"This Is Us" and the Challenges of an Interracial Family

The TV show "This Is Us" is a show about "triplets" who all grow up and started their own families while also flashing back to their childhood. One of the families in the show was of a white mother and father of triplets. In one episode a flashback of the mother's pregnancy was shown, in which she gave to only two of her triplets and the third child was left at the hospital unclaimed name Randall. The father who found Randall, immediately thought he was a sign from heaven. They decided to adopt him that day and still left the hospital with three kids. 

Randall was an African American who was raised by white parents. In the show, this is concept was shown as an issue from others of the African American community. Randall's mom was applying sunscreen on him when an African American woman explained to her she was doing it wrong. She also explained that he needed to be exposed to children that look like him. Instead of the mother getting bad she actually sought more advice as shown in the video.

This touchy conversation was one way in which interracial families are challenged, described in Ch. 32. Although ch. 32 specifically explained interracial couples. It was evident that these issues could also be applied to raising an interracial child. To further enhance my argument an article by CNN described interracial families. 

Another similarity, I noticed from this chapter and the show "This Is Us", was the constant feeling of an outsider Randall felt because he lived in a predominantly white community and attended a predominantly white school. These feelings were most evident when he chose to go to a predominantly black college and he was evidently happy. This was also evident in the fact that he chose to marry a predominantly black female. 

Concept Reference:

Steinbugler, A. (2020)"Loving Across Racial Divides." In M. L. Andersen & P. H. Collins (Eds.), Race, class, & gender: Intersections and inequalities (pp. 303-308). Boston, MA: Cengage.

"The Fosters" a TV Show Where Love Comes In All Forms

The TV show "The Fosters" is a Freeform original and aired from 2013 to 2018. It was about an interracial gay couple raising a biological son and four foster children. The moms, Steff, and Lena were an early model for LBGTQ families in media. The show recognized many topics regarding the LGBTQ community. The creation of "The Fosters" in 2013, confirmed a statement by NPR that it was the year for gays. 

As a 13-year-old girl who wasn't exposed to the idea of two moms, it was effective in changing what I thought was the norm. Over the years of watching this show, I grew to love each character. The writers effectively showed scenes of the difficulties faced by an LBGTQ family.

In Ch. 30 of the book, these difficulties of LBGTQ families are described.

In "the Fosters" the authors aired scenes specific to these difficulties. During the series finale, Steff and Lena were shown getting married. This helped Lena in understanding the meaning of family. Whereas Steff just believed it was just a piece of paper. At the end of the episode, Lena realizes she did not have to get married in order for them to be a family, and Steff realizes it's not just a piece of paper as shown in the video.

In another episode, Steff and Lena considered using a surrogate. Steff was already the biological mother of the son named Brandon, who's biological father was Streff's ex-husband. Lena had always wished she had a child of her own. After many arguments on the costs of a surrogate, Lena asked someone she worked with. Unfortunately, the baby passed just after birth. 

Both of these scenes showed challenges that LBGTQ's are forced to navigate as a couple, the not so definitive answer on what defines a family, and the challenges of having a child together as a couple. These intersectional issues shown on the Fosters, were described in more detail on odyssey online. 


Although, The Fosters ended a spin-off with the same characters called "Good Trouble" is aired on Freeform. 

Concept Reference:

Mignon, R. M. & Stambolis-Ruhstorfer (2020). "LGBT Sexuality and Families at the Start of the Twenty-First Century." In M. L. Andersen & P. H. Collins (Eds.), Race, class, & gender: Intersections and inequalities (pp. 284-290). Boston, MA: Cengage.

The Stuggles of Education and Disability

Hello! Welcome to my first ever blog post, my name is Kayla. I plan to use this platform to share different topics on race, class, and gender. Beginning with a topic personal to me, the challenges of a disability in an academic setting.

In third grade, my teacher would battle with me every morning to stay seated until I finished the warm-up activity. Although, every day was the same and I would always choose to hang out with my friends who were already finished with the activity. This activity was an A - Z cursive book, the object of it was to learn how to write cursive. I only completed half of the book. The teacher was not mad but instead recognized I had an undiagnosed learning disability. He referred my parents to a child psychiatrist.

In sixth grade, I brought home a report card with all Fs. My parents were not happy about this and immediately reached out to the psychiatrist. Finally, after 11 years of my life, I was diagnosed with ADHD (inattentive type). Described by the Healthline article linked, ADHD is the inability to focus or the lack of impulse control. 

In ch. 35 of the Race, Class, and Gender book by Margaret L. Anderson and Patricia Hill Collins. A story of a kid with dyslexia named Michael was described using an intersectional lens. Although I can not compare to the degree to which Michael faced these challenges. I am also going to describe my own personal experiences of my learning disability through an intersectionality lens.

As described in Dr. Stern's blog on the four domains of power:

Structural, the lack of resources for those with disabilities. It is not easy acquiring the correct medication and accommodations.

Disciplinary, the unjust discrimination of people with a disability receiving a job.

Hegemonic, the norm of adults with disabilities believed to be unsuccessful. In my own personal life, I constantly am having to work twice as hard as other students just to feel "good enough".

Interpersonal, personal views of disabilities being a bad thing. I am constantly teased and bullied, names like slow or dumb are often used.

Above is a supplemental artifact of my Dad and me, at my high school graduation. This was a moment in my life when I truly felt successful and good enough for society.

Concept Reference:

Connor, D. J. (2020). Michael's Story "I get into so much trouble just by walking": Narrative

Knowing and Life at the Intersections of Learning Disability, Race, and Class. In M. L. Andersen & P. H. Collins (Eds.), Race, class, & gender: Intersections and inequalities (pp. 331-348). Boston, MA: Cengage.

Van Life is Glorrifying the Working Class

In the past couple of years, there has been a rise in the number of people quitting their day jobs and traveling in a van. Just a simple youtube search of the words "van life" and millions of videos relating this ideal, appears. These videos typically consisting of a glorified view of living in a van. Creating a false ideal of the so-called "van life" without crediting any hardships. Many videos even explaining how easy it is to become a "van lifer". 

Of course, living in a van is way cheaper than buying a house. According to CBS News to the cost of housing has basically doubled in the past decade. Therefore, the new alternative to buying a house is a van! Choosing to live in a van is not at all an issue but promoting and glorifying this lifestyle can be damaging to the working class.

In Ch. 26 the working class is described as those who are less fortunate than others. It is a vicious cycle of being raised in the working class and never having the means to go to college. In some cases, this may even result in living in your car, as seen in the video (left). The author of this chapter goes into detail about the daily struggles that the working class faces. This consists of homelessness, financial, and future uncertainties. By creating a glorified norm for van life it completely disregards the struggles faced in the working class. This has long term effects that increase the divide between the middle class and working class. 

Concept Reference: 

Silva, J. M. (2020). "Working Class Growing Pains". In M. L. Andersen & P. H. Collins (Eds.), Race, class, & gender: Intersections and inequalities (pp. 249-256). Boston, MA: Cengage.