About me

 Hello! I'm Giuliana, I'm a Elementary Special Education major. For as long as I can remember I've always wanted to work with children. I want to be someone that my students can rely on and always feel comfortable to come to when ever they want. 

This past summer I got engaged on our trip to NC!

Then we took a trip to Universal Studios in October to celebrate our engagement!

This is our dog Bailey he's a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Blog post #1 on Alan Johnson and S.C.W.A.A.M.P

Privilege, Power, and Difference written by Alan Johnson talks about how we use our power and how we are able to make a difference in society. I feel that there are many different main ideas, one that I noticed the most is focusing on having an open dialogue about inequality and how it is important to not get defensive over your privilege, because that takes the focus away from actually working towards a solution to the injustice.

"you can't deal with a problem if you don't name it; once you name it, you can think, talk, and write about it. You make sense of it by seeing how it's connected to other things that explain it and point toward solutions." 

This means that if as a society we acknowledge these things and using appropriate language, we will show that we are able to have the difficulty conversations. This will help everyone make connections and point us in the direction of a solution. When Alan Johnson talks about Rodney Kings statement "Can't we all just get along?" the answer is we can't until we start having these difficult, uncomfortable conversations, and in order to do that we need to try to not get defensive because that will just lead to arguments and not solutions. 

"Ignoring privilege keeps us in a state of unreality, by promoting the illusion that difference by itself is the problem."

This means we have to knowledge and accept our privileges and knowledge that we all have them. Ignoring them will only create more distance between everyone getting along. Those who are disadvantaged feel invalidated when their privileged is being denied. There is nothing wrong with being privileged or different but you have to be open to knowledge those privileged and different to be able to move toward a solution. 

S.C.W.A.A.M.P stands for Straight, Christian, White, American, Able-Bodied, Male, and Property Owner. These are the characteristics that are valued in our society. 

Straight:

• "Coming out"- lack of support
• Hate Crimes
• Gay marriage only legal within this country
• Traditional Values- gender rules

Christian:

• Dollar bills say "In God We Trust"
• marriage rights- who can and cannot get married
• most politically powerful people are Christian 

White:

• Founding Fathers were white males
• In job opportunities, white people are most likely to be hired than blacks
• 45/46 of our Presidents have been white

American:

• Green card extensive process 
• pledge of allegiance 

Able-Bodied:

• Lack of inclusion in schools

Male:

• In the Bible, males were constantly the center of everything. Women were side-characters
• Men don't have the same private parts as women do but men get to govern what women do with their bodies.
• "Mr & Mrs. (males first and last name)
• men aren't held accountable for their actions. Women are questioned ( "What were you wearing? Were you leading him on? How much were you drinking?)
• Male sports are more popular than female sports ( wage gap)

Property Owner:

• More money = more life experiences
• More money you live in safer, better community
• More money = more opportunity 

These things characterize our society, but they also the elements that will ultimately bring us to catastrophe. We can begin to take a stance and do away with these norms that have a great deal in our life when we realize that something needs to change. We must show compassion to those in need and recognize our privilege and rights in order to avoid taking them for granted