West Hill Reflection

This course has not been anything remotely close to what I imagined it would be. I pictured a class where we discussed voting, civil service, and the community. One which involved little to no reflection or inner thought. However, I have found myself reflecting and digging deeply. This class has put many of the major issues facing America’s communities in the forefront. We have traded lectures on paying taxes for discussions on privilege. Through the assigned readings and classroom content, I have found myself more knowledgeable on the topics at hand, and more established in my own beliefs.

Interviewee 3, Mrs. Homemaker, another native of Guyana, is a mother of four, and has happily relocated to South Ozone Park three years ago. Now that she’s been living there she says she doesn’t have any major complaints. She loves the neighborhood and so does her family. All of the neighbors look out for one another, and that’s one of the things she says she looks for in a neighborhood. Mrs. Homemaker tells me she sees no change in the crime in the area. The most she sees are fights and arguments among teenagers and young adults. She says this is only likely to occur when the weather’s nice, because that’s when everyone heads to the park so there’s a lot of people walking to and from passing by in front of her house. She has never seen any gangs or any type of criminal related activity in the neighborhood neither. There was another news story

I have been reflecting over the Battle of Shiloh for about a week now, and I think that I can finally write my feelings. This battle is very important in the war so far. I am extremely proud of my soldiers for fighting this surprise attack. Man, none of us were expecting it! I was such a proud general those 2 days. My men fought as hard as they could, but unfortunately some people have to die. Since I have had a lot of time to think over this battle, I have come to the conclusion that this battle is the most important so far.

I came into this class not so naïve as some students may have been. I’ve grown up going to public schools, living in a diverse small town, and having interracial relationships in my family. Although I was informed on some forms of racism and the fact that racism does in fact still exist, I didn’t realize it was extensive as it really is. All the readings, videos, and lectures have directly related back to the purpose of the course. As a whole, I feel like this class has grown in knowledge not only about how racism affects people, but how to change and make a difference. This class has informed me a lot more about the unfortunately thriving acts of racism in the United States.

The 5 things that I have experienced in this class and outside of it include the two days of speakers that we had. We met the medicine woman named Kathy on one day and on another day, we met both the Trickster Gallery museum curator named Joe and Aaron’s grandfather. Another experience that many people from our class had the chance to experience was the dinner party where the medicine woman that we met and her teacher, Jerry White also known as Standing Bear. It was said that if we could not reach out to Trickster gallery or other Native American service learning opportunities, we could just use hours in which we deal with social justice. It just so happened that as a transfer student I had to take Eng 106, as the class did not have an equivalent at my old school; this English class had a required social justice service opportunity having to do with the people of Canticle Place. Canticle Place is a Wheaton AIDS home, ran by Franciscan nuns. We had two people come to our class from the home one who had HIV and one who had AIDS. At another point in time we went to the home to help around by cooking food for them and interviewing them about the trials tribulations of having AIDS. AIDS has disproportionate effect on the Native American population, which is the connection that I chose as the reason that used for this being the hours I used to add up my hours up to the 15 hours.

Throughout my schooling at Nashua-Plainfield I have taken initiative in many ways. I was apart of the student council, FCCLA treasure, and was the captain on my softball team. I felt I learned the most about being a leader in softball. In softball I felt as if there was two ways to be a leader, on the field, and off the field in the dugout. I was a leader in the filed, by talking. Talking is a major part of softball. You constantly have to be aware about where the ball is and what you are going to do with it if it comes to you. You need to talk about where the runners are and what the plays are depending on where the ball is. I was a leader in the dugout by picking my teammates up. It’s hot, your loosing, you just struck out, your awesome drive

During module #3 I was very shocked at some of the findings I discovered. I never realized how much the role of race in urban America and the way it has affected and shaped the spatial organization of cities. Being asked this question prior to this module I would of had no idea what was going on. I never thought about poverty, race, where people live and why they live there, or even crime in areas like I do now. It shocks me to see how much cities and people living in the cities are struggling from poverty and how race is a major factor in all of this. Thinking back on Davenport, and what has been going on in my home town has really helped me connect all the things we have learned in class to my life. Poverty, crime, race, and where

This program was my first introduction to political economy and activism. I chose it because I had extremely limited exposure to both topics. In addition, the class featured an environmental and native studies aspect; both are core to my academic goals. I gained experience in the above topics through class discussions, workshops, lectures, and the class field trip.

