they become hot and bothered, which are similar signs of impatience. Leading to the fact that, with these reactions men and woman alike quickly buy the products they need from the stores, or online, to feel sexy like the image the see. For singer/songwriter Brittany McDonald protecting sex appeal she describes is a strength. She also talks about the troubles she has had and seen in the singer/songwriter industry with trying to achieve her dreams without allowing herself to give into the sex advertising and appealing to the men around you. 

Warrent: I don't know if sex sells (advertising) will ever go away, or ever change. However, in today's world, there are some very powerful woman who are celebrity figures, who can make a change to the way they promote themselves. Using sex to raise awareness of your brand, sell your product, or get what you want, can surely change, if we start the movement now. Knowing that certain companies, people, or products, use these attributes to sell to their customers, we can start by not purchasing these products who promote woman as objects. Also, those of us in the marketing industry can begin to adjust the thinking of those minds around us. 



sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/victorias-secret-catalog-time_n_1720813.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brittany-mcdonald/women-sex-appeal_b_1690887.html

Tipping 101

When you walk into a restaurant and your server greets you, what are your thoughts? How thirsty you are, how hungry you are, how nice your server is, or how their day has been? I am willing to guess the last question does not go through many non-food industry civilian's minds. However, if you are a part of the restaurant industry you may notice how many tables they have, the attitude in their voice from the constant insults from table 95 and the fast pace motion that, you know means, they still have not greeted 93 and still need to get drinks for 101.

The way that non-food industry civilians treat servers is a crisis in today's society. Your waitstaff is not your punching bag after a long day and is definitely not your servant. The average waitstaff makes around 9 an hour and often times in many states make 2.18 an hour. When you think about the fact that a server only works around a 5-6 hour shift a day, you realize they are definitely not working for their hourly wage.

The purpose of a tip is to show your appreciation to the person who just waited on you hand and foot. Although your waitstaff loves to hear all of your wonderful compliments, this does not pay the bills. From my own experience, an average tip is around 15% depending on the mood of your guest and if the food was set on the table exactly how they wanted it. Sometimes, the service given by the waitstaff can effect the experience you have at a restaurant, but most guests don't think about the kind of day the waitstaff is having.

Tipping a waitstaff at the end of your meal has appeal to value, in the sense that the underlying value of tipping is to show appreciation for the service you received, and how you value the experience. When a guest gives a good tip (15%-20%) this concludes that the waitstaff was doing something right and that you were happy when you walked out, if a bad tip was left (10% or below) it tells the waitstaff that they were leaving unhappy and that something throughout the meal was inefficient.

The issue with this system is that many guests that enter into a restaurant do not realize the problem with leaving less than 10% tip. The guest does not realize that the server does not get to take home this entire tip, that they are taxed on this amount and also that this is all they basically live on. So some leave such a low tip based on the fact that they spent a little more than they wanted to, or they ran out of money, and don't want to break a $20.

There could be a few solutions to this phenomena of tipping. Two solutions that I believe could help is built in tip or raising minimum wage for waitstaff. Although I think it would be hard to raise the minimum wage for waitstaff this could help stop the expectations for tipping. The other solution is having a built in tip, why this could also be a problem is because TIPS stands for 'to insure promptness service'. Some may not be thrilled with the idea of having to automatically tip the server not being based on the service given.

Before you go, you should know.

Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-crosleycorcoran/explaining-white-privilege-to-a-broke-white-person_b_5269255.html



That is an awesome article. I have read the peggy macintosh article before too. This is what I try to explain to people, to open their eyes and to understand. If you are privileged in one area why not reach out and help those who aren't. I know what I am privileged in and what I'm not, but nonetheless where I am privileged and where I'm not I want to help advocate for those who have no voice and feel like there is no fight left. As a white person I can stand up to other white privileged people and not be accused of harassment, however, I know as a woman when I stand up for woman's rights, people shoot me down. They have the upper hand in that privilege and most of the time I feel beat. I feel like I can't win those battles. So by me trying to get others to understand or even consider their privilege, it is to open their eyes to what good they can do and what change they can make. I have many friends who are in the agent groups, and benefit from many types of privileges, and they have the power to make a change. I don't always have a voice that people will listen to, but I won't stop trying. I want to change one persons life and I don't mean I want to convince someone of my ways and change THEIR life. I want them to one day be in a situation and they stick up for someone who is of less privilege and change that strangers life, so that they know there is change happening in this world.

Replace Fear of the Unknown with Curiosity

Fortune Cookie Reads:
"When fear hurts you, conquer it, and defeat it."

Just like the rest of the world, I too try to connect my fortune cookies to my life. This fortune cookie, I had to dig a little deeper than usual because I was unsure if I wanted to really understand what it was saying. Fear is a tricky topic. When I fear something, I usually throw it on the back burner until I am forced to face the situation.This is one fear that needed to be faced. I connected this fortune to my love life, and how I let the fear of my past reoccurring stop me from moving forward. I put up the walls, and be proud of being single because I find it less scary than having to deal with the real truth that lies underneath. So, this fortune is perfect for me, because these fears need to be faced so I can conquer and defeat.