Does Sexuality In Professional Sports Really Matter?

Recently we have seen a couple of professional athletes in the United States and around the world addressing their sexuality publicly. Athletes like Micheal Sam, Jason Collins and Brittney Griner have "came out" this past year and were celebrated for their tremendous courage. 

     

Micheal Sam, Jason Collins and Brittney Griner were all excellent athletes in college and were drafted into the pro level of their respective sport. (I believe Micheal Sam would have been drafted higher if he did not "come out") Each of them was drafted solely because of talent and their performance at the college level.

    

Sexuality in sports has been a huge topic in our society today. In my opinion, a person's sexuality should not matter when it comes to playing professional sports. As long as an player can come in and contribute to a team in a positive way, that is all the matters. If I was a teammate of one of these player, I wouldn't care what their sexuality was or what they do on the personal time. So what is your opinion on sexuality in sports? and Does sexuality in professional sports matter to you?

Fresh off the Boat blog

Fresh off the boat has been a tremendous book to read this semester. Fresh off the boat is an autobiography by Eddie Huang is a restaurant owner and now author. Eddie is a son of Taiwanese immigrants. In his book he talks about growing up as an Asia American in the 80s and 90s. Growing up he struggled with is identity at a young age. In his book he takes the reader into his live and shows his view points of the world around him. He shows the reader the positive and negative things that he when through his live in his own unique way.

Growing up Eddie had struggle with his own identity because he didn't feel like an American citizen because of his parents and the culture he lived in at his home. During his younger years in school, Eddie face a lot of bullying and racism growing up. Many of the other children that in was in school with made fun of him and called him names because he was Asian. Eddie did not relate or had anything in common with majority of the children he was in school with. At this stage in his life he was very confused about his identity but as he got older he began to start finding his identity.

      

When Eddie enters his teens he begins to find his identity. Eddie found his identity within the hip hop and African American cultures. He felt more accepted by African Americans and people of the hip hop community. He adopted the culture with ease and felt connect to the lifestyle, for expamle the language, the music and the fashion. Throughout his book he uses many slang words that are used in the African American and hip hop communities.

   

Later down the road, Eddie ended up going to law school. After a brief career in law Eddie decide to open a Taiwanese and Chinese style restaurant in New York. At his Restaurant he specializes in Asian cuisine. Becoming a chef and a restaurant owner helped Eddie find his identity as well.

Overall Fresh off the boat was a very good book and I enjoyed reading it very much. I felt very connect to the book because Eddie and I are both around the same age and we a few things in common. He makes the reader feel like they personally know him. Overall this book is very funny and it took me back to my teenage years. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to get a good laugh.

Harvard Blog

The Harvard Psychedelic Club by Don Lattin  is a very intriguing book  that takes place between the 1950s to the 1970s. The book focuses on the lives of 4 professors and their research of the psychedelic drug LSD. Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, Andrew Weil and a few others made up the Harvard Psychedelic club.  All the characters in the book all had very complex lives. Also this book brought a lot of social issues to the table. The different topics that the book has focused on are sexuality, lifestyles and drugs.

Sexuality is one of the social issues that the book focuses on. This is the first book that I have read that goes into the topic of sexuality. In the beginning of the book, Richard Alpert one of the characters finds out the he is gay. Things started off all right for Richard at Williston, where he worked on the school newspaper and excelled at tennis. But in his early teens, he started having strange feelings about some of the other at school. Sexual feelings.[1] As Richard gets older he began dating both a man and women. Richard was living two different lifestyles on each end of the US, the Bay Area and Boston. During this time period in our society we begin to see people be more open about their sexuality and relationships.

In Harvard Psychedelic Club, alternative lifestyles are shown throughout the book. Timothy Leary and his wife Marianne had a alternative lifestyle. In their marriage, they agreed that it was okay to have a lover on the side. He and his wife, Marianne, had what would later be called an "open relationship". They called it "wife swapping back in the fifties.[2]  Later Marianne would kill herself after she believes that Timothy has fell in love with his lover. This tragic event adds more complexity to the life of  Timothy Leary. But during this time period, more and more people started to lives these type of lifestyles. 

With people being more open about their sexuality and their lifestyles, drugs start to be apart of American society. Drugs like Marijuana, Mushrooms and LSD are at the forefront in the 50's,60's, and 70's. Richard Alpert and Timothy started to research and experiment with psychedelic drugs in the early 60's. They wanted to show evidence that psychedelic drugs contributed to religious mysticism. The Good Friday subjects were to demonstrate that psychedelic drugs could produce genuine experiences of religious mysticism.[3] The guys of  the Harvard Psychedelic Club were the pioneers of drug use and they had a major impact on American culture.

