Blog 7

Around two weeks ago we had an activity where we each got a different colored star and were supposed to answer questions by writing the answer on the five legs of the star. Then we all stood up and stood in a circle as Dr. Hoffman read the meaning behind our answers. One color was oppressed and unaccepted by everyone near them, the other was accepted but people were still unsure and tense around them, and the last color was accepted by all. My color was the one in the middle where I was accepted but people were unsure and tense around me. This exercise help give me more of an insight to how it feels like to be oppressed by others that do not accept them for who they are or the choices they make. One of my best friends is gay and I remember the first time he “came out” to me I already knew and he was so relieved that I was not upset he did not tell me sooner. I told him that no matter what he did no matter what I believed in I would love him for who he was because he was my friend and I had no right to judge him or dictate his life. He was so happy because even though some people accepted him he was still afraid to be rejected.

The week after this we had to present our chapters from the book A Hope in the Unseen. My group had the very last chapters and when I was reading them I found them to be very interesting a little hard to understand since I did not know what was happening before but it made me interested to read the whole book. I thought everyone did a great job presenting their chapters and it was interesting to see that even though every group did a power point they presented differently. It was nice to hear what had happened to Cedric before and his journey to how he got where he was in my chapters. There were parts where I felt connected to what Cedric was going through and I could feel what he was feeling. Overall it was great to see everyone do a good job on their chapters and see the story unfold.

Question Time:

Why are people so afraid to accept things or people who are different?

What is the image of STEM field majors?

How do we talk to children about gays, bi sexual, and transgender people?

How do we educate people to understand that stereotypical and gender jokes are not appropriate?