I give this movie a six out of five-star rating. How it managed to keep me on the edge of my seat the entire time is beyond me; I am still in disbelief that I was fully engaged for the entire two hours and twenty-six minutes. Although I had heard many great things about the novel, the film exceeded all of my expectations. The Natural teaches many valuable lessons about perseverance, determination, commitment, karma, relationships, and staying young at heart.

I was surprised to learn that the person that I spoke to had been pulled over multiple times, here in Sonoma County, without cause. Five, out of the six times, he said, the officer did not issue a ticket. I was disappointed to learn that officers in Sonoma County would negatively profile him based on his physical appearance. My experiences have been very different. I have yet to be pulled over in Sonoma County, and the times in the past that I have been pulled over, I was fully aware that my speeding was in direct violation of the law, and received a ticket every time. I became aware of the privilege I have had to know exactly why I have been pulled over, every single time, and never have I once had to question the reason of the stop.

I have been tasked with working with the people of Palm Island. I will discuss how I will prepare to enter the community and considerations that I will need to make. How I will work within the community, including building relationships and the type of frameworks that will be appropriate.

I want to share with you the overwhelming experience I had working with your guys this past week in the restoration efforts in Hampton and Virginia Beach. I have worked with many crews before in the past and I can say that your guys are one of the finest crews I’ve been with. I was thoroughly impressed with the actions and safety culture that your crews operated with throughout the restoration. It was clear from the start that they were totally dedicated to their work and maintained a professional atmosphere the entire time. In numerous situations they paused and rehuddled to make sure that what they were doing was clear and concise to all parties on the job site. There wasn’t a time when, as their scout, I would pull up on a job and not know

We want the community that we are working with to have healthy and safe areas for their children to grow up in. We believe that our program will be able to provide those spaces. By allowing the children of the community to have areas that are geared towards them and their learning we hope to create a healthy relationship towards children and education. By lowering the crime rates we also hope to see less children joining in on the crime and more children joining in on education and success. Our programs are centered towards helping children find happiness and hope in education as well as helping those who are willing to to their involvement with crime. We offer those who are willing a helping hand in turning their lives around and a chance to better their community and it’s future. The public health of the community in Inglewood is a huge part of our program and we believe that our ideas, volunteers, and dedication can turn the community

I enjoyed seeing my classmates and friends in this class and felt that within this classroom we could really make a change for the better. One thing that I felt could be altered to make the class more beneficial is to reduce the amount of films we watch in class so we have more time to discuss the reading. The interview and project are definitely good parts to keep for the next time this class runs. I think more experiential learning opportunities, such as the field trip to Old Church, would be beneficial. I suggest that the class take a trip to the cemetery or to the Rosenwald school as well and get a tour of those sites. I think the cemetery would be especially interesting if given tours from both black and white members of the community, because throughout this class we have talked about different perspectives and the narratives told with a focus on the marginalized individual. It has helped me to see that community does focus on the personal and social connections we harbor and the narratives we bring to the table. Building on these connections, these strategies, and meaningful conversation, community can grow and

The positive and free speak atmosphere you gave the classroom made me want to get up and come to class every day. The jokes, laughs and the engaging lectures we had in class, is what made your class the best experience I have ever had in Broward college. I will never forget the things I learned about my culture and my real history and having an interesting passionate teacher when I started this course has now grown me as a young black student to have an interest in learning more as well.