Blog #9
April 30, 2008
Equal Rights for On-Line Dating
So what is the deal with eHarmony? I have been seeing a lot of commercials lately for eHarmony and their competitors. Chemistry.com has been posting many commercials about types of people who have been rejected by the former. At first I didn’t care much, and then one day, while I was flipping through the TV, One caught my eye. It was a man who was looking at some kind of magazine like Playboy, and then at then end states, “Nope, still gay,” and a big rejecting stamp comes across him. To me, I thought this was really unfair. What does eHarmony have against gay people anyway? It is hard enough as it is to find nice compatible people being straight, but I can assume it might be harder for someone who is attracted to the same sex. A lot of research I have done talks states that many gay men meet people through the internet, so an online dating service would be perfect. I think eHarmony is discriminating against these individuals and should allow people who are gay to meet others through their site, but this is just my opinion.
To visit the eharmony site, go to http://www.eharmony.com/servlet/home?cid=50601&aid=1001&GCID=S14727x010&WT.mc_id=50601-1001&WT.srch=1&kid=GOG0032619141
Kortney Haynes
Race Gender and Media
April 28, 2008
Family History
The Search for my History
Over the past few weeks I have devoted a great amount of time to uncovering
some of my family’s history. I happened to know some of it already, considering 75% of
my living relatives actually live in the Oklahoma City are and I see everyone from my
grandparents to cousins on average about once every two weeks. However, I have
learned a great deal more by chatting with my relatives and now I have a greater
understanding of who I am and where I came from.
My Father’s name is Richard Gene Haynes. He is the younger of two sons. His
older brother is named David and his parents are Johnnie and Pauline. My mother’s
name is Dianna Dee Haynes. Her parents are Jim and Dee Dunn. She has three other
siblings, and therefore her side of the family is much bigger than my dad’s, however I am
extremely close to both.
My parents met in high school, and shortly after they graduated, they got married.
This July will be there 29th anniversary. I would have to say I am equally close to both of
my parents. I look the most like my mother and I have a lot of my father’s personality
traits.
What am I?
My heritage is from a jumble of different cultures. On my mother’s side of the
family, I discovered I am Scottish, Irish and Belgium. While meeting with my
grandmother to discuss my heritage, I learned our family history goes back to a castle in
Scotland. The castle is called Castle Birr, which belonged to my ancestor, Sir Charles O’
Carroll. We even have a Coat of Arms.
On my father’s side of the family, I discovered I am part German, which comes
from my grandmother, Pauline Hessel. Her great great grandfather moved to the United
States from Germany to Idaho. From Idaho they took a Wagon trail to Oklahoma.
Unfortunately, I don’t anything else about my dad’s side. My Grandfather died in 2000
and my grandmother is too ill to remember much of his history, however I have a much
better story from Johnnie Haynes that does not involve my blood line, which I will share
later. So basically, after talking to both sides of my living family I found out I am
German, Irish, Belgium and Scottish.
Roles of Men and Women
As stated before, I was fortunate enough to be raised in a house of equal parents.
They never over-ruled the other’s decision, and they have always talked to me equally. I
love that about my parents. I can sit down with either my mother or my father and have a
real, honest conversation. One thing they taught me was to work for what I want.
Although my mother quit her job to stay at home with my sister and I, my parents always
taught me the value of hard work and education. Just because I am a woman, does not
mean I shouldn’t go out into the workforce and have an important job. I am not sure if I
even want to have kids, and my parents don’t mind. They have raised me to be an
individual and I can do whatever I want just as well as a male as long as I work hard for
it.
I believe I was raised this way because of their parents. My father’s mother
worked beside my grandfather in the family business, and never just “took care of the
house.” Same with my mother’s parents. They too have owned family businesses and
both worked. There was never a “man makes the living and the women belongs in the
kitchen” mentality in my family and I am very gracious for that.
Johnnies Charcoal Broiler
I honestly cannot write a blog on my family history and not talk about my
grandfather’s extraordinary life. Before I get started, I am not favoring my dad’s father
in any way, and I think that is important to make clear. I am truly blessed to be able to
have known all of my grandparents, and I have had a strong relationship with all four of
them. I am just singling Johnnie out because his story fits in perfectly with what I have
learned through Race, Gender and the Media.
