Month: December 2017

Our final project for the Octavia Butler course was to create a one paged “something” that would be completed collectively by the entire class. When I first learned about the nature of this assignment, my initial reaction was one of panic. I could not imagine 28 individuals working together to create something. I feared that the process would not go smoothly and that not everyone’s efforts would be sufficiently included. I pondered how much simpler the assignment would be if each of us had to create a one page paper on our own. Working creatively can be difficult as an individual, but the ideas of many individuals in one space would certainly be a challenge.

After speaking with other individuals in the class, I learned that many of us had similar apprehensions regarding this one-paged collaborative paper. This knowledge was comforting to me because I was happy to learn that my anxieties were not unique. As a class, we knew going into this project that communication would be a crucial component to our success.

I was very impressed with the democratic ways in which decisions for this project were made. Initially, I feared that the majority of this assignment would be taken over by 3-4 outgoing individuals. But to my surprise, every decision made regarding this project was agreed upon by everyone. That being said, Google polls became our best friend in the beginning stages of this project. People would share ideas with the group that would then be voted on before we moved forward. This way, everyone’s opinions could be heard, and decisions would be made with everyone’s opinions considered.

The structure of the project was only the first obstacle. Once we decided on creating a “How to Guide” for dealing with the traps in Octavia Butler’s fiction, we had to struggle with our next task: making it only one page in length. As english majors, we all have the capability to expand on this topic for well over one page. Making a succinct point among 28 individuals became a very difficult and sometimes daunting obstacle.

This task became a little easier when we began to brainstorm specific traps that Octavia Butler sets up for us. We all shouted out ideas that were written on the whiteboard for us all to see. As a class, we narrowed these traps down to three main issues we all deal with in her fiction. By narrowing our focus, it allowed for us to channel our energy and creativity to specific sections of her fiction. It also created an opportunity for the class to divide amongst ourselves into three smaller groups that focused on one topic. By doing this, we were more easily able to express our thoughts in detail to our group members.  

After collaborating within our groups, we came together as a class to discuss what we came up with. We thought of ways to edit each group’s work in ways that would strengthen our project as well as make each of the three parts work together as a whole. I was very impressed with the manner in which my classmates offered constructive criticism to their peers. It was clear that everyone was taking into account that if their ideas were cut from the project, that it wasn’t anything personal. Everyone was very mature about making decisions that would be best for the project, even if this included massive amounts of tweaking and critiquing.

The experience of creating a one page piece with the efforts of 28 individuals was quite eye opening. Completing this project was certainly challenging at times, but the group’s effort to communicate well and ability to be inclusive to everyone, helped us to accomplish something that we are all proud of. It is quite amazing that 28 individuals were able to have a part of a project that is only one page in length. Each person in the class helped to improve the “How to guide” even further. By having so many sets of eyes working on this project, it incorporated all of our interpretations of how we felt about Octavia Butler’s Fiction and the course as a whole.

 

This section part of this blog post is a reflection of my experience with our project after it was presented to Dr. McCoy:  

 

Before Dr. McCoy entered the room, we all sat and discussed the most efficient way to present it to her. We decided that if each of us read a line from our project it would continue to reinforce the nature of us all coming together. As Dr. McCoy entered the room, she sat in the center of all of us in a circle and we began to read aloud our project. By her emotional and positive response to our project, I felt relieved but also not surprised. I feel immensely proud of everyone in our class for several reasons. We were able to share our ideas in a way where all of us were heard and all of our opinions were considered. We talked about how the nature of this project was challenging for us, but also elaborated on how that was a good thing. All of us struggled with certain themes in Butler’s fiction but were also able to efficiently deal with these struggles to help create strong conceptual points in our project.

Next, in our discussion of why we felt we deserved an A on the project, it reminded me of how far we have come as a group. At the start of this project, all of us were well aware that we were pressed for time and that we needed to work efficiently and diligently to be able to produce a project with the level of quality that we all aimed for. Although we worked under time constraints, we still managed to discuss thoroughly the important structural and contextual aspects of this project. In my opinion, it was quite commendable how we were able to reach a consensus on these issues in a timely manner as well as moving forward when everyone felt comfortable. Our system of democracy that we created among the 28 of us also helped tremendously in ensuring fairness and equal representation of ideas. Also, the fact that we were able to effectively break up into smaller groups to discuss specific ideas pertaining to the text in the project, more of our voices could be heard. It is often easier to speak up, especially for shy individuals, in smaller groups. One of the most prominent reasons why I was so impressed with our class is that we were able to disagree and discuss ideas in a polite manner. Often when someone critiques another individual’s idea, it can come off as harsh or demeaning. Everyone in the class was not only open to criticism, but fair and kind with the criticisms that they offered. We all accepted critiques because we had a mutual understanding that we needed to do what was best for the project as a whole.

