Kristen and Allie's Articles

Kirsten

The results from the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (Paths) curriculum and self-emotional learning (S.E.L) provide evidence that children who are privileged of being taught emotional literacy and emotional control benefit in far greater ways than those who are not. Early childhood is an important perspective that I think would be very helpful for Kirsten to consider. As the article suggests, coping with an array of emotions at a young age is incredibly stressful and can induce high levels of anxiety during emotional instances. Learning to manage anxiety is just the beginning. The effectiveness of "emotional training" goes beyond that of human interaction. The positive habits that are formed from this kind of training effect the wellness of an individual as a student and learner. Neurologist, Richard Davidson, suggests that emotional training conditions the prefrontal cortex in a way that will enhance a individuals ability to control impulsive reactions, to apply abstract reasoning, and create long-term goals. It is important for Kirsten to note the observation made by one teacher at Leataata Floyd elementary school. The observation and conclusion the teacher had made was that after implementing the S.E.L program her students were taking responsibility for their emotional outbursts and intrinsically taking control of them rather than projecting that control onto somebody else. This kind of training is definitely a privilege,  because those who do not receive S.E.L may suffer long-term effects of anxiety and uncertainty of how to manage their emotions-- much like myself. 

Allie 

The Buzzfeed post and "Gender as Constrained Choice" section Johnson and Repta's Sex and Gender article tie together Allie's themes of gender binaries and emotional literacy. Written by Luke Bailey, the Buzzfeed article titled "27 Gendered Products That Prove Masculinity Is Incredibly Fragile" highlights the many ways masculinity is marketed and emphasized. Some of my favorites were the chap stick for men,  cotton swabs, and sun screen. Johnson and Repta outline the logistics of this marketing approach, and highlight the reasons why it is expected that men take different approaches to their health and grooming needs than women. The roles of women and men are constructed and reinforced by marketing standards. For example, it is expected for women to care more about their physical appearance and personal comfort; so when a man wants to care for something like his lips then it  must be discreetly "taken care of" (i.e. Flat chap stick for men). These expectations also feed into the livelihoods of women, and as outlined by Johnson and Repta, "Viewing gender as a constrained choice therefore involves addressing the health restrictions that occur at many levels (individual, family, community, society) and acknowledging that healthy “choices” are limited by these over- arching and intersecting constraints." (22) These constraints are the result of an infrastructure that informs individuals to make certain choices based on their gender. For women, this constraint could be exemplified by motherhood. A social presumption is that women should be caregivers, but this expectation places the livelihood of the woman after the wellness of her family. The ripple effect from not taking care of oneself effects their health and self preservation. By marketing "mens cotton swabs" as a "tool" to "detail", and "build", and marketing "women's cotton swabs" as a "beauty tool" is one major example of how the public is constrained to making choices based on their gender. 

 

