SUPA Writing 105

   There has been a pandemic that has plagued our society for far longer then the coronavirus has. It is just as contagious and just as destructive.  The Male Ego More specifically, the common thought amongst a dangerous amount of men and women that men are only supposed to show a certain set of characteristics. Strength, power, toughness, pride, courage, are what is expected of “men” in western culture. Simply being a man isn't enough for society to see you as manly. You have fit a very specific stereotype, which is what drives many social issues like school shootings, gun violence, abuse towards women, and many more. Toxic masculinity itself is not the sole cause of all these issues but without a doubt, the harmful mentality contributes more than people think. Many people don't believe that toxic masculinity affects these issues, and some don't believe it exists at all. Combating toxic masculinity and claiming it exists is often seen as attacking men for being men for b...

When having conversation with your peers, do you ever think about exactly how you're having the conversation? Not just what you're saying, but how you're saying it? What you're doing while you are having this conversation, or even what you're thinking about while you are conversing. No? Neither do I, but we should. Talking to someone and truly being invested in the conversation is a skill. One that everyone should master, or at least attempt to.  Most of us know how to talk, we do it every day to anyone around. But then again, most of us struggle with listening. More often than it should be, it is believed that hearing someone talk is the same as listening, and that's just not the case. Understanding someone when they speak, and processing what they say is listening. Hearing is not listening, and listening is just as, if not more important then talking is. So after listening to Celeste Headlee's " 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation " I am left w...

Being new to anything is definitely a challenge. Trying out new skills and not being top tier, worlds greatest, and famous instantaneously can be frustrating. But in all seriousness, when learning a new skill, two key components are needed. Practice and patience.  Notice how I didn't say talent. Because talent can only take someone so far. The saying goes "Every great artist was once an amateur".  So in order to master a skill, you first need to learn said skill. So what better way to learn a skill is there than a quick "How to" google search?  With technology being what it is today and how easily accessible it is to many people, you can find a tutorial video or blog on almost any topic you can think of. So when I wanted to learn how to cook, google was my guide.  Specifically I ended up turning to several different food blog websites for my food blog needs. Each of them unique in their own way.  https://www.seriouseats.com/  was one of the first ones I loo...

As children growing up in an age of online social media, we’ve simply grown up with every form of multimodal production that there is. We have witnessed first hand the amount of different productions we can take in at once. Instagram for example, is a media platform where you can share images and photos, one photo, depending on what it is, can tell you a lot about where a person is, what they’re doing and how they feel about what they're doing. You can also tell a lot by their caption, the text and even subtext of what they’ve written. You can also get a glimpse of their personality as well.   Although we have never looked at these as more than just a fun and enjoyable pass time, we have developed an understanding and skill that most people of our older generation had to be taught. We may not have known how to read the subtext or analyze our media, but in a world where our communication is heavily dependent on quick response texting, we’ve learned how to read emotions through ...

Screaming. All I heard was screaming. The banging of my sister’s feet filled the kitchen. Jerking my attention away from the television, I see it. I see its beady eyes, menacing green claws, and sharp looking abdomen that held its large shiny wings. At seven years of age, fight was not an option; so flight kicked in. Dashing up the stairs, not far behind my sisters we run to the one safe space we know. Our parents’ closet. Rushing in, slamming the door behind us, we try  to catch our breath and our sanity. We had just seen an alien. Right in the middle of our kitchen. My sisters turned around, puzzled to see me. My younger sister, now able to speak again, chimes, “Kill it!” But, Why me? What makes me any different or more qualified to fight a beast such as that than you? Really, what I said was “What! Why me?” and the next thing to fall through my older sister's lips, blew through my ear, and suctioned itself into my brain “Because you’re a man”.  Soon, after our parents arr...