Of course, it was exceptionally flattering when Dr. McCoy expressed her gratitude to us for creating this project. Speaking for everyone in the class, I can say that we are all extremely proud of the work we put into this project. Throughout its creation, we always kept in mind a concept that we learned in the course: language will always fail us. I felt that as a group, we did an excellent job in keeping this obstacle in mind, as well as intelligently choosing our words and presenting our ideas carefully so that we did not find ourselves trapped.

In dystopian works (especially those set in zombie apocalypses like Zone One), the idea of the “forbidden thought,” also known as giving up and committing suicide, is so deeply ingrained and common into the setting that it is often overlooked (or at least I know I have). This is usually due to the focus on a main set of heroic characters that fight tooth and nail against these blood-thirsty zombies. However, Colson Whitehead combats this familiar theme with his very own Mark Spitz. Continue reading “The Forbidden Thought”

As a child, my favorite response about where I came from was “It’s the melting pot of the world,” and I still stand by that phrase today. While my race is Chinese, I consider my ethnicity to be Chinese-American. The interrelationship between these two words is what defines the very core of my being because one cannot exist without the other. Throughout my life, the traditions and values from both my Chinese home and my American education have reflected and overlapped with each other to ultimately create one well-integrated upbringing. In combination with my constant exposure to other cultures, I grew up constantly finding the middle ground to any problem or situation. Contrary to the phrase “no man’s land,” there should be no uncertainty or fear for two cultures to meet, especially in the medical field. Continue reading “United We Stand”

On the Geneseo website, Geneseo’s Mission Statement is followed by GLOBE: Geneseo Learning Outcomes for Baccalaureate Education. These learning outcomes are sought after by all professors in all academic fields at Geneseo. In crafting our final collective course statement, which relates GLOBE and the work we’ve done in class concerning medical voluntourism, we are informing prospective study abroad students about the implications their travel will have on the indigenous people they seek to help. There are many motivations for going abroad, some are intrinsic and some self-seeking and career related. Nonetheless, motivation is less important than the actual results.

 

In working together in individual groups, and ultimately as a collective group, we demonstrated key learning outcomes as they are presented on the website. The eight outcomes highlighted are as follows:

1. Critical Thinking
2. Communication
3. Quantitative, Computational, and Symbolic Reasoning
4. Informational and Digital Literacy
5. Creativity and Creative Thinking
6. Leadership and Collaboration
7. Diversity and Pluralism
8. Global Awareness and Engagement

This end of year assignment deals with numbers 1,2,5,6,7 and 8 specifically. Assessing these learning outcomes through this assignment actually improves these skills, in a meta way. Most of the course statement is about medical voluntourism as we refer to various readings throughout the semester. Taking this information and regurgitating it for future study abroad students in a concise way where students understand and respect the indigenous populations requires critical thinking. Communication skills were also central to this assignment as taking the thoughts of over 25 students and condensing it into less than two pages of concise information required communication among sub groups as well as communication between these groups, and ultimately all students in the class at the end. Combining all this information in a cohesive way also required creativity as well as leadership and collaboration. This collective statement is a collaboration in itself and through group work, people had to display leadership (being scribes in group discussions) as well as a respect for the leaders. As there is a diversity of opinion and experience across the class, coming together was essential. The most operative learning outcome, global awareness and engagement, was developed through the content of the statement itself. Shaping what it requires to be a good global citizen when voluntouring was central to the statement, and this is the skill that was most notably improved on for me because other assignments had dealt with the other outcomes where global awareness and engagement is rarely, if ever the focus, of my English and Psychology courses. All skills listed above are important and were mostly honed through the development of the course statement, however the final one was most significantly improved.

