End of the Semester

This has been my favorite semester of Paideia so far. No offense to Cait and Brady, I miss you guys, but I think it does have to do with the smaller number in general. I feel like we’ve all gotten more comfortable with each other and that’s had a positive effect on our meetings. I really enjoy spending time with everyone, and I’ve found that Paideia has become a mix between a break and a class for me. We’ve maintained the academic content with the discussions, but most of the time I just feel like I’m hanging out with friends. I think that this time is really important, actually. We always talk about how none of us have any free time and we rarely do anything for ourselves. Dr. G. gives us a hard time and insists that we need to find ways to relax and take some time away from school, and I almost feel like Paideia is part of that time for me. (I hope you’re not insulted Dr. G, I think this is a good thing!) This semester has kind of been a whirlwind one…I really can’t believe how fast it’s gone. It’s getting harder and harder to pretend that the future is distant and to ignore the thoughts that will soon be necessary. I start Capstone next semester, I start applying to Physical Therapy schools in the summer, and evidently time is just going to keep passing more quickly.

I’m borderline clueless about what I’m going to do for Capstone. I would like to do something applicable to Physical Therapy, because I feel like that would be most beneficial for the future (aka getting into grad schools). I’m acutely aware of how beneficial it could be for my experience as a student and my resume if I can do a really good Capstone, so I’m feeling some pressure already. However, I know that I’m extremely lucky to have such good professors in my department and I know I will benefit immensely from them (more so than I already have). I plan on presenting at the Student Works Symposium, but I would also like to present somewhere else as well. I need to talk to professors about this but I think it would be a great experience.

Unfortunately, it looks like I still won’t be able to study abroad. Because the Kinesiology department is so small and relatively specialized, there aren’t many options for a semester abroad. I would love to do a summer trip, but it just doesn’t make sense financially for me. I talked to Dr. McLean about finding an internship abroad, but he wasn’t able to find anything. I actually did go on the Service Learning Trip to Jamaica in Summer 2008. We hadn’t technically started meeting for Paideia yet, but I’m going to see if this will count as a last ditch effort. If not, I may have to drop the program.

I’m hoping it doesn’t come down to this, because I’ve really enjoyed Paideia thus far. I say it every semester, but we HAVE to get together more outside of class!

Reflection on Discussions

Overall, I liked how the presentations worked out. I genuinely enjoyed hearing about everyone’s interests, and I thought that everyone did a good job finding something that represented their major and that kept the class intrigued. I think that it might have gone more smoothly if we had our whole cohort, which I guess is only 2 more people, so maybe that wouldn’t have mattered…the point is that maybe more perspectives/contributions would have taken the discussions more in depth. Plus we all know Brady would have stirred things up.
As usual, I felt like the readings kept me thinking about things outside of my own bubble throughout the semester. Even though this is a liberal arts school, I think that we get so focused on our classes/major (especially as we get into upper-levels) that we really need something to pull us out of our own minds. I really enjoyed Steven’s reading. I’m not going to lie, I cheered the day that I finished with my Biology credits…but the excerpts we read were written in such an interesting style—one that I’ve never associated with science. It was a nice break from my Kinesiology work. I probably wouldn’t take the time to read anything like that if it weren’t for our discussions.
If we continue to do this next semester, though, I think we should all lighten up a bit. I know that I was a bit sense about picking a topic and about presenting…and I think that it would have worked better if I wasn’t so worried about making it into a presentation. I think if we approach as just talking about something we think is cool, everyone will feel less pressure to turn it into a formal discussion. I think our cohort does a good job in discussions, though. We’re all relatively talkative and I feel like we all bring something to the table.

Off Campus Experience

I’m going to be honest, I didn’t go to this event for the purpose of completing the Paideia requirement. However, it was definitely a stretch for me, and I definitely think I benefitted from attending. Earlier this year, one of my best friends, Porscha, lost her Dad passed away. Some friends and I went to the funeral near Dallas. Porscha is African-American, and clearly so is the majority of her family. The funeral was held at a traditional, Black Southern Baptist church and it’s safe to say that I felt relatively out of place. It didn’t help that by the time we got into the small church, the only spots left were behind the pulpit, facing the pews. Nonetheless, we were glad to be there for Porscha.

As the service started, I was fairly uncomfortable. It wasn’t like any church service I’d ever been to. Honestly it was just like the movies depict it, with the Preacher yelling a lot and a continuous stream of “Hallelujahs” and “Amens” from the congregation. As he continued speaking though, I became more and more comfortable and it wasn’t long at all until I was thoroughly enjoying myself…as much as is possible at a funeral. This Preacher wasn’t presumptuous or “holier than though” like so many pastors I’ve encountered in the past. The sermon wasn’t monotonous and boring, it was emotional and raw. He didn’t attempt to be verbose and excessive; his message was simple and real: This guys was awesome, and it sucks that he’s gone.

