Posts Tagged ‘class’

Between Theory and Practice

Thursday, October 12th, 2017

As a student, I’ve always enjoyed reading and dissecting theory. Abstract concepts of power, race, and gender always interested me, and I enjoy coming up with creative interpretations of their inter-relationships.

But talking isn’t enough. To enact social change, I must be willing to practice theory on the ground. So I’ve tried to get moving, to put what I’ve read about into action. As years of messy practice have shown, practical application is much more difficult than mere theory. I make mistakes, I feel uncomfortable, and I often just want to retreat back into theory.

I’ve developed a metaphor for my attempts to pursue social justice. Theory is like English- it’s my native language, it’s familiar, and it’s much easier for me to implement. On the other hand, practice is like Spanish. I learned it later in life, and because the sounds and words did not embed themselves in my brain as a child, they come much more slowly to mind. I will never be fully fluent, nor as confident in Spanish.

But Spanish (and practice) are a necessary component of social justice work. They stretch my mind, add to my vocabulary, and guarantee that I am not too comfortable. They remind me of my limits, and open up larger segments of the population to me. I’m able to meet people where they are, to speak their language rather than forcing them to speak mine. It’s a small way I try to right the very unequal power dynamics between Spanish and English speakers. When non-native speakers make mistakes in English, they are looked down upon, derided. But when I speak Spanish, even though I’m far from fluent, I am complimented. My attempts are praised, and my learning Spanish is seen as going the extra mile, while speaking perfect English is considered a requisite for anyone living in the United States.

Of course, pursuing justice is a lofty goal. Those who attempt to bring about justice either get overwhelmed by the impossible task, or become consumed by their own accomplishments. It’s hard to strike a balance between giving up and becoming prideful. Even though I can’t save the world, I need to at least try to ensure to mitigate the negative effects I evoke by doing nothing. Just by being on this planet, I am creating a carbon footprint. By living my relatively privileged life, I am abetting systems that perpetuate racism. By seeking my own satisfaction, I am depriving others of resources. To counter these realities, the best I can hope to do is to impact one little corner of the world as best I can.

Audre Lorde, a Black Lesbian Feminist scholar, emphasizes the potential positive uses for anger. She writes, “Anger expressed and translated into action in the service of our vision and our future is a liberating and strengthening act of clarification” (Sister Outsider, 127). For people of color, anger is often their only weapon against the oppression they experience daily.
Whether through speaking Spanish, pursuing action, or expressing anger, practical implementation is the enactment of true commitment to social justice.

By Anna Lindner


Anna is a Campus Clipper intern and a first-year Master’s student in NYU’s Media, Culture, and Communication program. Her research interests include critical race and gender theory and their resultant intersectionality. When she’s not studying, Anna enjoys visiting friends, catching up on TV shows, and lifting weights. For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services.

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books; we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings. 

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Decolonizing Media

Thursday, September 28th, 2017

This semester, I am taking a class called “Decolonizing Media.” Those invested in decolonizing work acknowledge that colonialism, even after it has been dismantled, continues to deeply impact countries in which colonization occurred.

We are focusing on South Africa, where apartheid fell only recently, in 1994 (the year I was born). Even though the country is attempting to integrate black and white citizens into the same spaces, stark inequality persists. Black South Africans continue to struggle with racism, access to resources, and other instances of disenfranchisement. Aware that attending university is most likely the only way out of cyclical poverty, black students make sacrifices to enroll. However, a hike in fees and the general cost of attending college prevents many black students from completing their degrees. Although black South Africans comprise 86% of the country’s population, only 19% of university students are black.[1] South Africans students, including white allies, have rallied to protest fees and other obstructions of justice.

The South African education systems remain rooted in their history of oppression, racism, and colonialism. Students are pushing for the “decolonization” of curriculum, which involves rejecting a white-washed approach to education. Most university curriculum remains a cache of works by upper-class, white, straight males. By passing only this information on to the next generation of students, the injustice and one-sided perspectives established by the ruling class of colonization is upheld. Students are calling for a greater diversity of not only faculty, but also in curriculum, one that better reflects their lived experiences as a majority but marginalized population in South Africa.

