Blog Post 7: Counter Narrative

As I started thinking about what changed I would make to the classical Cinderella story that I grew up loving, I struggled. I wanted to do something creative, and different that would really change the context more than anything else. As one of my main interests is education, I decided I would incorporate education into the narrative. I then read through the classical version and what bothered me most was that the step-sisters were considered "better off" because of all their access to material goods. This, and Cinderella being saved by the Prince really needed to be altered in my opinion to show young girls what is really important. I chose to write the story to show the importance of education to success.

Therefore instead of the step-sisters being "better off" because of material goods they receive a top education. Legerella (who is named Legerella because "legere" means to read in latin and she loved to read) is not allowed to go to school and is forced to stay home and clean. Instead of the story centered around the ball, it is centered around the SATs- the important exam that is the means to a higher education and therefore a higher quality of life. Of course Legerella isn't allowed to go to the exam until her own private tutor shows up to send her. She warns her though to be home before her step-sisters and step-mother so she therefore runs out of time to write her name on her exam.

When eventually this test was known to belong to Legerella she was able to be saved from the situation she was in. However it is so important that she was not saved by the Prince, or by another man, she was saved through education. I really like the changes I made and this this version would be a very good story for young girls who want to grow up to be princesses to read, as they can see that Princesses can be empowered on their own.

Research in the Community

While observing in borders I noticed similar things we have discussed in class relative to gender roles. I watched as a young boy (maybe four years old) was pulled away from the book he was reading and was scolded and given another book. When I could get a closer look I could see that the first book the young boy had picked up was a pink book about princesses. Although this is nothing that should be praised, it is not surprising to me that this boy was not allowed to read this book about princesses. In our culture there is such a fear of boys not growing up to be "men" that is in a traditional sense. There is no reason that boys who do ballet or boys who like princesses or boys who like pink won't grow up to be men, but for some reason our culture believes this. Children books tend to reinforce this notion as the majority of books about princesses and about ballet involve girls and do not depict boys doing these activities or having these interests. This reinforced the stereotype that boys cannot therefore be involved. 

In the library I noticed a similar environment as the boys in the library were sitting in a separate areas and were reading different books. Although they were all seated in the same general area with children's books there were two tables that divided the children. One table was blue and the other yellow. Three boys were seated around the yellow table. Two were looking at a book about cars together and the other boy was reading a picture book with bugs. The other table had two girls seated around it who were looking at books individually. 

Because of these observations that I believed were really extreme depictions of gender stereotypes I chose to focus my media research on gender roles in children's literature. When I was first thinking of what is a form of media very relevant to children. Audrey, the young girl I babysit loves the television show "Dora the Explorer". This show of a young girl explorer is a few years old now (it aired in 2000). When it first premiered this show was very popular among both boys and girls. When the television production company (Nick Jr.) realized that not only girls were watching the show they created a spin-off of the show called "Go Diego Go" which was deemed as "Dora explorer for boys" as it is a similar show- except it was the story of a boy explorer named Diego. 

Why can't both boys and girls watch the same show about a girl explorer? Why does Dora need a male counterpart to please boys? 

I found it interesting to look around the websites of the shows.  The website for "Dora the Explorer" was very pink:  http://www.nickjr.com/dora-the-explorer/

The "Go Diego Go" website was instead of pink, very blue. http://www.nickjr.com/go-diego-go/

Nick Jr.'s website for the two shows had very little differences. It is obvious that the shows are very similar and the ways they are illustrated on the website lacks many differences. The only obvious difference was the one I stated above- the color (Dora being pink and Diego being blue). While Dora was created as a very positive depiction of young girls (as even though Dora is female she can still embark on adventures and be a leader), the show now only separates the genders and reinforces gender stereotypes. The colors associated with the shows tell parents that one show is created for one sex while the other is not. So instead of both boys and girls growing up now watching the same show and seeing Dora explore, now only girls grow up watching Dora while boys grow up watching Diego. 