The service wound down and we made our exit without getting a chance to see Porscha. I wouldn’t say that this experience was life-changing, and to be honest I probably won’t start frequenting South Baptist churches. However, I do think that the service was much more comforting and reassuring for me than any service at the Methodist churches I’m so used to.

On-Campus Event: Student Body Forum

This week I went to the Student Body Forum. I was pretty impressed with the number of students who showed up and even more impressed with the number of students who actively participated with questions. There were a few issues that were discussed that struck a chord with me…

On the proposal of changing the name of the school: I don’t have exceptional strong feelings on this either way. Thanks to Dr. G. I’ve heard the research about how a more “prestigious” name could increase the quality of our student and faculty applicants. I’ve also heard about the effect that a new name could have on our reputation: bettering it amount Texans and causing people across the nation to actually know who we are. I have to admit, the thought of people seeing my degree and not only recognizing the school but being impressed, is nice. On the other hand, I love our name. I might be a little more sentimental than most about it, but I grew up hearing about Southwestern. All four of my grandparents came here together; anytime we were driving through Georgetown we would stop and drive through campus while my Dad pointed out the places where his parents first kissed and first lived together. I love these memories and I love memories that this school holds for others. The more I think about it though, the more I realize that changing the name won’t change the school itself. In fact, I will probably enjoy my memories of Southwestern a lot more if my degree from here is the ticket to my success.

On the proposed changes/improvements to the athletic facilities: I couldn’t believe how many athletes showed up for this forum. I think this shows, however, that they are serious about their needs. I completely agree that the facilities need to be improved. Even for the size of Southwestern, the resources our teams have are absurdly insufficient. I mentioned it in class, but I really almost went to TCU because of their Student Life, specifically their recreation building. I think Southwestern administrators hide behind the fact that this is a very intellectually challenging school with students extremely focused on academics. They use the academic aspect of the school to justify not paying attention to the athletic aspect of the school. Personally, I think that SU does a good job of appealing to the concept of a Liberal Arts education and how it applies to more than just academics: we have an extensive arts program, we have all kinds of student organizations, etc. Athletics is just as much of an integral part of this concept, though, and they need to make sure they don’t neglect this.

Overall, I think that the Strategic Plan just needs to be hammered out a bit more, and the committee needs to do a better job of explaining everything to the students.

First Blog of Fall 09

1. I’m sure most people will say this, but I like the idea of everybody bringing in something interesting from their major to share with us. I don’t think it has to be very in depth, just a pertinent article or two. To foster discussion I think it would be good for the presenter to also come up with a few questions pertaining to the topic, so that we’re not just aimlessly talking about what we read.
I still think we should keep the Newsweek articles coming, just as something to fall back on. I enjoyed the discussions we had about those. Unfortunately, I probably won’t stay informed about current events unless I’m somewhat forced to do so, which is really why I’m a fan of the Newsweek idea.
Since we’re talking about plans for the semester, I also want to mention that, with only 6 of us this semester, it should be easier to plan some outside activities. I know it’s crazy, but I usually enjoy hanging out with you guys…..so let’s be friends.

2. Honestly, I don’t have much interest in continuing to work with the Boys and Girls Club. I know most people had a good time there, but our experience was negative enough that I’m pretty much done with it. I am, however, volunteering at the ROCK (which I did last semester as well, and just want to point out that it’s pretty fun and that I voted for it….). I might be slightly biased, because by working at the ROCK I’m getting hours of experience for Physical Therapy, which I need to apply to graduate schools. Regardless, I’m glad I can make time for it, because the experience is really rewarding. Last semester I worked with a little girl, Ilina, who smiled more than any kid I’ve ever seen. (Let’s remember David’s comment about how working at the ROCK would be depressing because the kids would be “sad”……clearly false.)
My time at the ROCK relates to “Understanding Human Behavior” in ways that I wasn’t expecting; while the actual kids I work with do provide good “subjects,” I found that some of the most interesting interactions occur between the parents of the children, the volunteers, the therapists, etc. They’ve formed a community of sorts and it’s really uplifting to watch them support each other.

3. My research is actually extremely intertwined with my civic engagement: my plan is to do a research project at the ROCK. The Physical Therapist who works there, Nancy, wants me to help with some research they are currently doing in which they look at the balance and core strength of kids before and after they ride the horse. I’m really interested in this topic, but I’m not sure if I can use it for my Capstone/Paideia research because I didn’t develop the original question. I need to talk more about it with my professors. Either way I feel like I should do some research related to Physical Therapy since that will be what grad schools want to see. Also, I would prefer to do something with kids, since I really enjoy working with them and that’s what I want to do eventually.
Since there are only two professors in the Kinesiology Department, I don’t have many options for whom to work with; it just depends on who has more experience in the field that I want to work. Dr. McLean’s focus is Biomechanics and Jimmy’s focus is Exercise Physiology.

4. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to study abroad because of financial reasons. If I were able to, though, I would want to do a summer program because I really can’t afford to take a semester off and it’s not very likely that they will ever have Kinesiology professors teach abroad.