Protests of oppressive symbols and structures is central to decolonization. For example, in 2015, the #RhodesMustFall protest resulted in the removal of a statue of Cecil John Rhodes at the University of Cape Town. A white supremacist, Rhodes was the Prime Minister of the Cape colony at the end of the 19th century. The Rhodes statue was a symbol of the worst part of colonialism: Rhodes’ racist policies toward the indigenous (black) South African people upheld apartheid. The removal of the statue is a small victory; there are still several battles to truly decolonize all aspects of society. [2]

A #RhodesMustFall protest. Courtesy LeftVoice.org.

A #RhodesMustFall protest. Courtesy LeftVoice.org.

Personally, I have been trying to practice decolonization by inspecting how I live. Do I benefit from racist or otherwise oppressive systems? The answer is an overwhelming “yes,” so I’ll try to break it down into some questions. Do I ever read books by authors of color? Does the money I spend support worthy institutions? It’s difficult to trace the impact that our actions have. While trying to practice justice in my life, I feel paralyzed by the complexity of the issues. Merely by living, I am propping up unjust systems and perpetuating colonialism. In response, I’m attempting to be aware of how my actions contribute to various systems, and try to mitigate the damage as much as possible.

My peers of color suggest that white allies try to make space, and not take it up, when discussing issues of race. By minimizing myself, I can allow others to speak. The willingness to listen is the most valuable asset found in an ally, and I’m trying to train myself to speak only when appropriate and listen much more often.

[1] Statistics as quoted in “Metalepsis in Black,” a short film on the struggle in South Africa. https://vimeo.com/193233861

[2] Further reading on Rhodes Must Fall can be found here: http://bit.ly/2xBTSpX

 

By Anna Lindner


Anna is a Campus Clipper intern and a first-year Master’s student in NYU’s Media, Culture, and Communication program. Her research interests include critical race and gender theory and their resultant intersectionality. When she’s not studying, Anna enjoys visiting friends, catching up on TV shows, and lifting weights. For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services.

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books; we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings. 

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What I Learned in My Public Speaking Class

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

originally appeared on speaking-effective.kethal.com

Given a choice between Design of a Newspaper Page (or something similar to that) and Public Speaking, I chose the latter without hesitation. I have always loved to speak in front of large groups, despite the fact that I often trembled inside. I can manage my nerves well, though, and I enjoy delivering my message; therefore, I was eager to learn new skills through this class.

Unlike me, there are many students who are petrified to take a public speaking class because they hate standing in front of people and talking to them, or simply because they believe that they will never need speaking skills for their career. If this sounds like you, let me assure you: whatever your future profession will be, you will definitely have to make presentations, whether you like it or not, so why not learn it as early as possible and be prepared?

Since many universities oblige you to take a public speaking class anyway, I would suggest that you do it during your first semester, as it will help you do better in many of your classes. Here are some useful things I learned in my public speaking class:

1. Everyone is nervous while speaking in public, no matter how confident he or she looks. Even your professors feel tension inside. It is just not comfortable to face a large group of people and have their eyes and ears turned at you.

2. Developing your public speaking skills means learning how to control your fear and delivering your message successfully. The more often you practice what you learn, the more confident you will feel delivering every other presentation, so you should use every opportunity to talk in class, whether it is a formal report or a mere answer to someone’s question.

3. No matter how interesting your presentation is, it is always hard to listen if there are no visuals, and don’t you hope for a “first-time student discount” (meaning that the audience will not sympathize with you even if this is a debut). Therefore, you should always do a short Powerpoint presentation, prepare handouts or simply draw a poster. Anything works, as long as there is some kind of visual back up for your presentation. If there are names that the audience may not know, you should write them on the board, especially if their pronunciation is not well-known. When your listeners see the information in front of them, they understand it better and remember it longer.

