Our blog that we chose to do was called the Everywherist. The author of the blog is a woman whose husband travels the world. Up until she started posting this blog, she had a job behind a desk, and had to stay at home while her husband got to travel. Then, she was fired from her job, which turned out to be, as she puts it, “the best thing that could’ve happened to me”. She has since been traveling the world with her husband, and keeping this blog. She says it is partly to keep tabs on where they have been, but also as a long letter to her husband. The reason we picked this blog is because we were trying to find something that was different, and might peak the interest of the best variety of people. Some people are interested in the more common topics, such as sports or politics, but we know not everyone is, so we thought this might be something different that might be interesting.
So the struggle with this blog was connecting it to our discussions about class warfare. But, when we sat down and really thought about it, it wasn’t really difficult at all! This blog unintentionally plays on the stereotype of women staying at home while men work. Women can be defined as a “class”, and even though they are at the same place as men now, there still is that stereotype that women should stay at home, etc. This blog, while unintentionally showing that, also shows that just because they are not out working, it does not mean they are not being productive. Another way you could make the connection is to say that it shows the life of the traveling businessman, and makes it seem all luxurious, with the traveling to many different places. One more way that this relates to the discussion is that a lot of times, in today’s society, it is made out that if you are not working, you are not doing anything useful, but it shows that this woman is now unemployed, and she is the happiest she has ever been.
1. Does this mean the generalization that if you are not employed you are lazy/unhappy may not be true?
2. Do women still have stereotypes working against them in society?
3. Do women classify as a “class”, in the sense that we discuss in class?
4. Does employment equal success, or does happiness equal success?
5. Why are we so quick to judge the unemployed?
I think this is a very interesting perspective on what it means to be productive. Obviously, the woman was being productive when she had her first job but after being laid off, she had to find something else to fill her time with. So now she catalogues her and her husband’s travels while simultaneously entertaining her readers. Personally, I think this would be a wonderful way to live, and in today’s culture, it can actually be a viable way to make a living. With all of the ad space that she could sell on her blog and the publicity she gets, she could generate a moderate income. I think this is an inspiring story of how you can live your life the way you want and still be productive and accomplish something with your life.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is very interesting if you talk about social warfare, because now we also think about gender. (Not only about wealth and races.) To answer your first question: That woman is not unemployed. I would put it like she does not have to work to make a living, because her husband earns enough money and she is writing on a blog and thousands of people are reading that. So she has a job. And yes, there are still stereotypes. For example that women cannot lead a company as well as men can. Women also classify as a "class", because they are still not earning as much as the men do. And so you are able to differ.
ReplyDelete(http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Men+earn+more+than+women+statistic&um=1&hl=de&sa=X&biw=1311&bih=646&tbm=isch&tbnid=GWtG7_1OHhS93M:&imgrefurl=http://www.catalyst.org/publication/217/womens-earnings-and-income&docid=s12uKEZAH4FFtM&w=592&h=306&ei=ElqKTpXDDMejtgeFwd2cAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=285&vpy=171&dur=151&hovh=161&hovw=312&tx=141&ty=91&page=1&tbnh=113&tbnw=218&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0)
Maximilian Mogg
I also think your blog is interesting.Male or female, upper class, middle class, lower class, black people, white people and yellow people, they all can find their positions in our society. Women, in Asia or in US, the stereotyped social role is assisting men to take care of family, children. Sometimes, even themselves ignore what they desire to do, stay at home or travel instead. For your last question, we are so quick to judge the unemployed because we are be judged by others based on "social success" standard.
ReplyDeleteShiyun Hu
I agree with what Dave said. In this day and age, there are so many unconventional jobs that make people a great income. We now live on the internet, and finding creative ways to take advantage of that is a great thing. This goes back to our discussion of a real job. Few people would call what she has a real job. However, it provides entertainment and she is happy doing it, so who are we to judge?
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the statement that women are put in their own class. The idea that women need to stay in the home is very outdated, however. Reading a blog like this is inspiring because it shows that people are taking bad situations and turning them into great opportunities, which is a fantastic thing, no matter what class you come from.
After class yesterday I could not stop thinking about our discussion on success. I think we have defined success too broadly...I believe there are many different types of success. There is financial success, marital success, parental success, and countless others types. One can be financially successful but unsuccessful with their level of happiness. So to answer your question I don't think employment or happiness equals success. Employment may equal financial success while happiness may equal a completely different type of success. I think we need to narrow down our definition of success to better measure what ‘equals’ success. The combination of financial success along with happiness may be the ultimate form of success. I believe no matter how happy one is they will not feel wholly successful if they are living on the streets. One must balance their lives between all the different types of success to feel completely successful.