Student Works Symposium

I attended the Students Works Symposium paper session related to the natural sciences. Taylor Jones and Alexis Ritzer talked about their project working with Armadillidium vulgare, also known as the roly poly. There is a bacterium called a Wolbachia that commonly infects the systems of the A. vulgare. This bacterium can only be based from a female to her offspring, and as a result the Wolbachia have evolved to feminize the male A. vulgares they infect. This increases their chance of being passed on (surviving). In some populations of A. vulgare, this feminization has caused a sex ratio skew, with more females than males. When Jones and Ritzer collected samples of the isopods, they found skewed sex ratios in three of the samples, though they did not find any Wolbachia. I find this project extremely interesting; the fact that this bacteria and isopod have coevolved for so long that the bacteria has actually changed the distribution of sexes in certain populations is amazing.

Anna Frankel talked about her work at Sea Turtle, Inc. in South Padre Island. She discussed their philosophy, which is summed up in a cause-and-effect cycle that included education, interest in refuges, desire to conserve a species, and generating revenue. It is by using this cycle—focusing on educating—that they generate an income for their own non-profit organization and are able to donate to others.

Colin Kyle presented the project he’s been doing with Apple Snails. He did three different experiments examining the egg-laying preferences of them. He tested whether or not the snails prefer natural or artificial material, elephant ear leaves or other plant leaves, cylindrical or rectangular objects, and tall or short objects. He found that the Apple Snails preferred natural material, elephant ear leaves, cylindrical objects and had no preference for short or tall objects.

At the poster session, I spent the majority of my time looking at Nick Parker’s poster presentation about torture. I thought this was interesting, especially since we discussed this issue one day in class. He stated that while it is virtually impossible to monitor torture, he does not think that the United States should condone torture. A lot of his arguments are issues that we talked about during our discussions, such as the fact that torture has always occurred and the fact that implementing anti-torture laws would be extremely difficult.

I was somewhat intimidated by the fact that I will have to make a presentation similar to these in just two years. The projects seemed to be at such a high level and I’m not so sure I will be there by my senior year. Overall though, I was very impressed by the students’ presentations.

End of Conflict Resolution Program

All things considered, I think our sessions went fairly well. I wasn’t able to go to the first session, which my group said was the most difficult as far as getting the kids’ attention. It might be because of this, but I really didn’t notice the “discipline” problems that Daniel and Gerald mentioned before our project. This could also be attributed to the fact that we worked mostly with the Torch Club (a specific group of kids who were selected because of their behavior and “promise”). Even so, the kids were interactive and pretty interested when we were teaching. Of course, they were talkative and they goofed off, but I expected that.

Despite their good reaction to the actual activities, I honestly don’t know if they got the message of the program. This is mostly because there were different kids at each session. It was hard to have any kind of repeating theme when we couldn’t reference past sessions or ask the kids to recall things they’ve learned. There was also some confusion about what we planned before the sessions and what Daniel wanted out the program. We based the curriculum on “Conflict Resolution” and Daniel wanted us to focus more on “Peer Mediation.” While some of the objectives of the Conflict Resolution program can mold themselves to Peer Mediation, they are two different topics. Before the last session, we tried to change the plans to achieve this goal, but I’m not sure how effective it was.

I think that this program achieved a few goals: we got the kids involved for a half hour in something that was more than their normal recreation activities. However, I’m hoping that the kids gleaned something that was more meaningful as well. I honestly don’t expect the kids to do much peer mediation, and I really don’t even expect them to share with others what they’ve learned. If they just remember the skills we taught them enough to personally use them, then I’ll be happy.

I think that the most valuable parts of this experience were the things we learned about volunteering and working with kids in general. I hope that, by coming to the club several times, the kids at least understood that we were interested in interacting with them. I also think that we learned some things about the need for effective communication. If anything, I think this taught us that we can’t assume or take for granted the fact that someone has time to organize events outside of their actual job.

JDA Lecture

This lecture—as well as the readings—broached several subjects which, honestly, I’d never even considered. I think this fact reflects the inability of people who don’t have to face these issues to really understand the damage inflicted. For instance, I’ve never realized the obstacles that a “trans”-gender person must face on a daily basis. Clearly, I have heard of the violence and bigotry that goes on, though I rarely think about the emphasis but on gender labeling. I found this aspect of the dialogue extremely interesting. Matt talked about the birth of a child and how the very first thing said about that person is either “it’s a boy” or “it’s a girl.” This is so ingrained into our society that it never even crossed my mind as odd. Just like I’ve never considered the existence of a boys’ bathroom” and a “girls’ bathroom” odd. It’s so easy for me—a relatively feminine, straight female—to never give a second thought to either of these things. For Eli and Matt, however, they could be issues that have plagued their thoughts since childhood. I think that this hugely pertains to “understanding human behavior.” It would be impossible to understand how Matt and Eli look at these problems vs. how I look at these problems without considering our involvement with the actual problems. Because I am not forced to give myself what I deem an insufficient label, I don’t think I can fully understand how Matt and Eli feel when they are forced to do just that.

