Colin Stokes

Here is an ugly truth about society. Colin Stokes reveals a disturbing fact that federal research has discovered: one in five women have been sexually assaulted in some measure. What does that mean? That means at least one in five men is guilty of violating a woman's sexual security.

Stokes is a father of two and a big fan of the movies. He has found plenty of examples of leading women in film who "teach women to fight the patriarchy", but there are not enough that do the reverse - there are no where near enough movies that teach young boys to respect women.

The message here is that you can tell girls all the preventative measures possible: "No means No" and cover up, but if you do not teach young boys - who grow into men - to respect the women in their lives, they'll still end up feeling entitled to "rewards" promised by women.

Through humor and the medium of children's movies, Stokes convicts parents to be aware of what sons are being taught. For a moment, he even provokes a fear for fathers: if there are no sons who can respect the partnership of a woman, "I wanna be on their team," who will their daughters partner with - marry - in the future?

Young-ha Kim

As one who is aspiring to be a teacher, an instructor -- a mentor, my aim is to honor my students as human beings and nurture their development into people who will make the world a better place. It seems a lofty goal, but I want to argue that it's simpler than it seems.

Young-Ha Kim, a teacher and author in South Korea, gave this lecture for TEDTalks, a group centered around the same goal I mentioned: how to make the world a happier and fuller place for future generations.

I previously posted a video, also from TEDTalks, by Sir Ken Robinson, which examined the industrialization of education, a method that molds children into "productive" and "functional" members of society by teaching them reading, writing and 'rithmetic. Sir Robinson and Young-Ha Kim resonate the same message: the naturally creative and genius side of children of this generation is being suppressed by the requirements of this society. Society demands that children are educated to a standard so that they can get into college only to get focused into an even smaller standard so that they can do this one mundane thing for the rest of their lives.

Young-Ha Kim uses his personal experiences as a teacher/professor to give viable credit to this belief. He relates several experiments conducted - getting college students to "crazy write" and drama majors to try a different element of theater than they're used to - and when put in situations where they are forced to be creative, these students blossomed beyond expectation.

The "little artists" in everyone, Kim says, are suffocated by the "devils" of the world that demand that anything a person does must pay the rent, pay the bills and put food on the table. Creativity suffers in the world that constantly asks, "What for? Why the hell would you do that?"

A Papal Follow-up

English 306

Editorial Piece

There is a New Pope Today! 

Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina elected as 266th pope of the Catholic Church

About 11am PST, or about seven o'clock in the evening in Rome, the last vote in the Papal Conclave was cast, and white smoke drifted from the chimney at the Sistine Chapel.

Pope Francis, or Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina

Source: Paul Owen's Newsfeed from UK's The Guardian
Source: National Catholic Reporter's profile of Cardinal Bergoglio

"Modest and upright, [Cardinal Bergoglio] is also considered an intellectual heavyweight. He has also been very critical with corruption in his home country . He has also accused Argentina's government of not doing enough to eradicate poverty." - Giles Tremlett, The Guardian

Pope Francis, formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, addressed the crowd at St. Peter's Basillica for about ten minutes in the hour following his election. He called for prayer for Pope Benedict, prayer for the leaders of the church, and then asked the crowd to pray that he might be a blessed leader to them. And, at last, he blessed the crowd and vanished into the chapel again. 

The short conclave comes as a blessed surprised for some of the church, though not for the cardinals and bishops who took part in the papal conclave. According to the National Catholic Reporter, Cardinal Bergoglia was the second runner-up in the vote that elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. 

Pope Francis is the first Jesuit, or member of the Society of Jesus, elected to pontificate; which means his focus is pastoral mission work, building schools and ministering to the needy. He has been very involved in the politics of Argentina, often criticizing political leaders for ignoring the needs of the poor. Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria is optimistic for this pope who seeks social justice for his flock. In Nigeria, Arinze faces similar problems, calling focus to the impoverished people of Africa. 

As the pope, Francis inherits not only the many benefits of being pope, but all the burdens of governing the Church. The Catholic Church is not only a major seat of religion but happens to be a business responsible for people, history and art. The Church will depend on Pope Francis to guide the church through bumpy financial deficits as she struggles to hold on to parishioners - the major source of income. In South America, the Church is shrinking. In Africa the church is growing, but poor. 

Already there are voices who criticize Pope Francis' history as conservative in Argentina; he spoke against homosexuality and adoption by homosexual couples. He's also in opposition of abortion and euthanasia. However, something unusual - he is not against contraception in the cases of preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections. This is evidence that while he represents the ideals of the Catholic Church, he's not afraid to be practical - probably a credit to his Jesuit ideals of practical, not luxuriant, living. 

God Bless Pope Francis, already known as a champion for the people.