Afritics: week 7

This week we read DeLany and Roger’s (2004) article, “Black women's leadership and learning:  From politics to afritics in the context of community.”  Although I never heard of the term afritics I readily identified with the term as I felt that it was an accurate description of how not just black women, but the black community in large.  One concept in particular that stood out to me was “that the leadership level and educational advancement they earned were not end goals… but a means to fulfilling their advocacy responsibilities” (103).  I’ve heard many of black peers wanting to get into their respective fields as a route to give back to the community, whether it was related to their field or not.  The article made the connection of how the family upbringing fosters black women to give back to the community.  My family taught me to give back by giving me money to tithe in church and advising that I should share.   A common thing my family taught me was if I was cooking for myself was to ask if anyone wanted something to eat.  So from the time I started cooking I cooked for my brother who is five years older than me because he rarely cooked.  Although it annoyed me from time to time, I understood the importance of looking out for others, because someone would look out for me.  Through the years I learned that in some way or form what I do has long lasting effects on others and myself.  Although I may not be able to trace how I became how I am, everything that I do has an effect on me in ways that I’m not aware of.

Being contempt

Week 6

This week I commented on how I got to know God better after graduating from school, but I didn’t say how I had certain things taken away.  School, friends, the city of Memphis, and other communities/responsibilities I had while attending school.  It wasn’t until when I had little to do that I could focus on pursuing the word.  My last year of undergrad (S’ 09) I felt in my heart that I should be reading the word for myself, but I would always think my way out of it saying that I have more pressing things to do.  When I graduated I focused on working full time to pay for grad school over the summer and fall, but in the spring I didn’t have a full time job and since I already took the GRE “I had time” to do what I wanted to do, which is read the word.  But I was still writing essays to apply for the U of M until February so it wasn’t until after that that I started getting into the word.  When I began reading I wondered why I didn’t do this earlier, but I was glad to have gotten started.  I didn’t know where to start nor did I care, I figured I would get to a passage and it would make sense to my life in some way.  So I just read and reflected and realized that the reason I didn’t read earlier was because I didn’t think I needed to because my life wasn’t in turmoil as I would compare myself to others thinking that well my life isn’t as bad as such and such.  

By comparing what I was doing to others when I should have just worried about what I do and how I could influence others, either the wrong way or in a better way.  Matthews 7:3-5 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in you own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me remove the speck from your eye”; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  6 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.  After I read that passage I realized that I’m blinding myself by comparing my life to others when really I should be living my own life because living in faith isn’t about beating or being better than others, it’s about being the best you you can be and you can’t be you if you’re comparing your life to someone else’s.  Matthews 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.  I was leading myself down the broad gate of destruction by comparing myself to others I was around and not those in the word.  Although I do then what I do now, I didn’t have the mindset that I have now.  I didn’t see how the challenges I faced in route to the narrow gate strengthened me and acted as a footstool with the clarity I developed.  I didn’t realize how by having limits set by the commandments made my life easier rather than more difficult, because it was something I couldn’t do.  However by being more critical of my thinking my life has been made easier when things are taken away, living within guidelines and limits rather than wants and desires, led to peace of heart and mind once I started reading and taking in the word.  It’s funny because at the time that I only had a part time job and didn’t go to school I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere in my life, but now I see that being in motion isn’t always the best.  One can be blindly walking the wrong way thinking they are going the right way because they follow the crowd believing that they know what’s right.  Blindly trusting those around them to do the right thing, when what they really need to do is take a step back and think for a second, avoid moving, and then act on what they know is right.  Because Luke 11:28 blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it and Proverbs 14:12 there is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death.  So I follow my heart and not the patterns of this world so life I live is the life of the few.