This desire of society to designate everyone as either male or female was one of a few examples the two speakers gave of “whose bodies we value and whose we leave out?” Another example was the relatively new issue of genetic testing. Eli mentioned that since the emergence of genetic testing, women are now encouraged to test their babies during pregnancy. As a result, a mother can know before the birth whether or not her child has the propensity to develop Down’s Syndrome. Not only that, but if the child DOES have this propensity, many doctors will actually encourage the mother to have the fetus aborted. As a result, approximately 90% of fetuses who have to propensity to develop Down’s Syndrome are aborted. If this is not a statement about what society deems valuable and invaluable, I don’t know what is.

I think that we could have some really interesting discussions on this topic of society’s habit of putting value on bodies. How has it changed? It seems that we’re putting more value on African American bodies…they have civil rights, our new president is black. But has the internalized racism of American people really dissipated? This is quite possibly one of the root issues that influences understanding human behavior, or more specifically understanding why humans treat other humans the way they do.

Spanking

I found these articles interesting, the yes (Gershoff) side more so than the no (Baumrind, et al.). Personally, I am supportive of spanking children and even some cases of corporal punishment. I wish that the no side would have presented more arguments actually supporting spanking; Baumrind, et al. merely disqualified Gershoff. Several of the comments were legitimate and were helpful in clarifying Gershoff’s meta-analysis, but honestly I found the article pretty dull.

One thing that neither of the articles really mentioned that I believe to be the key factor in whether or not spanking/CP is successful is the issue of emotion. In my opinion, a parent should not physically punish their child if their emotions are too strong at the time. For instance, if a child does something that really infuriates the parent—whether it’s breaking something important, deliberately disobeying, fighting with a sibling, etc.—then the parent must wait until their emotions die down before administering punishment. If not, the act of punishment is not objective and there is too much potential for a parent to get carried away. This objectivity is imperative in administering a successful, appropriate spanking, etc.

Another issue that I feel is important was brought up by Baumrind, et al: the use of CP as a supplement to another punishment. It’s not so much this exact issue that I think is noteworthy, but rather the inclusion of conversation in CP. If the child is not fully aware of why their being punished, then it is completely pointless, and obviously detrimental. However, I believe that both before and after a spanking the parent should discuss what happened with the child, making sure to ask them if they understand what they did wrong. Afterwards, the parent should emphasize the fact that they don’t WANT to spank the child, and that the child can prevent this from happening by simply following the rules. I would even say hugging the child afterward and telling them you love them is good. The purpose of CP is the short-lived pain that it incurs. Once that is done, there is no need to add any kind of emotional of verbal pain to that.

A few other topics that weren’t discussed were the differences between different children. Personally, I was a bit of an angel-child. I’ve been told that I was spanked once, and then never needed it again. Apparently my parents would threaten from time to time and that’s all it took. My cousin, on the other hand, was a year older than me, raised in almost exact similar conditions, and was the biggest hell-raising little boy ever. He was spanked routinely, though it was always paired with the type of conversation I mentioned earlier. Despite this, spanking didn’t phase him; he couldn’t have cared less. It’s instances like these two that illustrate the different effects that spanking can have on different children. Also, I didn’t agree with the statement by Gershoff that CP shouldn’t be utilized because it can ruin a good parent-child relationship and can make the child angry at the parent. Last time I checked, the majority of punishment techniques will make a child angry at their parent. Whether it’s spanking of time out of taking away a toy, children aren’t supposed to enjoy punishment….that’s the point.

No one would contest the fact that a truly loving parent will discipline their child; no good parent wants their kid to end up a little hellion. In accordance with this, I think that spanking can be an act of love. It shouldn’t be easy for a parent to spank their child, but it should be done with the goal of teaching the child and helping them to become a well-behaved person.

First club visit

Today I went to the Boy’s and Girl’s Club for the first time. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised with several things. Based on the conversations we’ve had and what we’ve heard from people who work there, I wasn’t expecting much facility-wise. I know that it’s not ideal conditions, but the Club was much nicer than the afterschool program/summer camp where I worked throughout high school. All of the kids seemed to have something to do, including a big screen TV with a Wii. Obviously there are other programs out there with much better resources and facilities, but the kids looked like they were having fun and they all looked happy.

In addition to the facilities, I thought our Conflict Resolution session went extremely well. I wasn’t able to go to the actual first session, so this was the second time that Cait, Brady, and Laurel had been there. There were six kids, something which I found pretty manageable compared to the 15-20 I had everyday this summer. Obviously it wasn’t perfect, they were talkative and goofed off a lot during the role playing exercise we did. For the most part though, they payed attention and participated much more than I was expecting. Based on their comments, I could tell that they remembered things from Tuesday, which is great because the main thing we’re worried about is whether or not they will retain anything we teach them. Not only that, but they were very respectful when we were talking and seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing. According to the others, it went much better than the first session, which matches what the other groups said about the first session being the hardest. In fact, as we were leaving one of the employees said that we must have really been holding their attention because they weren’t acting up as much as they normally do and it looked they were really interested.

