I'm the 21 year old, white dude who had an easy time in school and is well supported by his parents. I was an athlete in school but my high school didn't follow the typical popular jock/cheerleader hierarchy. I belonged to a lot of different groups of people and that hasn't changed today. Half of my best friends in high school were (and still are), in a heavy metal band and partied hard every weekend and all could give you a run for your money with profanities. The other half were honors students who would rather play apples to apples. I really connected with each group and enjoyed them separately. They helped me understand that while completely different, each culture offered things that still influence me now.
I have brought that attitude to WSU and found myself a part several new but still different groups. I have close friends from the club tennis team, Scott-Coman dorm, ping pong club, architecture and now DTC. I have found that again, each group exposes me to new things as well as ideas. Watching the different ideologies act among them is especially interesting when different groups are faced with the same problem.
I see myself as a easy going guy with a lot of creativity that I'm too lazy to develop completely but I've been working on that.
I don't know what people thought in high school but here, I am often asked if I'm in a frat even though I've never had any inspiration to join. I think it's the hat and sunglasses. Apparently I dress like a frat guy even though I kinda just buy whatever catches my eye at the time. Maybe it's the confident attitude that can be mistaken for cockiness. Maybe it's the cockiness.
Last semester really changed the way I think and I can tell that this class is just going to push my exploration even farther. I read Althusser's "On Ideology" for English 301 which is still the single hardest thing I have ever read although Faucault seems to share fondness for run on sentences and overcomplicating ideas than can be stated with 1/3 less words. While difficult, both of these authors present ways to question the world around you, especially the decisions and motivations of other people. I found myself questioning my own choices and especially my reservations after watching "Pump up the Volume." Why do I need to be anonymous to truly be myself?
This class specifically has made me think about how we define race and sexuality. Previously, I tried not to think about race to define people, even though it's always the first way to describe someone. I'm not racist. I don't care if people are gay. I don't hurt other people because of it so race/orientation doesn't really affect me. This class has shown me already that race/orientation/gender/etc always plays a role. The comment about a woman having to dress masculine while a man can dress however really stood out to me.
Something that was said today in class brought me back to my years in architecture. There was several gay people in the class which didn't really affect me yet I still noticed. There was one guy who I wasn't sure if he was gay or not (now noticing that I immediately followed the gay or straight dichotomy). I remember discussing it with other people but eventually he came out and we had the answer. Then, nothing happened. I didn't think of him any differently and there weren't any significant consequences. This is all from my perception. It was probably a much more significant moment for him.
I would stop, or maybe take an extra long look at the gay couple on the mall because it's simply different and unexpected. Not necessarily because I think it's wrong. But why did I want to find out? Why was another person's sexual choices any of my concern or even worth talking about? I think that maybe I just wanted to find something unexpected, even if it ends there. This class has alluded to that fact that my motivation are probably much deeper. I'm excited to discover more about how I've been trained and maybe discover more about myself.
Side Note:
I just discovered this website and a lot of posts have to do with our class content so far. These two were especially powerful and extremely relevant to our discussion today.
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