If I were A Man

I belong to a classification of people known as Women.

I am a Women. And with that title, there are many responsibilities. These responsibilities, however, differ from men. I was talking to some of my friends not too long ago, and one of my friends was telling me about his life, his struggles, and his actions. He was fresh out of a break-up with a girl he thought was “the one”, so to help him ease his pain, he and his buddies decided to party until the sun came up. I laughed at that and said I would call him later that night. That day when I left, I had a lot on my mind, when I got home it was past five and I was tired so I decided to take a nap. But a question came to mind, what would it be like to be a man. What would I do as a man?

If I were a man I wouldn’t care about how sloppy I am, I would roll out of bed and go about my daily routine. I wouldn’t have to worry about what the other guys may think if my hair looks bad if my outfit today matches my shoes, or the pressure to look presentable. If I were a man, I would eat whatever I wanted, and hit the gym with my buddies later. Because there would be no pressure to maintain a certain body shape. 

If I were a man, I would be easily qualified for any job regardless of my education, hard work, and my productivity because I am a man. I would be more reliable and hold better ground because men are more product, men are more reliable, men get the job done, men are better. If I were a man, I would have respect and gain higher-end jobs, because I am worthy enough to lead. 

If I were a man, I would be confident, dominant, and assertive, because that’s what men are supposed to. The strong, and independent hero for all women. I would take what I want, and not bat an eye. I would be the leader; my word would be above all else. In a relationship, I wouldn’t have to worry about my partner because she would be lucky to have me. I would always put myself first because what I do matters more, it’s more important…

If I were a man, I wouldn’t be able to show weakness, I wouldn’t be able to express my pain, I wouldn’t be able to cry. Men do not cry, that’s for the weak. If I were a man, I would have to pretend that I am alright, everything is good. Because no one can know that I need help. If I were a man, my job would have to support my family, “I would like to go back to school so that I can become economically independent, support myself...support those dependent upon me” (Judy Brady) and in a relationship, I would have to act dominant and assertive because that’s what is expected of me. If I were a man, I would be expected to look and act like the tough guys in movies, magazines, articles, stories. Because otherwise, I would be considered a wimp, or not good even when compared with other men who are more refined and look and act the part of strong men. If I were a man, I would be pressured to be a leader, independent, strong, dominant, assertive. To be a man.  

Who Would Want to Be a Man? 



It was past seven when I woke up, I reached for my phone and called my friend who just broke up with his girlfriend. 

“Hey, it’s me, how are you holding up?” I asked

“I’m fine... I’m ok, I’m alright” He replied with a sigh

All you need to know about the ending of Crucible

Have you ever been so into a book, so captivated, that when you are close to finishing, you are anticipating the most glorious, most riveting conclusion ever! Well, let me tell you, Arthur Miller did just that when writing The Crucible, but the ending may not be the one we hoped for. The play was famous for discussing many important topics like the extent of power for any individual and conformity to social norms. During that time period, America was also in a turmoil,  the red scare and McCarthyism were prominent, and many African Americans were speaking out against discrimination as the civil rights movement progressed. The Red Scare can be described as a period of time where widespread fear and hysteria among Americans were caused by the idea that communism might spread. McCarthyism was a result of the increasing hysteria in America. Joseph McCarthy, a politician used this fear to elevate his status by accusing people of being communist based on their beliefs. As a result of these accusations, many that were accused were out of jobs and shunned from society (hint hint, does this remind you of something, maybe a certain play). The Crucible similarly discusses the power of fear and the ability it has to make people conform to society.  Going back to the play and its ending, the most frustrating part about the whole ordeal, is not Abigail, or the uselessness of Mary Warren(you had one job Mary, one job), but the strangely didactic, and completely infuriating ending.

(spoiler alert ahead, warning! ) The events leading up to the endings consists of Abigail accusing people and stating she “saw Sarah Good with the devil” and many others ( 904-905 Miller). This leads to the creation of the court, whose main purpose is to try and cleanse the community of any witches with the help of Abigail and her friends. Towards the end, Proctor is called in for questioning, he tells the truth about Abigail and his affair, and her confession that she was lying about seeing the devil. What is expected is that the court would holds Proctor to his word, and realize the absurdity of their wrong actions, however that is very much not what happens. Proctor ends up dying and this begs the question, what was the purpose behind his death, and why couldn't Miller give us the ending we wanted! The Crucible was based on a real life event, which made the ending even more lamentable. In many ways, Miller’s ending of The Crucible reflects the position of the accused back in the 1960s. More so, the death of John Proctor signifies the importance of the truth, and the power of social conformity and peer pressure. Even after many decades our society still faces the issue of conformity. It is human nature to follow the population, the herd if you will, because we use these norms to guide and direct our decisions in life. On the other hand, it is our nature to be independent, and want our own voices to be heard within the crowd. There are two sides to the coin, should we conform and be accepted into a society where maybe the wrong answer is considered right, or should we speak out and address the wrong, knowing it will only outcast us from the community. This complex relation of individualism versus conformity are the building blocks to decisions humans make. These decisions were what all the characters in The Crucible had to face at one point when decided to be the accused or the accuser. John Proctor's death signifies the winning decision in the end, Proctor chose to speak out and not conform to society. Do you think it was wise of Proctor to have a martyr's death, or should he have lived and helped his family, who he left behind? 

