Final Day Thought

This was by far my best class of the quarter. The subject matter was intriguing and the format was good. I appreciate the fact that what was said at the beginning of the quarter was adhered to and that you never taught multiple classes with wrong information, only to be angered and annoyed by your students when they corrected you, like a certain math teacher I had. I also appreciate the fact that you explored unconventional ideas to teaching like this blogging, even though my thoughts on blogging have not changed, the approach is welcoming. The Sherman Alexie book was interesting and the group read idea was also good, while i understand you can not force anyone to attend events outside of the class room hours i think that somehow incorporating more "face time" with the NWIC students would be a positive addition to the read. It is also my opinion that incorporating more formal writing exercises would be beneficial as well for some students. But like in said in the beginning, this was my best class of the quarter by far and i am hoping to take another class with you sometime during my stay at Cascadia Community College.

Today

Today is my birthday and i am turning 29. I have to say that if you asked me what i would be doing on this day 10 years ago I NEVER, repeat NEVER would have imagined I would be working on a paper for a English class. As I sit down combing over my paper and finishing the final details and polishing it up I have to say that I officially hate writing papers. I found the information i came across through my research, whether of purpose or on accident very interesting. The part I do not like is having to correlate it into essay form to present a argument. It's not that I had difficulty with it, I just in general do not enjoy writing. I guess that is just a fact that i will have to accept and move on from as I have three more years of ahead of me. Oh how the joy just engulfed me.

LISTEN!!

One of my favorite songs, with a good message and a interesting reference i never picked up on until know.... Let's see who can get it, it is related to a Native American thought.

Artistic Response

For my artistic response i chose to write a couple poems. I spent some time looking a poems and reading various poetry. I am generally not extremely artistic, and not generally very excited by many forms of art. That being said it made writing the poetry EXTREMELY difficult. I also included some poetry that i found, written by Native Americans, that i for some reason or another had a particular "attachment" to.  Since i am not very excited by many forms of art as i said earlier i chose to also incorporate two photographs that i found to be extremely "moving" in my artistic response.

WATCH THIS!!!!

I found this video while doing work for another class project dealing with the communication of Native Americans.

FB quote

Facebook post from a friend

"You won't box me in to a certain style, group, music, lifestyle, etc. I have been exposed to so many different styles, people, culture, race, creed, color, etc. If you think I am weird because I like something different then you or seem "abnormal" good... maybe you'll learn something new. I hate the word "stagnant". That's one thing I AM NOT!" Ed Hoffing 2011

Devestation

I have been looking through "Google Images" pictures of the Japan quake and have been having mixed emotions. On one hand the pictures of the devastation is horrible. One particular picture in general stands out. The picture reminds me of the a old war photo i saw once. The lady was walking down the road holding in her arms what i would presume to be her child. The lady and her child were covered in what i would guess to be a mixture of mud and blood and they both looked as though death was knocking on their doorstep. Anyways my logical side says that none of this should be a surprise as Japan is on a major fault line and there has been a increase of quakes in the pacific, IE. Christchurch. My emotional side feels empty and unsure of the outcome. I write this not to offend anyone and not to discount the severity of the dilemma at hand. I hope that anyone personally affected by the situation is able to recoup and that everything will come out O.K.

REALLY!!!

So i was in Marysville, at the skate inn, over the weekend at a friends daughters birthday party. My friend and his family are really into roller skating and go on quite a regular basis, and I join them on occasion. During the party i was standing on the wall with another friend talking when a kid skated by, i recognized the kid and pointed out to my other fiend that he was a remarkable skater. When i was doing this his new girl friend butted in with "he's native." In complete bewilderment all i can think to do was look at her and say in  a sarcastic tone "really thanks for clearing that up." My point, or question rather, is why do people feel the need to point out such completely irrelevant facts like that. Would someone say "he's white" or "she's female." Thoughts??

Interactions

For my analysis of "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" i discussed JR and how he had to daily assimilate himself between high and low context cultures. I was aware of the differences on a "theoretical" level before this however i never paid attention to the practicality of it. The other day i was sitting in the library and found myself not paying attention to what i was doing but rather to what i was hearing behind me. There was a conversation going on between two gentleman about nothing in particular, just some generalities. It occurred to me after the conversation was that the two gentleman were "Indian"  when one walked past me. It was then that i realized that i had just witnessed a high context culture, casual encounter. If they were both "American" the conversation probably would have been as simple as "hey, whats up" and then over. Like I said before in another post sometimes the things that you pull out of a moment are eye opening and make you say "oh".