I’m very excited about the ropes course on Saturday. I think that letting the kids do something fun like that will further develop their desire to interact with us. Honestly, I’m not expecting the Conflict Resolution program to transform the kids lives and completely alter the way they deal with other kids. I think a realistic goal is to at least impact them enough so that they personally consider the things they learn whenever the encounter conflict. I doubt they will do much as far as trying to influence others, but I hope that they internally change some of their conflict resolution ideas.

Brown Symposium

The fist lecture I went to was “How God Can Change Your Brain” by Dr. Andrew Newberg. I found the topic extremely interesting; I’ve always been intrigued by the physical effects one’s religion can have on them. One of the experiments that Dr. Newberg discussed that I enjoyed was about the brain activity in the frontal lobe during prayer. A brain scan was made on a nun while she was in prayer and compared to her baseline scan; the increased activity in the frontal lobe during prayer was indicative of the high amount of attention and focus she was exhibiting. The same types of scans were done on an atheist who was asked to contemplate the idea of God. The scans showed no increase of activity in the frontal lobe. This is logical because it would be difficult to focus attention on a concept in which you do not believe. Another thing that Dr. Newberg stated as a driving force behind his research was that science can’t prove the existence of God, but it can show how God affects us, which is something that could be just as informative.

The second lecture I attended was “Evolution as the Theory of Choice for the Study of Religion” by David Sloan Wilson. While I don’t quite agree with statement made by Wilson that religion is “100% a social construct,” I did find some of the lecture interesting. One of the studies that was discussed was particularly so; two experiments were done to examine the effect on egg laying productivity. The first breeded the most productive individual chicken from each group, and the second breeded all the chickens in the most productive group. The chickens from the first experiment ended up killing each other and the three left were featherless because they plucked each other. After six generations, the chickens from the second group had a 160% increase in productivity and were all healthy. This difference occurred because the chickens from the first experiment were working as individuals to benefit themselves, while the chickens from the second group were working together to benefit the group. Though they were doing this unknowingly, I think it could say a lot about human behavior. It reminded me of the concept John Nash came up with in “A Beautiful Mind” (and obviously in real life). He stated that everyone is most successful when taking each others’ success in to consideration, as opposed to only thinking of their own success.

I would be really interested in hearing the thoughts of others in the cohort, especially those with agnostic or atheist beliefs. I think that it is important to discuss these things and that discussion can often reaffirm one’s beliefs, whatever they may be. Religion is such an integral part of “understanding human behavior” I really think we should spend some time on this.

Tuesdays with Morrie

Although this wasn’t the first time I read Tuesdays with Morrie, I feel like I appreciated it more this time. In fact, I feel like my appreciation for the book will continue to increase as I begin to resemble the main character, Mitch, and his preoccupation with all of the superficial things life holds. However, reading this time I felt a bit conflicted. Last time I read it the concepts seemed so simple: don’t get bogged down in things that don’t matter, stay close to your family and friends, love everyone. As a college student—especially at a school like Southwestern—I think I’ve become very caught up in planning for the future: internships, grad school, careers, etc. As a result it’s difficult to acknowledge the fact that a job/salary/position is not going to be the end all/be all of our lives. So when I was reading about Morrie “scolding” Mitch for getting too caught up in his job, I was torn between all of the planning that’s going on and the idea that there are and will be more important things in life.

However, I don’t want this conflict to negate the fact that I really like this book. The idea of “love or perish” is one that is very familiar and comforting to me; my family lives by the words “love one another.” This is something that I feel any and everyone can benefit from, and a goal I try to aim for in my daily life.

I think that it would be impossible to fully discuss our topic of Understanding Human Behavior without covering death. Morrie often mentions, and I think we can all agree, that people’s priorities and outlook on life changes drastically when they discover exactly how much of that life they have left. People who had no interest in their fellow human beings suddenly crave relationships; people who continually put things off become eager and anxious to begin those same things. I also think that how a person handles their own death says a lot about them. Morrie’s response, for instance, suggests that he is happy with the way he lead his life and how it turned out. I also think that by being at peace with his situation, it shows that he is confident that everyone he loves is quite aware of his feelings.

I’m interested to see how everyone in the cohort feels about the conflict of striving for a successful career versus focusing on the more personal things in life, or if they think it’s a conflict at all. I definitely believe that both can be achieved, though I’m not sure how easy that may be.

