Week 2/9-13

On this week of school, we were focused on beginning the book the Kaffir Boy. Let's be honest this is one the only books that I actually read from the four years here. This book was really easy to get hooked into because there were many situations where you could almost feel what Johannes felt. Overtime in the book, it's really interesting to be able and compare you're own life to his. They are completely different worlds. In this book, I had a hard time believing many things that would happen. Especially things like the officers beating Johannes when he was 6 or like the shit men making him stand in the shit when being so young, even though he was making fun of them. It was also even weird to read about a culture that differed so much from our own. One thing I did take from this book that I could connect back was the fact that Johannes mother was always did everything that she could for her children and at the end of the day I think from all cultures, parents always strive for everything for their children.

Overall Experience in Class

I wanted to take the time and share my experience overall in this class. This class has really brought out different aspects in myself that I had never really thought about. As the class went along I realized that this class has made me think more than all my other classes in all four years put together.  It was at times really hard to follow along because at times it felt like you were even afraid to speak up at certain times, but it was only because this class brought out pure truths. From this class, I really began to understand how our world is shaped, but also how our world is still the same in many ways. I'd probably say that this class helped us expand on many world issues, but what's making me so interested is how many of us are actually going to use what we learned in this class. At least for me, from the lesson on stereotypes. It really helped me realize that you can't label someone on their appearance. Also, the ladder of inference definitely made me think about my decisions because that really helped me understand how easily you can jump to conclusions. Global connections also taught me so much about the law system and helped me figure out really what my stance is on the system itself. Which I think is important because in our world today, many people can demolish you if you don't know your rights or laws. I'm actually really interested in what you guys thought about the class, because I think at the end of the day we all took something from this class.

Class on May 28th

On May 28th, Jorge presented his senior project, which was on soccer. His project was focused on  why soccer teams were successful. He explored the two main reasons argued, which were economic status and love/passion for the sport. What was interesting to me was how it could even be argued that its because of the wealth of the team, but as his documentary went on I understood why that was such an important factor. Many of the coaches use their wealth to buy the most valuable players from around the world in order to make the best team possible. Another thing that was interesting was that some of the teams that won the world cup weren't the wealthiest, so it made me wonder whether the economic wealth even had any part to do with it. I liked his presentation because it actually made me think of the two perspectives.

Global Connections: A theory, and practice?

Last semester, I used Plato's allegory of the cave in order to illustrate the concept of becoming enlightened. Specifically, I wanted to illustrate power of enlightenment, because once you become enlightened, you cannot become unenlightened.  Over the course of the entire year, we have been enlightened and had our eyes opened to the issues that haunt our society. Now that we have been educated on the subjects of racism, bigotry, and the myriad of other social injustices that plague our society, it is our duty to be up-standers and to take a firm stand against the injustice. This reminds me of a quote from Thomas Jefferson; "... in matter of principle, stand like a rock." We must resist the flow of the general population and act as we are, enlightened.

Makinnon's senior project on adventure therapy

I thought the concept of adventure therapy was interesting so I decided to look into it more. Adventure therapy is a type of therapy treatment that is a more of a physical approach. Existing research in adventure therapy reports positive outcomes in effectively improving self-esteem, help seeking behavior, increased mutual aid, pro-social behavior, trust behavior and more.  However, there is still debate that the therapy directly causes these positive outcomes. There are many adventure therapy programs for troubled youth and teens and have great results. This type of therapy is also used in teens who have drug abuse and addictions problems. It can also lead to improved attitude and decrease in depression. After I swim, I am always in a better mood after which can relate to Makinnon and surfing. 

Civil Rights Post 3

One of the last documentaries we watched was about a family who lived in a small town in the midwest. This town was all white and very homophobic. The son got a blood transfusion at the hospital, and the blood was contaminated with the HIV virus. He contracted HIV, and soon shortly after passed away. The town shunned the whole family because at the time, HIV was seen strictly as a disease that only homosexuals could get. The family went on the Oprah Winfrey show, and people from the town came on the show. Tnhey told the family they had to move because they no right to live in the town anymore. The man who spoke out the most against the family wasnt even from the town, but came just to make sure the rest of the crowd heard his points. Then many years later, Oprah had the family come back and also the people who spoke out the most. One of the women seemed very sincere in her apology and raised her kids with the ideals that there is nothing wrong with being gay. However, the other man apologized for the way he acted, yet he still firmly believed that being homosexual is a sin and didn't seem sincere in any way. I thought this documentary was crazy because I cant even imagine a town ostracizing a whole family just because they though his son was gay. This would never happen in california especially in this time.

Civil Rights Post 2

Another documentary we watched in the civil rights unit was about Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson was a star basketball player for the LA Lakers. He was a phenomenal player, getting first pick in the draft out of college. He won MVP his rookie year and played for 12 more seasons after that. Magic slept around a lot during his career, mostly unprotected. Johnson and his rival from the Celtics Larry Bird made basketball much more popular. Their rivalry however became a race issue. Black people no matter where they were from supported the Lakers, and white people rooted for the Celtics. In 1991, Magic Johnson retired from the NBA after announcing that he had contracted HIV. At the time, this was considered a gay disease and also a death sentence. People called him Tragic Johnson. Magic Johnson is still alive, and spends his time educating the public on HIV and created a foundation after him.