Last Blog: Thoughts about the class

Writing about what I have learned over the course of this summer session is difficult. I could talk about the readings, the G-chat conversations with my peers, or even the experiences I have had on WOW. However, I think what is most important, and the key thing I will take away from this class, is how we as students were given the freedom to implement the learning within our own lives without harassment from our professor. What I mean by this statement is that Shawn opened up the material and presented it to our class in a way that encouraged acceptance of the material, while never forcing us to act in any specific way. With that said, I will say that one of the key things I will take away from this class is the understanding that we are all born with certain Epistemology that shape the way we see the world. As we live our daily lives we interact with those around us based on these beliefs.  However, sometimes these beliefs can cause us to view the people around us in a way that is single minded. We have been given the tools to understand the social constructions and power structures that our society has established, but it is up to us to make the decision to live by these standards, or to deviate away, establishing our own way of thinking. Though this realization may be daunting for some, I leave this class optimistic, that with these tools, I will be able to become a better person, and see the world in a new light.

Week 5/ a blog about anything I want....

This week has been crazy for me personally as I have flown back and forth to Seattle multiple times in less then a 48 hour period. Between this travel and my classes coming to an end I have had a full plate. Since this is a blog about "anything I want" I think it would be a good idea to go ahead and talk about my final project since I have been working on it a bunch.

I am making a video presentation about the topics we have discussed in class. It is a combination of 3D animation, video, special effects and other digital techniques that I enjoy working with. While I shave been working on this project I have been able to re-evaluate the readings and class discussions. I haven found that all the discussions overlapped and making a outline for my video presentation began to look like a web. However I seemed yo be able to tie everything back to Foucault and so I feel confident that it will at least have some structure and won't be me just rambling about random things. Overall I am excited to see everyone else's projects, because I feel like I learn more from understanding other people's take on these issues then from just reading the material and thinking about it alone. I know that in class recently I have been quiet, which is not like me at all. In the google chats I am very vocal and love to express my opinion on these issues but when we are in class's I have found that I am aware of how my opinions are different then others and sometimes Shawn will say something that will make me rethink how I was originally feeling. This makes me feel uncomfortable but in a good way. Since this is how I am in class, I feel like my project will be a great opportunity fOr me to share my feelings that I have developed over the course of semester.

Week 4- A week of Video Games

This week class was extremely 'hands on' as we explored the video game 'World of Warcraft' (WoW). After a painful 10Gb download, I opened the game not really knowing what to expect, and with a mindset that I would need to consider 'Race', 'Gender', and 'Sexuality' as it was portrayed in this game. 


My observations while playing this game, at first were overshadowed by the fact that I was trying to figure out how to play the game. Once I had that under control I found my natural inclination to start 'leveling up' as quickly as possible without remembering why I was actually playing the game.


During the second day, I attempted to examine 'race', 'gender', and 'sexuality' with more of a proactive approach. Interesting enough, I found 'gender' to be the most obvious trait though after a g-chat with my classmates realized I completely missed the race aspect of the game. However, reflecting on this I realized the primarily reason was due to my epistemology and the fact that I had accepted these assumptions for much of my life. Realizing now that part of the reason I missed this aspect of the game was that I have accepted these assumptions blindly. Though I am not saying that this was an epiphany or anything on a major scale like that, I am saying that my ability to recognize the roles of 'race', 'gender', and 'sexuality' with regards to power structures is improving and beginning to change the way I am seeing many aspects of society and my life.