The discussion with Professor Schwarz about college was very interesting and enjoyable. He shared a lot of stories and personal opinions, which showed how much he truly believes in his experience and his observations. It made me realize how important this time period is for us and although we should enjoy our non-academic time as college students, the academic side of it should be just as enjoyable. We should appreciate our classes and think of them as learning experiences rather than tasks to complete in order to get our degree and their effect on our GPA. He advised that we reflect on our experiences and grow from them, and manage our time.
Author Archives: jen74
Checking In
This semester has definitely been rough with online classes and I know that personally am struggling with motivation. I was not looking forward to online classes back home after semi finals, and this table talk made me feel like I wasn’t the only one. With the way my classes are set up and because of the pandemic, I do not have much interaction with people outside my major and college, so it was also interesting to hear about how other classes are handling the hybrid/online situation. The way our classes are being held right now is not ideal, but I am grateful that I can personally learn and interact with others because it could be worse.
Excel Coloring
At first, I thought this workshop was going to just the usual coloring involving paper and coloring utensils, but I was really surprised to hear that we would be coloring through excel. I have used excel for many of my classes and have thought of it as a means to solve problems and organize, so it was really fun to see that it could be used for more fun activities. It was really difficult at first with the time limit because only one cell could hold a color that corresponded to the assigned picture and resulted in very blocky replicas of the pictures. However, it was a lot of fun and wouldn’t mind doing this again!
Music of Protest
This workshop was really eye opening to the struggle of multiple groups and their response to those struggles with the use of music. I have read literature works that were forms of protest but this was the first time that I have noticed the direct use of music serving those same purposes. It goes to show how relevant and prominent music is then and even now. Music serves so many purposes than just entertainment.
Halloween and Marriage
It was a nice break from school to paint pumpkins for Halloween and play trivia. I liked the creative freedom to decorate our pumpkins as we wanted to. The trivia questions were also really interesting. It was funny that a lot of old Halloween superstitions had ties to women finding their potential partners. For example, women looked in mirrors while walking downstairs at midnight on Halloween to see their boyfriends. I was also shocked to hear that Americans spend approximately $2.6 billion a year on Halloween candy!
Learning Sign Language
I learned a little bit of sign language prior to this workshop and really enjoyed the way this workshop was ran. I was really interested in how complex sign language is in the sense that the way people sign depends on location and how there are shorter ways to sign words and phrases. The way people sign in other countries are different, making sign language not only a single language but also a language that has multiple languages. I would definitely be interested to learn more and continue practicing.
Sad Truth about Incarceration
I attended the Criminal (In)Justice: How Mass Incarceration Disrupts Families and Communities this week. It was really eye opening because I always thought about how incarceration impacts the individual, but never thought about how it affects their families. Since society has such a negative view of incarcerated individuals, many forget that those individuals are also human and have their own lives outside of prison. It was especially sad when one of the speakers shared a story about someone who did not want to leave prison because they had no life out of prison because they had been there for so long. Due to the stories that the panelists shared, I really hope that there are better plans implemented to ameliorate the post life situations of those who have such cases and to assist those who have to leave their life behind and those close to those incarcerated who are being negatively impacted. It just gives more insight to how there are still many sides, negatives, and room for improvement in our justice system.
Card Making
I really enjoyed the card making workshop lead by Seema because it was nice to just sit for an hour making cards, using only our creativity with the materials available. I used to make personalized cards for holidays and thank you cards for teachers back in middle school and freshman and sophomore year in high school, but I haven’t made any cards since. It allowed me to have a creative outlet and to just relax especially during this stressful time with corona and online classes. I was able to make a birthday card for my dad and a birthday card for a friend, and give it to them. I was reminded of the pride and happiness from seeing their smiles after they open the card and seeing not only the message, but also how it was handmade rather than store bought. I will definitely continue to make cards just because it provides a time to take my mind off other ongoing events and the satisfaction after making it.