#8: Practice democratic principles

11/12/08 - "Drop Beats, Not Bombs"

Last night I went to a concert that was held on campus. It was quite interesting and profound and was one that made you think about certain things. The artist's name was Invincible, and she was from Detroit. She rapped along with hip-hop beats, moved all over the stage, and spoke directly to the audience. She captivated me with her powerful word choice and fairly frank comments. You could say that she was a rapper through and through.

But what was different about Invincible was that she wasn't just rapping about "gangster life" or struggling with daily issues. Instead, she was rapping about the need to stand up for equality, resisting violence, and finding better ways to make peace. Invincible is part of a "Drop Beats, Not Bombs" tour that is traveling from the midwest to the east coast, working to spread the word about "resisting militarism through creative actions", as one of their flyers says. After Invincible's concert, there were several workshops offered, which I was unable to attend. In these workshops, they were going to encourage people to resist violence and fight against oppression in alternative and more creative ways.

Upon entering the concert area, I was unsure of what to expect. But I was pleasantly surprised but what I found. First, I was excited when I heard that Invincible was a woman; I was unaware of that fact, and it gave me hope to see women out doing this kind of work in a way that is generally populated with men. Second, while I'm not a huge rap fan, I enjoyed the lyrics in Invincible's songs. She spoke of not giving up when we're dealing with issues, the importance of love in relationships, and creating peace between groups or communities. The messages she was spreading through her music was not that of the stereotypical rap artist. Instead, she was using this music as a channel through which she could spread this message that was obviously very important in her mind. Through her performance, she spread this idea, and made it stick in my mind.

From this concert, I found a new way of spreading these ideas of peace and justice. Even though I was unable to attend the workshops, I experienced a new way of expressing your opinions about social equality and the need for peace and love between people. It opened up, for me, a wide variety of ways that we can all speak our minds and work towards improving the quality of life for all people in this world.

11/27/08 – Group dynamics and implications

Recently I was part of a group that had to give a presentation to our class. Our topic had to do with computer techniques, something that I am not particularly knowledgeable of. There were three of us in the group, and my teammates were both guys. Fortunately, they had a little more experience with this topic so we were able to make progress with our topic. On the other hand, while giving the presentation, I felt that our group was unbalanced, and I didn’t like how that felt.

While we were preparing our presentation, it felt that it was pretty well divided. However, during the actual presentation, I felt that the two of them did more of the presenting. As it turned out, all three of us are math majors. Because our presentation was on computers, I felt that our presentation demonstrated that men are more intelligent when it comes to computers, or mathematics. Being a woman and a math major, I didn’t appreciate how this made me feel about our presentation. I don’t think the guys meant it or even thought this was how the presentation came across, but it was how I felt.

Thinking back about it, I realize I should have said something; should have voiced my opinion and told them how I felt about it so it would be different. It makes me want to be more active in making sure that groups I’m part of are equally balanced between all members. Instead of quietly being angry as the groups I’m part of are not balanced, I know that I need to say how I’m feeling in those situations. In order for a group to be fully successful, all members need to participate. I’ve been in both successful and non-successful groups, and as these groups continue, I am realizing the need to speak up in the non-successful group discussions.

These realizations have made me think about my future classrooms and how I will work to make sure that my room is equally balanced between all of the students. I’m realizing that when I have my students get into groups, I’ll have to be aware of each student and how they relate to their peers. I’ll want to place students in groups where they can be challenged, but not too uncomfortable. I’ll be sure to make sure my students understand this concept of an equally balanced classroom, why it’s important, and that it’s something I will require in my classroom. It seems that the best way to encourage these students to be aware of equally balanced groups, whether in school, at work, or in families, is to have them practice it and use it daily.

12/10/08 - Using humor to speak up against racist, feminist, homophobic, etc. comments - when does it go too far?

A couple weeks ago, I went to a comedy show with my aunts and their friends. If you've seen the show "Who's Line is it Anyway?", the presentation was something to that extent. Overall, the show was good and I laughed quite a lot. There were some skits that were completely improvisation and others were practiced. What I appreciated some of was the use of humor to speak out against racist, feminist, homophobic, etc. comments. There were some skits that I liked better than others, and some that (thinking about it now) I don't care for. I think now that some of these skits go a little far when trying to keep a light-heartened atmosphere, whereas others are useful in making a point against such comments.

One of the skits that I thought was hilarious was making a point about homophobic comments and why gays and lesbians shouldn't get married. In the skit, there was a straight couple, a gay couple and a lesbian couple. I think the straight couple made a comment about gay marriage and then the gay and lesbian couples broke into dance explaining why they shouldn't get married - basically, they would take over the world. With their song and dance, it was apparent how untrue this statement was. Because I don't oppose gay/lesbian issues, I really appreciated how they used humor to stand up against those who are solidly against gay/lesbian issues. In terms of the idea that if we let gay/lesbian couples get married they will take over the world, the skit showed how ridiculous that concept is. I felt it just made a point about why we need to lighten up just a little in terms of some views about gay/lesbian issues.

One of the skits that I am now not very appreciative of was the skit directed towards race and ethnicity. A couple of people came out and asked members of the audience about their background. One person was English and the two people made up a song about how you can know someone is English (mostly bad points) and why people should be cautious of them. The people on stage made a couple more songs up about German and Irish decent, and the skit was then over. For each ethnicity the people on stage sang songs that highlighted the bad features of the culture. During the skit, there were parts of the songs that I thought were funny and laughed at, and I have German and English in my background. When I think back about it now, these kinds of comments seem more like attacks, and I wonder if ethnicity and race is really something we should be using humor to comment on. I understood the idea that we should ease up on some of the seriousness about subjects, but there's a point at which it's beginning to make fun of the subject. This is what I don't like.

Humor is one of my favorite things in life, and I absolutely love when humor is used to ease tension on a situation or a subject. However, I think that there's a point at which we can easily go from lightening up the subject to making fun of the subject, and I think, especially with serious subjects such as race and ethnicity, we need to be careful not make too much of a hit and not anger people. I think it's important to be humble and be able to laugh at ourselves and some of the points of our history, but not make fun of where we come from, or especially where others come from.

One thing that I think humor can do is make an easier atmosphere to talk in. Humor can create a setting of common understanding and equal right to share. Since humor is one of my favorite ways to enjoy life, I know that I will work very hard to bring humor to my classroom. I hope that by doing so I will create an atmosphere where students feel comfortable enough to address issues that are bothering them, and find a way to address those issues in a positive and progressive manner. Even though my classroom will be a math class, I hope that students will see my class as a place to discuss important subjects along with math. I hope that by creating a comfortable atmosphere, I will also create a place of responsibility. If students do cross that line between humor and making fun of something, I will work to address it very quickly and express the difference between finding humor in a subject and talking down about it. I hope that the students will realize the difference and then work with me to correct those reactions and spread the awareness. Hopefully by keeping humor in the class, students will not only learn math, but understand how to connect with each other in a positive way. I also hope to help students see the importance of humor in life, especially when it allows us to learn, relate, and grow.