issues Hello world. Being my first blog since Xanga or OpenDiary (which I suppose aren't real blogs but more online diary keeping) I thought I would open up by saying its been a long time since I've written freestyle and I apologize for any confusing statements I may make however this is pretty informal so I expect not too many people will see this. So here we go.
This past semester has been a hectic one to say the least. I decided to study abroad in Prague this upcoming semester which in order to do so is a class unto itself in paperwork and decisions and preparations. On top of that, the classes I have been taking have pretty much consumed my free time. Being enrolled in two production classes is a lot of work and outside of class work (which is the most time consuming kind). On top of that, I began working as a production assistant at Goddard Space Flight Center (very exciting I might add). All of these things however are not the most exhausting things I've ever done. I can deal with school, paperwork, regular work and anything else that requires exorbitant amounts of energy.
So that being said, this is not what I want to rant or rave about. What I want to rant or rave about is one of my classes in particular in which the content really affected the way that I look at things now. This class is documentary production. Now ordinarily, the class would be taught in a way that teaches you the basics and principles of documentary making, no big deal. The professor that taught it didn't see it that way. This man is a super leftist liberal (bless his heart) and decided to teach the class with an activist edge to it. So he began showing us documentaries of heavy content and readings that supplemented what we were seeing. Still doesn't seem too bad right? I didn't think so either. When he went through our syllabus and discussed the structure of class and some of the content we would be learning about, I thought, "Hmm, perhaps we'll talk about how George Bush is the worst president to ever see inside the Oval Office". No, that was not the case. Although my professor did have his biases against the president, he did not vocalize them. Instead he subverted his views of George Bush's style through material that would truthfully show us the bad in what goes on in the heart of our corrupt society. We were eased into all of this with a few short videos like "The Story of Stuff" and Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondent's dinner. He then hit us with other liberal sided docs like Sicko, The Corporation, End of Suburbia and What a Way to Go. Being brought up in a highly conservative house and closing my mind to politics yet attending a liberal arts college did not prepare me for all these one sided view points. Most of the opinions in the films we watched maintained that everything it talked about was in fact the truth. Well who knows what the truth is? Its better to keep an open mind and let everything wash over you so you can have a more informed opinion. Me, personally, I like to stay in the middle and try to avoid our bipartisan country's conflicting ideals. I don't usually like discussing the latest controversial issues that I do have opinions about (unless its with my conservative father who I then just take the other side for the sake of pushing his buttons).
Keeping that in mind, I am glad that I took this class before my departure to another country. Before the class, I think I was pretty open minded but my mind was pretty vacant in terms of knowledge of issues. However, now after a semester of learning and gathering opinions (granted they are a little one-sided) I feel a little more prepared for my trip than before this semester. Now I feel motivated to learn and search for all the information I can to broaden my perspective on local, national and worldly views. My anticipation for my trip this fall is that I can add experience to my perspective as opposed to just news print. As much as we rely on news print to retrieve our information on what's going on in the world, I think its just as important to experience these things so we have more passion and conviction in the things we talk about. It is a shame and unfortunate that not everyone is able to travel the world and see different sights and talk to different people and experience a different culture. It is with this idea in my mind that I appreciate this opportunity I've been given and really take full advantage of it as I embark on this adventure this fall.
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