A Feminist Future

I was sitting in the St. Robs auditorium, A clueless freshmen surrounded by unfamiliar faces which made up my orientation group and more significantly the Loyola Marymount class of 2016. We were each challenged with the task of meeting someone who met each description on a list. While most description such as “an only child” or “own a pet” were quick successes, there was one description, which was not easily met. “Are any of you feminist?” A fellow classmate asked. The acquaintances I made, instantly shuttered at the idea. They explained “Not me!” Confused, I explained I was and questioned whether they understood the definition of a feminist. There disapproving faces revealed the overwhelming stigma attached to the term, which, I alone was incapable of dissuading.  

Almost four years later, the conversation of feminism has drastically evolved. An issue, a far cry from new, has managed to take center stage and attain a level of social acceptance in mainstream culture. Feminism is defined as the advocacy of equal political, social and economic equality amongst the sexes. Over the last few years, celebrities such as Meryl Streep, Beyoncé, Lena Dunham, Taylor Swift, Emma Watson and many more have paved the path towards discourse and offered a feminist narrative for young girls.  The lack of female representation in the arts, unequal pay and traditional gender role expectations are a few of the common feminist battles fought for today by celebrities. While celebrities are by no means the voices of ultimate reason, they are undeniable influential to the masses.  

Most recently Carli Lloyd, 2015 Women’s World Cup and Olympic gold medalist, filed a complaint against U.S. Soccer for wage discrimination. In the New York Times article she explains “It had everything to do with what’s right and what’s fair, and with upholding a fundamental American concept: equal pay for equal play. It had everything to do with what’s right and what’s fair, and with upholding a fundamental American concept: equal pay for equal play. Even if you are female. Simply put, we’re sick of being treated like second-class citizens. It wears on you after a while. And we are done with it.”

Four years from this vivid encounter in the St. Robs auditorium and the class of 2016 is set to graduate in a few weeks. As I enter the working force along with my fellow graduates, I hope that we are able to not only be aware of the possible gender pay inequalities but also be a voice against the injustices.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/11/sports/soccer/carli-lloyd-why-im-fighting-for-equal-pay.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/9617732/Feminism-means-equality-between-men-and-women-and-were-not-there-yet.html

 Schwartz, Laurel, "#FLAWLESS: The Intersection of Celebrity Culture and New Media     in the Modern Feminist Movement" (2015). Scripps Senior Theses. Paper 701.       http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/701

RIGHTS

What does it mean to have freedom of expression? For me is being able to say a personal opinion about a subject without getting retaliated or censor. This past week LMU’s freedom of expression was questioned by a vandalizing act. As a part of awareness week to defend the motto that “No Human Being is Illegal”, student activist created a wall. The wall’s goal was to promote consciousness and awareness.Words such as “No Human Being is illegal”, “Stop deportation” and “#Not1more” were written to once again make people conscious about recent declarations to deport illegal immigrants. However, on Monday night, the wall was vandalized with the words “Trump” and “Deport all illegals”.

What does this say about LMU? What does this say about our student body? When I learned about the vandalizing of the wall, the first thing that came to my mind was the word “coward”. Who ever did it, is a coward. I believe our school is very flexible when it comes to people’s expression. We have come together to stand against many acts and we have also petitioned for our word to be heard. So if that person was so upset about the wall, then why he or she decided to vandalized it? If I were so upset about an statement made by the school, I would have created my own wall to reflect that all sides of the opinions can be heard.

Aside from believing that this was a cowardly action, I also think that it deteriorated our school image. We were featured in worldwide news channels such as “Univision”, “Channel 7 Eyewitness”, and “KTLA 5”. In addition, all the prospective students that walked by the sign noticed such act of vandalizing. This action also goes against LMU’s motto of “Men and Women for Others”. Instead of sowing and promoting violence in our campus we should develop a discussion like the one we had in the great debate series to allow all points to be heard.

Now my question to this person is: How would you feel if when traveling abroad Europeans for instance said: “Americans are a bunch of ignorant”, “They can't Handle their alcohol”, “They get wasted and trash our street” “we don't want them anymore”. I am sure you wouldn't be content with these words. The same goes for all the illegal immigrants that risk their lives and come to this country for a better and brighter future. They are not “dirty, drug dealers or violent”.  Just because you disagree doesn't mean that you have the right to vandalized something that is meant to cause awareness. 
-Maria Blanc Zoco

The Oakland Warriors

The Golden State Warriors have been breaking records left and right this season, but their biggest accomplishment of the season occurred just last night when they tied the record for having the most wins in one regular season with the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls. The Warriors, especially Coach Steve Kerr who was a player for the Bulls when the record was set, have been keeping a humble approach while breaking record after record. In reference to beating the Bulls record of most wins in a single season Coach Kerr says, “Yeah, it’d be nice to get. We’d like to get it,” but he’s sure not to be overly confident.