Today

I have been watching T.V. this afternoon and have found my self flipping between two movies, "School Ties" and "Plesantville." Both movies have the same undertone to them, one that is apparent in "School Ties" and not so apparent in "Plesantville" unless you are reading between the lines. Both of these movies deal with how bigotry, racism and people with differences are dealt with. "Plesantville" takes this on in a interesting manner where the movie is based in a 1950's "leave it to beaver" type television show where everything goes right and there are no problems. The interesting thing about "Plesantville" is that the entire town is white and the tension arises between the people who have "seen the light" as i interpreted it and people who "have not." The reason i think that this is interesting is because they are saying that even though everyone may appear the same there are differences that need to be acknowledged and "tolerated" for lack of a better word. "School Ties" is saying this in more of a direct and "in your face" manner.

I find this interesting only because of the fact that i was watching both movies at the same time. I honestly do not know if i would have picked up on the message in "Plesantville" had i not been watching "School Ties" at the same time.

Thoughts!!!???

O.K. so i have been really bad about posting here, unfortunately for me it is going to have a adverse effect. I feel that the Internet is not the place to post your thoughts and ideals regarding sensitive subjects such as those that tend to be discussed in these type of scholarly related groups.

So my challenge to myself for the next couple weeks (read remainder of quarter) will be to go above and beyond the expectations.

That being said as i sit here i am actually listening to a lecture on conflict management and ethnic and cultural differences. The lecturer has stated that you need to recognise the conflict in order to be able to resolve it. So i ask you the class, How do you feel about blogging beyond the needs to fulfill a requirement for a class?

Experience from Saturday.

This weekend after riding dirt bikes up around Darrington with a group of friends I stopped off at a store on the side of the Mtn. Loop Highway. There were no cars parked outside of the store, with the exception of what looked like a security guard. We walked into the store and began to look around the shelves and the coolers as we were trying decide what looked good, a task that proved very difficult as we had just completed our first hard ride since Thanksgiving and were all physically drained and a little out of it. In the corner was a man who was talking with the shop keeper. Upon first glance i figured he was the guard who belonged to the car out front. The man had been glaring at us with piercing eyes from the second we walked in the store as if he was ready to attack us at any second. The air was and mood was very thick and being in the shop was becoming extremely awkward.

In a attempt to lighten the mood i looked up again with what i thought was a pleasant demeanor and asked the guard how he was doing. It was at this time i realized that he was a tribal police officer and that we had stopped at a shop on the Sauk Suiattle reservation. The officer did not give a verbal response but rather just nodded his head. By this time we had all decided what we wanted and were ready to make our purchase. When we walked up the counter where the officer was standing, at first he did not move out of the way, instead he waited until we said "excuse me."

The shop keeper had her back to us when we walked up to the counter and took a moment before she acknowledged that we were ready to make our purchase. During the transaction nothing was said by the shop keeper except for the total and asking if we wanted a bag.

The whole experience was rather odd and out of the norm. I write this not because the experience angered me, but rather because it was unexpected. This was not the first time I had experienced something like this, it was the first time i had experienced a event like this out side of a area known for it's intolerance like Hayden Lake. I suspect that the real reason for the way we were treated was not because of hate, but rather a dis-trust.

Thought

Interesting thought on the prevalence of racism and every day life. I was driving north up highway 99 today and came up on the Kompact Kar Korner.... Makes you wonder about the thought that was put into the name, accident or intentional?

DAY #11 Winter Quater

Day #11 of winter quarter at Cascadia and classes are in full swing. Next week the first "major" assignment in English 102 is due, an analytical essay on Sherman Alexies "Diary of a Part Time Indian."
I have not began reading the book as I write this, yet from what I know about him and the works of his I have read I am excited. I find his works to be very thought provoking and draw upon the emotions of the reader. In fact I just finished reading "Indian Education" for the second time and had completely different thoughts and found myself focusing on a completely different element of the story than the first time I read it. I plan on reading the book over the next two days and will post my initial thoughts when I have completed the book

DAY#2

Tuesday January 11, 2011 day #2 of winter quarter @ Cascadia Community College... BLog created for English 102