Wrap Up

 Do the big wrap-up thing.  You don’t have a general reflection paper at the end (that’s just about the simulation project), so here is your opportunity.  What have you learned?  What have you learned about yourself?  What are you taking from this class?  How does this fit into your academic experience?  How does it fit with your career plans?


I learned a great deal from this class- about myself and about how I can take what i've learned and apply into my work or career plans. 
The biggest highlights from this class for me were our guest speakers and reading Little Brother- that was the part I was dreading, and it turned out to be really interesting. I also really appreciate learning about the backdrop of several social movements in history, how they differ, what worked, what didn't, etc. That is definitely something that I will be able to take forward- as well as Alinsky's rules- which are standards that I think are extremely applicable. I learned a lot about myself- I learned that I'm more interested in educating myself about the issue at hand, rather than learning about how to most effectively protest or not get arrested- while those are definitely necessary to being involved in a movement, i'd rather focus my personal energy on educating myself and others, maybe not in the form of protest. Don't get me wrong, I like going to protests- specific to this class,  i loved going to the clinic in Fairfax that performs abortions that Saturday morning while the Catholic group was there- they actually thought and treated me like I was there to get an abortion- but more about that in my EL #2 paper. You can learn a lot at protests- I'm just not as interested in the specifics of how they work? I feel like i'm defending myself even though it's completely fine for me to feel this way. Maybe it's because I felt like during the simulation project, several people I know of in the class got pretty downtrodden because of specifics and critique- maybe making them (me, as well) lose some of my motivation for the project at all.  I felt that it was done a little harshly and and maybe because that felt more destructive than constructive- i don't like those details. Sure I learned from them and my group grew from it. I don't know. 
Anyways, this class has been extremely effective and did it's job- I learned a lot and i have a lot that i'll take away and I'm really appreciative of that.

AIDS quilt

Presume that you have died in the next AIDS-type epidemic event (don’t get hung up on details).  What do you want your friends and family to put on your quilt panel?  What would make the best argument that you should have lived?


Umm...
I don't know specifics of like what words or images I would want on there, but I would definitely want something that portrayed who I (was).  I guess it would depend on who made the quilt square, or who collaborated, but if i made my own which I guess how i'm supposed to think about it, since you think about yourself in relation to how you perceive others to see you?
Anyways, here goes:
Activist
Feminist
Lover
Learner
A person who fought against a lot early in my life
A future college professor
A critical thinker
A supporter of women becoming self-sustainable
A person with a laugh that got me kicked out of a mall food court and a bookstore in the same day.


I think that should do it- I can't think of any more and i was feeling like I was making my about me on my myspace page from 8th grade. :) This was an interesting exercise... thinking about it is making me anxious, so i'm going to sign off and move on to the next one.