Work and More Work

Our Classroom 

I woke up early this morning because there was extreemly loud thunder. In the midst of my sleepy morning haze I remembered that I had class today. This meant that I had to leave the dorms by 8:20. I finally made myself jump out of bed and start my day. I walked to breakfast with Tyler and Phoebe. We ate a quick breakfast then made our way over to the class. It felt weird to be going to classes after two days off.  

In the morning we all went over some things that we had done this past weekend. Then we did a pre-flection activity in pairs then broke up and into small groups and discussed many of the leadership styles that we had read about in this afternoons reading. We were all feeling a little sleepy so Tory, our TA, led us through an engaging game called Wa. It was very simple but definitely brought up the level of energy in our class. Once we were done with Wa we did a gallery walk of images that Dean Almandrez had posted on the wall. These images all had something to do with gender and oppression or privilege. We all walked around in silence and posted up post-its with our opinions on each text. After we had reviewed each text we went back to our seats and did a silent reflection on what we observed. We then shared our thoughts with the class.

Cindy Looking for a Bunny 

In the afternoon session of the class we started out by discussing what it meant to be an Ally. This conversation started because one student in the class wanted to raise awareness about Sandra Bland but the class wasn’t sure how to go about it. After we decided that we needed to educate ourselves more on the topic before we took action. Next we moved on to a circle activity. This was an activity to explore privileges. Tory would say a phrase and if you identified with this phrase then you would step forward into the circle. This activity opened up everybody's eyes to the realities of others and helped people understand themselves better.

Luckily I had gotten into the Action Plan workshop so I had a solid two hours to work on my action plan with help from Dean Almandrez. I was able to go over my essay format with her and make sure that I was moving in the right direction. This time was so helpful. I am almost done with my action plan paper. All I have to do is some small editing.

After the Action Plan Workshop I headed back to the dorms. I went on another amazing run on the river with my roommate then we went to go get dinner at the ratty. Dinner was the same as always. One thing that I will not miss about Brown is the food. I am glad that I only have three more dinners to eat in the dining hall.

Once I got back from dinner I had another evening full of work. I went to Tory’s office hours from 9:30-10:00 so that I could get more help on my action plan. Office hours ended up not only being helpful but also a lot of fun.

My Run on the River