Living the present learning the past

After reading Packer & Ballantyne "Zoos and Aquariums," I not only realized the importance zoos and aquariums have in educating the community in being environmentally conscious, but also how museums are perceived as more educational than the zoos and aquariums, which are perceived as a source of entertainment.  But it made sense after I thought about it because zoos and aquariums are living beings that we would rarely have the privilege to see up close, swimming, and climbing (notice the active verb tense).  Museums are artifacts of the past with meaning, a form of symbolic representation, embodied in the figure of the person that created it, inspired from the time she or he lived in.  Artifacts reflect human culture, a history of man, while animals represent life and the present moment.

Comparing class to BBOs

The Ellis & Scott article, “Community education as a citizen organising for democratic accountability,” was very insightful and gave the makeup of the vehicle for change that is needed in a democratic society.  Being the first to lead a discussion this semester I felt unsure about how to facilitate discussion, but the discussion and threads took on a life of their own once classmates started blogging.  Although I was the facilitator the class took the reading and the questions I presented and made sense of it through their posts.  As I reflect on the article and this class I begin to see similarities that this online class has to broad based organizations (BBO).

This class can be looked at as a BBOs described in the article because the syllabi is the source of the information and there is a person that organizes the course so that the course objectives can be addressed so that people learn adequate information needed for the future.  The discussions allow students to voice their opinions at a time table suitable to their availability and discussions can be asynchronously replied to with seamless break in dialogue.  The class posts information to continue dialogue and shows understanding and different perspectives on a topic, not only increasing the writer’s knowledge base but also that of the class.  This is in essence what a BBO is, a group of people exchanging information and addressing their concerns through perspective, in hopes of bettering the community as a whole, not just self-fulfilling desires.  By coming together in a centralized manner topics and discussions can be had in a routine manner so that when an issue presents itself it can be quickly addressed.  When the organization addresses the issue they can be proactive in addressing minor current concerns and be proactive in addressing future possibilities, thus moving from the current day to day struggles.  In relation to the online class students can be proactive by reading ahead so that they aren’t stressed from having to read for the week.

C&C Erin Brockovich and Soul of a Citizen


Compare

“Stepping out on nothing, hoping to land on something.”  The book and film touched on many situations in which people took a leap of faith with no guarantee that everything would be okay.  In the film Ed talked about the pressure he faced pursuing the case stating that it was going to take $100,000 a month to finance and he would have to take out a second mortgage for his house to help cover the costs.  Ed didn’t have money to invest but depending on what road they took, PB&E could prolong the dispute so that Ed’s business could no longer afford to pursue the claims, because PB&E are a 28 billion dollar company.  Ed took a leap of faith by trusting Erin to find documentation that PB&E corporate knew about the chromium six plums that the factory was producing so that they could pressure the company.  Trusting that Erin would find that proof Ed took a financial risk that could have burdened him with the losses.  Without him taking that risk and Erin following her convictions, thus inspiring Ed to trust her, the case would not have the far reaching affects it had. 

Contrast

In Soul of a Citizen they can’t go into detail about the intricacies that the people who help change their community go through.  In the movie, Erin Brockovich, faced many uncovered problems when trying to do the right thing and bring justice to the people of Hinkley, CA that Soul of a Citizen couldn’t go in depth about. Some of her struggles were caring for her children, making ends meet, being respected, having to educate herself to find the resources/documents to further the case, balancing a relationship,  and most evident not being there for her youngest daughter’s, Beth’s, first words.  Although the fight for justice was tough she was very passionate about justice being served like those stories in the book, but the movie showed a descriptive summary of justice, not just the conclusion, which shows that changing the community/society in which one lives in or is a part of is hard work, but well worth it at the end.  It’s not worth it because of the monetary gains, but because it gave life to the community that was unaware of the wrongs being done to it, Erin became respected by people that looked down on her, her children may not understand now, but what she did will help them down the road because she made herself a better person because she was given an opportunity by Ed who knew she wasn’t qualified but knew she had a lot of heart.  As a result, everyone learned from one another and environmental concerns are taken more seriously as a result, altering the path of the world and future generations.

Identity chart