Names

        My name is unique, I do not know another person with the same name. Grayson is not a family name it is just a name that my parents liked. It is a gender neutral name and could even be misinterpreted as a girls name. I would not like to have a different name because mine is special to me. I am indifferent about women wanting to keep their maiden name. I would not like to change my name so I do not blame women for not wanting to change theirs.
            When I used to drop buckets at the Local YMCA, I was the best baller coming out of the tenacious slums of North Raleigh. I would go two or three times a week and crush any other six year old I saw in a game of Horse. One-on-one no one could challenge my skills. Once winter came around, and basketball season started, it was a different story.  No one on my team could dribble with their left hand or knock down the three but worst of all, I could only play half of the game. Despite being the best I had to learn to be a part of a team. My 4 foot 3 inch self could easily handle anyone who came at me, but even I couldn't handle five snot-nosed kids on my own. I had to involve my teammates into my game and share the ball. When my teammates and I worked together we were unstoppable. This taught me the valuable lesson that being a team player is greater than being selfish. 

Othering!?

This photograph is from Wing Young Huie's Homelessness collection and doesn't have a date or location. At first glance the man appear to be holding out a basin for people to place money in it. He is well dressed and does not appear to be unclean. Also, he looks happy unlike the general stereotype of a homeless person. Due to his decent physical state the basin he is holding may not be for begging for money. Instead it could be for cooking or another purpose. 

By looking deeper into this photo one begins to question if this man and women are actually homeless. It is quite possible that they are actually helping homeless people. The basin could have carried supplies or food for homeless people and he was giving them away. This deeper look at the picture forces the audience to question their analysis of stereotypes. A well dressed man is stereotyped to be well off in our society; however a man sitting on the side of a road is most often poor. 

Stereotypes in this picture characterize the man as either homeless or someone who is wealthy enough to assist the homeless. In Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, stereotypes are also used to identify the individual. The society in the book aids the stereotypes by forcing women to wear uniform clothes. The uniformity of women perpetuates there stereotypes and reinforces their role in society. Women are supposed to feel as though they are onlookers from the true influential powers of society. Their uniforms force them to feel and act this way. Their image is much like the mans image in the picture. The way he is dressed, or his image, portrays him as wealthy, therefore breaking the stereotype of being poor.