My First Vlog post -- Ever!

My video response: (Little Wows of Feminism)


to Courtney E. Martin's video: (Happiness)

seriously.

Why do you torture me, Arcade Fire? No news on a new album in months (more like years..) and then you release an ambiguous photo and expect me to be content?

(I love you anyway)

(see, how could I be mad at that? It's a HURDY GURDY!)

Magdalene Laundries and other asylum musings...

(from The Magdalene Sisters)


Okay. So...

I have this weird fascination with institutionalization. I find myself looking at books like The History of Women in Asylums Since 1500...or some such title. This idea of putting someone in these institutions just because they didn't "fit" into society neatly is enough to infuriate me. Because without even trying, if I was born in certain times of history I would have been institutionalized.

Scary, scary thought that someone (your family, even friends) could put you into these asylums which were typically run by the government. Specifically, the Magdalene Laundries/Asylums of Ireland, England, Australia, even America at one point, are perfect examples of these institutions. Institutions that were run by both the state and the Catholic Church. Frightening.

So, what makes Magdalene Asylums so different from other asylums? Most of the time a woman was put into one because she was seen as "sexual" and did not fit into the neat idea of Motherhood (usually unwed mothers ended up there) or they were suspected of having sex. In some cases, women were put into these asylums as "preventive" measures...as in they might have unwed sex some day.

Or even just because they were already institutionalized through state-run orphanages or schools, they stuck girls and women in there if they didn't want to deal with them anymore.

They did this especially because they had to find "jobs" for these people when they got out of these institutions...so, they decided to make it easier for themselves and put them into another institution where some of them stayed for the rest of their lives.

The Magdalene Laundries was a place where women were shamed, silenced, and beat (literally, in some cases) into submission. They were not paid to clean the church's laundry, the town's, cities', other institutions, hotels. But they were controlled to, not getting an education, or allowed any real social interactions with the outside world. Similar to getting out of jail (if they were able to get out), getting out the asylums was alienating...some of the women hadn't been into the real world for years, maybe even decades.

I'm currently reading this very well-written book about these Magdalene Asylums - Ireland's Magdalen Laundries and the Nation's Architecture of Containment by James M. Smith. This book, the documentary Sex in a Cold Climate, and the film The Magdalene Sisters are great starting points to learn about these asylums/laundries.

(probably more on this subject later...I haven't even touched on the sexual abuse rampant in these instutuions....crazzzzzy.)

Before the pill...

Even though I wasn't there very long (an hour) - I got to hear probably the best part. The three women's stories about what it was like going up without the legalized pill was so interesting. I especially enjoyed the first woman who spoke about growing up in a smaller family (4 kids) as opposed to all her neighbors and friends who had 10/12 kids.

This issue to me is so important. I feel like even if I don't personally need contraception at this point, I still desperately want other people to have access to it. And through our school systems, we're not getting information about the history of reproductive health - something I needed to know. Something (many things) was lacking in my education, but this above all disturbed me.

I saw that all the women telling their stories had supportive mothers who didn't want their children to have to deal with unwanted pregnacies and dead-end marriages. Although those might of happened, it was in the intent of the mothers that thrilled me.

And I was there when they opened up the discussion to hear one of the women speaking about activism. Which I've done with Planned Parenthood and really enjoyed - felt like I made some sort of difference. And this was a reminder to me that I haven't really done any activism lately...and I want to.

I really want something to drop in my lap, but I think I need to look into organizations in Greenville and find something to do with my long summer (hopefully finding a job...).

Creativity Loss

Every time I get on here to write a blog I feel like I have nothing to say - but, I do. I have lots to say about everything - anything. Like how I actually enjoy analyzing poetry for my Religion & Feminism essay test or that I really like campy but witty tv shows (Buffy) /movies (But I'm a Cheerleader).

Seeing a blank screen kills my creativity. Any ideas I had walking to class - all gone. Swallowed by some unknown vacuum. Ok...that's a little dramatic. It's not really that bad, just empty. I feel like maybe I'm more creative in concept than in reality.

I've found I'm way more creative in class, on projects, essays...when I'm applying my creativity in a certain way. It's this whole purpose thing - like just writing a poem for myself vs. a poem for my poetry class. I find myself mixing self-poetry and class-poetry, so that I complete this assignment, but as well include stuff I like to write about, or imagery I'm partial to.

I love female musicians!

So, I haven't really blogged before. Unless you count Livejournal teenage sillyness, which no one will ever get a link to. I feel like my life is structed so I talk to people in real life about witty things, or important, serious life-stuff. And I do this for a reason, so as not to get too introverted as I am prone to do.

On a more fun note, internet/real life obsessions. I have them. Especially with a certain musician in one of my favorite bands (Arcade Fire). Her pic is above, Régine Chassagne. She's origially from Haiti, so she wrote this post on the Guardian about her reaction to the earthquakes there -

"Many Haitians expect to be let down. History shows they are right to feel that way. Haitians know that they have been wronged many, many times. What we are seeing on the news right now is more than a natural disaster. This earthquake has torn away the veil and revealed the crushing poverty that has been allowed by the west's centuries of disregard. That we must respond with a substantial emergency effort is beyond argument, but in the aftermath, Haiti must be rebuilt."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/17/haiti-earthquake-aid-casualties

I also love Markéta Irglová who was the first Czech person to win an Oscar and also the youngest to win an Oscar for Music. She was in the movie Once with Glen Hansard (I wrote a review in my high school paper about it...) and she is also in a band with him called The Swell Season.

sorry...Amber for no updates ever...

I love this blog...
http://www.womenandhollywood.com/

and this weird documentary from 1990 that I kinda love/think is ridiculous...



there is a woman named Starhawk on there who I think is badass/creepy. As you can see I'm conflicted...

my blogs title is a sylvia plath reference, btw...