This separation is no doubt instilled in children. Through these television shows children are shown that boys and girls cannot both like the same thing. Boys are told that girls cannot be their role model, and girls taught that boys cannot be their role model. Through all different forms of research I came to the same conclusion- the gender roles represented are very limiting and when children are continuously exposed to these roles they are affected in the way they act themselves. 

Blog Post 5: Insight into Banned Books

As discussed in class, the amount of books on the banned book list is extremely large. The majority of our favorite books and books we had read in school were on a banned list. I chose to read The Five Chinese Brothers, and while I was initially surprised to find this on the banned list I quickly realized why it would be. I had not remembered this book being explicitly racist, however the images in the book were very stereotypical images of chinese men. These images could be taken to be offensive. I found it interesting that the author dedicated the book to her father for leading her to love China. Even though the images could be seen as racist images, the author also had some background (that is unknown to the typical reader) in the country.

Typically, books on the banned list share similar reasons for being banned. Reasons for being challenged include controversy about race, sexuality, religion and violence. These seem to be the biggest four taboo topics in society that are apparent in these books that are banned. These issues are always controversial when represented in schools. However I find it important that these issues be discussed or at least presented in schools, in a fair and equal way. Students are exposed to these issues regularly in their lives no matter what. And it is therefore important that students be presented these issues in an educational, and safe setting.

Blog Post 4: Podcast Ideas

I am not completely set on one book for my podcast quite yet, however I do know that I would like to focus on race as an issue. There have been several books throughout my childhood and young adulthood that have dealt with racial issues. The one that stands out to me that I may be interested in going into further would be The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson. This beautiful picture book shows race from a child's point of view. Clover (an African American child) is told constantly as a young girl to not cross the fence in her yard. However she spots another girl (who happens to be white) on the other side of the fence and throughout summer the two attempt to meet.

The story is about defying the parents' ideas of what is right and what is wrong. And even more, it is about defying the social norms of segregation. The physical fence between the two girls stands for so much more. I really like this story because I feel this is often how children react in these situations. They are not aware of racial differences and do not see the 'problems' until adults point them out and create rules that only reinforce these social norms around racism. I think this story really unpacks a lot about race and the way in which children view race, and I think it would be an interesting story to delve into deeper.

Quotable Quotes- When the Emperor was Divine

"he'd done something horribly, terribly wrong. . . . It could be anything. Something he'd done yesterday – chewing the eraser off his sister's pencil before putting it back in the pencil jar – or something he'd done a long time ago that was just now catching up 

with him" [p. 57]

This quote stood out to me as it shows how the effect the internment camp has on the young boy. It is not surprising hat the young boy is blaming himself for his family being displaced. Of course he does not understand the real reason (or the supposed reason) that his family was moved to the internment camp. The boy's experience demonstrated how racism affects children. Children learn throughout their childhood that when they behave badly they are punished. So when they are punished, even if it is unfairly, children feel they are to blame. The boy is a perfect example of this as he feels guilty and is searching for the answer in something he did. The boy's experience demonstrates how this guilt and the blame children put on themselves affect their childhood and lives in general. 

 "We didn't want to  know. . . . All we wanted to do, now that we were back in the world, was forget" [p. 133]

When the family is released from the internment camp and reunited with the father, they do not recognize him and the reunion is clearly bittersweet. The father does not want to talk about his experience and the family does not want to know about it. This quote demonstrates the family's desire and need to move on. This shows that how they, and many others who experience traumatic events, choose to move on by forgetting, or trying to forget. We've seen this through the survivors of many genocides and as this book shows- through prisoners in internment camps. When people experience traumatic experiences, people attempt to move on by forgetting, when really they need to talk about it and seek help in order to move on. We cannot forget things, especially not events such as these because our experiences impact who we are. If we ignore a major life event, we will be unsure of how this impacts us and who we are and why we act in certain ways. 

2. Hello My Names Are

My names are...

