#clf121

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Mentor Plenary

I really enjoyed this plenary, by far my favorite of the semester. I liked how the mentors put a spin on the current presidency candidates. Although the parody mocks the candidates it away, they were still some choose behind those characters. I found it clever how they wer able to use the candidates to bring up certain topics that not only pertain to polticaal issues but to the teachings of the class as well. My favorite part is when they had open discussion and allowed the students to share our thoughts on certain issues or topics, such as microagression against race, gender, etc.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Plenary-Intersex

On last week’s plenary we watched a movie which depicted the journey from childhood to adulthood of people who were born with both male and female genitalia. Prior to this movie the term I would have used to identify said people would have been hermaphrodite. Growing up, this was the only term I was aware of that associated with people who had both male and female part. However, thanks to this movie I walked away informed on the proper term to use and a deeper understanding of the struggles intersex people struggled/struggles with at birth and throughout their lives. One of the hardest things I learned is when a parent decides to change the genital early on, there's a possibility that the child will grow not to identify with the gender associated with the change. This was hard for me because I couldn’t fathom the emotions the adults had as children not knowing who they were, as well as going to school as and being viewed as “different” due to no one being educated on their situation.

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Racial Caucus

I really enjoyed the readings for this section and its relation to the caucus exercise. The reading that stood out the most to me was Andrea Smith’s Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing. What I liked most about Smith’s piece was the mentioning of the “oppression Olympics” as it relates to the political organizing of struggles amongst “women of color” or “people of color”. It is very common to hear debates on which race had the most hardships and/or is still struggling for equality. However,  what we fail to realize is that it’s not about whose first or last, the main priority should be who is doing the oppressing in the first place and how can we change that. 

While participating in the caucus excercise, I noticed the majority of the minority caucses mentioned struggles faced amongst their communities that were similar to those are apart of a different caucus. The sharing of similar issues amogst these caucuses is another point Smith brings up. Smith’s idea of people of color joining together in an alliance to effect better change in their communities, while also gaining a larger poltical party seems beneficial for all minoirty groups. 

In the beginning I felt akward about being sperated into different caucses, but then I grew to appreciate it. I came to the realization that all though not all our problems are the same we are in fact similar to each other in more ways than imagined.