Planes, Trains and Pink Nail Polish?

Last quarter, I watched a documentary series of transgendered children. The issue became of such interest to me that I blogged about it and your fellow students debated whether or not they thought it was appropriate to raise a child as another gender. You can read through my blog and their comments here: http://historicalandpoliticalissues.blogspot.com/2011/02/when-harry-became-hailey.html


So, a few weeks ago when I saw a J.Crew advertisement getting tons of negative feedback, I knew it would be great follow up on this topic. The advertisement sparking the controversy shows J.Crew designer Jenna Lyon’s painting her young son’s toenails neon pink. While many people saw absolutely no problem with it, others started complaining immediately. You can check out a Today Show video showing the advertisement and people’s comments here:  http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/#42569002 According to the Media Research Center the ad is “blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children”. The Culture and Media Institute stated, “One has to wonder what young boys in pink nail polish have to do with selling women’s clothing”.

That really got me thinking. I myself have stated that I would not want to raise my children with the traditional concepts of gender roles. My nursery won’t be pink or blue, my daughter can take out the trash and my son can help with the laundry. That being said, I did wonder, “What does painting your son’s toes pink have to do with selling women’s clothing?” So my question to you this week is two-fold. First, “What do you think of a mom painting her son’s toes pink? Do you think it is important to raise your kids according to society’s traditional gender roles so as not to confuse children?” Second, you are all design students who will need to market your work. So tell me, “Why do you think J.Crew used this photograph to market their clothing?” Answers are due no later than Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011. You must answer both questions and designate your class to earn full credit.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

I had a few good topics I wanted to blog about this week. Then I realized we have a holiday weekend coming up, and I decided to go easy on you and post something lighter. Since Easter is this weekend, I thought back to my favorite Easter memory. Easter was a very big deal in our house, almost as big as Christmas. We always got new Easter dresses, went to church and then rushed home to find our Easter eggs and baskets. One of the plastic eggs was golden and bigger than all the rest...whoever found it got the best prize! I loved coloring eggs too (I still do actually) and would think about my designs for hours! So my question to you this week is, "What is your favorite Easter or springtime memory?" Answers are due no later than Tuesday, April 26th, 2011. Don't forget to make sure your name and class are documented. For those of you who celebrate - Happy Easter! For everyone else, enjoy your day off!

P.S. I've noticed lately that some of you just comment that you don't know much about the topic so you can't really comment. That is not acceptable. If you don't know much about it - look it up! I don't expect you to be geniuses on the topic, but if you don't take the time to learn, it kind of defeats the purpose of being in school. :-)

P.P.S. For real, this is the last post-script. For those of you who wish to contact the senator in charge of the 21st Century Scholarship program we discussed in class, you can email Senator Thomas Dermody (or any other Indiana senator) here:  http://www.in.gov/cgi-bin/legislative/contact/contact.pl

Mobile Chernobyl - Revisited

Yesterday, Japanese authorities declared the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant a level 7 event on the international scale for nuclear disasters – the highest level, putting it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Officials said the amount of radioactive iodine released so far has been fifteen times the volume needed to be designated a level 7 disaster. According to officials, a level 7 disaster involves a “major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects”. The disaster in Japan has been one of the worst the world has ever known and my heart and prayers go out to the Japanese people. To donate to the relief effort, click here: http://www.redcross.org/

The Japanese disaster got me thinking about our own nuclear problems right here in America. Did you know that spent nuclear fuel is the by-product of producing electric power at nuclear power plants? Currently the United States has over 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste stored at 121 sites across the country. This spent fuel waste is both thermally and radioactively hot, and is initially placed in "spent fuel pools" at the nuclear reactor sites to cool down. When the pools and on-site storage are full, the cooled spent fuel must be stored somewhere else. So, what should we do with all this waste?

The Yucca Mountain Repository was approved by Congress as the site to store spent nuclear reactor fuel and other radioactive waste in 2002. Amid much controversy, the funding was terminated in 2010. The nuclear industry is pushing Congress for funding to establish Yucca Mountain as the nation's permanent storage site. If they are successful, 100,000 shipments of high-level radioactive waste will be transported through 43 states. As the "Crossroads of America" much of that waste would be transported through Indiana, which currently has no nuclear reactors. Click here to see a map of the nuclear reactor sites in the United States. http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/map-power-reactors.html

Supporters of the Yucca mountain project say nuclear energy is cheap and clean and the transportation of the nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain will be safe and secure. The waste has to go somewhere and leaving it at the power plants across the country could be a security issue. Opponents of this plan say Yucca Mountain is not geologically stable and that transporting nuclear waste across country will lead to nuclear accidents. So my questions to you this week is, "Do you agree or disagree with the Yucca Mountain Repository as a place to hold our nation's nuclear waste? Would you want these shipments coming through Indiana? Do you think we should continue to use nuclear power? Why or why not?” Answers are due no later than Tuesday, April 19th, 2011.

We the People

This week in class we began our study of the Constitution. The United States Constitution is widely recognized and studied as one of the most democratic documents ever written. Most of the freedoms that make us uniquely American can be found in the United States Constitution.


You can order your own free copy of the United States Constitution from: http://www.constitutionfacts.com/index.cfm?section=bookstore&page=freeCopy.cfm

So, this week I started thinking about what freedoms I value most. I think the one I am most grateful for is Freedom of Religion. We are very blessed to live in a country where we are free to practice or not practice our religion as we see fit.

So, my question to you for our first blog is, “What freedoms do you value the most? Why are they important to you?” In addition, I would like you to take a short quiz on the Constitution and include your score and results in your answer. Your score on the quiz will not affect your grade. The quiz can be accessed at the following link:
http://www.constitutionfacts.com/index.cfm?page=quiz.cfm

Answers are due no later than Tuesday, April 12th. Make sure that your screen name identifies who you are, and that you designate which class you are in to earn full credit!