Through our discussion of the Geneseo Learning Outcomes for Baccalaureate Education (GLOBE) while all the outcomes are important, our group emphasized the importance of “Leadership and Collaboration” and “Diversity and Pluralism” during our construction of the collaborative course statement. Continue reading “Transitioning as a Class and Incorporating GLOBE”
This Is Why We CAN Have Nice Things
We all do things we don’t like. It’s a fact of life at this point. Consent under duress, if you will. But it’s also something that has cropped up during this community effort to create a cohesive document. It is clear, at times, that there is discontent. It would be naïve to think that there wouldn’t be discontent. But simply because we are brought together by a need to do something, does not mean that people cannot and will not divide over the same thing that brings them together. Have we grown from this exercise? Probably. Have we accomplished something? We succeeded in putting a document together. Are all of us happy 100% with it? Probably not. But my philosophy has always been this: you need to do what you need to do, you do what you need to do, and then when you have finished doing that, you do everything else that you have to do, without attentive regard of the individual’s level of content. To clarify the latter part of that last statement, we cannot always consider the individual needs of each and every individual per group. It is infeasible to think that anything could get done that way. And this is why we can have nice things – because typically we do what we have to do, not always what we want to do, and doing what we have to do does not always constitute doing what we want to do.
Butler and the Pronoun “It”
It’s been a while since we finished the Lilith’s Brood trilogy in class, but I keep thinking about the ooloi gender and using the pronoun “it.” Continue reading “Butler and the Pronoun “It””
The Importance of Names
Before we discussed any content on the first day of class back in August, Dr. McCoy had us go around the room and introduce ourselves to the class. Not only did Dr. McCoy take the time to learn all of our preferred names, she also insisted that we get to know each other by repeating each other’s names. I was a little skeptical at first because I have never participated in a similar exercise during my college career, but now that is it nearing the end of the semester, I realize how important it was. Continue reading “The Importance of Names”
Mark Spitz’s Ark
As I am working on my opening-out essay and revisiting my ideas and notes on Zone One, I came across my note about the use of water-related vocabulary, and how I was wondering about the reason behind why Whitehead decided to incorporate these specific words. I failed to look into it while we were reading the book despite my questions about it, although I did talk about his use of complicated vocabulary in a previous post. Therefore, I decided that I would dive into it a little more now that I can take a step back from the complicated vocabulary as a whole, and focus on the specific use of this themed vocabulary.
Thinking Bigger Than Yourself
During the first day of work on our collaborative course statement, I believe it was Adaeze that stated that the course statement focus should encompass “thinking more than yourself, bigger than yourself”. Continue reading “Thinking Bigger Than Yourself”
Do No Harm: Applying Medical Ethics to the Way we “Aid” the Third World
In looking back at the article written by Teju Cole, The White-Savior Industrial Complex, as well as classroom discussions about medical voluntourism, it struck me that a more sweeping solution may be needed to correct the errors in western views of charity. Ironically, I believe one possible answer lies right in front of us: we must apply traditional medical ethics to charity. Although somewhat clique, the values of Autonomy, Justice, Beneficence, and Non-maleficence can be more rigorously applies, not only to medical volunteerism, but to foreign aid as a whole. Continue reading “Do No Harm: Applying Medical Ethics to the Way we “Aid” the Third World”
The Hanging Man: a response to Fortune Telling by Kyra Krasowski
Link to Fortune Telling: https://morrison.sunygeneseoenglish.org/2017/11/28/fortune-telling/#more-2850
Within each of us, there is another whom we do not know
The above quote by psychologist Carl Jung seems appropriate while on the discussion of Tarot cards. The blog by Kyra on the subject was outstanding and I encourage you all to read it before continuing on to my post. Her take on how the cards Death, the Fool, and the High Priestess apply to characters in Zone One inspired me to look into the meanings of other tarot cards to see if and how they might fit into the novel’s dramatic conclusion. Continue reading “The Hanging Man: a response to Fortune Telling by Kyra Krasowski”
Volunteer Review
While working on my earlier post about the cost of medical voluntourism I came across a review from a student who participated in the volunteering program. Her name is Rashae and she is a Nursing student. She participated in the Midwifery in Ghana. She talked about her experience and the actual placement. “As I showed initiative and effort I was taught to perform various medical assignments that included administering medications intravenously and intramuscularly, collecting vital signs, and performing vaginal exams.” As I read this my mind automatically jumped to what we talked about in class. Students performing tasks they are not qualified to do. Continue reading “Volunteer Review”
The Risk of Working With Partners
“There is risk in working with a partner,” is probably the Butler quote that has been brought up most often in our class, but it’s amazing how it continues to be so relevant. The part of this class that I have come to admire most is how everything relates back to each other. Like we’ll read Locke or Rousseau and make it relevant to the Clay’s Ark commune. This quote has been in the front of my mind lately as we’ve been working on our final project. And it’s occurred to me that this has been the plan since the beginning.
Although the main goal of this class is analyzing what brings and binds us together, we’ve never let that quote get too far away from us and our discussions. Through almost every book we’ve read we’ve found a way to make it relevant. I think it was Veronica who said once, when we were in a cluster group, that she relates all of the work we read back to Bloodchild, which is a testament as how we’ve come to use Bloodchild as our frame of reference. For me, after reading Bloodchild, I viewed relationships in Butler’s fiction through a special lens because of the implications that were instilled in me from this quote. Everytime Butler introduced to a relationship I assumed would be important, for example Blake and his family, and Eli, I would greet it with caution because I understood the risk involved.
For this final project we’ve had to negotiate with not one but about 20 partners. There is high risk here because we’re all relying on each other for our final grade. I know at least for myself this has been different than any kind of final project I have ever done, but I feel like I’ve already taken away so much from it. It’s helped me understand what it must be like to work in government. The constant deliberation over what could be simple decisions because everyone’s opinion is different. If you asked all of us individually how we wanted to do this project I’m sure you’d get 20 different answers. Sure maybe some would be similar, but none would be exactly the same. It’s been a real lesson in compromise I think. And that’s part of the risk, when working with a partner there is always the possibility that you won’t get what you want. What we want is rarely what someone else wants, especially if it’s important to every party.
We have come so far though, as a class and as a community. I think we’ve become much more comfortable with compromise. Because while there is risk in working with a partner, if everyone puts their faith in each other, there is the possibility of high reward.