Boys and Girls Club

We talked a lot about what, if anything, we’d like to get out of our service project. I think we toyed with the thought that we shouldn’t want anything out of volunteering, and that wanting to be personally fulfilled defeats the purpose of a selfless act. However, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to personally benefit from a volunteer project. I love kids; they make me laugh. In the long run, I think going to the Boys and Girls Club could have a great impact on these kids, but I’m sure that one day in the near future when I’m stressed and just want to get away from school, this could be the perfect way to do that. We also have the benefit of being with the kids for a limited amount of time. That sounds bad, but I simply mean that by visiting once a week, or once a month or whatever we decide, we won’t become bogged down in the everyday stresses that working with kids can bring. I worked at a kids’ summer camp for two years and by the end of two months I’ll be honest I wasn’t as excited about going to work as I was at the beginning of the summer. For this project, though, we won’t have to worry about that and we can just enjoy spending time with the kids. So I guess one goal I have for this project is pretty selfish (come on, we’re all selfish, it’s not just David): a way to escape from my hectic schedule for a bit and do something that I enjoy that actually benefits others….rather than just watching TV or Facebooking…..

Another goal I have for this project is kind of a smaller version of our group goal (to form relationships with others). While forming relationships is the long-term goal, I think that the being able to interact with people who aren’t just other students to complain with or a study buddy is a great opportunity. I genuinely enjoy being around/getting to know people, and when you’re at a place like Southwestern, though we certainly have a diverse set of personalities, we’re all somewhat alike: hard-working college student (hopefully), teenager/young twenty-something, etc. I think that getting outside of the SU bubble will be a breath of fresh air that might keep us a little more sane as the semester goes on.

Personally, I would like to go to the Boys and Girls Club with a small group at first. I’ll be more comfortable that way which I’m sure will make the kids more comfortable and fell more at ease. As far as structured games/activities are concerned, I think we would be better off just hanging out with the kids and maybe just participating in whatever they’re doing at the time. I’m afraid that if we come in right away and say “OK now we’re all going to do this…” we may come off a little more authoritative than we would like. Eventually, I think it would be fun to incorporate some group activities, I just feel like we’ll have more success with that after we’ve gotten to know the kids a bit.

I think it’s kind of pointless to go to the Club for less than an hour at a time. It will take a little while for the kids to warm up to us and if we take off right after that happens it probably won’t work very well. Honestly, though, I don’t think I’ll be able to go more than 3 times a month…..probably more like 2. I don’t know how often everyone else thinks they’ll be able to go, but I think if we’re going in groups of 2-4 at least every other week, then we’ll have at least one group there each week. Maybe that’s less than everyone is wanting to go, I guess it just depends on how all of our schedules look.

End of semester reflection

So far, I’ve enjoyed Paideia much more than I was expecting to. I didn’t exactly expect to hate it, however I’d heard from several upper-classmen that it really depends on your cohort and your professor. Fortunately, I feel that our cohort meshes pretty well, and Dr. G is just awesome. I think the night on the sport court really helped with that, it’s hard to still be unfamiliar with people after some friendly competition.
I really like the way our class is set up, with the Newsweek readings and blogs. The readings were really beneficial, considering I probably wouldn’t otherwise be keeping up with current events. I think the blogs added to the “informal” nature of the class, for some reason I don’t mind writing a blog as much as I would mind a response paper.
As negative as this seems, one of the best parts of Paideia for me has been being required to do things that I would never do on my own. For instance, I wouldn’t have normally attended a luncheon about the campaign (hence the “personal stretch”), but it was definitely something I needed to do. I think this is somewhat common, however, since I remember people saying they were glad Paideia would force them to study abroad; which is another thing I’m grateful for, because I’m sure I would find some excuse to avoid going abroad if it were not a requirement.
I think we made definite progress as a group. We covered a good amount of the 50 facts and got to talk about some really interesting topics. I enjoyed getting to know everyone’s opinions and where they stand on different issues. This is particularly valuable, since I know that one of the main objectives of Paideia is to bring together students of different backgrounds and majors. I honestly don’t think I would get to interact with this type of diverse group without participating in the program.
This blog wouldn’t be complete without a little discussion about our civic engagement project. While I didn’t vote for the Boys and Girls club, I’m still excited about the project. In my actual CE blog, I was totally in support of the BGC, and I have some fun ideas. I’m just a little hesitant about going one at a time, though I think that if we go in small-ish groups we could organize some sports/games/activities, which I think we somewhat discussed earlier in the semester.
I’m looking forward to next semester and putting our CE project into action. I think that once we start going to BGC and interacting (with the kids and with each other) and discussing our experiences our group dynamic will improve even more.

For my off-campus event, Brady, Cait and I went to play Bingo at Creekside Charity Bingo in Round Rock. Our original plan was to go play in Sun City, hoping for a specifically older demographic. However, I think this experience proved to be just as much of a personal stretch, if not more. While playing Bingo in Sun City would have placed me among many elderly people—something relatively out of my comfort zone—they would have been very similar to me in most other ways (white, upper/middle class, etc.). Creekside definitely provided a more foreign environment.