Competing

I never really thought of myself as the competing type. During most competitions, athletic or scholarly, my intent was never to win-- it was to do my very best, hope for the best, but anticipate losing. This same mentality has carried itself over into my social life and how I cope with 'real life' competition. Recently a friend told me that the reason relationships get so hard is because we let our ego get in the way, whether we intend to or not, and that jealousy works in the same way. She said we project our insecurities onto other people. I'm used to feeling insecure, but I'm not used to being a victim of jealousy. There's a tendency I have, and maybe it's rather picky of me, but I try not to surround myself with jealous or negative people. I'm not good at reading emotions.
So when one of my best friends and roommate dropped out of college my sophomore year I was a little nervous about getting a random roommate. This girl we knew wanted to move out of her single, so I asked if she wanted to move in with me thinking that it would be better than living with a stranger. Little did I know that I was living with a stranger.
We got along real well for a short while, and she was pretty fun to just chill with. I'm not really sure where things went wrong, but one day it was as if she had turned into someone else. She wasn't mean or hostile-- actually quite the opposite-- she was unresponsive. I'd ask her to do certain things like pick up her clothes when it got real bad, or just ask her not leave the door unlocked. It was so petty at first so I let it slide.
Again and again, I would continue to just let her behavior and habits slide under the radar. She would say things like, "you can get any guy you want" or "I know I'm not as together as you are"; it were as if she wanted me to think she was jealous by putting herself down. There's one weekend in particular that really sticks out to me. I had cleaned and tidied up my side of the room because I had been planning to leave for fall break. So before I left I told my roommate that I would really appreciate if my side of the room stayed the way I was leaving it, and like a good friend and roommate she reassured me that "yeah of course, I probably won't even be in here much anyways".
After five hours of driving and a fun but draining fall break I came back to my dorm anticipating the warmth of my bed. I was anything but amused to find my room completely destroyed from corner to corner. There was sugar and food spilled all over my desk, my futon was broken and the wood broken and splintered beyond repair, garbage and left over food scattered the room, and the list could go on and on. Several of my things went missing, so I spent to rest of the night to track them down. It didn't take long. My belongings were in the room of the boy she had been seeing. When I asked his roommate about it, since the boy wasn't there, he said that my roommate had brought them over as a gift.
I'll never really know why she did this, or if it was even rooted in jealousy or competition. But after that our relationship was never the same. She continued to steal my things, lie, and disrespect my friends and me after that. Personally, I think she was jealous by how close we all already were, and it didn't help that she was taking the place of one of my best friends. I guess when the pressure gets high and the jealousy grows, some people just can't control their need to compete for attention.

From Trauma to Writing

This was a really thought provoking piece, and despite it's length I really enjoyed reading it. Marian M. MacCurdy writes in such a way that makes understanding the human mind relatively simple. In the beginning, when she began talking about the academia around personal essay, I got really worried that this essay would sound a lot like many of our other readings. It was interesting how she talked about the iconic image, and related it back to the psychology of trauma recovery. First, MacCurdy talks about the importance of the iconic image in the context of personal essay. It is, she argues, the essential element to any good piece of writing (poetry, personal essay, fiction). Image is ultimately the best way to describe a story (compared to narrative). MacCurdy also suggests that image, or iconic image, is also a valuable tool in the process of healing. It is imagery that gives a person control over the situation by allowing them to reconstruct the scene or traumatic event. In a comment about writing and healing MacCurdy also suggests (with reference to Wendy Bishop)  --in response to Lester Faigley's point that personal essay is no more honest than the academic essay-- that the classroom (and largely the academy) is an appropriate environment for self exploration and self exploration is an important part of healing. She also makes an extremely good claim about the unearthing of the self, and I was really fond of how well she thought out this aspect. Unearthing of the self means to"move from the stories about their lives to the stories in their lives" (161), or move past the quickened narrative, past the summary of ones life and to look into what is currently happening.
When MacCurdy began to discuss the psychology of trauma and memory she helped me understand my own traumatic experiences. I was unaware of how the brain works in regards to stress hormones and imprinting. It makes so much sense now. She explains how whenever we have a traumatic experience stress hormones are released and imprint the images into our brain (164). This explains certain flashbacks I've had from traumatic experiences, or how whenever someone asked me "what happened"I can only explain what it looked like and how I tried running from it. What I'm referring to are two experiences I had in a hospital-- my only time spent in a hospital. It was so traumatizing I felt like I was in a dream… could have been the drugs they put me on, but still it was horrifying and had a long lasting effect. I remember one instance in particular where I was watching TV with my friends and  a hospital scene came on and I had to leave the room. I got goose bumps and nearly had a panic attack. When I was hospitalized the doctors had put me on some really strong drugs to help me calm down because I was screaming at everyone and didn't want anyone to come near me. I understand why in the  interview with EMTs being against the use of the beta drug. It's horrible not knowing exactly what happened during a traumatic experience. All I have left are cloudy images and an expensive hospital bill to pay off.

question for the class: Do you find that when reconstructing a traumatic event, that you describe it in a narrative sense, or in an imagery-oriented way?