Blog Post #9

Last class we started with a discussion about our experiences at the Tunnel of Oppression. I think that we were all able to take something away from our experience at the Tunnel of Oppression. I really enjoyed hearing everyone’s thoughts and insights since we didn’t go through the Tunnel together. I think that going through the Tunnel together as a class may have enhanced the experience but I know that it would have been near impossible to schedule everyone at the same time since the day of the event didn’t coincide with when we are in class. Overall I’m really glad that it was required for us to go and I’m glad we got a chance to talk about our experiences in class so we could have another chance to really think about it all. After our Tunnel of Oppression discussion we moved on to discuss the Lipstick and Labcoats article from a couple weeks ago. It was interesting to see the perspectives of other females compared to the males in the class. Unfortunately we don’t have any females majoring in any of the STEM fields so we weren’t able to hear any first hand experiences or perspectives but I think we still had a good discussion about the reading and our own experiences. We then moved on to discuss the articles on homelessness and we each went around and said one thing that we learned from these articles. I think these articles really made us all aware of the people around us and made me really appreciate all that we have. Since Julian’s activity for the day was to take the same test we took at the beginning of the semester, we spent the last part of class working on that.

 

Our last readings for this class were about the cycle of liberation and what we can do to stop oppressive behavior. While these readings were rather short, I think they are some of the most important readings we’ve talked about so far. I think one of the most important parts to the cycle of liberation is that there is no real beginning or end. I also liked how it was compared to a map because everyone can take their own route to their destination. I definitely think that this class has us all in at least the waking up stage because of all of the topics we have discussed. The other reading talked about what we can do to stop oppressive behavior and while saying something can be hard, it’s important to remember that doing nothing can hurt too. I think it’s really important that we take what we have learned in this class and pass it on by educating others so we can help stop oppressive behavior. I think that this class has given us the tools to continue on in the cycle of liberation and actually stand up rather than just sit back and watch it happen.