Upon entering, I felt lost, embarrassed, and honestly a little nervous. It was like walking into the cafeteria with no friends and looking for a place to sit (except that Brady and Cait were there to alleviate some of the discomfort). I immediately felt judged. More than likely, I’m just being arrogant in thinking that anyone would care enough or bother to judge me. However, I got the familiar sensation that these people were pigeon holing me as a spoiled, ignorant, white girl. While I’ve gotten somewhat used to that feeling—upper/middle-class was definitely the minority in my high school, as was being white—it was still pretty unsettling.

Despite this, when we sat down and started fumbling through the sheets of Bingo cards and colored “dabbers,” the woman sitting next to us immediately began explaining what to do. She almost completely stopped paying attention to her card—something that was NOT done in this hall—and showed us where to mark and told us the wild numbers and even came over and helped us dab so we could catch up! We finally got the hang of it, but the woman continued to tell us little helpful bits throughout the night.

This interaction was more than I could have hoped for from this experience. I am so glad that I chose to do something like this instead of attending a meeting or other event that wouldn’t have involved contact with other people. I think this experience was so appropriate to our topic, Understanding Human Behavior. It was very entertaining to watch people throughout the night, so many different types of people were there. I kept wondering what it was that brought each person there. Several older women were there with what looked like groups of friends who attended regularly. There was a group that looked like an elderly woman and her two grown-up kids. From the middle-aged man who had a pizza and a whole stack of cards for the night to the pair of chatty older ladies with their totes specifically made for Bingo—I kid you not, they had pockets along the outside for all of their dabbers—they were all in the same room just trying to relax or get away or get a little competition. The woman who helped us was cracking me up with her husband, who clearly did not have the interest in Bingo that she did; he kept pushing his card over to her and she would tell him no that he needed to play it. Another lady at our table just laughed at us every time we started arguing, but not in what I felt was a cruel or judgmental way. It was more like the way someone would laugh at little kids playing…I think we amused her.

Everyone was so welcoming, which was not the impression I got upon entering. I ended up having a really good time. When we left, we gave our dabbers to the woman who helped us the whole night. I wouldn’t even mind going again, I think we should make it a Paideia activity, the place was overflowing with wonderful human behavior to be analyzed.

Civic Engagement 2

I think we made some progress during our meeting; we actually somewhat narrowed down our ideas a lot more quickly than I was expecting. I really like the concept of doing something with children and elderly people. I think the contrast and varying experiences we will have through those two outlets will lend itself very well to our specific topic. While I am much more partial to a whole group project, I think that this could allow enough interaction within the group to be effective. I am concerned about the number of people who seemed opposed to the idea of working with elderly people. Though I have some experience with this type of interaction and am comfortable with it, I completely understand others’ unease. I think that it’s reasonable to expect to have to stretch ourselves a bit, but if the project becomes something that some of the members dread then I think it kind of defeats the purpose.

Honestly, though I like the idea of the split project, I really would prefer to do something as a group. Like I said during our meeting, I think the more think we spread ourselves the less effective we’ll be. For instance, if we start our civic engagement project as one group, and then as we get more involved in it we realize there are one or two ways within this one project that we can split, we’ll have that option. On the other hand, if we have only 5 or 6 people working on a project and we think of two specific ways we want to go within that project, it would be a lot less likely to work out. That sounds pretty confusing, I hope I explained that well enough.

As far as our actual ideas for the project, I really, really like the concept of a sports program for kids. There is myriad research that shows how beneficial physical activity is for children. (As a matter of fact, I’m doing a research project loosely based on that concept!!) Not only does it improve self-confidence, but it even affects things such as on-task behavior, academic achievement, and involvement in other extra-curriculars. Some people expressed concern in the meeting that they don’t have any expertise in any sports, but I don’t think we necessarily need to teach “sports” as much as just a combination of physical activity, competition, etc. We can all play nuecum!!

As most of you are, I’m also a bit hesitant to commit to something on a weekly basis. While I’m not sure what else we should do instead, I think we would be better off aiming for something less demanding so that we aren’t burned out after a semester. I’m not sure who brought it up, but I liked the idea of forming groups of 3-4 and just making sure one of the groups was at the site once a week. (I forgot to mention, this is all assuming that we work through an already-established program, which I think is going to be our best bet.) If we have 3 groups then we’ll each be going to the site once every three weeks, which I think is more than reasonable. In addition to this, I think we could do a Saturday event once or twice a semester. This could be the “fundraising” aspect of the project, if we wanted to attempt that.

On-Campus Event, for real this time

I went to the brown bag luncheon about foreign policies in the 2008 campaign. I felt that this was an appropriate event considering the goal of Paideia to “force” us to become more socially/politically/internationally aware of our world. I know it wouldn't really be a stretch for most people, but I'm not quite as politically involved or aware as I should be. Regarding that, this was a pretty interesting event for me. I wish they could have talked a little more about each candidate’s views on foreign policy, just because I'm not very familiar with them. However, I'm sure I was one of the only ones in attendance who needed a review session.