Overall, I feel that the progression our class has made while working on the collective assignment over the past few weeks has been amazing. I remember having my doubts about how this assignment would go when we first talked about it like Sonita pointed out today. Admittedly I had my doubts, I thought this assignment would result in only a few people typing up the assignment while we all tried to get in a contribution. However, I was surely wrong as this assignment turned out to produce what I think is a truly remarkable paper. Continue reading “Growth Through Finality: Seeing the Strides We’ve Made on The Collective Assignment”

Suzanne was frustrated by the bureaucratic government that decided an arbitrary limit on how many sessions sexual assault victims could go to simply because of budget constraints not a consideration of whether they made enough progress. The victim felt guilty at first, defending her adult, married assalent like a “defense attorney.” She described herself as innocent, rarely drinking or smoking with honor roll, but that this night, she was as guilty as he was because she was so passive. She wrote the truth in her journal, buried deep inside her backpack. Suzanne immediately gave off a concerned, sympathetic vibe because she said she wasn’t ready to talk but that she couldn’t help it when Suzanne looked at her in her eyes simply saying “It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.” Suzanne helped with police statements, court cases and the other semantics. Suzanne made it clear that the limited charges of fourth degree sexual offense instead of rape was in no way indicative of the truth of the matter. Suzanne gave her a sense of being heard and believed, unlike the law. The therapist also did a good job of prodding enough that other things came out; her parents were divorced and she had a boy in her life who wouldn’t commit to dating but kept her around with well placed affection. Suzanne clearly explained to the young girl that love is an action and that she didn’t have to commit to this pseudo-boyfriend. Between the rape and this boyfriend, Suzanne helped her realize her self worth and that she has agency over her sexuality. “She cleared the path for the woman I am going to be.” She was a victim’s advocate and life coach and she wanted to hug Suzanne but was afraid she would reject the gesture. At the end of the sessions, she went in and asked Suzanne to hug which she did, and the emotions were overpowering as Suzanne was able to say “You’re a good person, Allison. You are better than what happened to you.” Allison stopped smoking (the cigarettes were a symbol of the event because he gave them to her) and she also stopped seeing the pseudo boyfriend. She was given all the important advice, she took it, and the emotional hug at the end. While she would never completely recover, in the sense that her childhood is shrouded with that memory, she maintained the ability to keep herself in a better place by doing the right things, despite it being hard at times. Suzanne taught Allison to reach out and express needed emotions.

The beginning talks about how a therapist is like a dwindling safety net as the termination process ultimately leads to being released back into the wild. The therapist enjoys seeing future wedding cards, gifts, obituaries and whatever else indicates how the client progressed after being terminated from therapy. She also likes seeing old clients in public as she always remembers them, without fail. Authentic connections however brief, last forever. The therapist compares the termination to a break up as sometimes it is sudden, by text or simply by disappearance and the client never responding again. These are the worst for therapists as the lack of closure is difficult to tolerate. Also the “lifers” are the ones with such a traumatic history that they should be entitled to a lifetime worth of therapy. Psychotherapy was compared to ongoing “spiritual hygiene” Clients become therapists so that they never leave therapy- this is interesting and surprising as one might think that someone who went to therapy would not be able to reverse roles and help others when they themselves are hurt or damaged. The crow metaphor was interesting as well, however, it was not very informative of real life therapy as it is more the idea of being rehabilitated and visiting the center that helped you after you are strong enough on your own to leave. This therapist lets his clients go if they want to leave, that is, they will not stop someone who resists by leaving just as it gets hard and beneficial. Other therapists might but that is wrong because clients should feel autonomous and in control of their respective destinies. Watching clients fly away is bittersweet as it is good that they can leave but you can never truly predict how well they will do in the wild.

In this class, we see that there are multiple crosswalks among disciplines and the pieces of literature we read, such as ideas relating to consent, medical malpractice, and racism. Not surprisingly, I also see a connection between Colson Whitehead’s novel Zone One among the literature read in class, as well as texts read outside of it.

Continue reading “Abel Opens the Gates”

I had never heard of the hookworm epidemic or the Black Belt region, so the articles about Alabama peaked my interest.  After reading one of the articles I learned that the region is coined Alabama’s Black Belt because of the rich, fertile soil that it provides (Sheets 2017). Continue reading “The Issue in Alabama’s Black Belt”