Chestnuts and Choices

Nut of the week: Chestnuts

Chestnuts are have been cultivated for more than 4000 years. Chestnuts, unlike other nuts, are relatively low in fats and calories and are actually exceptionally rich in vitamin-C.

Second semester has started and with it, our weekly blog posts have started back up. It will be exciting to read the blog posts from the new members of our class. While I enjoy these weekly blog posts, I have started to realize that I am running out of unique nuts to choose from. This is a conundrum that has puzzled me for quite a while. Perhaps I could go back and reuse a type of nut that I have previously used. Anyways, I wanted to discuss what I thought about "There is no Unmarked Woman" by Deborah Tannen. Tannen argues that there is no such thing as an unmarked woman. I agree with her argument, but being "marked" is not necessarily a negative thing. Firstly, I am not a woman and therefore my judgement may be skewed. While I do believe that not being able to be unmarked is a struggle for woman, it allows woman to be more expressive with their clothing and stylistic choices. For men, there are fewer stylistic options. Men are almost always limited to wearing suits in formal settings. It is an interesting trade-off to consider. Woman are somewhat like chestnuts. Chestnuts have unique traits that separate them from other types of nuts like their high vitamin-C content. Judging a person's character is something that is human nature; it can't be avoided. If I had to choice between always being unique and always being mundane, I would definitely choose to be always unique. Being able to express yourself with fancy clothes and accessories is a luxury that many people dream of. It should not be taken for granted.