An aspect of the program that I found borderline irritating was the seeming preference of the speakers for Obama. Although it’s something that I’ve come to expect from Southwestern, and I’m aware that everyone has their own political interests, I think that events such as this one should remain completely objective. While I am by no means a die-hard Republican, nor am I anti-Obama, I would still like to listen to a lecture about the potential presidents with both sides equally presented. This wasn’t, however, and overwhelming issue and I believe that overall I benefited from the experience.

One thing I was particularly interested in was the emphasis the speakers put on Pakistan and the danger it poses. Their argument was that, since Pakistan has developed nuclear bombs their potential threat to us and other countries has drastically increased. I really hadn't considered this as an issue and I'm glad they brought it up.

A question was asked about the opinions/preferences of foreign countries as far as our next leader and how the speakers thought the election of either of the candidates would affect that opinion. Again, I am not as politically knowledgeable as I should be, but this question really got me thinking about America’s role in the world, which led to my thinking about my own role in the world, which is a thought I believe Paideia is supposed to stimulate, often. Though I came to no mind-blowing conclusion, I did decide that one of my roles in the world is to be an informed citizen; one with opinions about what’s happening around me, as well as a desire to do what I can to affect those things about which I have opinions. (That has to be a run-on sentence)

In general, my knowledge about the political situation has really improved since I started Paideia, which is definitely something that needed to happen. Between our discussions and reading Newsweek I feel much more informed about the goings-on of the world and the US. However, I still have much more room to improve, and I think that the various aspects of Paideia, as well as the ways in which I can expand on those aspects, will help achieve that goal.

For me, civic engagement is participating in or creating some activity that benefits someone not directly connected to you. I feel like this is different than doing something that helps a person or group close to you. I really don't think there's a strict limit to what counts as civic engagement, and while I don't think it's synonymous with community service I don't see a huge difference.
As far as our own cohort is concerned, I feel like we have a good amount of resources and commitment and that we should be able to do something fairly significant. We're all pretty dedicated people and if we can find something that we all want to commit to, I don't see any reason why we couldn't do something really great. Personally, I'd like to do something with a tangible result, but that's just me being selfish and wanting to physically see the results of our hard work.
I've always had a passion for working with kids. I've purposefully surrounded myself with kids as often as possible for most of my life. In addition to my personal interest, though, I think doing something that benefits children is always a good bet because they still have so much time to change their paths, if they even need to be changed. Another area that interests me for civic engagement is low-income families and neighborhoods. The cyclical nature of this issue makes it such an obvious possibility for me because making one simple difference in a life can completely change the cycle.
One of the main challenges a foresee is coming with a goal that we can all agree on. I think it's become obvious that we're a very opinionated group and I know that will each have our own ideas that we're passionate about. Also, one thing that happens to me pretty often is setting an unrealistic goal. I'm not sure if this will present a problem as a group but I know that I've often encountered it. While I think that we're capable of coming up with something really meaningful, I don't want us to aim for something and then realize that we just don't have the time/money/resources a year into the project.
Overall I'm excited about starting to brainstorm, I'm pretty interested in hearing everyone's ideas.

On Campus Event: Campaign luncheon

I went to the brown bag luncheon about foreign policies in the 2008 campaign. I know it wouldn't really be a stretch for most people, but I'm not quite as politically involved or aware as I should be. Regarding that, this was a pretty interesting event for me. I wish they could have talked a little more about each candidates views on foreign policy, just because I'm not very familiar with them. However, I'm sure I was one of the only ones in attendance who needed a review session.
One thing I was particularly interested in was the emphasis the speakers put on Pakistan and the danger it poses. Their argument was that, since Pakistan has developed nuclear bombs their potential threat to us and other countries has drastically increased. I really hadn't considered this as an issue and I'm glad they brought it up.
My knowledge about the political situation has really improved since I started Paideia, which is definitely something that needed to happen. Between our discussions and reading Newsweek I feel much more informed about the goings-on of the world and the US, though I could still use some improvement.

I wish that we would have had some more time to discuss my topic, but I think it went well. The majority of our discussions could last for days so I was expecting that. One thing I wanted to bring up that I didn't have time to was the percentage of black men who no longer have their voting rights, about 1.4 million or 13%. I'm interested in what everyone thinks about this. I was torn between two thoughts. The first is that ex-convicts should have to deal with the consequences of their crime. The second, however, was pure astonishment that so many members of a demographic are not represented in the voting process. I'm not sure what the laws are regarding this topic, but I think that after a certain amount of time voting rights should be regained.
Another issue I wanted to bring up was the comment about the cyclic nature of this issue. (Parents go to jail, are no longer around to raise their children, these children are then "more likely" to commit crimes themselves, etc. etc.) This reminds me of the cycle of low-income families and a lack of education. In my FYS (The Quest for Educational Equality in America) we discussed this at length and it really interests me as a possible venue for our service project. I know we haven't really started sharing our ideas yet but this article presented a good motivator for me to start brainstorming.