I was putting off writing this blog post (great start, I know) when I came across the Reddit post, “What conspiracy theory do you 100% buy into and why?” Two users replied that their relatives experienced a double-whammy during Hurricane Katrina. Soon after the storm, Murphy Oil Refinery reported that one of their oil containers had ruptured and leaked onto the surrounding area, namely in the neighborhood St. Bernard Parish (located just outside of New Orleans). Ghost510 comments: “After the clean up the land was deemed uninhabitable and the oil company was able to purchase all the land for very, very cheap. Many people that were affected and in the area believe that the oil company did it on purpose, and I tend to believe them.” 2EdgedDeath also says: “The whole thing was shady as hell.”
Posthumanism, Transhumanism and Butler’s Humanism
Here above is a helpful short post which defines the two fields of thought: Posthumanism and Transhumanism.
Posthumanism is a term I have been using a lot in casual conversation. Now that I’ve looked it up to flesh out this blog post, I’m finding my definition was awfully limited. Apparently there’s up to seven definitions of the term (according to Wikipedia), but the one I’m focusing on is illuminated here, meaning:
“Most simply, the posthuman can be defined as that condition in which humans and intelligent technology are becoming increasingly intertwined. More specifically, the posthuman is a projected state of humanity in which unlocking of the information patterns that those who believe in the posthuman say make us what we are—will shift the focus of humanness from our outward appearance to those information patterns.” (LaGrandeur, 2014).
This seems like a significant tie-in with regards to disrupting the primacy of the regime of the visual. If humanness can be attributed to something ethereal and cerebral rather than visual, external or physical, then our definition of what “human” can mean expands. If instead we accept the primacy of visual, the form of our appearence, if we equate it with something essential to being “human,” what we get instead might look like Transhumanism, defined in the same post as: Continue reading “Posthumanism, Transhumanism and Butler’s Humanism”
You Judged that Book by its Cover, Didn’t You?
Earlier this semester our professor, Dr. McCoy, showed us the original cover of Dawn. I remember being confused for a moment. Where was Lilith? Well, it turns out she was right there, where you would expect her to be. She just didn’t look like you would expect her to look. She was white.
I’ve thought back to this cover a lot over the semester and every time I think about it I get a little bit angrier. First, there is the huge problem with whitewashing in Hollywood. Most people realize that this is a problem in film, but many don’t realize it’s also a problem at the local bookstore. Octavia Butler’s Dawn is one, but certainly not the only time this has happened.
Continue reading “You Judged that Book by its Cover, Didn’t You?”
It’s OK to be a Snob About Reading
A couple weeks ago Cassie wrote an interesting blog post about the importance of the visual. In addition to raising some very valid points, she credited a point that I had made in our small group discussion. I felt that it was important to provide some context and credit to the original research.
Maybe it’s my constant need for validation or maybe just the fact that people are constantly making me justify my degree in literature, but I like to bring up the fact that reading literature actually makes you a more empathetic person at pretty much every possible opportunity. That’s right, fellow book nerds, reading actually makes you a better person. Well, at least if you define better as more empathetic, which I do because we could really use some more empathy in the world right now.
A Brief Guide to the Many Traps of Octavia Butler’s Fiction
The students of ENGL 431/Octavia Butler and Social Ties have requested that I post their collaborative statement that they conceptualized and crafted independently of the instructor. Click here for a version with live links.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://morrison.sunygeneseoenglish.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/12/ENGL-431-Final-2.pdf” title=”ENGL 431 Final”]
by Sandy Brahaspat, Sabrina Bramwell, Kevin Burke,Gabby Cicio, Elana Evenden, Devin Flaherty, Emma Gears, Denis Hartnett, Jonathan Kalman, Clio Lieberman, Jennifer Liriano, Linda Luder, Brendan Mahoney, Sean McAneny, Catherine McCormick, Steven Minurka, Nolan Parker, McKenna Parzych, Raina Salvatore, Samantha Stern, Emily Sterns, Katelyn Sullivan, Veronica Taglia, Elizabeth Verrastro, Davina Ward, Sarah Werth, Sarah Westbay, and name redacted
COLORED ONLY
In Jackson, Mississippi, 1961, there was a signed ordered by the police stating “WAITING ROOM FOR COLORED ONLY” in hospitals and medical centers to segregate between the blacks and whites. According to “Civil Rights and Healthcare: Remembering Simkins v. Cone (1963)”, during this time period, African American doctors, dentists, and surgeons were only allowed to practice on other African Americans.
Of course during that time, the majority of white people thought African Americas were filthy and didn’t want much to do with them unless they were serving them. Of course medical practice is very serious so they’re only going to trust “their kind.” If a sign like this is up, it just shows that they didn’t even want to sit with the “colored group.”
Eventually, “the United States Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case) deemed that the two hospitals’ policies of racial discrimination for both patient admissions and visiting physician staff privileges violated the fifth and fourteenth amendments of the Constitution.”
This was a positive changed for the “colored group” in that they didn’t have to feel so secluded and treated as if they were animals. In reading the article, “The difference between blacks and animals”, Alice white states, “animals were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites.”
When I that sign I felt like it related so much to that quote because in this day and age you only see signs like that if “NO DOGS ARE ALLOWED” in to a store or an area in a park. It just shows how much white people back then belittled African Americans just because of their complexion.