My grandfather ran away from home at the age of 15 due to a fight with his
father. He changed his age and birthday and joined the army out in California. Although
according to my father, he never talked much about his years out there, he did learn how
to cook while in the army. Five years later he returned to Oklahoma to make amends
with his parents. That is when he met my grandmother. She was only 14 at the time and
was his next-door neighbor. They were married by the time she was 15 and she had my
uncle at 16. Yes, it was quite an early start.
Since my grandfather had learned to cook in the army, he ran a popular restaurant
during the 1960’s called the Split-T. Most people from Oklahoma City ate at that
restaurant, and I always have numerous people who come up to tell me stories about
those days.
One famous story was written by Clara Luper. Luper is probably the most
famous Civil Rights Activist from Oklahoma. One day, she was conducting a sit-in at the
Split-T. My grandfather ran the place, however he was not the owner. The owner was a
racist who ordered my grandfather to kick Clara Luper and the other people out who were
conducting the sit-in. Some years later, my grandfather made it into her book. This is
apart of my history and I think it is an interesting story.
Eventually my grandfather and the owner of the Split-T parted ways due to many
differences. Therefore, in 1971 my grandfather opened up his own restaurant which is
called Johnnies Charcoal Broiler. It is a family owned business, with over eight locations
across Oklahoma. Johnnies is my history. Because of my grandfather’s hard work, and
my father’s determination to continue to make our business better, we have been
extremely fortunate.
Equality and Johnnies
Growing up around my family’s business, I have learned a lot. One of the most
important things I have learned however is never to judge a person by their race or sexual
orientation. I want to first talk about the subject of race. Since I was a little girl, my
parents taught me the importance of not to be prejudice. My dad has numerous
managers and staff that work at Johnnies who are extremely important to him that are not
Caucasian. To me, this is important because I have never had a racial bone in my body,
and I contribute this greatly to the way my family raised me and the face that I have
grown up around numerous races my whole life. I even had a black Barbie doll named
Simone, which was after a worker at Johnnies. When I was little I was fascinated by her
long, pretty, braided hair and gold jewelry. Whenever we went to Johnnies, I would
always want to sit on the counter and talk to Simone.
I have also been raised not to discriminate based on sexual orientation. My dad
has had numerous lesbians working for him since I was like three-years-old. Every year
they all get together with my grandmother and have a dirty Santa party, which makes her
Christmas season extra special. Because of my constant interaction with lesbians at such
a young age, homosexuality has honestly never bothered me, and it is a sore subject when
people are prejudice against someone due to their sexual orientation.
My Values and Beliefs
I have said it over and over again by I am truly fortunate for the way I have been
raised. The most important however is my believes and values which stems from my
family’s strong faith. I was raised in church. I am a protestant Christian and it is by far
the most important part of my life. I think many of my values stem from this fact, mixed
with the other influences of my family. For example, one lesson my parents have always
taught me is not to judge another person. I try to live by this. No matter how horrible a
person acts, or where they are from or what they have done, it is wrong to judge them.
My parents have also taught me the importance of faith. Any day all of our
blessing could be taken away. They have taught me that if I have faith however, I will
succeed. These values and beliefs are vital to my future and will help me succeed in
whatever I do.
Reality Love Shows
Lately when I turn on the TV, a thought crosses my mind. Why are there so many reality shows centered on people who are looking to find love?!?! Seriously though, it all started with the Bachelor. Then there was Flavor of Love, I Love New York, Rock of Love, Tila Tequila and so on and so forth. Is this truly how one finds love these days or are people just trying to get in their 15 minutes of fame? Now I have to admit, while I am puzzled by these shows I still watch them, because they are pretty entertaining. Take for example, The Bachelor, which I think is the classiest of these type shows. Although it is on ABC, they are constantly giving the girls more and more alcohol so they get drunk and show emotions and the Rose Ceremonies happen at like 2 am when everyone is tired so that there will be more drama. Because of these factors, I have to ask if this is truly real or just good television. Also, in all eleven or so season of the Bachelor or Bachelorette only like one couple has actually lasted. This to me is not a surprise, considering they start out with 25 contestants who have to be narrowed down to one person in six weeks and at the end of the show they are proposed to. To me, this is not how to find true love.
