Week 15: Final

Wow! I can not believe that this semester is already over. It is crazy to think how fast it has gone by. All we have left now are exams which won't be fun, but hopefully we will all manage to get through them. Then we will be able to reset and get ready for next semester with our families and friends over the Christmas holidays. Seriously though, how did it go by so fast?
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As I reflect over the last few weeks, I see that I have learned so many topics in such a short amount of time, but how could I possibly cover all of the material we learned in one blog. Therefore, I am going to choose three which were interesting to me or applied to my life. These are going to be campus involvement, white privilege, and inclusion through the eyes of immigrants. These topics were just some of the many we discussed, but I am going to speak on them because they affected my view of myself and the world around me!

Campus involvement was something which we talked about at the very beginning of the year, and it stuck out to me as something which I needed to commit myself to doing. I realized that this would be one of the best ways to make the transition to college because it allows you to meet new people and to just have fun in order to take your mind off things. In my week 1 blog, Campus Engagement, I said, "This week we learned about the different ways we can get involved on our college campus. We came up with several different ways including attending sporting events, playing intramural sports, taking advantage of the campus resources, and getting a part time job." I learned of different places I could get involved, and I did the majority of these things. For instance, I played intramural flag football, got a job at the RAC, and went to several GSU football games. It was also cool to hear all of the ways that my classmates were getting involved. For instance, Alicia also spoke about her involvement in intramural sports in her week 1 blog post saying, "I, personally, have found that I enjoy playing intramural ultimate frisbee and can already see how many connections and friendships the sport has afforded me, and it's only been a week." This just proved the fact that getting involved is essential to making friendships and connections with others. I am glad that we discussed this early on because if we didn't I might not have gotten involved as soon!
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The second item I want to discuss is white privilege. Honestly, before this semester I had no idea what white privilege really was. I had heard it before, but I never truly understood what it meant. Because of this, I used to think that white privilege was just an excuse that some people made. I thought this way because I didn't think that I was anymore privileged than the people around me because of being white. However, I began to learn and understand what it truly is and what it means through our class discussions and Crucet's speech. Enysa stated this in her week 9 blog, "However, its important to realize that that is how people of color feel on an everyday basis. From a young age, there were many times my mom told me that there were some things I could not do because of being a person of color. It was important for me to be especially quiet and and respectful as a child because to not be would mean to be perpetuating a stereotype. When Eboni broke down explaining how she worries for her brothers because of stereotyping, I really felt for her." This really made the concept of white privilege sink in, and it showed me what it really is. It is the privilege of not being stereotyped based on my race or how I look. It really just made me sad to think that people live there entire life being judged by the color of their skin and that is such a shame in my eyes. In my Make your Home Among Strangers blog I said, "By this she was pointing out that whites are privileged because they have the ability to be independent but others are known by their race or ethnicity." Therefore, I learned that white privilege is inherently real and that I benefit from it without even knowing I do.Learning this made me want to look at the world differently, in a way where there are no colors and all people are truly equal, and I pray that one day we will get to that point! Overall, this was important to learn because it opened my eyes to things I hadn't known before.
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I also learned a lot of information about the topic of inclusion especially from the perspective of immigrants. When we watched the film, Which Way Home, all I can remember thinking about was how young the kids were when they began their journey to America. In my week 5 blog, Immigration, I said this, "Kevin was 14 and he wanted to go to America so he could support his mother and to escape his unloving step-dad. Fito wanted to get to America to make a way for himself and to escape his parents who spent their time at parties. Others cross hoping to be reconnected with family members who have already made it over such as Jose who was only 10 and was trying to cross. To me it is just really sad to see how young these kids are often left without their parents." This showed me just how young kids are when they become independent. The thought of me being without my parents at the age of 10 is ridiculous to me, but it shows how much people look up to America. They see it as a nation full of opportunity, and they will do almost anything in order to get there. For example, we learned about the train that thousands of immigrants ride towards America called The Beast. This ride is dangerous though, and many people have lost their lives while attempting to make the journey. I learned more than just their journey to America though, I also learned the role they play within America. In my week 6 blog, Diversity and Inclusion, I learned about the role immigrants play in the city of LA. Here is what I found, " I watched a video created by Define America titled What would LA be like without immigrants? This video revealed that one out of every three people would disappear. Not only that but it would be hard to find any food to eat because 76 percent of agriculture workers in the area are immigrants." This was such a powerful video because it showed how big of an impact that is made by immigrants. The fact that blows me away the most is that 76% of agriculture workers are immigrants. That is a huge part of America, and it would be completely transformed without the immigrants to help work in the area. Therefore, I learned that immigrants are important to our county in many ways that we can only begin to discuss. It was interesting to learn and explore deeper into this topic.
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Overall, I really enjoyed getting to know everyone this semester. It was interesting to hear all of our conversations and ideas about the subjects which we covered and I will miss this class next semester. I wish everyone the best of luck with finals net week, and I know you will do great! Have a merry Christmas and enjoy your time off as well!

