Talkaholic’s Pod #1

Speakers: Langston Payne, I’Jhanae Chase

Pod #1:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pSYdcpYhi4w8HGf003_-kOi3ClUGo5CO/view?usp=drive_link

The paragraph I wanted to focus on comes from Chapter 34. On page 219 in the middle, it opens with “We’ve given them more than we’ve taken away, ” said the Commander, “Think of the trouble they had before. Don’t you remember the singles bars, the indignity of the high school blind dates? The meat market. Don’t you remember the terrible gap between the ones who could get a man easily and the ones who couldn’t? Some of them were desperate, they starved themselves thin or pumped their breasts full of silicone, and had their noses cut off. Think of the human Misery.”

There’s a lot to take in from just that small little paragraph, but I think some really key things are “ We’ve given them more than we’ve taken away”. “Some of them we desperate, they starved themselves thin or pumped them full of silicone.” The first line makes me think about all the different real-world aspects like taking natural resources or destroying the climate that we have taken from society. I think these ideas come from the Commander because he feels the need to use his authority to oppress women and be in power. I see these ideas paralleled in our society today through things like plastic surgery and eating disorders. The use of imagery on social media has also influenced it in a huge way as well. To a further extent, the Commander sees it as an opportunity to be a doctor or surgeon in the story, and the women and their bodies are his patients that he can make “perfect” in his vision.

Additionally, another way I specifically said this line was, “Don’t you remember the single bars, the indignity of the high school blind dates”. It makes me think back to “simpler times” or “life before covid” in a way. These ideas come from the Gileadian concept of a patriarchal society and familial structure. The Commander’s role and behaviors have clear parallels to today’s retrenchment of women’s health rights and control of their bodies. Ironically, the same evangelical forces that we see guiding Commander are present today in the positions of many politicians. When I read the entry “We’ve given them more than we’ve taken away”, in the context of the children of Ham and being a person of color this particular passage resonated with me because of the current rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across this country. I find them problematic because I find the character Offred to be nothing more than an indentured concubine. Atwood wrote it this way I believe, because she envisioned how theology would mix and then overtake democratic institutions. This environment is found the perfect breeding ground for many of the ideas that foster the creation of Gilead.

Additionally, I think Atwood writes the text in the way she does to address the issues in society in her own unique way. As we know the author uses the commanders as a symbol of power in the book, and, specifically, how those in power are often able to break the rules they set without repercussions. The character of the Commander also demonstrates how appearances are deceptive: those who advocate for and benefit from the oppression of others are often unassuming. We see many examples in the real world of individuals or groups that act just like the Commanders. We can take politicians and wealthy people. Donald Trump for example who has had 4 indictments has been able to avoid the repercussions of the law. He was directly responsible for what happened on January 6th and had received no offenses from the law. These ideas had the power to create Gilead because I think Atwood either envisioned or already thought something like Gilead become true. Gilead is an authoritarian state that limits freedom, suppresses opposition, and maintains control over information. This reflects how authoritarian regimes have utilized propaganda, censorship, and repression to maintain power throughout history. narrative includes elements of historical oppression and women’s treatment throughout history. It makes references to the Salem witch trials, in which women were systematically demonised, informed on, and violently punished for being ‘different’ to puritanical norms. the suffrage movement, and the status of women in diverse societies. reflection on how historical circumstances can inform and affect current situations. which is another reason I believe Atwood writes her texts the way she does. To close out I found that from this chapter in general was very interesting in terms of the ways that Offred talks about her relationships and how she deals with love. The comparisons we can draw between the book and gender roles, hierarchy, etc are none less.

Men’s mental health is an often undervalued topic when it comes to mental health. Millions of men suffer and die from mental illness each year. 78% of all suicide deaths are from men. 49% of men feel more depressed than they admit to people in their life. Many men often feel as though they are burdened to not talk about their feelings and hold them inside. That’s part of the reason why often when you see a man cry you ask him “why are you crying”. It’s because you’re not used to seeing a man cry. One of the things that causes a lot of mental illness for men specifically is the fact that they feel that they can’t talk to others about it. They have to hide it and not show their true emotion because society will portray it as “non-masculine”. Men’s suicide rates are 3.6% times higher than women and it’s because women have an easier time talking about their feelings than men. Society has so many standards and expectations for men to live up to. Men feel as though they can’t talk to anyone about their feelings so it becomes very hard for them to share sensitive stuff and get help. In my opinion, some steps that could be taken towards solving this issue are talking to men more about the issue and offering helpful issues for them to use. Talking to them is a big one, show I guy you know that you can talk to him and that you care about his mental health because it will mean a lot to them. Because guys don’t get lots of compliments or when someone notices something about them in general so it means a lot. Another idea could be improving one’s physical health, improving sleep and eating habits. Breaking out of bad habits can bring on depression-like smoking or drinking. Go out and talk to friends so you can be more social. Personally I feel like this is a very important issue that is not talked about enough because it’s literally killing men and the numbers and statistics are crazy. I chose to write about this topic because a few months ago I had my own personal dealings with mental health issues and wouldn’t want any other men to go through that. It’s very hard and it feels very lonely like you have no one to talk to about it because you feel like you can’t trust anyone. I feel like I wasn’t very effective in making a change in someone else but In myself alone yes because I was able to overcome my depression and sadness. How I feel about this project is neutral. Because on the one hand it’s cool to kinda pursue a topic that means something to you and learn more about it. In addition to that it’s also cool to see what my fellow classmates are working on and what topics/passions they’re interested in. Something I could have done better was doing my interviews and managing my time better when it came to doing the interview. I had intended to interview guys and ask them questions about mental health research and analyze the data. For me I think something that is still left is to maybe interview more guys. Something I am interested in seeing in one of my other classmates is Kyla and Tybria are making a mini course. I think it will be interesting to see how they pursue that and what kind of mark/legacy it will leave for them and the SLA community.

One way Noah explored his own sense of identity that resonated with me was community. I thought it was fascinating the stories he told and the detail of those stories and what he went through. Secondly, I think that Noah explored his own sense of identity through just living life and dealing with things the hard way. He had to live through some of those hardships to discover and realize things about himself. I didn’t use humor like Trevor Noah did because although my story has lots of emotion and happiness and there was humor I didn’t know how to exactly articulate that use it in my story. A way I explained the culture to an outsider audience was by being desctive with who I was talking and directly stating that we were all from different countries. My vignette addresses one of our essential questions because I talk a lot about community.

Partner - Noah Frank