English 101 and my study abroad experience
As I write my last blog post, I can’t help but reflect on the course as a whole and what I’ve learned. One of the major problems discussed during class was the negative effects and results that derive from medical voluntourism. Before going on my trip to Ghana, I knew that the trip would consist of me participating in research and interacting with the people in the communities I visited. I was required to go to orientation and learn about what to expect when visiting this country. I was also required to take this online course and be certified in the understandings of extramural research. The online course was required for everyone going on the trip to understand the importance of “protecting human research participants.” Looking back, I can see why Professor Muench expected us to do all these things because our actions can mean good, but cause more harm to the people. Going to Ghana has proven to be one of the best experiences in my life and happy to see now that I wasn’t one of those people going in hopes of getting hands on experience on the people without proper training. Although I eventually plan on working in the medical field, I learned just as much interacting with the people living in these different communities. I was able to tie back what I saw and experienced from each village to major issues that deal with sanitation, urbanization, and neglected tropical diseases. From this course, I was able to reflect on my previous actions and ideas I carried with me throughout the trip. Going to Ghana, I was given the opportunity to learn from the people just as much as they could learn from me. Professor Muench did a great job instilling in our heads that the Ghanians aren’t below us and the theme of interdependence was brought up numerous times throughout the trip. Looking back, I realized that Ghana taught me just as much about myself and what I want to do in the future as far as working in the medical field. Ghana wasn’t the type of study abroad in which I searched for saviordom. I learned just as much if not more from exploring the country and interacting with the people than I would have if I went with a quest for experience or the pursuit of an emotional high. Going to Ghana through the biology department at SUNY Geneseo, I observed the community’s actual needs and had to reflect as to why people were living the way they were. Although Professor Muench does a great job at avoiding to display this “white savior complex,” there are still other programs and organizations out there that will advocate and represent medical voluntourism in a positive light instead of focusing on the harm that comes with it.
Trans? Fine by me!
A couple of weeks ago, I attended a panel of students that talked about their struggles on the SUNY Geneseo campus and the discrimination they face with their sexual orientation. The event was called Trans?Fine by me! The event was held after an incident that occurred with a sociology professor having made offensive comments about the LGBTQ+ community. Continue reading “Trans? Fine by me!”
The Curtain Fall: Reflection
This is the end. The semester is wrapping up and finals are around the corner. However; this is also a time for reflection. A time to recollect our thoughts and mull over what we have learnt through the semester. Indeed, the Fall 2017 English 101 class covered interdisciplinary issues spanning from race to medicine through the lens of literature. We read books/articles/short stories spanning genres from science fiction to non-fiction. Nevertheless, our conversation would always be in tandem with relevant issues effecting today’s world. Issues spanning systemic racism, the dangers of medical voluntourism to sustainability. Throughout the course, we were able to tie ideas and concepts back to unseeming ideas and justify our findings using textual evidence. Valuable skill earned: To be able to realize interconnectness. I remember participating in the final collective brainstorming exercise and how I wanted my statement to reflect all of the questions I hoped would remain with me and my fellow coursemates. I recorded “intersectionality is a profound concept that appears and will always appear in our daily lives. Everything is connected and nothing lives in isolation. Through every sphere of life, racism can cut through often as intentional and even so directional towards a selected group of people. Even as mere fiction and fabrication, race is perpetuated across spheres like law, medicine, business, government across others. At the end of the day, can we connect the dots? Can we recognize and analyze the staying power and hubris that comes with privilege? Is medical apartheid a real concept even in today’s world? How do we know and how do we call it out with supporting evidence? At the end of the day, epistemophilia as an adopted methodology to finding solutions should/will be a resounding answer” (Adaeze, 2017. )
However, I have come to realise that some of these questions might have no answers. still, I will continue to ask more questions while reflecting on previously asked questions. The world is not black and white hence it’s complexity. Singular views should be discouraged and multiple perspectives should be employed to issues. Perhaps, getting closer to realised solutions is more important than merely seeking answers. Call out systemic racism and advocate for social justice in whatever capacity you can. Recycle and try to save the planet. Untrained medical students should think twice about programs offering to let them volunteer and perform medical procedures in a developing country. In order to advance intellectually and work as best as you can; employ critical thinking and reflection strategies. While critical thinking requires thinking deeply, identifying problems and proposing solutions; reflection helps an individual reach into their capacity after the noise dies. Just like monks reflect and meditate to gain a higher learning and to get to a higher state of spirituality , writers need to reflect to reach higher states of their creativity and higher learning of themselves and their skills as writers. Reflection is like a healing balm that soothes the mind while enhancing writing with its valuable outputs and results. This is not the end. We are continually learning and gaining awareness on important issues happening around us. It is not enough to merely listen but it is essential to process and reflect on what has been heard. If learning never stops; then reflection has no limit. Scour through your mind for the seemingly insignificant yet useful pieces, connect the dots as much as you can and let your mind soar. There is no height too impossible to achieve if an individual puts their mind to it. Reflection: Put your mind to it.
Bill Mckibben and the reality of our actions
On September 30th, Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org visited the SUNY Geneseo campus and spoke about the major problems and contributions of climate change. He spoke about how there has been immense changes with climate/weather in the last 40 years. Unfortunately, he spoke about the issues with climate change and how many people working within the political system will brush off these issues. Something that resonated with me was that he said “we have to take action now and do something about it now.” He said this because people are often uneducated about the growing problems with climate change. Once they learn about the harms, the next step it to work on fixing the problem and looking for solutions. Even though McKibben wants to educate others about the dangers and what contributes to climate change, people will refuse to believe this and turn their cheek the other way.
Continue reading “Bill Mckibben and the reality of our actions”