Week 13: Motorcycle Diaries

Hey everybody! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving break away from school for a week. I know I enjoyed spending time with my family, and I probably ate way too much food. It sure was worth it though, and the week off was definitely needed since tests and exams are coming up really quick. I wish everyone luck as they begin to start studying and preparing for them.
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With that said, let's jump all the way back to class two weeks ago. We were told to watch the film Motorcycle Diaries. This film was really interesting to me, and I didn't know anything about the background of the story before I watched it, so it was cool to learn something new. It was about Che Guevara and his friend Alberto as they went on a journey across South America. On this journey they witnessed a lot of eye opening situations. One of these involved poor people being suppressed and forced to work in very harsh conditions in the mining industry. In another part of the film, they saw how the poor people were being oppressed and were under attack by those with more power. He also saw that the sick were treated like animals and were sent to live on another island in order to quarantine them. All of these things and more led Che to have a change of heart and the film showed that he desired for all people to be treated equally. Therefore, this movie depicted the making of Che and how he formed his communist views.
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Then we went to class and discussed who Che Guevara was in real life. He began his life exactly how the movie described him, in a wealthy family. However when he went on his journey, his views did change and he was consumed with a desire to spread his ideas. It started out as a mission, but it quickly overpowered him as he began to want to spread communism at all costs. He was willing to kill anyone who got in his way, and he did just that. He alone killed hundreds of people who got in his way. Since he was so committed to spreading communism, he became a threat to the US since they were trying to prevent the spread of communism. Therefore, he was captured and killed by the CIA in Bolivia in 1967. He is still seen as a revolutionary figure, and his image remains a sign for change and violence today.
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In class, Avery and I discussed his life and if we thought he was guilty or not. We both decided that he initially had good intentions, but they were quickly replaced by the motivation to attain power and influence. Therefore, we concluded that he was a threat to all people because while he fought for change, if you didn't believe what he did he thought you should be dealt with by death. Because of this we both viewed him as guilty and that he was not a good man.

What do you think about Che? Do you agree or disagree with my opinions? Thanks for reading my blog!

Week 12: Evaluating Information

This week we discussed the importance of evaluating information in order to see if it is credible or not. On Monday, we did an assignment where we looked at 21 news articles and had to decide if the information was true or not. I only got 15 of them right, what about you? Some of the fake ones were really easy to notice because of things like their titles. For instance, one article was titled, " Maine launches heroin vending machines". This one was obviously fake because it is just common sense that this would not be allowed because first of all heroin is an illegal substance. Another strategy to determine the credibility of articles was to look at the magazine that published the information. An example of this was an article published by the onion. These were just a few of the strategies to determine if the information is true. Some articles are not easy to determine because they might pass the quick eye tests and require more research to determine if they are fake. We even discussed an instance where even some of the biggest news organizations make mistakes at times. Time Magazine wrote an article about screens in Beijing which appeared to be playing the sunrise for its citizens since the smog was blocking the actual sun. This was actually just a commercial on the screen which happened to be playing in the morning, but this scene was quickly taken out of context by many news sources and the information spread like wildfire. This example showed us all the importance of making certain that the news we receive and spread is real.
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Wednesday we were tasked with finding one scholarly article and one that was not. The purpose of this was so we could compare the two in order to see if the non-academic one was credible. We evaluated the credibility by using the CRAAP test which stands for currency, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and purpose. I chose to use the research from my biology class, so I was researching ways to improve transportation to and from college. My scholarly article was written by a group of graduate students attending a college in Europe while my non-academic article was written by University Police at Stanford University. Therefore, it was credible since Stanford is a top notch college. It also passed the test because the information it provided was very relevant to my topic since it discussed some of the ways Stanford is dealing with transportation at their university. Overall, I concluded that both of the articles I selected were credible and relevant to the topic. The test was a good indicator because of all of the steps it went through in order to ensure it was a quality source. What did you think about the test?
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How about your sources? Did you have any sources that didn't pass the CRAAP test? If so why did it fail? As always thanks for reading my blog!

Week 11: Preparing for Registration & Meaningful Inquiry

Hey guys, this week we began class by meeting with Erin, our honors adviser. She gave us some very helpful tips and advice about how to register for classes but also how to get ready before we register. She told us how we can access our advisement notes which is a major help if you lost the sheet like me! The advisement sheet has all of the information that is needed to register. For instance, it has the classes that are required for your major, and it also has your specific RAN which is your registration number. Without that you can't even get into your account to register. Therefore, this information was very beneficial to us as we plan to register for classes tomorrow!

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We were also assigned an article to read titled The Art of Powerful Questions. This showed what a powerful question looks like and tried to show us how we can begin to ask better questions. In order to ask better questions, it taught us that we first need to change the question words we use. We need to use words like why, how, or what instead of who, when, or where. This is important because it creates the opportunity to engage the audience instead of ask a question that can be answered simply without any elaboration. The article also put some emphasis on how the question addresses the audience. Is it directly harsh to someone? Is it in the face of someone? These types of questions are not necessarily bad, but they may prevent the audience from responding or incite their emotions which can lead to emotional responses that don't truly reflect them. Overall, I learned that I need to ask questions that can be more open to everyone and not too narrowly focused, and I need to ask questions that are more thought provoking! What did you get from the article that can be applied to ask better questions in the future?

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In class on Wednesday, we were all asked to give an example of a situation that has happened recently and to propose a question about the issue. I was partnered with Alicia and the first issue we discussed involved someone picking up an extra shift in order to help out a coworker only to get blamed by the other worker for not working hard enough. The question stated, " Why do some people feel as though everyone else should do all of the work and make their lives easier?" We discussed the issue first and realized that this is actually a common occurrence because it happens all the time in the workplace. With that said, as we evaluated the question we realized that it could be stronger if it was worded better. If it was stated differently it might not incite the emotions of the reader and create more thought provoking discussions. Our second situation was about a roommate who is trying to give advice about relationships. However, they realize that their roommate keeps disregarding their advice by continuing in relationships that follow the same patterns. The question was, " How can a person help influence others?" We both immediately saw a problem with who the audience is for the question. It was vague so if we didn't know the background information we would be lost. This would be a stronger question. Why do people ask for relationship advice if they continue to disregard the help others give them? What do you think of this question?

Overall, it was a great week because we learned an important tool by learning how to ask powerful questions. I hope you learned as much as I did! Thanks for reading!