My name is Valerie Tindall and I am a native Floridian, born in Ft. Lauderdale but I’ve been in Orlando for the past six years. I’m the only native Floridian in my family and I’m the only one who hates the heat and would love to live in a place with four seasons. I am a junior at UCF, I took some time off from school to do some traveling and figure my life out, and I’ve accomplished the latter of the two. I am an Interdisciplinary Studies major with a focus in Women Studies and a minor in Communications, although the communications part might change soon. All my life I’ve wanted to do something creative whether it be with fashion, art, music or film but lately I’ve been questioning whether that’s enough and what kind of impact I would have on the world or at the very least my community. I feel like I need to make a difference somewhere and in other people’s lives but I just can’t figure out how yet. Slowly but surely my Women’s Studies classes are helping me to find my voice.
I decided to take this class because I’ve always had an interest in foreign affairs and policy especially how it affects women and I think this class will give me perspective on women’s issues around the world. In most countries women aren’t given a voice, and I think this will be an appropriate venue for those voices to be heard. Right now I would say I am most interested in learning about (in terms of transnational feminisms) violence against women laws abroad and reproductive health education for girls and women. These are two important topics to me because I have people close to me that have been affected by domestic violence and I don’t feel like the law was on their side and I would like to learn how violence against women is handled in other countries. As far as reproductive health goes, I think that it’s important for all women and girls to be more aware of their bodies and to have control over and understanding of themselves. I think the most difficult thing about learning how women organize worldwide will be learning all the foreign laws and culture that we as American’s couldn’t comprehend living with. It isn’t about making judgments on these people and their culture but to foster a better sense of the global world. I’m looking forward to acquiring a better understanding of the world around me and the global women’s movement with the help of this course and the thought-provoking discussions we will have in class.
I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus and the blogging protocols.