Number 23, Draymond Green, who is known for his outspoken and joking personality is keeping it real about his desire to break the record. After tying the record with 72 wins this season Green told reporters, “It feels great, that’s something I’ve wanted bad...seventy-three gon feel a lot better.”

The Warriors brought home a Championship title to the city of Oakland in the summer of 2015 giving many ride or die, win or lose fans much joy. Before the Warriors became a record breaking team worth talking about, Oakland was typically only in the news when being featured on the crime rate and dangers of the city. Many Oakland residents are happy about the positive attention and energy the Warriors are bringing, but some are still not satisfied with the NBA franchise’s strategic ways to not give Oakland much recognition.

When the Golden State Warriors were first established in 1946, they were known as the “Philadelphia Warriors” and when they made the move to San Francisco in 1962 they were called the “San Francisco Warriors.” They had jersey’s that had San Francisco’s official name as well as “The City” with a skyline. However, when the Warriors made their move to Oakland in 1971 San Francisco was dropped, but instead of being the Oakland Warriors the team switched to the generic title of the “Golden State Warriors.”

Additionally, when the Warriors play home games at the Oracle Arena, which is in the center of Oakland, images of San Francisco are always shown. The only time Oakland is really given any recognition is when the players themselves talk about the energy of the fans in Oakland and how full of pride the city is.

The Warriors scheduled move back to San Francisco at the beginning of the 2018-2019 season has created a lot of controversy with the fans and specifically Oakland native fans. When the Warriors were terrible for decades San Fransisco did not care to have them back, but now that they are a more lucrative team they are leaving Oakland. Some fear that the name will be changed back to the San Francisco Warriors, but owners of the team have reassured that will not be the case.

As a Warriors fan and a proud Oakland resident, I am hopeful that Oakland will receive a lot more credit as a great city that housed the Warriors for over 4 decades before they make the move back to San Francisco. 

Paying for an Education

I glance over an email to my LMU account with indifference, as I am informed that tuition will once again be raised 4% in the upcoming year. As a graduating senior, I brush this off with little acknowledgment. I will no longer have to dread the annual ritual of filling out a FAFSA form, waiting anxiously in response for a package that will hopefully hold the grants and scholarships I need to keep my student loans at bay. I will be leaving college with roughly $20,000 in debt, a relatively manageable sum when one considers the cost of a private, Jesuit education; a cost that seems to be rising with steady inevitability.

The average undergraduate who borrows leaves school with about $30,000 in debt, but this not typical of all cases. Of the 43.3 million borrowers with outstanding federal student loans, 1.8 percent, or 779,000 people, owe $150,000 or more. And 346,000 owe more than $200,000. In speaking with my peers, I have not found the sense of alarm regarding the accumulation of college debt that I expected, but considering the $60,000 price tag attached to an LMU education it is safe to assume someone attending this university either has the financial means to pay those expenses or has been able to acquire the financial assistance necessary to alleviate such a burden, and successfully avoided signing their life away in student loans.

However, I know this is not indicative of rest of the student debtors that have fallen prey to the loan crisis in America.  Wasteful colleges raise tuition every year even as middle-class wages stagnate and unscrupulous for-profit colleges bilk the unwary. The result for many is mounting unmanageable debt. This is partly a function of continuing economic hardship, but it also reflects how the federal government has become the biggest, nicest and meanest student lender in the world. With the pressure of college debt bearing down on them, students are now forced to make a choice of pursuing their passions and studying their interests or playing it safe and getting a degree that pays. While the cost of receiving a college education continues to soar, and the security once guaranteed by a bachelor’s degree begins to deteriorate amidst a flooded job market, college as a time of intellectual exploration and personal growth seems to more of a fairytale than a reality. Especially when the federal government is loaning with a smile and collecting with a fist.

- Andrew Armstrong 

Protecting our wildlife, one bridge at a time

Have you ever crossed the freeway? Do you think you would even try? Would you survive?

Wildlife is disappearing daily. Some habitats are becoming only a mere memory. Overall, the world of our ancestors doesn’t and will never exist again. Big cities take away precious land while rural towns are using resources just to survive.

In Los Angeles alone, the sprawling metropolis spans from the valley to the ocean — infecting every inch with our large ecological footprint. The 18.5 million residents of L.A. have lifestyles that dump metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air and contribute to the acidification of the ocean. The 42.2 million people that visited Los Angeles in 2015 adds even more pollution.

