Evaluations from September 28, 1999

Topic:

• Overview of the "Isms"
• Race, Ethnicity and Class: "The Social Issues Lexicon"
• An American Love Story #2 (Pt. 1)

Rank today's presentation from 1 to 4 (1=totally useless and 4=Very useful)

1. Overall evaluation of class: 3.29

2. What was the most useful or meaningful thing you learned or insight you gained during the session?

•  Language discussion, It is heartening that people can openly express opinions
• I learned everyone's name better!
• My voice + names
• the listening and describing thing
• its hard explaining things to people when they can't see.
• That I am a better listener than discripter (sic).
• To be a good listener
• When we broke off into 3 groups and each group came up with its own definition of Culture/Ethnicity/Race
• I felt that it was harder to express a less liberal opinion.
• how people can be really sensitive to certain controversial discussions
• how people think differently from others. We can try to describe a shape to another person but by how we expalin it the other person can get it or not.
• I finally know what my voice
• how different people view things differently
• The fact that I have to change my voice-I now understand the project
• The partner drawing.
• Mostly everything from my classmates names to better communication skills.
• The best insight I got is how hard it is to define things (words etc...)
• The drawing game was very interesting because it showed how verbal communication is harder than visual.
• That it's important to take into account where a person is from or how they were raised. Not everyone automatically understands you.
• That
• People are ignorant when it come's to forginers(sic) Learning America's language (English!)
• The way you communicate to each other is very important
• To be more patient with a person different from me.
• I think everyone was fake last week b/c Last week no one claimed to be Racist; this session People were plantently (sic) putting down minorities!
• That I need to be more patient and understand people who don't speak english. I just get so frustrated.
• I learned how to talk to people and I learned that I really do not like Carlton (character in "An American Love Story")
• I gained alot(sic) of knowledge on how people can describe other people just by the way they look.
• -Video: blacks oppressing blacks -American arrogance -the importance of listening

3. What question(s) remain uppermost in your mind as we end?

•  Why people would be concerned with a standard language
• How you gonna grade the media proposal?
• Are there any tests or reviews on reading
• Why some people are so angry about certain things that don't effect them
• Why I can't get the index cards right.
• What is the American laungage(sic)
• Is it possible to get a plain old \/+ in this class
• Should I not do my voice as a white male racist?
• What am I going to pick for a media review
• my voice.
• No questions (2)
• will I get a good grade in here?
• Why are we watching this movie. I feel like it is ragging.
• still a little hazy on media proposals
• why is it okay to be black and racist (or not really, conscious of race).
• It's not that people shouldn't learn to speak English, we should not expect them to
• still a little unsure of my voice.
• There has to less the 20 minute left of class, right?
• How will I do in this class
• What or who decides and puts the "isms" in place, society or the buraeucracy
• No one really is real. Ask yourself, question yourselves...Everyone's defending a View that's nothere's (sic)
• Am I racist for how I feel?
• Will I ever be able to speak in class without worrying that people are judging me and what I say?
• Why was Cicely treated so different by former friends?
• who makes race an issue (institutions or people).

4. What was the "muddiest" point in this session? (In other words, what was the least clear to you?)

•  Not getting a concrete definition of race ethnicity & culture
• Not being able to describe the picture well to my parent
• The video has a lot of dead air. It can be shortened from 10 vids to 5 easily.
• nothing (5)
• how are voice journals graded
• interacting with fellow classmate to draw a picture
• None
• listening and drawing from other's directions
• bib. cards
• The movie
• I am still confused on the actual definition of culture + race.
• NYT Article on Normalator
• N/A (2)
• There was no muddy point
• The name section
• The 'muddiest' part was how I felt that everyone was saying that I was ethnocentric.
• One some one made a comment of how they with everyone knew English. So what if they chose not to speak it?
• going into such detail about my voice. I hadn't thought so in depth about it.

5. Other comments:

•  Listen to Gene
• It was a good class.
• I liked the drawing game
• I enjoy the exercises we do during class.
• I have so many thoughts and ques. that I just need to sit and think
• Insightful. Intresting (sic) to see how people feel about America + language.
• How is tonights mixer going to go?
• None at all
• Very insightful discussions
• I feel as though many of the poeple who have commented on how I felt don't live wher I live so how would they know.
• As I was reading our textbook, I cam to those 40 or so thaings that as a white person I don't think aloud-it never occurred to me that even the smallest thing-a Bandaid-is discriminatory. made in lighter shades to belnd in with lighter skin. Wow-
• When we paired up w/ someone "different", i approached a _____student, not mainly because he/she was _____, but because I was interested in speaking to him/her. I felt weird, because I thought he/she thought I approached him/her because of his/her ________(which was an obvious reason given the assignment), yet in the last few classes, I have really respected his/her points+opinions--and thats what I was interested in.