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Where I’m At

Personally, this semester has been going alright. Socially I’m pretty content with where I am. I feel as if I established a good supporting cast and have fun hanging out with everyone. I do think I need to spend more time working on my schoolwork than hanging out with friends, however. I’ve also really enjoyed the smaller classroom sizes because I am able to build connections with my teacher than I probably wouldn’t be able to at a larger school. Also with the smaller classroom sizes, the learning feels much more personalized and meaningful than a typical lecture. I’ve also enjoyed the variety of intramural activities the school hosts. I was able to do bowling, flag football, and softball all with a big group of my friends which is really fun.

For the negatives, I’d probably start with my mental health. Although hanging out with friends and doing all these activities is fun, I’ve been extremely stressed this whole semester. I don’t know if it's because this is my first college semester or what but personally I have been struggling. Not to a point where I am thinking of dropping out or doing anything bad but a 1 or 2-day break from all the work would help so much. I just want one day where I don’t have deadlines and assignments on my mind 24/7 and to do something that I can enjoy. I would say Dr. Bravard has been very leinient on due dates and takes in consideration how the students are feeling which is honestly something that I am thankful for. However one issue I have with the class is the assignments being due and assigned without notice in class. This is more of an issue on my end for not checking canvas as much as I should but a reminder couldn’t hurt. 

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Blindspotting Movie

Recently in class, we watched the movie “Blindspotting”. The movie was about a black man on probation who has witnessed a police killing of an unarmed black man. As the movie progresses we see his thought process and his mental health deteriorate over time. This movie came out in 2018 and the issues presented are still prevalent today.

Personally, I thought the movie was rich with symbolism and did a great job showcasing what it's like to be a black man at this time. The movies showed a white police officer killing a black man for his skin color. This took a toll on Collin’s, the main character, mental health. It shows how he suffered his PTSD and how his emotions were changing throughout the film. The film also covers who uses the N-word and whether Miles, Collin’s white best friend, should be allowed to say it. After a big fight, Collin screams at Miles and yells at him to say the N-word. Miles refuses and decides that he doesn’t even want his wife to call him that anymore. Systematic racism is shown because of the bar fight that put Collin on probation in the first place. Both Collin and Miles did the same crimes by beating the man up so they should have both gotten the same punishment. But since Collin is black, the police only arrested him and Miles got off scratch-free.

I evaluate the film as a great movie for someone who wants to learn what it's like to be a black man at this time. The movie is mainly from Collins's point of view and it shows his experience with the police and how he handles his emotions. There is symbolism everywhere including his job as being a mover for houses to the dynamic between Collin and Miles.

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Class Reflection Mid-October

So far this course has been going alright. The subjects we are learning about and discussing in class is all interested and I like to contribute. I was never a fan of English classes or anything writing in general, this class makes it a little easier considering the topic. With that said, obviously I am not going to enjoy the writing assignments we are getting but I understand that it is a class where I am going to have to write a lot. 

The changes to the assignment tab took some time to get used to but now I am comfortable with it. It makes it easy to understand what is due when and what needs to be read for a certain date. I prefer this way of reading assignments more than the last. 

If it was up to me I would rather have more of these journal entries because I prefer these over more formal writing assignments. Over the last couple of weeks, I feel if the class discussion has been occurring less with these writing assignments being due. I would like to see more canvas discussions and chances to read everyone else’s assignments and be able to respond to them.

My final thought would be to make the class syllabus easier to find on canvas. When I refer back to it I want it to be in an easy spot to find. I am excited for what the rest of the year holds and hoping for some more diverse assignments.

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First Month In

So far reading Olou’s book has made me open my eyes to what is going on around me regarding race. The book was targeted towards white people and it has honestly helped me a lot. We have read about 6-7 chapters so far and each one has been vastly different on topics about race but they all tie into each other. Some of my favorite chapters so far have been about microaggressions and the model minority myth. I think I liked these chapters so much because these issues are so apparent around us however we don't pay any attention to them. These examples made me change how I thought about our country and society as a whole and how we treat race.

