Reading the Classics Part Two

While working on my Collo project and reading the classic literature, I have started comparing not only the literary works to their film adaptations, but also to each other. Thus far, I have discovered my favorite work to be A Streetcar Named Desire. In Cronin's class, we worked with The Glass Menagerie, so I decided to read this other play by Tennessee Williams. I greatly appreciate the style of writing Williams uses; I thoroughly enjoyed reading and analyzing the work. Although the work is relatively easy to read, there is a tremendous amount of depth within this play. The extensive amount of symbols used and the not-so-easy to deal with themes make this play my favorite. It reminds me that there is a lot more to something than its face value. Just reading this play, you would assume it's about the simple tale of Blanche coming to live with her sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley. But, this work brings up ideas of pedophilia and rape that are not just simple. They cannot be brushed off. These major components of the play made me further look into certain characters, especially Blanche, Stella, and Stanley. It also raises many questions. How can a wife stay with her husband while knowing he raped her sister? Why does Blanche blame her husband's suicide on herself? And why does Blanche cope with the guilt of "killing" her husband by seeking sexual gratification from much younger men? These questions are never directly answered by Williams, which I actually appreciate. It requires the reader to delve into the play deeply in order to truly examine each character and study their motivations.

Reading the Classics Part One

For Collo this semester, every UHS freshman had to complete or work on a project that would take a minimum of twenty hours. Originally, I intended to volunteer at one of the local hospitals, but things didn't work out for that. So instead, I decided to fulfill part of one of my long term goals I mentioned on my blog last semester: reading some classic literature. I have read numerous pieces of literature and watched their film adaptations in order to compare the two, and thus far, my favorite film adaptation of the pieces I have read is The Merchant of Venice. I chose to read this work because I read a couple of Shakespearean plays in high school and wanted to read another one. This work in particular is not my favorite of Shakespeare's; that would be Much Ado About Nothing; however, the 2004 film adaptation I watched was extremely accurate and brilliantly done. The artistic liberty taken only added to the film while remaining true to the play. The film essentially quotes Shakespeare verbatim; however, the acting that goes along with the script helps in understanding the play. Sometimes Shakespeare can be a pain to understand, but watching this film adaptation only made me have a greater appreciation for the play itself.

Coalition for Kids

Today, I fulfilled my requirement for five community service hours, and honestly, it ended up being a great experience. A friend and I went to the local Coalition for Kids venue where we were to meet some other students. While there, we expected to do some painting for them, but upon arrival, we realized there was much more to be done than painting. The students volunteering were split into two groups: one that was to wash walls and then paint and one that would use hammers and chisels to remove cove base. Unfortunately, the people who put it up used the wrong adhesive, making it rather difficult to remove. This was an entirely new experience for me, and I am genuinely glad I went. Because all the volunteers today worked together, we were able to accomplish an extensive amount in a fairly short amount of time. My group was able to remove all the old cove base which was in multiple hallways and a relatively large room. After our jobs were done, we were all able to sit down and have a nice lunch together, getting to hear the story of how Coalition for Kids was founded. Because of such a positive experience, I fully intend to return to the facility to volunteer or possibly even get a job. Not only would I be okay helping with further renovations that are necessary, but I would also love to interact with the kids who go there after school.

2017 Boland Undergraduate Research Symposium

Well, it is second semester of freshman year, and I'm already starting to think about my senior thesis...Happens I guess. I know I'm not the only freshman pondering research topics and mentors and such. One of the best learning experiences to help me know what I'm getting myself into regarding my thesis was the 2017 Boland Undergraduate Research Symposium. Actually seeing people present their theses was fantastic. It showed me how many options I really have. The diversity and array of psych theses showed me that there are a multitude of directions I can head in for my thesis while still staying within my major. I even started thinking about specific research opportunities regarding stigma because I was inspired by numerous speakers.

The following picture is just for Daniel Hedden--Collo professor--who you can see in the background behind Kaitlyn McMinn.

 

Nanoscience=Illuminati

On March 28th, I attended a presentation by Caroline Drury, a UHS sophomore about Culture and Health, one of the minors at ETSU. There, she detailed what it's like to minor in culture and health and how it is extremely interesting and also beneficial, especially for those hoping to go to med school. Though the content of this discussion was helpful, this minor does not seem to be something I want to pursue. And honestly, everyone at this discussion seemed to be going to support Caroline and get credit for Collo, so after we talked about culture and health, we discussed something that was rather intriguing: why nanoscience=Illuminati. Apparently, Caroline made a presentation years ago that detailed why those two seemingly disconnected ideas are actually synonymous. We all got a good laugh out of hearing this rationale, and it truly brightened my day. While at this presentation, I even learned that if you can make anything into a six--especially a series of three of them--then that's really the Illuminati.

Diversity Educators Privilege Discussion

The other night, March 29th, I had the pleasure of attending one of the diversity educators meetings. At this meeting, I felt very welcomed by everyone attending, and there was food, which is always a plus.  At this meeting, we all participated in an interactive game where everyone was assigned a card from a regular deck of playing cards. Each card represented a social class where aces were at the bottom of the social hierarchy and kings were at the top. There were subcategories where the lower class consisted of cards like 2-4, middle class was 6's and 7's, and the upper class was face cards. Everyone could see what card you were, but you had no knowledge of what was on your card. We all then interacted, treating each other in a manner that would reflect their status. So, kings were obviously treated fantastically--like royalty--while aces were treated like scum. Once the activity was finished, everyone guessed what category they fell into based on how they were treated by others. 

Now this exercise caused people to behave in a exaggerated way in order to exemplify prejudices, but a point was still clearly made. Many people in society are treated differently based on a single attribute. Additionally, many people are mistreated because of things they have no control over. While this exercise may not have captured the more subtle ways people portray their racism, sexism, and other prejudices, it did still show a variety of ways people are discriminated against. Lower class cards were ignored, ostracized, and even openly ridiculed. Something as simple as someone's tone of speech during this exercise was very indicative of what kind of people they were talking to: you could clearly hear the disdain regarding aces and the respect directed toward kings. 

During this exercise, I was a jack, so I was treated quite well, but it was honestly quite difficult to watch others being mistreated because of a randomly assigned card. This card did not reflect their personal character, but rather, it labelled and defined them simply because the game dictated it to be so. The blatant prejudice in this game echoes that found in American society, which is honestly quite sad. Things like this remind me of why we as a society need to rally together and eradicate such prejudices. People should be judged on their character, not on attributes like nationality, sexuality, religion, etc.