While there are many things humans are doing wrong, there are a few things we can start doing right.

There are pockets of land across L.A. that are animal safe havens — places like Griffith Park. However, animals that live there are specifically confined to these areas and will most likely meet their death if they try to venture.

From 2002 to 2012, Dr. Seth Riley led a National Park Service team that trapped 42 cougars: 26 from the Santa Monica Mountains, five from the Santa Susana Mountains and the rest throughout the region, according to James Gibson of the Earth Island Journal.  The12 males from the Santa Monica Mountains died — four died on the freeway, five were attacked by older territorial males, one was shot by the police and one died from unknown causes.

The only male to survive was a young bachelor lovingly named P22. This mountain lion became an icon for the unsafe world humans created for wildlife in L.A. People became engrossed in this lion’s story of survival and loss. While these species are somewhat solitary creatures, P22 will most likely never have a mate and pass down his genes. And really, he’s just struggling to survive.

While P22 has fared freeways and human toxins, he also faces potential starvation. Lacking food, P22 allegedly snuck into the Los Angeles Zoo and ate a koala. Not because he wanted to, simply out of necessity to survive another day.

Great predators that used to own this area are now confined and meet their untimely deaths in horrific ways — P22 is just one famous example.

In response to the crisis, CalTrans proposed to build a wildlife overpass on the 101 Freeway. According to Los Angeles Times reporter Martha Groves, “the 165-foot-wide, 200-foot-long overpass near Liberty Canyon Road would connect the Santa Monica Mountains on the south with the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains.”

Wildlife corridors connect open spaces. With a lack of connectivity between habitats, species become isolated and have to resort to actions like P22. In addition, species have increased inbreeding and decreased genetic diversity, ultimately decreasing their likelihood to survive. By connecting these pockets of land, each local species have a greater chance of survival.

This simple solution could help save the city’s wildlife. Urbanization will only continue increasing in the city, but providing safe passageways for animals of all types will foster an increase of biodiversity in the area, saving a little bit of the natural world in the big city. Imagine if you were to cross the freeway, have no food or only had relatives to breed with — your survival rate wouldn’t be much higher.

Sarah Litz 

Why did Nicki Do It?

Based on a very popular magazine, featuring Grammy award winning female hip-hop rapper, Nicki Minaj in Cosmopolitans July 2015 issue, it became evident that the female image is all about “SEX”. The issue released revealing images of Nicki and also featured an article about her “SEX” experiences and advises on sex. On the cover of the magazine she was in a tight one piece, swimsuit like outfit, standing in a way that extended her booty, and hips to enhance the sexiness of the picture and appeal to readers and consumers. Cosmopolitan magazine is are magazine that has become extremely popular over other magazines regardless of the obvious reflection of larger societal patterns and power structures within the motto and magazine concept itself, deeming women as objects to be looked at in a discrete and creative way which many consumers indulge in rather than reject it.

        The American pop culture is prone to accepting stereotypes and directing them a particular group of individuals. Numerous feminists loathe the ways in which women are explicitly portrayed because it only generates stereotypes, misconceptions and negativity towards women around the world. In regards to femininity and sexuality they exploit women by using their “sexiness or bodily appearance” to intrigue the male gaze. The Advertising Educational Foundation article mentions that, “these images of women seem to affect men most strikingly by influencing how they judge the real women in their lives” (Kilbourne, 3).

Many readers and consumers are blind to the ideology that those magazines represent total sexualized objectification that tends to prolong the societal perception of women through provocative images used to advertise and sell products. Cosmo wrote an article in which Nicki talked about being “High Maintenance in Bed”, while posing in a bathtub almost nude. The idea that black women in particular are hypersexual beings, her response only confirms those stereotypes ever the more. “Girls try to make sense of the contradictory expectations of themselves in a culture dominated by advertising…toxic for girl’s self-esteem” (Kilbourne, 2). If a young woman looks into a Cosmo magazine and views an image of her favorite rapper portraying herself in a way that is “Sexy” it will only influence her to want or do the same, but it is not attained it can cause her to be insecure because no matter what she tries she will never look like Nicki looked in the magazine. 

There’s a saying circulating throughout Hollywood that, “We can be successful as long as we stay feminine.” Femininity is associated with being weak, submissive and non-threatening, but why are women expected to be that way? Women who don’t fall into the stereotypes or necessarily agree with these characteristics and that’s why feminist exist.  The idea of feminism is, “a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” (Bell Hooks). Many feminists don’t support many magazines like Cosmo because it explicitly exploits everything they fighting for. The print media industry has been exploiting women for decades but because society refuses to reject the negative impact it has, they continue to thrive.