November 2018 archive

27
Nov
2018

Lessons I Learned from Baking in November

categories: Uncategorized

It has been a while since I posted about my baking experience. And although my blogs stopped temporarily, my baking did not. Over the past month, I have baked many cookies, brownies, and cakes for various events. I wanted to share some stories and lessons I learned about baking over the past month.

One of my friends celebrated her birthday in the end of October. She is a vegan, and wanted a vegan birthday cake. So, I used regular chocolate cake mix that did not have any animal products in it, and substituted the eggs for bananas. The cake did taste strongly like bananas, but it was a good combination of chocolate and banana, so it turned out tasting very good. However, the cake was very crumbly, which may be due to the change in texture from eggs to bananas. I learned that Betty Crocker vanilla frosting contains no milk products, making it vegan. So, the cake was frosted with the premade frosting, and topped with extra bananas. It turned out very successful, and the vegan cake was just as delicious as a cake made with eggs.

I also learned that although my personal favorite type of cookie is milk chocolate chip, I make M&M cookies the best. I follow the same Nestle Tollhouse recipe, however I substitute the suggested chocolate chips for milk chocolate or M&Ms. More people enjoyed my M&M cookies, and upon request, asked for the M&M cookies in the future. And since I enjoy baking for others, not myself, I continued to make more M&M cookies.

Finally, I learned that I cannot bake too early for an event. For Thanksgiving, I was asked to make chocolate chip cookies for my family. We had 37 people celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, so I had to make a lot of cookies. On Wednesday evening, I baked 48 cookies. And by the end of the night, they had all disappeared. I have five brothers, most of whom eat dessert and ate a plethora of my cookies. But some of their friends visited, all of whom also ate some of my cookies, and led to the empty container by the end of the night. So, I decided to wake up early the next morning, and bake cookies for Thanksgiving. But, I was determined to hide them from my family, so they could survive until dinner. However, at about 3 PM (extended family arrived at 4) my brothers discovered the location of the cookies, and only about half (24) of them survived. And, when I left the cookies out for dessert on Thanksgiving, they were gone before I could even try one. So I learned, when I bake for a special event, I need to be careful about who has access to the dessert before the event, and how many I make.

  • Comments Off on Lessons I Learned from Baking in November
27
Nov
2018

Script for Public Controversy Project

categories: RCL
  • A brief history of transgenderism on college campuses/college dorms/including females
    • In 2018, a man would not bat an eye at sharing a classroom with a woman. Although this is something that is almost never debated, and almost universally accepted, it was not always. In the 1800s, it was argued over whether women should be allowed in previously all male colleges. Institutions funded separate schools for women, instead of allowing them to integrate with the men. And women were often discouraged from going to schools that technically allowed women. The idea of gender inclusion has changed drastically over the years. Although now, women are included and integrated into college environments, the same cannot be said about transgender students. Many feel that transgender students should live in a dorm that reflects their born sex, although others feel that transgender students should live in a room reflecting their gender identity. Some previous solutions provided were to offer housing separate from other students, so they could live in a room by themselves where they did not have to worry about matching their roommate gender with their own. Or, there are housing options specifically for transgender students. However, would that be truly inclusive of the transgender students? Or does it take from their college experience, by exiling them from the typical college dorm, and instead keeping them separate to keep them safe?
  • Legal history – title IX and dear colleague
    • Title IX was originally created to prohibit sex discrimination in any educational activity receiving federal financial support. Although its original intention was to eliminate gender discrimination in athletics/educational programs/activities, it has evolved to combat other forms of discrimination, harassment, and violence. In recent history, with the increasing emphasis put on LGBTQ+ rights, Title IX has changed to reflect the changing attitudes towards gender identity. Under the Obama administration, in 2015, the department of Education reaffirmed their policy of “prohibiting recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of sex, including gender identity and failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity.” Although “regulations permit schools to provide sex-segregated restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities, housing, athletic teams, and single-sex classes under certain circumstances” these schools must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity according to the letter written by the department. And this idea was emphasized in the Dear Colleague letter released by the government, the following year, stating that “discrimination based on a student’s gender identity, including discrimination based on a student’s transgender status” is not permitted. And, according to this letter, a medical diagnosis or treatment is not required for being treated consistently with one’s gender identity.
    • Under the current Trump administration, however, the Education Department is changing their rules with civil rights complains about transgender students and bathrooms. They are no longer investigating such complains, and Betsy DeVos (Education Secretary) rescinded previous guidances, and instead grants states and individual school districts the ability to determine how to accommodate transgender students. They believe that transgender students are not given the right to use the bathroom of their choice according to Title IX. They claim that although Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, it does not on the basis of gender identity. So, because bathrooms have regulations to provide separate facilities based on sex, the current administration argues that regulating bathroom use by transgender students is not discrimination prohibited by Title IX. Similar sentiments may be felt about college dorms, because similarly to bathroom use, college dorms are typically divided by gender. And since the new administration does not believe that Title IX protects gender identity discrimination, the new administration may prohibit students from living in dorm rooms with students of the opposite gender that they were born with (regardless of their current identity).
    • Penn State made a change in their culture because of the changes from the Obama Administration. Penn State released in their NonDiscrimination Policy that includes that the University does not tolerate harassment or discrimination against people due to their “sexual orientation, gender, perceived gender, and gender identity”
    • The Association of Residence Hall Students decided to create gender inclusive housing beginning the academic year from 2016-2017.
  • Comments Off on Script for Public Controversy Project