For my capstone, I decided that I wanted to focus on mental stress and anxiety. To do so, I formatted my project in a way where I can learn more about SLA’s mental health status and how stress & anxiety can play a role in the student’s everyday lives. I designed and 3D printed my own fidget toys, which I plan to distribute to a handful of students at some point. I took a survey for the students to answer and gave them the opportunity for interviews so they can share their thoughts and opinions on the topic. This whole process was a learning experience. It taught me time management, collaboration, communication, and patience. If I could redo it, there are things I know I could improve on but I’m satisfied with how my project ended up. I worked with a lot of people and learned more about myself and my community along the way.

Some of my favorite films, why I like them and how I feel they relate to me personally :)

Welcome back to The Bluest Clues podcast, inspired by the book The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Featured in this second episode are B-Band’s very own Jalen Bowman-Whitaker, Michael Rojas-Sandoval, Rylee McMillan, Sarahi Franco-Morales, and Tahlia Nguyen. In this episode, we explore the novel through a feminist lens and go through the topics of power dynamics, masculinity vs. femininity, and gender roles, just to name a few. Listen to learn more!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lmuaHZSFejhypPZJ-D1HpX6wHRUs8N2n/view?usp=sharing

Annotated Bibliographies:

Sarahi: “The history of beauty pageants reveals the limits of Black representation” article speaks on large beauty pageants in America and how the beauty standards have centered on “whiteness” for a very long time. The impact the media have had on the image of beauty is powerful. When a race is continuously excluded from beauty pageants it roots racism in our society. Women of color have historically been excluded, teaching young girls they don’t belong in the media’s definition of beautiful. As we see in The Bluest Eyes these young girls are already wishing they had blue eyes, because they believe that will make the superior and “beautiful” — a sick mindset that is instilled in young girls when they don’t see representation.

Jalen: The article “Feeling Ambivalent about Motherhood is Normal” highlights the obstacles and challenges that mothers can face during their pregnancies. From anxiety and medication to postpartum depression and suicidal thoughts, it reveals to the readers what the dark side of becoming a mother can be like. In the Bluest Eye, we are made aware of the relationship that Pecola has with her family, especially her mother. It makes us question their relationship, but more so question how this affects Pecola as she’s growing and going through her teenage years. She lacks ultimate guidance from her mother, which leaves her feeling empty, hopeless, and self-conscious in a lot of ways.

Rylee: In 1912 the Heterodoxy club was formed for the unusual and proudly unruly women. It consisted of mostly college-educated women, which was a rarity in the early 1900s. A few of the members of the group were married, some in scandalous relations, and others in same-sex unions. These women were known for their uniqueness among society with their “short haircuts and flowing batik-print tunics.” A historian and author named Joanna Scutts wrote a book about this group called “HotBed: Bohemian Greenwich Village and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism.” The article speaks about how Scutts individually went over each of the group’s most popular members and depicted their leading character traits. Ending her book off with a brief comparison of their life back then, to our life now and how women and feminists continue to fight for the rights they deserve.

Michael: This article has relevance to our podcast and conversation we’ve been having during class because it talks about how sexism fuels like a boys club. It puts these thoughts into the younger generation that they’re superior to the women when in reality it’s not like that. One quote in it is “If you do it, you’re all in.” This is peer pressuring them into doing something that’ll give them validation and power that only a man can give. But in reality it’s just a stupid club they made that excludes girls and makes them think they’re superior to them when in reality it isn’t. It relates to the book because in that time they still think men are superior to women and they do whatever they want to them without them talking back.