Forwarding Torgovnick and hooks

As an aspiring environmental scientist, I want my discoveries to be heard. My biggest fear of my career path is writing convoluted research papers that the general public does not understand. I believe that the issues I am focused on are an all compassing, affecting subjects from aesthetic beauty, sociology, and human health to things such as economics and recreation. Regardless, I believe that the majority of discoveries in the field of environmental scientists are a conversation between other environmental scientists only. There needs to be a broader audience. Torgovnick states in Experimental Critical Writing that, “I was writing for myself…What I wanted was to reach a larger audience and to go somewhere new.” Torgovnick is calling for a change in writing for critical reviews; to write with a new style. Scientific writing is desperate for a change. It is usually stressed that scientists are only meant to publish the data that they discovered, and not to write about how things should change, or how policy makers should use the data.  This idea is bullshit; environmental scientists should report their discoveries to the public in at least a half enjoyable manner and use the passion that is stowed deep down inside of them, suppressed by the formal guidelines and restrictions imposed upon them. Then, we will find our audience and see our hard work beneficial.

Bell hooks wrote about the memories of her doll in her writing, Memories of My Girlhood. She vaguely describes what a perfect “woman” to society is like using Barbie as symbolism. This brings me to the idea which is usually brought up in sociology and psychology, the idea of gender and toys influencing child development. While I have had my own memories (of boyhood) I can remember that all of my toys or games also had some sort of image of a perfect man. As I played the The Ocarina of Time endlessly, I remember wanting to be Link so bad; saving the world and Zelda one water temple at a time. I mean think about it! Being able to catch ghosts in bottles, diving off 100 ft waterfalls, having a Goddess of courage by your side, playing an ocarina like a boss, and venturing into volcanoes would be amazing! Although the game may have influenced me, I know a lot of girls played the game too, and the memory stuck with them as well. I don’t think we should over-analyze the gender roles of toys, as some things are just inherently associated with gender. That being said, it does not stop kids from playing with toys marketed towards another gender. The real alarming thing about toys is parents shaming their kids for wanting to play with toys marketed towards other genders. I would feel so bad for any girl that was discouraged from playing The Ocarina of Time simply because the main character is a boy.