Racism Discussion

I thought that the piece we read on white privilage was quite thought provocing. I really didn't know what to say or add because there was just such a rush of thoughts and feelings that my mind was just overwhelmed. I guess I never really thought about all the ways in which my skin color can make everyday living easier. Whether the things she said were more rooted in economics than in race I'm not quite sure, most likely they are ultimately connected. It's hard to know what is to be done. Many of the observations she noted were of things that happen almost subconsciously and unintentionally like seeing lots of music "of my race" at the record store. The first thing that comes to mind is that we can only try and control the things we intend to do. I think that a lot of the things that we enjoy, allegedly because we are white people, are not ones that we should feel guilty for.

Facts and Reason

I thought the matter that the book addressed about our society's bias towards fact in argument was very intreguing. It is not something that I had ever thought of before or ever thought to look for. Upon reflection I guess I can see, from a psychological standpoint, why that may be the case. Nobody is claiming that we currently have a tendency to just point to some number, law or graph an subsequently say that the case is closed, rather I think that this bias manifests itself in our feeling of security that comes out of having our claims backed up by something ostensibly indisputible and objective.

Class Discussion

It was great to see how the questions that were taken from the readings elicitied such an enthusiatic discussion. The free exchange of ideas really took on a life of its own and led to some compelling debates. I was worried that the questions that I posed to the class would only evoke responses of feigned interest or care, but people really got into it. I am happy to have been given this opportunity for involvement because it was a pleasnat break from normal class routine.

The Advice

Having someone else hear how my project is going and giving suggestions was most helpful. What I appreciated most about Wednesday's class was how I was able to both receive and offer practical suggestions regarding areas of difficulty. I feel like the hardest in getting a project started is making the transition from a broad, abstract, loosely defined idea to the actuall empirical implementation of that idea because there are always so many directions you can go in to give substance to the form provided by the project goal. For me, while it is nice to have a general outline of subtopics for how the project will be divided up, it really makes it no easier to decide in what manner those first concrete steps ought to be taken. There seem to be a million different angles from which to look at the cultural, linguistic, historical and personal significance of Fenway, and the in class workshop really helped to ease the confusion. I was able to get some really interesting suggestions.

The People

I have been very pleased so far with the print sources that I have found. One is a book that I read a few years ago and thouroughly enjoyed, and it works so well for my project because it contains many personal accounts and memoirs. This is great because that's the kind of evidence that I want to underscore my arguments the most and since there really aren't many Red Sox fans here in Madison that have such deep personal histories at Fenway and describe them as artfully as those in literature can, this is the best I can hope for.

The Evidence

The chapter on collecting evidence brings to light the a current challenge for my project. Most of the facts I offered in my presentation were just little bits of information that I learned long ago and have never forgotten, other declarative points came from my own observations and personal experience. Ideally my project would be supported by more evidence of that nature but sadly mine is not a topic that I can readily research personally. Nevertheless, given what I have notice thus far, the pool of secondary evidence form which to draw from is nothing to complain about. Fenway has a rich literary history but still it would be nice to be able to experiecne personally my topic while I'm researching it. Maybe I should have thought about that earlier.......damn.

The Report

I feel that it will be a good idea for me to write up a progress report. I never used to do any of these intermediate steps in writing. At the beginning I was quite incredulous about whether or not they were worth the time, but thus far I have been pleasantly surprised about how helpful they have been. The proposal and the drafts were useful and the proposal gave me a good opportunity to solidify the direction of mt project at an early date.

The Presentation (Part 2)

I'm really impressed by everyone's presentations. They are all so well prepared, much more so than mine was. People are able to just get up there and talk, without much hesitation or uncertainty. People definately have put a lot of time into these and their preformance reflects that.

The Presentation

The presentation wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. Having a slide show made it easier, I didn't really have to memorize the exact layout for what I was going to talk about because I could just address what was written on each slide and just go from personal knowledge. Sitting down, with the lights off and having people watching a screen rather than me didn't hurt either. It didn't have the feeling that comes with standing in front of a bunch of people and giving a speech. That I was quite thankful for.

The Computer

I am terribly inept with anything to do with remotely complicated computer stuff. I excell at Word and Facebook, but with things like PowerPoint, coincidentally, well, I suck, to put it succinctly. Despite having what I feel to be quality ideas, I wish myself the best of luck in pulling off this presentation. I appologize in advance for what is sure to be shitty attempt to make my 10-12 minutes worth anyone's time. All of this in spite of my most noble efforts, kind of tragic.


"She's got a little Marisa Tomei thing going on"
-"Ah. Too bad you've got a little George Costanza thing going on"