Amanda Fournier's Blog (Fall 2018)

This week, I read both the Rodriguez text and the Collier text. I would like to highlight the arguments of both articles because I feel they go hand-in-hand nicely.  Richard Rodriguez argues that language assimilation can give one a sense of public identity and worth in the public community but can decrease one’s sense of individuality in a private setting. Rodriguez uses his own personal story to back his argument. When Richard Rodriguez’s parents were instructed by his teachers to speak to their children in English, his life changed forever. This increased his confidence in speaking English in the classroom; he says he finally answered a question loudly and confidently in front of his peers once he became more fluent in English. However, Rodriguez talks about how using only English in his home created both a literal and metaphorical silence in his household. Speaking Spanish formed a bond in his family, and stripping Spanish from their household also stripped this bond. Rich...

I thoroughly enjoyed reading both the “All Lives Matter” article by Kevin Roose and the article by Peggy McIntosh titled “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”. As someone who is white, I found the articles to be eye-opening.  The “All Lives Matter” article has given me a whole new perspective on the issue. Before reading this, I did not fully understand the issue with saying “All Lives Matter”. All lives do matter, so what’s the issue? After reading this article I can grasp what the issue is. First, Roose says that “Black Lives Matter” is not meant to be interpreted as “ ONLY  black lives matter”, but as “black lives matter, too”. I understood this before but I feel it is important to point out because so many people do not understand this clarification. Roose incorporates a Reddit post about saying “All Lives Matter” which truly taught me something. The post says that saying “All Lives Matter” is a great sentiment, but in fact that it is silencing the probl...

The title of Kristof's article poses a question itself. Is the United States a land of limitation? After reading the article do you feel that America is a land of opportunity or a land of limitation? - Amanda Fournier, Marissa Florio, Moriah Ramos

In his article titled “U.S.A., Land of Limitations?”, author Nicholas Kristof argues that the United States is not the land of opportunity. Although America was founded on being the land of opportunity, and so many people immigrated to America because of this, Kristof states,  “I fear that by 2015 we’ve become the socially rigid society our forebears fled, replicating the barriers and class gaps that drove them away.” According to Kristof, the United States is not the land of opportunity we pride ourselves on being.  In the United States, it is near impossible for those who are at the bottom economically to ever make their way to the top. Despite talent, intelligence, and hard work, many people will never make their way out of the bottom ten percent. Kristof includes a quote by economist Alan Krueger that reads, “The chance of a person who was born to a family in the bottom 10 percent of the income distribution rising to the top ten percent as an adult is about the same...

Hi! My name is Amanda and I am studying elementary education at Rhode Island College. These are just a few pictures that I feel embody who I am and what I am like.  I danced from when I was four years old until I graduated high school. Now, I work as a dance instructor at the same dance studio that I grew up in. This photo was taken in downtown Providence a few years ago during a photoshoot that the dance studio competition team was holding.  The photo below/to the left was taken at Roger Williams Park Zoo. The zoo is one of my favorite places to be during the summer and the fall. My favorite zoo that I have ever visited is the Bronx Zoo.  The photo on the right   was taken in Lincoln, New Hampshire. I love to travel to new places. Although  I have not yet traveled outside of the United States, I hope to someday.  The last two photos below are photos of my dogs. When I am not working or in class, you can catch me  p...