ReplyDeleteFor most people, the generalization of not being employed may means lazy or unhappy. But if a person is happy is not determined by if he or she has a work. Work can help one enrich his life and get better involvement in the society. But everyone has his own choice to choose the life style. Some people like staying at home to arrange the house stuff and take care of children. Then they can go out for a dinner or movie on the weekends with their families. They are happy even they do not have work.So I can not admit every one who do not have a work is lazy or unhappy.
ReplyDeleteAnd employment can not equal to success,neither happiness. Success should come from both material and spirit aspects. Getting a high-paid work may prove you are successful in career or wealth. But many people who have much money do not feel happy in daily life. So you can not say they are successful. On the other hand, if one get a low-paid work, it will be difficult to realize his goal in material life. You may think people can keep optimistic when face anything. But if one person can not satisfy his daily life' basic requirements, such as food and clothes, how can he keeps happy all the time.
I agree with cindyqian said.Whateve how much value people have.The most important part is happiness in our daily life.So I agree happiness equal success. Women are happy when they are unemployed . About women’s value.I think it depend on themselves.Everybody has chance to what’s live on their way.Maybe she does not have work.But I think housewife is also a job and she concentrate on the housework and care about children.They are doing good job on the family part .They are proud of themselves because she get suAnd also it is less conflicts when the family is peaceful and no argument.Man can work hard out of home and do not need to worry about any issues in family.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great topic to go with our class subject, and I do believe that it defeats the typical generalization of today’s generation by going back to the old standard where the man worked and was the bread winner. I think that this shows how stereotypes still exist, not just against women though. You walk into a room and everyone who looks at you makes some opinion before they talk to you for the 1st time based on your actions or appearance. And stereotypes don’t create their own class, they may help determine what class somebody may associate with, but they are still an aspect of society. Like a Young Women’s Association, that doesn’t make them a class though.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a interesting topic, and worthy to discuss about. Because there are varies people in the world, and each individuals has their own aspect about what is right what is wrong. Some people think that happiness is more important than money and what job you are doing. Some people consider money the most important. Some people care about how other people look at them. I my point of view, money happiness is both important. Today my friend shared a website with me, talking about to resign for one year and travel around the world. This is the way people trying to do what really makes them happy. But as a matter of fact, without money how can we enjoy the beautiful life?
ReplyDeleteMore and more today, there is a battle for women to gain recognition in today’s world. Not at all like it use to be when woman had to fight for equal rights, but there is still that unwritten law that a lot of people, even other women believe that they should be at home taking care of what men can’t. Like doing the laundry, dishes, cooking, getting the children ready in the morning(if that applies) I like the fact that she took advantage of becoming unemployed and turned it into living her life and sharing it with her husband and an audience that cares to listen. I mean why not? I don’t think this story really says anything about woman as a class; today women are becoming a front runner in almost every career no matter what it is. The questions asked by your group almost assist the thought that women should be classified into their own category. I understand that it’s a point of view, and mine is that women are much more important to the world than society gives them credit for. Being wealthy doesn’t necessitate happiness either; sometimes you have to look at how rewarding a job can be for personal wealth. Take a look at a teacher when they connect to a student and help turn their life around, or a social worker that helps voices be heard. Not very high pay but yet they love their job. In this case she’s not unemployed; it seems she is doing very well for herself as a self-employed blogger. Selling ad space, writing about it, and traveling. I’ll take that job any day. Sounds like a dream job to me.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the fifth question, I also wonder why we are so quick to judge the unemployed. I believe this blog shows that some of those that are unemployed may have a deeper story than people would realize at first glance. If this woman just told us she was unemployed and no other details, many people might judge her. However, with this blog, we see why she is unemployed, and how she has found happiness without a traditional judge. Therefore, this blog shows us not to judge people right away just because they might not have a “real” job. She is quite happy with her life, and therefore has found success. Another thing to look at is that she could easily have a job selling ad space on her blog, as that is becoming a rapidly expanding way of making money on the internet.
ReplyDeleteThe blog raises an interesting point. The main subject of the blog found content in her life and husband instead of searching for satisfaction through the standards of the world. I’m sure that eventually she would have been able to find another job but instead she found this time that many would consider negative and made a positive. She let this time reunite her and her husband’s love. She was able to travel the world by herself and found joy beyond measure, which is something that many people have forgotten to do. Instead of measuring their success for themselves, they allow others to determine their happiness by what they have and don’t have. When in actuality, your social class or status can’t make you happy, that’s something that you have to do. Material things come and go and can be replaced but your happiness cant, and the author of the Everywherist Blog understood that unlike so many people in today’s society.