Although I have learned a great amount in this class I still have a couple questions that I would like to be answered. I still have trouble with which way is the right way to address Black Americans. Should I say black, African-American, or person of color? I know these are all pretty similar and I have issues differentiating the three. I also wanted to talk a bit more about what privilege actually is and whether some things should just consider privilege or not. I’ve heard some privileges and I want someone to explain to me how it is exactly a privilege to be a certain way.

I think the use of comedic media is a great way to introduce race and to get people to talk about it. I feel as if people are talking about something like race in this situation, any attention to it is good. When a comedian makes a racist joke they aren’t trying to bring down these marginalized groups, they are trying to get a laugh. The sketches that we have watched have helped bring a brighter tone to these topics while also bringing them forth so more people know about them. Although the SNL sketches we have seen in class were hit or miss, I thought they were some good ways of showing these topics. My personal favorite was the “Inner White Woman” sketch because it showed off the stereotypes of how a black woman would react to how a white woman would react to certain situations. They portrayed the black woman as loud and crazy and the white woman as calm and had self-control. Obviously, these are just stereotypes but I liked how they showed both sides.

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Intersectionality

Intersectionility is something that is apperent to most but is rarely talked about. It is the thought that within these big groups of social justice groups, they are only targeting a broad audience. For example, Oluo claims that even within the BLM movement (started by women) aims to focus on all black lives however they seem to maily focus on black male lives. This could be applied to pretty much all big movement such as feminism and disability groups. This might be useful to what we are learning in class by giving us more of a bigger picture and realize this goes beyond race. We should not just focus on opression of black people, we should be aware those who are black, transgender, disabled or anything else in that matter. Reading Chapter 5, intersectionality goes deeper than just white on black opression. Intersectionality happens even within certain race groups. Even though they are the same skin color does not mean everyones views will line up. 

I was also aware of the Model Minortiy Myth however I didn’t know it had a name. In the mix of all the opression in this country Asian-Americans often get over looked for their issues in this country. People use the term Asian-American when they refer to Chinese, Japanese and Korean individuals. What the term Asian-American actually incompasses is the Hindus, Filipinos, Indonesians and many more asian countries. Personally I was not aware of the racism regarding Asian-Americans because I was under the impression that most asian familes in this country were well off. Which isn’t entirely false, this stat often used as a way to overlook thier issues. This is harmful to them because most people assume they don’t need any help and are well off on thier own, then focus their view on other minority groups. I enjoyed Canwen Xu’s TED talk because she was breaking common stereotypes that most people assumed were true. She also gave insight to what alot of Asian-Americans go through in their day to day lives.

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Introduction - About Me!

Hello all. My name is Adam and I reside from a town called Milford in the great Massachusetts. Back home I have a family of three brothers, a dog and a cat. My dog’s name is Max and he is a German Shepherd and my cat Claude is just a black cat (pictured below). In total there are 8 of us including my parents and pets. 

A couple of my hobbies include playing video games, playing basketball, watching Netflix (if you count that as a hobby) and building computers. I mainly enjoy playing indie/horror games. I started building computers at the age of 13 and have built probably around 20 since. My enjoyment of building PCs led me to a tech school for highschool which led to me building so many for customers. People would come in requesting a computer and we’d buy the parts and build it for them. My favorite thing to do is going snowboarding. Freshman year of high school all my friends peer-pressured me into joining ski and snowboard club which was honestly one of the best decisions of my life. I go countless times every year all throughout New England looking for bigger and more enjoyable mountain to go down. 

It is actually a funny story how I ended up at Florida Southern College. My dad was always talking about wanted to pack things up and move to Florida but never acted on it. I decided to apply to a ton of schools down here with free applications for the jokes of it and didn’t think much of it. I was going to go to New England Tech however I was told I would not have housing because they ran out of room. I then looked at the finacial aid Florida Southern had given me and decided to come here. So far the weather is beautiful compared to Massachusetts, however I will miss snowboarding. I picked Cybersecurity as my major because as mentioned earlier I grew an interest in computers and computer science in general in high school. I picked Information Technology for all 4 years in my school and was introduced to many topics in the field. Senoir year we were shown the basics of cyber security and I knew that is what I wanted to do later in life. The market is only growing and cyber attacks are becoming more and more popular which means more $$$ for the field. That’s it for now and thanks for reading!