So far this has been my favorite book of the class. Maybe because I'm from Berkeley and I know all of the locations in the Bay Area that the book points out. For example, Tim and Marianne house on 1230 Queens road. The martini parties they held at their home at 1230 Queens road had become notorious among the clinical psychologists down the hill on the University of California campus.[1] I know exactly were that is, I grew up about two blocks from UC Berkeley.  Also when the book mentions cities like San Francisco,Oakland and Palo Alto it makes me become more connected to the book. The different topics that the book has focused on such as homosexuality, lifestyles and drugs makes this book very interesting. 

1. Don Lattin. The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America. New York: HarperCollins, 2010. Kindle edition. Location 108

2.Don Lattin. The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America. New York: HarperCollins, 2010. Kindle edition. Location 209

3. Don Lattin. The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America. New York: HarperCollins, 2010. Kindle edition. Location 935

4. Don Lattin. The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America. New York: HarperCollins, 2010. Kindle edition. Location 200

Flapper Blog

Flapper by Joshua Zeitz is so far a great book that shows us a new era for Women. The book helps us understand the term Flapper and also goes deep into the time period of the 1920s. In the 1920s, we begin to see women gain more independence and freedom.There were a few things that help create the term flapper and also helped women gain more freedom. Things like The spread of technology , women joining the workforce, and lifesytle helped create both the term flapper  and woman's independence. With the additions of new short cut hairstyles, the smoking and drinking by women we learn what it meant to be a flapper in the 1920s.

During the beginning of the 1900's we start the rise in technology in the U.S. The spread of technology, mainly the automobile, was the main reason why women gain their freedom in the 1920s. With the introduction of the automobile, women were able to go out and do more things and also be more social. Just like most new things that are fairly new, the automobile still had a few bugs that needed to be worked out. Most people felt cars were unsafe and unreliable which made parents of most young women uneasy about letting their daughters traveling in automobiles. At the dawn of the twentieth century, cars were still viewed as impractical and unsafe.[1] Even with the concerns of others, young women were still going out to clubs, social events and work by using automobile as their main source of transportation.

Another reason for the growing independence and freedom for women was the increase of women joining the workforce. Women were taking jobs as factory workers and clerks during this time period. Women were making their own money so they were making their own decisions, which make them feel more free and independent. Despite deep and abiding discrimination in wages and employment, working women often found that real money could buy real freedom.[2] As women began to make a living for themselves, their lifestyles started to change. Woman started to wear different hairstyles, going to clubs and also drinking and smoking which started the term Flapper.

When I think of the term flapper, I think more of a lifestyle or culture  than a actual young women in her teens or  early 20's. The lifestyle of a flapper consisted of a short boyish hairstyle, clubbing, drinking, smoking and more sexual activities for women. In my opinion, any women of any age that took part of these activities was a flapper. This lifestyle was a very important part of American history and it played a huge role in the independence and progression of women in our society.

As we continue to read Flapper by Joshua Zeitz, I learn more and more about an important part of American history. Flappers were some the first women to express themselves freely out to the public. This era is a very important part of women's history. So far I have really enjoyed the book and I have learned a lot as well.

1. Joshua Zeitz. Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern. New York: Crown Publishers, 2006. Kindle edition. Location 591

2. Joshua Zeitz. Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern. New York: Crown Publishers, 2006. Kindle edition. Location 520

Sin 2/3 Blog

The second and third parts of Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott focus more on the business of prostitution and the downfall of the Everleigh Club in Chicago. Part two and three goes more in depth into the business of prostitution in Chicago. Also the last two parts of the book explains the downfall and closure of the Everleigh Club.

 The Everleigh sisters faced some backlash from people from around the city and state such congressmen, religious leaders and law enforcement leaders. These groups pressed very hard to shutdown the Everleigh Club as well as putting an end to prostitution. After rigorous affects by congressmen, religious leaders and law enforcement leaders eventually it lead to the closure of the Everleigh Club and the placement of more strict laws on prostitution. From the start of the Everleigh Club, the Everleigh sister faced many obstacles during this time from many outside people. As the Everleigh Club became successful, more problems began to follow the Everleigh sisters.

One of the obstacles the sisters had to deal with was the present of Ernest Bell. Ernest Bell was a reverend who started his Midnight Mission so he could stop the activities going on in and around the Everleigh Club. Reverend Bell would hold nightly sermons outside the Everleigh Club to turn people away from the infamous brothel.

When they arrived on South Dearborn Street, the Everleigh Club before them, he halted and thrust out his arm.[1] Reverend Bell made it his mission to shut down every brothel in Chicago.

