If you could spend ten years to become an "expert" in anything, what would it be? Why?

          If I could have the opportunity to spend ten years of my life to become an expert in any subject or field, I would chose to become an expert in LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex) history up until current events. I would choose this because the LGBTQI community has helped me find myself and be comfortable with my sexuality. I found out that I was a lesbian almost a year ago and has never had such a shocking discovery in my life. If it was not for the support and readily available bountiful information on LGBTQI issues, I do not know how I would have been able to cope with my sexuality. Due to the plentiful information available to anyone in need of a helping hand I found many LGBTQI events in my area that I could attend. These different events helped me realize I was not alone and that I could finally accept myself for the person I am today. The LGBTQI community helped me in more ways than I can probably ever begin to realize. After everything the community has done for me it is only fair that I would give ten years of my life to learn a deeper understanding of the history of the community and to continue to help fight the hardships the community fights everyday.

          I have a fairly good understanding of the LGBTQI communities history from my involvement in my minor of women's and gender studies, my involvement in RU Proud (Roosevelt LGBTQI Group), research papers, and basic involvement in different LGBTQI events. I still have a lot to learn and feel that even with ten years of studying the past and current events that surround the community I would still not be an expert in the field because it is forever changing and evolving. If I could have a solid understanding on how the LGBTQI community has developed over the past decades it would help me to further benefit my community in the process of becoming equal. The idea of one day seeing the LGBTQI community having equal rights as every other human being put onto this earth it would be the best moment in my lifetime because being gay is not a sickness, my sexuality is part of who I am.

          Since I cannot in actuality have ten years of my life dedicated to my passion fully I have chosen the next best thing. I want to get my PhD in psychology with a minor in Women's and Gender Studies to help give back to the LGBTQI community. I want to work with LGBTQI identifying teens and young adults. I would also love to work with the children of LGBTQI parents. I feel by doing my part in helping these kids find themselves through something bigger than themselves they will be able to love themselves for who the are just like I saw this same realization over the past year.

In what ways does Gladwell's examination of hockey challenge traditional notions of success as merely the result of hard work and talent?

Gladwell makes extremely legitimate points and arguments when it comes to the idea of where success comes from in the world of sports and in the classroom. He supports all of his arguments with clear data, and explains how he came to his conclusions clearly. He has clear evidence that success is not only based on how hard one works to get to the top, but in fact can have a lot to deal with issues out of one’s hand, such as their birth date. One cannot do anything to change the day that they were born no matter how hard they can try. A birth date is always set in stone. Gladwell has clear data showing that children born at the start of the cutoff date for school are way more privileged in opportunities than children born at the end of the cutoff date. He shows this to be true in not only sports, but in the classroom as well. Students born at the start of the cutoff date have a much higher chance of being put into difficult learning groups due to the amount of higher intelligence they are presumed to have. This is because the children at the start of the cutoff dates seem to be better in many different areas because of their difference in age.

Gladwell makes one question if success is really determined by hard work and talent or if in fact it is due to some higher notion that is out of one’s control. If all of Gladwell’s data is in fact correct, as it clearly seems to be, then it would be hard for someone who has read this to say that success is in fact only due to hard work and success because in fact there are other outliers that have been playing an important role in the idea of success. He also brings up the idea that one cannot truly get to the top from nothing, but has factors around them that help them get to where they are today. The idea that Gladwell paints in the readers mind about the acorn turning into a tree I found extremely eye opening. The idea that the tallest tree could not be what it is today if it weren’t for the perfect conditions surrounding it made complete sense to me.  People in the entertainment industry today who have come from “rags to riches” have not truly experienced this in most cases due to the many outside effects that have influenced them to get to where they are today. Many of the people who are famous in the media industry today are only there because they had connections, were in the right place at the right time, or had some out of the ordinary experience that made it possible from them to become the success they are today. Many people say that Madonna got to where she is today based on pure talent and hard work, but in reality, she was found by a producing agent which has led her successful path to be the face for woman talent today.

A Brief Introduction

Heyy,

My name is Kaitlin Vens,

Here are 10 facts about me:

-I am from White Lake, Michigan.

-I am a 2nd semester Freshman.

-I am majoring in Psychology and minoring in Women and Gender Studies.

-I am on the Women and Gender Studies Board and I am part of RU Proud.

-I am working on an Undergraduate Study Program on Racial Microaggression.

-I live at the University Center.

-I chose to come to Roosevelt due to my love for the mission of Social Justice. 

-I love any type of ethnic food, but my favorite food in the world is Ethiopian.

-I have been to four different countries including Canada, France, China, and South Africa.

-I want to permanently move to Cape Town, South Africa.