Budgeting the Working Poor

Budgeting the Working Poor

    In class this week I really enjoyed our group projects- figuring out a way for a family of a different social class to budget their lives and deal with the unexpected financial difficulties that life brings. My group was assigned a family in the Working Poor, a family of 4, with a baby on the way that only made $25,000 a year. Figuring out a way for this family to make ends meet was a struggle, and definitely made me more mindful of the difficulties that other social classes may face. 

    One thing I noted while working on this activity, is that it is often hard to choose where to invest your earnings. There were so many things that seemed important to provide for our family- and yet we knew that we could not afford it all. Making those decisions, deciding what mattered most, was a very big challange. Another difficulty was taking into account the "life happens" moments. At first while budgeting we intended to put all of our money to use- but through this activity we learned that this is not always the best option- you have to save money for a rainy day, because you never know what life will throw at you. Although at first it seemed impossible to get by on what we had, we soon realized that government programs for the poor were invaluable to us. I had never known much before about food stamps, or medicaid, but this project really helped me to see their importance. Without programs like these, families in the working poor, or in poverty, would not be able to get by. I am grateful that we have these initiatives in place, to help those who are down on their luck. 

Women in the Media

Women in the Media

In class this week, I most enjoyed the video on women in the media. Although I only watched half of it, I found the video very enlightening. I never realized before how much the media tries to make women hate their bodies, in order to sell more products. Sadly I would have to say they are doing an effective job. The women we see on screen or in advertisements are so skinny, so beautiful, and seem so flawless, that it makes us feel as if we can never compare. I thought it was wonderful to hear that throughout the world women are taking a stand, in an attempt to right this injustice. I find it wonderful that certain magazines ridding themselves of models, and instead choosing to depict real women on their pages. In addition, I think that a law should be enforced, as fore mentioned, warning readers when an image has been photo-shopped or altered in any way. If everywhere in the world people started adopting policies such as these, we would not have such a distorted sense of what is beautiful. It's shocking and disgusting how much the media can alter a girls body image and sense of self worth, and is something that needs to be changed, in my opinion. 

Baby X

Baby X

This week in class, I thought it was very interesting to read the "Baby X" article- a fictional short story written about a child raised with no definite gender. I think in theory, this is a wonderful idea. In my opinion our society focuses much too strongly on gender norms. We should each be able to simply do what makes us happy, act without worry of what others will think. It is silly that there is a stigma against little boys playing with dolls, or little girls loving hotwheels- each child should be able to be themselves, without worry or self conciousness. But although I think this is a lovely idea in theory, in reality I think it would be far too confusing for a child. When I was a kid, my parents essencially raised me without a religion. I was taught dozens of different creeds, and was told that I could use that knowledge to decide what I believed. As I look back, I think this idea was awesome-instead of merely being fed information without a choice in the matter, my parents gave me freedom to do what I liked. But this was not the way I felt as a child: I hated that I didn't fit in, that I didn't have an answer for what I was. I hated that other kids were christian, or jewish, or muslim, but I was nothing. And although now I understand the intention of my parents was never to make me feel this way, I couldn't help it. And I think the Baby X would feel the same, maybe even more so because it was a more extreme case.