As the years began to past, things started to worsen for brothels and the prostitution business. We begin to see bills and laws starting to pass to put a strain on the prostitution business. The White Slave Traffic Act was a major component that contributed to the downfall of brothels and prostitution. On June 25 1910, the last day of the session, President William Howard Taft signed the White Slave Traffic Act into law.[2] Once this law was put into place we begin to see brothels and prostitution go downhill.

The final straw that lead to the closure of the Everleigh Club was Mayor Harrison of Chicago. Mayor Harrison made it a point to shut down the club for good. On October 24,1911 Mayor Harrison demanded the closure of the Everleigh Club. He wrote an order to close the club immediately. After tucking it into an envelope, the mayor called for a special messenger, who carried it immediately to the armory station and delivered it into the police chief’s hands. “Close the Everleigh Club’, the paper read. Effective immediately.[3] After the message was received by the police chief, it was the beginning to the end for the Everleigh Club. 

The Everleigh sisters were tremendous business women and they were always planning their next business move. Even if the club closing the still ended up being okay. This Sisters had a plan and they stayed with it and they had one of the most successful businesses in the early 1900s.    

    

1. Karen Abbott. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul. New York: Random House, 2007. Kindle Edition. Location 1931

2. Karen Abbott. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul. New York: Random House, 2007. Kindle Edition. Location 3857

3. Karen Abbott. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul. New York: Random House, 2007. Kindle Edition. Location 4232

sin 1 blog

After doing the assigned reading for this week, we take a look into the the lives of two ambitious sisters and the crazy underworld of prostitution in the early 1900s. During this time period it seems to me many Americans and immigrants were chasing dollars. Many people were trying find new and better ways to make more money so they could live a better life. The Everleigh Sisters would among those people who were trying to make money and they did it by getting into one of the worlds oldest profession, prostitution. It was crazy to me how the Everleigh sister truly went all out to start own madam business or service. They went to different places to get ideas on marketing a advertising and everything. The Everleigh sisters had one of the most successful brothels in the city of Chicago. After reading part one, it seems to me that prostitution was more open and accepted and was part of the cultural trends and theme.

Ada and Minna Everleigh were from a small town outside of Louisville, Kentucky and  came from an okay upbringing. They were southern debutantes from outside of Louisville, Kentucky with a wealthy lawyer father, a doting mother, and finishing school pedigrees.[1] 

Like most women in the 1900s, the Everleigh sisters got married at a young age and were in abusive relationships. Their abusive relationships cause them to run away to Omaha, Nebraska to a madam business. The sisters knew how to run a very lucrative business and where very successful.

The cultural trends during this time in American were into were very unholy and untamed by most people standards. Many major cities during this time start to see a rinse in things like organized crime. Even in its frontier days, Chicago oozed vice rooted in liquor and gambling, with prostitutes and pimps following closely behind, tailed in turn by the hoodlums, pickpockets, burglars, con men, ropers, and dopes.[2] The demand for brothels were very high in major cities during this time. Brothels were one of the biggest part of cultural trends in America and the Everleigh sisters had the most lucrative brothel in Chicago. The cultural trends during this time allowed brothels to be more acceptable and one in society.

Later in part one of Sin in the second city, we bring to see the themes of the Everleigh club. As the Everleigh club became more lucrative, the Everleigh sisters began to competition and jealousy from other brothels in the area. The Everleigh sister had small and unique ideas to stay on top, for example the Blue bedroom and the Japanese Throne Room. The Everleigh sister were great in marketing their business and “product”. during this time the sisiter are busier and begin to renovate. The sisters were busier than ever. Six months earlier, final renovations within the “New Annex” at 2133 were completed.[3] Just like the saying, “more money, more problems”. The Everleigh sisters start to see some issues amomg their business but the sisters always managed to handle the situations.

1.Abbott, Karen. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul. New York: Random House, 2007. Kindle app edition. Location 294

2. Location 401

3. Location 1573

Devaughn's Introduction

Hello Classmates, My name is Devaughn James. My friends and family members call me Vaughn or Bo, but Devaughn is just fine.

 I'm originally from Berkeley,California and currently still live in the Bay Area

 with my beautiful wife and my lovely two year old son (he is 1 in this picture). 

Currently I'm pursing my goal of becoming a History teacher and a high school football coach. My ultimate goal is to become a teacher so I can be a positive model for the youth of today.

One place that I have been that I think everyone should go is Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia,Canada. This place is beautiful and huge.

  

The one place that I would like to go to is New York, I have been to a lot of places but I haven't made it to New York yet.

To me the most defining characteristic of American culture today is social media. America's have an unique lifestyle than other cultures around the world. We are motivated by the social media and current trends. Today just about everyone is on some type of social media outlet. I guess I'm old fashion because I'm not on any social media outlet, unless we call the class a type of social media. I hope everyone enjoys the class this semester.