Kayla-  Kayla is the name my parents gave me and the name I respond to in most situations. I go by Kayla in both formal and informal situations- classes/work/friends also refer to me as Kayla. There is no real story behind my first name besides the fact that my parents had thought it a very rare name and had decided it would fit as it belonged to both Jewish tradition and Irish culture. Growing up I attended a bilingual English-Spanish school for several years. There I was no longer "Kayla" and "Kyla" was my name. Instead of correcting my teachers and peers time after time I came to accept Kyla as a name of mine. I never was too fond of my name, however since coming to AU I have come to like my name more as I am now not always called Kayla in every setting.

KK- This is my childhood nickname. My parents and extended family/adults from my childhood call me this name. This name symbolizes my childhood to me. No one really calls me KK now, as I suppose I have grown past the name. It was not a name I neither liked or disliked as I was too young to have an opinion on the matter. By the time I assume I would have grown tired of the name, others had felt the same way.

Kay- This is the name that most of my college peers call me by. In some organizations I belong to on campus this is actually my official name. When I came to AU I started introducing myself as Kay, and in informal settings I do prefer the name Kay. Maybe in some sense I thought this would get rid of the possibility of mistake of being called "Kyla". I also see this name as a more carefree and 'fun' name. I will introduce myself as Kay across the board to my peers in informal setting.

Kray/Krayla- this is a name only my closest friends in college call me. It is a combination of "crazy" and my name. This is an endearing name given by my friends that I like. However I wouldn't want anyone else besides these friends calling me by this name. This name represents this close-knit group of friends I found as a freshman in college. I am still close with these friends even though we have all found our different places on campus.

My names are not...

Kyla- As I have already shared, for several years of my life I was referred to as Kyla. This is not my name as the names Kyla and Kayla are very different and therefore mean very different things to me. It bothers me when people mispronounce my name and call me Kyla.

Monkies/Monker- Monks is my last name, when I was teased as a young kid I was called Monkies or Monker. Although this is definitely not something that still bothers me, I prefer to not have people joke around with my last name.

Researching the Self

As a young adult I have read numerous books through my college years, high school years and before that have meant a great deal to me. However if I were to choose one book that impacted me in the most significant way, I would have to pull a book from my early childhood. A Fruit and Vegetable Man by Roni Schotter was the beautiful book I was read as a child. Not only were the pictures beautiful but the story line taught me significant lessons that I still hold close today. My entire family grew to love this book and hold the morals of the story as our own. The story depicts a proud man (Ruby) who owns a fruit and vegetable store for fifty years and refuses to retire as he ages and grows ill. When Ruby becomes ill, a young immigrant child and his family are who he turns to. 


Although at the time I was five and being read this book I mostly enjoyed the gorgeous pictures of the fruits and vegetables and Ruby and the child's family, I've realized since then that the messages inside the story were ingrained in me and made a difference in me even as a young child. The book was primarily about pride and showed me even as a child the significance of pride and being proud. I was a very timid child and still to this day at some points my instincts are to step back and let things I'm afraid of go on without me. Of course in my life today when I feel this way I do not think to myself, "Well Ruby and Sun Ho would have done this", but the story taught me these lessons that I still carry with me now as I am much older. 


The story also had a theme of multicultural and inter-generational relationships. As I had a unique schooling beginning with preschool (I was in a bilingual education program where 95% of the students were immigrants from Spanish speaking countries) these themes were something to be applied directly to my life. Although we know skin color and descent don't define a person, as a young child it is easy to be intimidated while being the minority. As a white, female, middle-class Jew I stuck out very much in my first several years of schooling. Ruby's relationship with the immigrant family and their help and outreach towards Ruby helped me to embrace my unique experience. Looking back on the story now and the my experiences since last picking up this book, I know this story definitely taught me a great deal about accepting and helping others as I hope to work in public health to reduce health disparities. I am thankful for this story and hope I continue to learn how meaningful the messages within the story are to my life.