Mikela

=__ **Mikela's Writing Portfolio** __= = =

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My name is Mikela and I'm taking Women In Literature because I really wanted to learn more about my role as a female and explore gender issues. For almost my whole life I have been the only girl who hangs out with the guys and kiteboards, dirtbikes, surfs and does other activities that are male dominant. I have always felt the pressure of being the only girl and always felt like I needed to prove myself. I often wondered why that is and why girls/women couldn't be looked at and treated the same as boys/men. I was, and still am, really aggravate by many stereotypes of what women should be. A lot of my guy friends always joke and say "Women are meant to be in the kitchen!" or "Girls don't drive trucks", and even though they are joking, I know some people really feel that way. During this course I really wanted to explore why these stereotypes exist and where they started. Writing is not a strength of mine, nor am I very good at it; however, writing in this class was much more enjoyable than other english classes for many reasons. I really enjoyed blogging and writing about my thoughts. I also loved writing about things I can relate to and things that I care about.

** Blogging: ** This class was really the first time I've done a writing blog. My past blogs have most been picture blogs with a few words here and there, but this is really the first time that I have blogged about issues and written more than a short paragraph. At first I was not sure if I would like it, but I ended up really enjoying writing about some of our topics. One blog I really enjoyed was when we wrote about male and female stereotypes. I often think about female stereotypes and why they exist, so taking the time to think about the many that exist, and discussing them in class, was something that really interested me. I also really enjoyed read other people's blogs and their opinion's on certain things regarding feminism and gender issues.

[|Mikela's Blog]

This video shows how much the media influences what people do, wear and act like. It is a Dove commercial and although i don't think people should be "buying" self-esteem, it send a good message and proves a good point about how ridiculous some people can be in order to fit in and conform to society. media type="youtube" key="Ei6JvK0W60I" width="425" height="350"

While writing this Media paper, I learned a lot about how certain shows and networks draw in their target audiences. I was interesting to analyze certain shows to see what kinds of people they targeted and how they went about doing it. The //Discovery Channel // targets the rough, dirty, nature men of America and emphasizes very little on women. I also learned that certain shows are played at certain times of the day based on whom that network thinks will be home to watch it. I never knew there was such thing as "manly drama" and it was very entertaining to watch about what types of problems and drama men created.

The Discovery Channel

This Coming of Age paper really taught me a lot about myself and forced me to think about where I am in life and as a growing girl/women. I have never really thought about the differences between being a girl and a woman, nor have I even considered asking myself which one I am. After doing this paper I came to the conclusion that I am a little of both and am in the process of becoming a women. I learned that part of being a woman is not having to rely on my parents and being able to take responsibility for myself. Path to Womanhood

I really enjoyed writing this song imitation because it taught me a lot about my mom. I knew the brief overview about what she went though as a child while she and her family escaped from Laos, but I still have not heard all the little stories and details in between. I loved listening to her tell me about how her mom sent her back to Laos alone to hide and bury guns. It made me really proud of her. I learned that there is a lot that my mom has been through and experienced that I would never be able to understand, and I respect her greatly for that. Back Across The Meicong

While drawing the missing panel from Persepolis, I learned that in am a horrible artist :). Drawing just one panel took so much thinking and effort (and I only had one simple picture) that I could not imagine taking the time to do an entire book. I also learned how pictures/visuals can be just as good as words and explain just as much. Pictures also leave room for more interpretation. In my panel, I wanted to do just one big picture to emphasize how much she has changed because I felt like the panels in the book that were big and took up whole pages had the most effect.

Persepolis Missing Panel

__** Final Project **__

For my final project, I wanted to investigate the rise and roles of females in the sport of kiteboarding. Since I am a female kiteboarder, and one of the first and youngest to start on the island of Oahu, I have seen the sport grow and have also seen women progress with it.



Final Project Proposal

I wanted my Editorial to be about the rise of female kiteboarders because I feel like they are still underestimated and no one really thinks women can or do kiteboard. I wanted to let them know that there IS a community of women out there that do kiteboard, and they are good!

Rise of Female Kiteboarders ( Editorial)

My research paper was some what of an extension to my editorial; however, I also talked about how women are important in advertising. I also added many quotes from my expert sources such as Robby Naish, Susi Mai and Jesse Richman. My research paper also has some statistics and history about kiteboarding and how it got started. I obtained most of my information for my editorial and research paper through personal knowledge and interviews. I got very little information for the internet of books because my professional sources are actual people who are living in and experiencing this issue, which I think is the best source you could possibly have

Women In Kiteboarding (Research Paper)

[|Final Product] Product: For my final product I made a video that shows how much women have improved and grown in kiteboarding. It talks about women from all around the world and how they "rip". It also features 2 girls that both set world records and shows camps held just for women.

Over all, I really enjoyed doing this project because it was about something that I am interested in and that I love doing. I liked how we could pick our own topics and had time to work on it. At first I thought this would be too much work, but I now realized that since I spaced my time wisely and started early enough, it was a reasonable amount of work. I really enjoyed making my final product and interviewing my expert sources because I learned a lot about kiteboarding and what is going on with other female kiters around the world. I am proud to call myself a kiteboarder and am glad that I can say that women are rising in the sport and will continue to do so. I was delighted to share with everyone what I found out and hope everyone learned something/took something from my presentation. I hope to help promote the sport and encourage girls to do it. I do not like how women are underestimated by men and often looked down upon, and I want to help change that. I feel that if more women keep getting involved, and our numbers and skill level continue to grow, we will be respected more and there will be fewer stereotypes about female kiteboarders.

=__**Final Self-assessment**__=

During this course over the past two quarters I have learned a lot about myself, feminism, and gender issues in our society. I truly enjoyed this class, the books we read and benefited from almost every discussion we’ve had. I have learned a lot about my role as a female, why there are so many gender stereotypes, and how things such as history the media influence those stereotypes. Understanding gender stereotypes and why they exist will help me better understand other people and why they might act and treat people a certain way. I have especially become aware of how much media influences what people do. [|This article] by Melanie Klein stresses the importance of media literacy because things seen on T.V are often unrealistic yet people base their lives off of it anyway. I will admit that I have been influenced by the media, and I am much more aware and cautious of that now. Coming into this class I was also very interested in learning about and discussing women in sports. I have always noticed how women are always underestimated and sometimes looked at for their looks instead of skill. [|This article] by Pat Griffin talks about how females need to show their femininity in order to be recognized in sports and that their raw skill is not enough by itself. When I do sports I find that I also tend to show my femininity by wearing hot pink and baby blue dirtbiking jersey and bikinis when I kiteboard; however, I have recently tried to experiment and tone it down a lot to see if there was any change in the way people viewed me, and there was! During a photo shoot for kiteboarding I wore a rash guard one day to see if they would say anything and I was asked to take it off. I learned that although skill level is a good thing to have, it’s the whole package that people want, which is skill and looks. In my final project, I discussed how women in kiteboarding are slowly rising in numbers and skill level and part of that reason is because they have the “whole package”. I think the final project was a great way to apply our learning to something we all cared about and I know we will all learn a lot from each other’s presentations.