4. There is more than one type of audience: friendly, indifferent, neutral, and hostile. The easiest kind to deal with is the neutral one, as they are the material that you can work with. You can tell them whatever you want, and it is up to you to keep them interested. Friendly audience is not as easy as you suppose it is because these listeners usually know who you are and think highly of you, so there is no way you can deliver a presentation that is not as strong as your previous one. Otherwise, they will easily get bored and won’t pay attention. The hardest task is to engage an indifferent audience, as they are not interested in your topic, or you, and will most likely sleep through your presentation. As far as hostile audience is concerned, they are the most fun group to deal with, as it is your job to change their mind about you or the topic you are talking about. You have to be well-prepared and predict what kind of questions may be asked and what the audience’s objections will be. Knowing the type of audience is a must, as it helps to deliver the message in the most effective way. It can be compared to researching on student savings: you should know before you go which place may give you the best deal and how to get this deal from them.

5. Eye contact is powerful. If you stare at your notes, or, what’s even worse, read from the page, no one will listen to you. People will automatically assume that you are poorly prepared and have no idea what your presentation is about, and feel like listening to you is a waste of time. A good idea is to create an outline (on a piece of paper or index cards) with major points you are going to make. Write down quotes from experts, if you are using any. With this material, you can spend more time looking at your audience to study and react to their facial expressions and gestures. For example, if they look confused, ask if they want you to repeat or clarify what you said. If they yawn, you should probably give them an interesting piece of information that you were saving for later.

6. Once your presentation is ready and your outline is completed, you have to practice. You may need to record your voice, listen to it and repeat your presentation in front of the mirror at least 5 to 10 times, so that when the actual presentation takes place, you will be well-prepared and less nervous. Later on, when you become more experienced, you won’t need much practice. Still, 5 times is generally recommended. Just imagine how awed your classmates will be when you deliver your well-rehearsed informative presentation!

7. And finally, always leave time for questions. You may hate to be asked, but how else will you know that your message was understood and remembered? This is, perhaps, the most exciting part, as through the questions you can see whether your presentation was clear, what you should improve on and how the message was taken in general. The time you should put aside for questions is usually 3-5 minutes, so there is nothing you should really be scared of.

Ekaterina Lalo

You can find more of my articles on my personal blog www.nycvalues.blogspot.com or check me out on http://hubpages.com/profile/katenka_lalo

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Untimeliness Is a Bad Strategy

Friday, May 7th, 2010

If a college class is an hour long and you are 15-20 minutes late, you missed a big part of it. If you thinking about the part of the lecture you did not hear, keep in mind that your loss is not limited to this. There are several things you deprive yourself of when you are constantly late.

First of all, all the colleges have latenesses and absences policies and your repeating untimeliness may hurt your grade. Do you really think that sleeping for several more minutes is wotrh lowering your GPA? Sometimes you are giving up your sleep in order to prepare for the class. Give it up once again and remember that coming on time is a part of your preparation process as well.

Here is a tip for you: do not turn off your alarm clock and then go back to bed to indulge for a couple of minutes. Most likely, you will fall asleep again, then what was the point in putting the alarm on so early. If you believe that sleeping more is essential, then do not forget to put the alarm on again. This way you won’t miss it.

Secondly, your coming late is a great distraction for your professor and your class. Imagine that your classmate is late. He (or she) enters the classroom desperately trying to find an available seat. There seems to be none and he (or she) keeps walking around with a backpack not knowing where to land. Unfortunately for you, the seat next to you is empty. He (or she) notes this with happiness and takes out books, notebooks and a breakfast. Chewing his (or her) English muffin with egg and cheese, he (or she) tries to find out what was going on before he (or she) appeared. You are at a loss choosing whether to listen to the professor, to the classmate, who demands concrete answers, or to your stomach that did not get breakfast. Why should you ever do something like that to a person who studies with you?

Lateness is very annoying for professors as well. No one likes to be interrupted when speaking. So if you are late repeatedly, your professor may think that you are an unreliable or careless student and all your last night efforts will remain unnoticed, as discipline is sometimes more valuable than the work you do.

Third, sometimes there are written assignments professors give in the beginning of the class, for example, quizes or short answer questions. If you miss them, it may hurt your class participation as well and your grade keeps lowering.

And last but not least, remember that the main thing the college does to you is preparing you for your future occupation.

Therefore, your class is like your future workplace. No boss will tolerate chronic latenesses. So prepare for it now and develop a habit of coming to your classes on time. Maybe, you should just get a more sound alarm clock, one you will be happy to hear when you wake up in the morning.

Ekaterina Lalo

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