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ReplyDeleteEarlier in this discussion, Miranda was discussing the reality that success can hold a number of forms - for, she presented the determination that "we need to narrow down our definition of success to better measure what ‘equals’ success." Now, I suggest this argument to be applied to a comment made by Ashley: "your social class or status can't make you happy, that's something that you have to do." In this respect, I find the thought of "happiness success" quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteI mean, personally, I tend to consider myself to be happy if I'm not sad. So, I seem to be achieving happiness without doing anything. However, this sense of happiness seems to go away after a while... Eventually, I start to get restless and feel that I am not being productive (whatever that means), and, as it goes on, I enter that state of melancholy that will take "productive" time and, more importantly, action to erase. That is, unless I'm confronted by an adorable, poofy kitten... then I concede that I will probably become instantaneously happy, again (those little fluffballs are hard to resist).
The point I'm trying to make, though, is that, now, even a seeming sub-component of success (i.e. happiness success) has become more complex and less accurately defined. So, just as this discussion has developed the notion that class and success should should be analyzed more narrowly, I begin to wonder if this loop of "breaking things down" ever ends. If so, when? If not, what would be implied by the possibility of an infinite loop of analysis?
First of all,I do think it is a very cool and fresh idea to consider women as a class.And I also appreciate this woman's blog about her traveling around the world. But I have to say this is a special case because this woman's travel is only on the condition that her husband have a lot of money to support their journey.Nowadays,for the majority people ,no matter men or women,it is very important to have a job to support their family.It is a responsibility which should by no means be neglected Although having a job does not necessarily equals a happy life or success,it is still the foundation of developing our interest and realizing our dream.We have to admitted the fact that a job means stable income,which enable us to do something we really like in today's highly competitive society .How can you achieve your dream if you are not able to feed yourself? Job does matter!
ReplyDeleteIn my point of view, anybody who live in this world have to earn something to sustain life on this world, but it does not necessarily mean that if you are unemployed you don’t earn life or happiness. If we take the woman who travels around with her husband, She is happy than ever. I believe she is happy because she is exploring around the world learning new things. She prefers traveling because it is more adventurous than staying at one place and work day to day. Also her husband is able to provide his wife with all her needs. You may ask how unemployed individual is able to sustain life and how they be happy? For most part, I don’t believe money can bring happiness. In my opinion, happiness is more balanced state of mind than having more money. Our attitude toward life and how we approach situation we face determines weather someone is happy or unhappy. Without any income it’s not possible to sustain life unless one finds a way to make money. Some people earn some kind of income through drug trafficking, welfare, layoff benefit, etc.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jida in the fact that I believe that money is not a neccessity to achieving happiness. I feel many people in our society could say the same, and yet stereotypes that the unemployed and poorer citizens are lazy, unhappy, rude, and a number of other negative things still exist. I feel that many of the negative connotations associated with lack of wealth are unfortunately encouraged by the media. This can be easily seen in advertisements, magazines, television shows, movies, books, and music, which, in a society where technological advancement is a primary aspect of our culture, are seen/heard/read/witnessed by large numbers of people. We live in a society where the media encourages people want things and information faster and life to be easier and yet still seem glamourous. When such a glamourized and selfish way of life is encouraged, it leads to things like drug trafficking that I believe create negative examples of people trying to earn money in our society and, in some cases, leads people to generalize and, therefore, be more quick to judge the unemployed or not wealthy.
ReplyDeleteI see nothing wrong with this woman being unemployed as long as both her and her husband are happy. If the loss of her income caused them to struggle to make ends meet, it would be a problem, but it actually seems like their lives have been changed for the better. Since the husband traveled frequently, I would imagine their relationship sometimes suffered, but now they get to spend more time together, and she is still keeping busy with a blog. Sounds like a great life to me! I like how this blog discusses women as a social class as opposed to the financial-based classes we usually discuss in class. It's a different view of the phrase "class warfare"
ReplyDeleteI think the Occupy Wall street blog is a great example for American citizens. It is showing that our freedoms were not granted for our health, they were granted for use to use when we need a voice. As Americans, we need to be more willing to fight for the things we need. We need to fight for jobs, fight for healthcare, and fight for equality of social classes. The sooner more people take the same approach as the people of the Occupy Wall street blog have, our nation will become better. We cannot just continuously sit around complaining, that is not how change is made. Instead we need to get put and protest, petition, write letters, and go the extra mile for the things we need and deserve.
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