fjd6@txstate.edu

According to a recent Time Magazine online poll over which word should be “banned” from use in 2015, the word “feminist” stole the vote at 50%. While I grew up in  a household where feminism was encouraged, it seems the rest of the nation thinks the word is overly used, crass, and depicts a caricature of a species that, I feel, doesn’t represent the real majority. I even have female friends that would not identify as one in fear of being labeled as a “man-hater,” “bitch” or god forbid a lesbian. Basically it would be a “State of Feminism at Texas State.”

I want to see what Texas State students feel about the word and whether it should be rectified.  What I plan for my website to have is page dedicated to the history of the feminist movement and the word itself, a page on local enthusiasts like Feminists United on campus, a cons page as to why the word should be shunned, a contact page to learn more about movements, and maybe a state of feminism today involving political actions (like the Wendy Davis filibuster and the Hobby Lobby contraceptive act). I might include more pages if I can think of them.

I can talk to local students whether by on the street interviews and professors, groups like LGBT along with (if I can get hold of them) local politicians and their opinions.

This is an image I took at a past rally where members from Feminists United protested against an anti-abortion group set-up at the stallions.

I’m choosing to write my new blog about record collecting and local music shops in the Hays County/Austin/San Antonio areas. Music is something I’m really passionate about, and I just get really hyped about records. I love that it’s an old-school format with such a new, enthusiastic cult following. Besides my homepage, I’m planning to have a music review page, an interview page with store owners or fellow collectors (kind of like a “what’s in my bag” thing), updates on music festivals/shows, and maybe like a community forum where I’d allow people to contribute what artists they like to listen/collect. Debates and such. I don’t have a color scheme yet but it will be of my choosing. Wish me luck!

I really like Pitchfork‘s site design. Hopefully I can emulate that into mine.

Probably the most eclectic site on the interwebs, Reddit displays a vast selection of  information and entertainment to appeal to anyone’s fancies. I was first introduced to this bundle of fun the summer before my freshman year of college and have since then locked myself in my room, rarely seeing the light of day and wondering to myself, “what the hell did I do for fun before this?”

Reddit is a giant public forum where anyone can post or comment about practically anything happening in the world. You can upvote or downvote any story or comment and be apart of an international community. According to their about page, their stats detail that over 114 million unique viewers visited last month alone with almost 8,000 individual communities, or subreddits. It is usually here on Reddit that I get my daily breaking news first and my cat photos to cut out the middle-man.

Reddit is also one of the very few places where the comments section is just, if not moreso, more interesting to read than the actual posted content itself. The community is upheld to correct grammar and punctuation standards (a big plus for me) and are a articulate and highly creative. You will never see those most irritating of public comment faux paus here.

The one downer about this sight sometimes can be that the material on the front page takes a while to update to something new, and contributing to those headlining posts is impossible. Take for say, an AMA (Ask Me Anything) by your favorite actor pops up, you better be there the second it opens or forget about asking what their most embarrassing moment off-set was. Even just an hour-live post can hold up to thousands of comments.

My favorite subreddit of them all, you ask? Definitely, without a doubt, r/avocadoesgonewild.

Just kidding (maybe), my two favorites are r/redditgetsdrawn and r/myreactionwhen.