Yesterday, Today, and Beyond

Americans entrust their safety and their lives to the hands of law enforcement officers every day.   We trust that they will be honorable and protect citizens when needed.   They also have the responsibility to hold citizens accountable when they have committed a crime, whether it be a minor traffic violation or something as serious as a homicide.   While most law enforcement officers are honorable and take pride in serving their communities, there are some serious and endemic problems within the law enforcement community.   Many of these problems are not new but are becoming increasingly public due to the advent and commonality of cell phones with cameras and the ease of distribution through social media sites.   There are some unique factors to consider when dealing with holding a police officer accountable for wrongdoings, up to and including causing the deaths of civilians. In a journal article about the cycle of police misconduct in Chicago, Elizabe...

In her short story “The Lottery,” Shirley Jackson describes a pleasant summer day in a small town, whose citizens hold an annual lottery.   Jackson portrays the lottery as an integral part of the town’s history that has been done since the founding of the town many years ago.   Everyone in the small town participates.   Each male head of household draws a piece of paper from an old, worn, wooden black box.   During the lottery in this story, Mr. Bill Hutchinson pulls the paper with a dot, indicating his family is the lottery “winner.”   His wife, Mrs. Tessie Hutchinson immediately argues over the fairness of the drawing.   Everyone in Mr. Hutchinson’s immediate family then comes forward and draws a slip of paper to determine the final “winner” of the lottery.   Mr. Hutchinson’s family includes Mrs. Hutchinson, Bill Jr., Nancy, and little Dave.   Mrs. Hutchinson ultimately draws the slip with the black dot and “wins” the lottery.   Mrs. ...

In the epic poem The Odyssey , Homer tells the story of the heroic Greek king of Ithaca, named Ulysses, who is known as more of a trickster, than a traditional rugged warrior.   For instance, when Ulysses is called to fight in the Trojan war, which he doesn’t want to serve, he pulls some tricks to deceive people into thinking he is insane, so he won’t have to leave his wife and young son.   Ultimately, his plan is foiled and out of honor, Ulysses is forced to gather his men and leave for battle.   After an arduous ten-year war, the Greeks had the city of Troy encircled, with most of the Trojans fortified inside their city walls.   The Greeks pretend to concede, make a large wooden horse out of their ships, and leave it as a fake tribute to the Trojans, who assume it is a gift for being victorious.   The Greeks hide inside the wooden horse, waiting to attack the Trojans at just the right time.   The Trojans proudly bring the horse inside the city wal...

Women in the past were often limited in the educational opportunities available to them.   They were often expected to dress certain ways, sometimes sexually in the workplace.   Some women were forced or pressured into sexually compromising positions, such as “entertaining” male clients.   Women were subjected to blatant sexual harassment.   Women were also limited to certain careers, such as teachers, nurses, and secretaries.   Even though some of these things still happen today, they are not as prevalent and out in the open.   I am most happy that education and career opportunities are more open now than they have been in the past.   Girls are taught to be polite and lady like, to like dolls, and playing house and things like that.   Boys are taught to be tough, defend themselves, and to play with “boy” toys like cars, action figures, etc.   A boy’s parents usually dissuade their son from playing with dolls or dressing in pink.  ...

I found an article linked to the Families and Work Institute website, entitled "What if Labor Day Fell Every Week? Here Are The Alternatives to Your Overworked Five-Day Week."   The articles talks about how some employers are opting for a shorter work week.   There are many different strategies that people are using.   Some employers are cutting the work week down to 3 or 4 days, while increasing the number of hours worked each day.   Other employers are paying employees for the work accomplished, no matter how many hours are worked.   And there are a plethora of other different options suited to individual employees or businesses.   I think this is a wonderful idea that more companies should look into.   Flexible work schedules or work weeks would make it easier for employees to take care of children, sick, or elderly family when needed.   It also makes the option of going to school or pursuing opportunities and interests available to employees...

            In “Aligning Bodies,” Judith Lorber and Lisa Jean Moore bring to light the burdens endured by people in our society that don’t necessarily fit into preconceived notions of sex and gender.   On a daily basis there are issues they must consider:   when filling out forms that ask for their sex, when going to the restroom and when showing legal documents that may not match the gender they identify with.   Transgender people may or may not have surgery on their chest and/or genitalia and/or face or other surgery and may choose to use hormone therapy.   Some people are born with ambiguous genitalia or with genitals or chromosomes of both sexes.   Yet others may identify as a gender different than their birth sex and choose to not alter their body physically.   There is a wide spectrum of people in our world that don’t neatly fit into the “F” and “M” boxes.   Society and individuals need to ...

            According to Carol Bohmer and Andrea Parrot, two factors that are most common in determining when acquaintance rape will occur are the number of men a woman dates and the intoxication level of the man.   The more men a woman dates, the higher the probability that she will encounter men with these tendencies.   When men are drunk, they are less likely to understand that the woman may not want to have sex or may just be emboldened to ignore her wishes.   Another factor that increases the chance of acquaintance rape is the intoxication of the female.   I was shocked to read about a Stanford professor’s belief that “if a woman does not know that what happened to her is rape, then it is not rape” (Bohmer and Parrot 357).   Sexual assault by someone you know is very confusing and extremely hard to define and work through.   This sounds just like another example of victim blaming.   The vict...

In E.M. Broner’s "Honor and Ceremony in Women's Rituals," Broner changes patriarchal ceremonies to women-centered experiences by taking common male rituals and prayers.   Broner changes the names and words to represent females that have been left out of the traditions, stories, and prayers over the years.   She also showcases the anger that many Jewish women have felt for being left out of the history, the Torah, and many customs and prayers over the years.   It is socially and politically important to create rituals for women, so that generations of women will have self confidence to do what they want in life.   When women are seen as subservient, it affects their self worth and limits them.   If I were to create a feminist ritual, it would be a holiday honoring all women and girls.   We would honor women of all kinds, no matter their race, religion, sexual orientation, or whether or not they were married, had children, or ever wanted to have children. ...