Signs Abound

Rejecting the melting pot

 

Over Mother’s Day weekend I observed the American Indian festival in Balboa Park where I was struck by the notion that the melting pot myth would fail to assimilate cultures of “non- Anglo-Saxon European immigrants”(Solomon 652). Although the festival is a powwow, the vibrant colors of the regalia of the contest dancers suggest non-traditional, integrated and modern dances that have been taught through other regions. I even noticed a Hopi dancer (from the Southwest) dancing the men’s Traditional Northern dance when he was accepting responsibilities as husband to his Navajo wife.  Even though many tribes have been slaughtered to diminishing numbers in the past, many dancers proudly displayed their tribal band or nation on the back of their regalia. To these many different tribes “the myth of the melting pot” would be viewed “different” while being “irrelevant to others” (Solomon 652). While some dancers stood out by proudly displaying their tribe because “one’s own tribe comes first in the order of things,” others simply participate with an unknown number (Solomon 654). To some cultures here at the powwow, “the melting pot is ‘racist’” because it is a long reminder of the imperialistic forces once used to assimilate American Indians.

 

Solomon, Jack. “Readings in Multicultural Semiotics.” Signs of Life in the USA. Ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2009. 647-654. Print.

Vagina Monologue

1.    On March 5^th, 2010 I attended an event at the Carlsbad Village Theater called “The Vagina Monologue”. I attended this event for many reasons some being that it was a comedy show and I thought it would be an interesting event to drag my boyfriend to and also it was a nonprofit event that is presented every year to inform and educate people about the situation of women all over the world.  This year the region was the Congo. Although the event was an eye opener I was most intrigued by the audience, 97% women and 3% men. Most of the women who walked through the door were dressed in fancy clothing with hugefur jackets or elaborately sequenced clothing with flashy high heels, of course not all of the women were dressed this way but most. This choice of wardrobe symbolizes women’s choice to continue being bogged down by strict and cruel beauty guide lines (Wolf) instructed to us by society. Although in this case it was women Americans are given freedoms and rights and yet we still choose to constrict ourselves to other’s view and live our lives by someone else’s rules.