http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/rock_of_love/series.jhtml http://abc.go.com/primetime/bachelor/index?pn=index
I read an article on the movie our class is going to see and it got me really excited. Once again, it was in People Magazine and it was titled, “3 Reasons I Love Young@Heart.” To me, it seems like the movie is going to be pretty interesting. The article states that the choir members of the movie sing songs from various artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Cold Play. This seems somewhat amusing, since the choir members are so old, and if I enjoy the movie maybe I will take my grandmother back to see it, because it seems the choir can be pretty inspiring to people. According to People Magazine, they even make a crowd of young prison inmates tear up during a visit to a prison, and that sound pretty inspiring and moving to me. I am really looking forward to our class trip to see Young@Heart.
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/youngatheart/
To hear Young@Heart visit, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u6k-99qcCE
Brothers and Sisters
I was recently reading through one of my favorite magazines when I came across an article about Luke MacFarlane. He is an actor who plays a gay man on the hit show Brothers & Sisters. It turns out, that he is gay himself and has a positive outlook on the progression of our society when it comes to homosexuality. According to People Magazine, he stated in a recent interview, “how exciting, that we’re saying this can be part of the cultural fabric now.” I thought this was an interesting article, because we have talked about homosexuality a lot during class discussion and I found the group presentation on Queer Studies quite interesting. I think MacFarlane is right, due to show such as Brothers & sisters, homosexual relationships are becoming more prominent in our culture. This is an exciting step; however we as a society still have a long way to go.
To learn more on Luke MacFarlane, visit http://lukemacfarlane.org/
Johnnies
I have been doing a lot of research on my family history for our upcoming assignment. I found one story from my past to be quite interesting. My grandfather is Johnnie Haynes, who started the restaurant chain , “Johnnies” in 1971. Before he opened up what is still our family business today, he ran a very popular eating place in the 1950’s called the Split T. Unfortunately, during the time he managed the Split T, there was a lot of racial tension. A famous Civil Rights Activist, whose name is Clara Luper knew my grandfather, and didn’t exactly like him. She is probably the most famous African American in Oklahoma for the Civil Rights. One day, she decided to host a sit in at the Split T. Unfortunately, the owner of the Split T, was a racist, and ordered my grandfather to kick them out. He of course did what he was told, or he would have been fired. Years later, Clara Luper wrote a book, and mentioned my grandfather’s name in it. She says something about Johnnie kicking her out of the Split T. To me, this was pretty interesting because it connects me to history.
For more on Johnnies, visit http://johnniesok.com/johnnies.php
For an article about Johnnies go to http://www.okseniorjournal.com/articles.html
I am so excited for Sex and the City the movie to hit theaters May 30th. For the past several years now, I have watched every episode of the popular HBO series over and over again. I even have the box set of every episode. Putting my personal love for Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte aside, I truly believe Sex and the City contributed to a change for single, successful women everywhere. Throughout the series, Sex and the City allowed four women, who were in their 30’s, to be single and still have a fabulous lifestyle. It is empowering for someone like me, who is single, and about to graduate from college to watch. It shows audiences that you don’t have to be married by the time that you are 30. Instead a person can have wonderful relationships, great friends and amazing careers. In the words of Kim Katrall, who stated on the farewell to the show, “Sex and the City is a love letter to the single girl.” To see the preview of the film, you can go to http://www.sexandthecitymovie.com/
I feel like over the past two weeks, everywhere I turn Ashley Dupre is there. I feel like it is this girl is getting way to much attention for being such a high profile call girl. I recently read an article on her, and she is only 22 years old. that is my age. The most recent article is from the FOX news website. Donald Trump has asked her to be on his new reality tv show. The show features 'girls gone bad' and enrolls them in charm school. Not only do I find this kind of stupid, but I also feel like they are just playing off VH1's former tv show, which happend to be entitled, Charm School.
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