For my capstone project I designed and taught an eight week long mini course in which I taught freshmen how to crochet. I chose to do this for my capstone because crocheting is a skill that I have found to be very valuable throughout my life. I think it is a good group or solo activity that really stimulates your brain, but can also be calming. There is also a lot of research that says crocheting is good for your brain and can slow aging. Plus it is very cool to see something you want and be able to just make it. For all these reasons I thought that crocheting was a really valuable thing to know, and so I wanted to pass this skill on.

In the first episode of our podcast “Reading Between the Lines” we will explore the characters, themes, symbols, and storylines emerging in the first few chapters of Yaa Gyasi’s “Homegoing,” focusing on the two families followed by this book, connected by their common matriarch Maame.

https://www.wevideo.com/view/3286382298

In Gilead colors play a huge role in society. We see this in our own society too, and in every society throughout time. Blue for boys and pink for girls, red for stop and green for go, the association of red with communism, white with purity and innocence, mourners wearing black. However sometimes colors represent very different things in different cultures or parts of the world, for example, most Western cultures associate black with death and white with life, but in some Asian cultures white is actually associated with death and mourning. No matter what they represent though, colors are undeniably a universally easy way of identifying things one way or another, and have been used so all throughout history. As Atwood says in the introduction to The Handmaid’s Tale, “Many totalitarianisms have used clothing, both forbidden and enforced, to identify and control people- think of yellow stars and Roman purple- and many have ruled behind a religious front, it makes the creation of heretics that much easier.” Here she is referring to the yellow stars that Jewish people were made to wear by the Nazis during the Holocaust in some European countries, both inside and outside of ghettos and concentration camps so as to be easily identified, and the color purple signifying high status in ancient Rome since it was so hard and expensive to make the purple dye.

The colors each person can wear is entirely dependent on their station in Gileadean society, and makes each person easily identifiable. The assigned colors are just another contributing factor to the absolute control and lack of individuality in Gilead. We get a sense of this very early on in the book as Offred explains every detail of her suffocating red outfit that she must wear, and how even the umbrellas have specific colors, “black, for the commander, blue, for the commander’s wife, and the one assigned to me, which is red.” This control of everything by the government is part of the erasure of individuality in Gilead, which is the goal of the government because it makes the people easier to control.

These colors don’t only have significance in Gilead though. In the introduction of The Handmaid’s Tale Atwood explains her inspiration behind some of the themes of the book, including the assigned colors. “The modesty costumes worn by the women of Gilead are derived from Western religious iconography- the wives wear the blue of purity, from the virgin Mary, the Handmaids wear red, from the blood of parturition, but also from Mary magdalene.” The color coding of people in Gilead is just another reinforcement of the totalitarianism of the regime for the people of Gilead. It reminds them every moment of their day that they are not defined by who they are as people, but rather as what their station is. It is also a psychological manipulation tool. It has been proven that certain colors make you feel a certain way, and also it ensures that everyone is associated with their color and station, and not with who they actually are.

There is also the practical element of color coding all the people in Gilead. As Atwood says in the introduction, “red is easier to see if you happen to be fleeing.” This is mentioned several times throughout the book, with Offred thinking about how she sticks out like a sore thumb in her bright red, which would make it much more difficult for her to run away and not be seen. The color of the outfit is not the only element of control though, the heaviness and lack of form is obviously meant to hide the Handmaids bodies to prevent any temptation. And the big white headpieces with blinders are a clever way to isolate the Handmaids even more, preventing their faces from being seen and them from seeing other Handmaids faces, and also preventing them from making eye contact, which is a very big part of human connection. It is reminiscent of some forms of religion that use similar things to oppress women, labeling them as temptations and therefore making them hide their bodies and dress very modestly. There are of course women who are not forced to do this and actually find liberation and power in dressing modestly, but when something is forced upon you it is usually not empowering.

In my previous Slate post I introduced the Issue I had chosen (Period Poverty) and explained what it is and how it affects people, and also briefly went over the Pink Tax. After I wrote that slate post I did a lot of research on how I could help with this issue. I found a lot of great organizations that are doing work to help end period poverty all over the world. Here are some of them: Alliance for Period Supplies, PERIOD, and The Spot Menstrual Hub. These are all great organizations that have different approaches to the issue. I ended up choosing to raise money and awareness for The Spot Menstrual Hub though, because it is more local than the other ones. The way I chose to raise awareness and money for this organization was through a bake sale. I think bake sales are a great way to get the word out about something and raise a lot of money. Before I did my bakesale I contacted Lynette Medley who is the founder of The Menstrual Hub to let her know what I was going to do in case she wanted me to do anything specific, she was very gracious and happy I was going to be doing this. I chose to do the bake sale on Fairmount Ave. because there is a lot of foot traffic there, especially on Saturdays so that meant hopefully more people would stop and buy stuff. I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing, vegan banana cupcakes with white icing, gluten free chocolate chewy cookies, gluten free pretzel brownies, and seven layer bars to sell at the bake sale.

It was a little slow going when I started but then sales started to pick up as it got closer to lunch time. I was having people pay using either venmo or cash, and a lot of people were very generous and paid more than I was charging as a donation. When I told people that were walking by about the cause that I was fundraising for everyone was really interested, and a lot of people had never heard about this issue before so I was happy that I was able to educate more people about this and spread awareness. I am really happy that I chose this issue to work on for my You and the World project because I still think it is not talked about nearly enough, and I will continue to try to tell people about it. There is still a long way to go to end period poverty but the more people talk about it and try to raise awareness or donate their time or money, the closer we will be to ending period poverty.