Salem Witch Trail, and Could it Happen Again

For better or worse, America has been through the trend of paranoia and throwing accusations left and right. Our history has had some dark times regarding hysteria and it may be because of the lack of knowledge from the general people. Blaming and accusing is one of the ways we tend to deal with issues that we do not understand. The Salem Witch trails will go down in history as an event that has the most baseless accusations. Bear in mind, Puritans considered an individual a witch if one floats in water, the notion now is very amusing, but at the time it was life or death for an individual.

As hard as it is to understand how the Salem witch trials happened, it is not the first time it has occurred, and there is no doubt it will be the last. In the few decades after the Salem Witch Trials, there have been countless historic events that are very similar, relating to mass fear. The anti-German sentiment, which was the fear of Germany, and the general German culture and language was brought about by the notion that "Germans were bad because America is fighting them". Americans tend to see things through a bais lense, and like many other countries, we have pride in our own people and nation. However, there is a degree to which this pride becomes our Achilles' heel. For instances, the onslaught of discrimination for Germans and their culture was mainly because of World War 1. At the time of World War 1, America’s opposing team was the Germans, the fear and hysteria was an added factor to the tension growing for the war. When the Zimmerman Telegram was discovered there was even more hysteria, new propaganda was created by news outlets to discredit and scare the people into fearing Germans. Many of the German-Americans living in America were outcasted, humiliated and thrown to jail. Alongside that, there was McCarthyism, Red Scare, Anti-Japanese champagne, and more. What all these events have in common is the fact that there was a lot of blaming and false accusations, however, there was no need for it. McCarthyism by definition is “a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy ”, this rise of hysteria was caused by the fear of communism through postwar. Joseph McCarthy used the hysteria during the time period for his own benefit. He was viewed as a respectable man trying to better the community, but in reality, he was hunting people who either opposed him or wronged him. It spread quickly when there were many other individuals who also started to accuse others of believing in communism or being a spy.

What I find striking is the similarities between McCarthyism, Anti-German Sentiment, and the Salem Witch Trials regarding mass fear. It is hard to think that The Salem Witch Trail could happen again because the faults and wrongdoings are clear within the text, but maybe it really could. The only real cause of all these mass paranoia was the fact that people were afraid of the unknown. McCarthyism was led by the belief of communism spreading towards America, this was unnecessary considering the reprisal it was receiving. There was no need for the fear of communism spreading with all the hatred it was received by the masses. The same thing goes for Anti-German sentiment and the Red Scare era, these events were the snowball effect of a person or a group of individuals who were influencing the public opinion. So, back to the Salem Witch trial, could it really happen again? The events after prove that the Salem Witch Trail can happen, and have happened. There are many possibilities that our community will look at something different and consider it a threat because of the lack of knowledge for the topic. This is essentially what occurred during the Witch Trails, the individuals who were thought to be unique and different from the rest were outcasted and named a witch. Individuals who valued certain morals and ideologies were compared to the general public and ostracized for their differences. In many ways, society is still viewing differences as a threat, the first instinct is to scrutinize those unique aspects of an individual or group rather than understand it.  

Christopher Columbus looks like the meme of the baby with painted eyebrows.

Long before the every so popular Christaphor Columbus came to South America, thinking it was India, there were Natives. Native Americans that rules over the high lands of America, and had every right to that land. However, as all of you know Christopher Columbus sailed the big blue sea in search of Indian spices and gold that was much wanted in that time period. The lack of information and knowledge of the world would lead Columbus to some Caribbean islands, now known as the Bahamas, and South America. The big lesson learned here is that Christopher Columbus never did set foot on the North of America, nor did find India and all the gold and spices it had to offer.

So why exactly do we have a Columbus Day, when the founding of America; the land of opportunities was never discovered by Columbus? Why in this day and age is there no celebration for the Native Americans, that had to relocate and surrender their homes to the colonists?

I realized with a start that educational lessons taught in school can be wrong, mostly that which pertains to our history. Throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school, the topic of history has always been taught and mandatory. The adventurous, story-like lessons on Christopher Columbus has created an extraordinary character of who Columbus might be. But, the fact is Christopher Columbus was not the hero of the story, nor did he help in any way to directly contribute to lead America into the right path. The history of our country can in many ways change the way we see certain things and come to understand how and why America came to be. And for the most part, it is really interesting to hear about life when long dresses and horses were in fashion. But seriously, let's get real here, isn't wearing ankle length dresses a hassle, anyway back to the topic. We are only looking at a one-sided mirror, and can only know one side of the story. Like Sherman Alexie said its time to “ tell the truth” (Source 1) about Native Americans and ask the more urgent questions. How were the Native Americans affected by the age of exploration? And how did manifest destiny restrict their lives?

The concept of Columbus Day was to express the age of exploration, but there is a whole other story from the Native Americans that have never been brought to light. “ A lot of crimes were committed against the natives and indigenous people that we should be aware of “ (Source 4) is the next big thing that we should all be talking about. The idea of having an Indigenous people’s day recognizes the pain and suffering that Native Americans had to go through during the age of exploration. Anywho, have you seen Christopher Columbus, he looks like that meme of the baby with painted eyebrows.

(Ok, so it might just be me, but this is what I envision Columbus looked like when he discovered "India" ps. actually South America )