Blog #9 Let US make a difference let US be the difference

Last week’s class began with a discussion about the Tunnel of Oppression and what our thoughts about it. I really enjoyed hearing everyone’s responses to it and I had a good time being a part of it I thought it was a great experience. I would have liked if we would have done what Jaime did in the past where they were taken into a “gas chamber” I think that would have been a very powerful message and taken all the issues we touched upon to a new level of thinking. We then discussed the Lipstick and Labcoats article. We were split up in groups and touched upon certain parts of the article. None of the females in our class had a STEM major and one of the questions we discussed was why we (the females in the class) did not choose a STEM major? Personally I am not good at any of those subjects therefor for me it was not something that had to do with discouragement or because “I did not belong”. However, in my English class we discussed this and my teacher (a male) could not believe that professors discourage students to pursue these subject matters. He told us a story about when he was a principal he had a teacher that complained about having women in his science class and said they did not belong there and he corrected him saying they do belong there. I agree women should be able to walk into a high level Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math class without being doubted because they are capable of being in these areas. The last forty five minutes or so were dedicated to taking the same assessment that Julian had given us at the beginning of the semester.

I really enjoyed reading this week’s articles it is good to know that there is a way to stop oppression but it begins with us changing our way of thinking. As I was reading the articles I realized I have been going through some of the steps of the cycle of liberation but have only known of it because of this class. I have become more aware of issues that I perhaps would not have deemed as oppressive because I did not perceiving them that way. I have become more vocal towards these issues in my room, talking to my roommates and hearing their opinions about it as well. One of the conversations we had was about the R word (retarded). We advocate not using that word because we know that it is hurtful and people are offended when they hear it but, people do use it very flippantly and forget the real meaning of the word. This article reminded me a lot of a rhyme I heard a lot in school “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”.  I always thought it was ridiculous because if that were true then why do people get offended when they say something they do not like? It did not make any sense to me and it is because words do hurt and they do affect people even if they pretend it does not. In my experience I think I have gone through the waking up step and stopped at the building communities but I have not moved passed that and I would really want to move out of my comfort zone to help and make a difference to stop oppression because we need to change ourselves if we want to change the system.