Thursday, June 28, 2012

The Problem with Taking Up Biking Again

So I had a really deep post planned, but then I went for a bike ride with my brother. I had the idea that I'd ride around the block a few times like I used to when I was little; he had the idea that we should ride to church. Unfortunately, he also had the idea that he should disassemble my bike's gearshift as part of the "maintenance" stuff, and then we couldn't figure out how to put it all the way back together again...

Long story short, the bike started changing gears at the worst possible times about a mile out, and I overworked myself getting back home. Still got a headache. Deep and thoughtful posts about meaningful stuff will have to be delayed.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Meet Holly and Sharon

When I was thirteen, I got bored one day and created for myself two alter egos for the purpose of populating a roleplay site I had going. They're twin sisters, and their names are Holly and Sharon Meyers. Sharon is the louder and more active twin; she is well-liked at school, and has played soccer since the age of ten. Both twins are fairly smart, but around age fourteen Sharon stopped showing interest in books and reading in favor of more popular pursuits. Meanwhile, Holly is shy and studious, enjoying her academics but happiest at church, and she always has a Bible on hand, and usually at least one other book too. Their priorities are different enough by now that they often clash and irritate each other, but Holly--being the quieter twin--is usually the one who gives in.

The site I created them for has long since died out, but I recently went back and started thinking about writing a story with these characters. I know the basic lines of it already: Holly's relationship with her faith community is tested, while Sharon's faith is suddenly forced forward in her life. I know what to put Holly through, but I'm not sure what to do to Sharon. How does one properly torture a fictional athlete? Maybe I should give her some other all-consuming hobby... make her a theater kid instead, since I know theater... but she was always a soccer player.

Maybe Sharon is injured and forced off the field, or maybe she's just cut from the team. Would that be enough? I don't know athletes well enough to know. Would starting to have her own questions work? I know what it's like for an obsession to crumble, but it's hard to tell how anything will be received by the reader.

Categories and Stereotypes

I've been thinking lately about an article that was in The Washington Post a few months ago. To the best of my recollection, it was comprised largely of complaining about how difficult it is to find an adjective that fits all black women. And it made me think: why? I'm just a little white girl, so I might not have the credentials to say so, but it seems to me that all the Post is trying to do here is find a stereotype that works--and stereotypes don't work.

The problem with trying to attach a non-tautological* adjective to any group of people, but especially such a broadly defined group as "all females of a given race," is that pretty much any adjective you pick will describe some of those people, thus supporting your suggestion for every instance of a person who can say "oh, yeah, I know a black woman who is exactly like that," but there will also be many instances of "but I know a black woman who is NOTHING like that." In my experience, the latter group tends to get ignored, because people love their stereotypes and want to keep them.

But any stereotype isn't how it is. The Post can't find an adjective that fits all black women because some black women are loud and some are quiet; some sleep around, some are faithfully married, and some don't sleep with anyone; some are poor, some are rich, some are in between, and one is the First Lady of the United States. The stereotypes don't work for a reason that's fairly obvious to me: what a person looks like on the outside has very little to do with what kind of personality they have underneath.

I've read that people talk about how annoying loud black girls are, but I can assure you (because I had at least one of each in the same class--and it was a class I really wanted to pay attention in, too!) that loud white boys can be every bit as irritating. And loud white girls. And loud Asian boys. And loud Hispanic girls. In fact, if it's their race or gender that you're getting mad at, rather than the fact that the interesting lecture is being interrupted yet AGAIN by the individuals whose private conversations never seem to end even when there is obviously something else going on and everyone is raptly attentive, the problem may be with you.

But that's just my opinion.

*I don't see a problem with saying, for instance, "all black women are female," because that's part of the definition of "women." Or "all black women are of African descent," because that's what "black" means in this context. Those statements are just rephrasing the original term, and really don't need saying. Going beyond that, however, gets into stereotyping. People do treat stereotypes as tautological... but when you look at it, "all members of Insert Group Here who are fillintheblank are fillintheblank" is a statement restating itself; "all members of Insert Group Here are fillintheblank" almost never is.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Prima Nocte

Here is where I begin, prima nocte--during the first night.

I have to admit, I've never blogged before. I'm a little girl, age eighteen, and I'm starting this blog as a place to explore all the things that I'm not allowed to talk about other places, like speaking foreign languages and falling in love with the unpopular crowd and all the other messy parts of figuring out who I am.

I called this blog "Estne Illa Amata?" with a question mark, because in a lot of ways that one little sentence encapsulates a lot of what I've been asking myself lately. Estne illa amata? It means, "Is she loved?"

The "she" in question changes sometimes. Sometimes I'm referring to myself, other times to a friend. Sometimes I'm asking what love is, and how to define my own feelings. Sometimes I look at big questions in the world, and I ask, "Does this show love to the people who need it?" And sometimes it's just me being rebellious enough that I insist on studying the language I love, classical Latin, rather than limiting myself to what I'm allowed to learn.

About Latin... sometimes, I might use this blog to practice my linguistic skills. In accordance with the conventions we used in my Latin 2 and 4 classes, and for the sake of readability, I'm going to be using English spacing and capitalization, but I just can't bring myself to render the consonantal I as a J. Hence my screen name, Iuliana Amata. I'm a little ambivalent about whether or not the vocalic V should be rendered as a U, but since I seem to have already started doing it I might as well keep going. This may change at some point.

I call myself Iuliana Amata, "Juliana is loved." Amata, is-loved, not Amanda, must-be-loved. I have enough experience on the Internet that I do not expect that everyone who reads this will like me or agree with me. I do, however, expect, and I will enforce, common courtesy. That means no wanton insults, little to no profane language, and considering before you say anything that there is a real human being on the other end of the connection.

Thank you for reading.