If you are interested in making a donation to this amazing organization here is a link to their gofundme.

I think that period poverty is something that as a society we do not talk about enough. Part of the reason behind that is because there is such a stigma around periods in general, people feel like they can’t talk about them, and treat them as some kind of taboo thing that just cannot be discussed. Another reason is that people don’t realize how big of a problem period poverty really is. Sanitary products are quite expensive and many people can’t afford them even though they are a necessity. Women are pretty much half of the world’s population, and almost all women at some point in their life have their period. It is not something that you can really avoid, so why is it so hard for a lot of women and girls to get access to sanitary products? A part of that reason is because of the “Pink tax” or “Tampon tax.” This is a tax that is put on sanitary products because they are labeled as non-essential items. 35 states in the U.S. still use this tax which is ridiculous because sanitary products are absolutely an essential item, most women and girls cannot choose whether or not to have their period.

image depicting a calendar marked with dates of menstrual cycle, sanitary products, and not enough money to pay for them

The Pink tax does not just apply to sanitary products however, many other personal care items such as razors, clothing, and accessories are affected by the pink tax. This means that if an item is “made for women” or marketed in that way, it will cost more even if it is the exact same as the “mens version.” This happens with deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, lotion, body wash, shaving cream, and so much more. This article reveals that more often than not, the only real difference between mens and womens products is that the women’s will be pink, and cost more.

A men’s and women’s razor, exactly the same but the women’s costs more

Another thing that is a factor in Period poverty is the wage gap and opportunity gap which are basically the same thing. Women typically make only $00.79 for every dollar a man makes, that is the wage gap. The opportunity gap is that women are less likely to be able to get high position jobs, which means that they probably will have a harder time being paid more. So, if women have a harder time getting paid as much as men and getting jobs that will pay that much, and women’s products cost more, how are they supposed to pay for essential things like sanitary products? Of course this is a very broad statement, some women are paid a lot more or as much as some men but knowing this information is important when talking about period poverty. There are also other factors that come into play when it comes to period poverty, Women of color typically have an even harder time getting paid as much as men and also even white women so period poverty is much more common in some communities than others because of this. The coronavirus pandemic has also made period poverty even worse for some communities than it was before, with people getting laid off their jobs and all the other hardships that have come about because of the pandemic. I connect to this issue because I personally have the ability to be able to afford sanitary products but the fact that so many people do not just feels wrong to me. Something that is so natural and basically unavoidable as well should not be such a huge burden for so many women. While researching this issue I have found that it is very complicated and will not be solved easily, or by one person. There are so many factors that affect period poverty and make it very intricate and difficult. I think that the first step is to get people educated on the topic and make it normal to talk about periods because it is still something that for some reason a lot of people think is bad to talk about but that needs to change.

image of a hand holding a tampon with the words “not a luxury” in the background

Link to my annotated bibliography

While writing this vignette, I discovered that it is much harder than I thought it would be to try and explain a culture that I have known my whole life to a potential outsider. Things that seem so obvious to me, are not obvious to someone who knows nothing about Judaism or Jewish culture. I chose to write about my Jewish identity and culture because I feel like it is one of the biggest parts of my identity. Judaism lets me feel connected to my ancestors and family members that I have never met, and provides a community with people that I would otherwise not have anything in common with. In his memoir Trevor Noah talks a lot about religion. His religion is not Judaism but it doesn’t matter that it is a different religion, he still had a community that came from his religion that he otherwise would not have had. In his early life, religion and church were much more important to his mother than it was to him, and I relate to that somewhat because when I was little, I did not much like going to synagogue but it was very important to my mother and other members of my family. My story becomes different from Trevor Noah’s though, because as he got older his thoughts on religion and church did not really change, but for me I became more grateful for Judaism and my congregation, partly because I was starting to become more aware of the struggles and hardships that Jews had faced for years and years, and how much they had sacrificed, which gave me a new understanding of Judaism and the importance it has to so many people.

This piece is a self portrait, of sorts, that shows me at every year of my life. It is an attempt to encompass what coming of age in 2020 looks like. I thought, “what is more 2020 than a Zoom meeting?” This is a Zoom meeting between myself in 2020 and my younger selves that represents how the different parts of me all make up who I am today. I created this piece by sifting through the many pictures of me growing up, choosing one from each year, and editing the pictures to look like somebody took a screenshot of a zoom meeting between all the different years. I worked on it over a few weeks, changing my mind about which pictures to use about every two seconds, before finally deciding on the final pictures. It was fun to look back at all the pictures of me and my family throughout the years and see how we have all changed. It also felt like stepping into a different world;sitting on my couch in quarantine but at the same time watching myself grow up. I scrolled through pictures of countless birthday parties, Hanukkahs, New Years, family gatherings, new additions to the family, and quite a few temper tantrums. I think a big part of coming of age is looking back through your past, because your past is what shaped the person you are today. Coming of age and being a teenager is about becoming your own person and being more independent. I think that in 2020 coming of age looks very different from other years. I can’t break away from my parents in the same way because I have to stay home with them all the time. I can’t be a teenagerout with my friends like I wish I could be, because there is a global pandemic. So instead of coming of age in the normal way, we have been forced to come of age in a different way, by looking back at our past, who we were, who we are today, and who we want to be in the future. Who I will be in 2021 hasn’t fully joined the Zoom meeting yet, because as 2020 draws to a close and we enter 2021,we will all become different people, and who knows what those people will be like.