Voice

Hi guys! I was reading through Offerings to Athena tonight looking for information on my topic and I just wanted to give a heads up to those pursuing topics revolving around race (both African/African American and Asian) that there are some specific sections in the text devoted specifically to each of those subjects. So, check it out! It's on reserve in Canaday. 

In "Sing Soft, Sing Loud" I found a couple of quotes to be pretty interesting. One quote was said by Iva, and she comments about the single window that she has in her cell. She appreciates watching the palm tree outside this window but then theorizes, "I think maybe they put it there just to make us miserable" (3). It just reminded me of our tour earlier this semester at ESP because I couldn't believe how little the windows were. I never realized the significance of windows and never took the time in my everyday life to understand why spaces are designed the way they were, but I'm glad our 360 is forcing me to do that now. We don't really notice windows and we also take them for granted. They can either feel like they're entrapping you in this space or freeing you by allowing you to see what the world has in store outside. I noticed that one of our dorms, Merion, has ridiculously tiny windows. Every time I visit some friends there I feel miserable because there's barely enough glass to let in some natural sunlight, which is something that Iva complains about too.

So I was doing some reading for my thesis and came across a story about a black student who was photoshopped into a picture for an admissions brochure, without his permission.  When this came out the student was understadably upset and a couple people from the school apologized.  The student later said "...Institutions don't apologize verbally.  Instituitions apologize with policy changes and budget changes."  (This is from a book titled "Interracial America" and a chapter called "Diversity Does Not Improve Education" in case anyone wants the longer version of the story). This very much reminded me of the situation with Perry House.  A verbal apology from Bryn Mawr doesn't seem to mean much when what really creates change is policy and "dollars and cents".  Thoughts?   I was telling Jody about this, and it's also interesting given that we were discussing apologizing yesterday in class.  Also, in case any of you didn't know there is a meeting with Jerry Berenson to talk about Perry House this Thursday morning at 9:30.  If you want to go and need more details, let me know!

After reading Laurie Finke’s article entitled “Knowledge as Bait: Feminism, Voice, and the Pedagogical Unconscious”, I was reminded of something we discussed in our silence class, which is the notion that the classroom is a space in which learning needs to accommodate the student body’s diverse voices. What I understood from this discussion was that the fundamental building blocks of voice are found within the social context of that voice, and that the classroom is the physical space in which voice is found and complicated simultaneously. Thus, teachers who neglect the myriad of contexts that constitute voice are not creating a space in which all students can both be treated equally and receive an equal education. I found it very problematic that Finke’s analysis of the power of transference consisted of having to, in essence, force individual students to let go of their socially rooted voices in order for their “true voices” to shine. I found the latter to be problematic because there is an inherent contradiction in the idea of having a true voice. Voice cannot be removed from the social context that influences it and therefore constitutes it. Thus, I suggest that in order for individual voice to shine, the role of the classroom must be taken into consideration. A classroom must be one in which the power relation between student and teacher should be dialogical, as Paulo Freire refers to it in the dialogical method of teaching, and one in which every student’s voice is heard.

As you go about your week, take a photo or two that you would like to share with the women @ the Cannery, so they can have a "tour" of Bryn Mawr. Please post your photos here by Wednesday at 5:00, so Barb can compile them into a form that we can use in class. To keep things manageable, we suggest one or two photos per person (it can be more, if not everyone submits a photo). We hope some of you are interested in taking up this idea!

As I've been reading Sweeney, I've been seeing some parallels to Haney's work in the Visions and Alliance facilities, in terms of how penal institutions try (and sometimes fail) to regulate women's desires, and what they feel like they need. In Visions and Alliance, it was obviously a very flawed system, despite the fact that it was an "alternative to incarceration", and the directors of the program seemed to want to shape what the women wanted extensively. In the more traditional prisons that Sweeney writes about, the main regulation of desire is over books--especially, as I've read, over the women's complex and diverse desire or lack thereof for urban fiction, which prison librarians try to unify to fit what their rules are for keeping urban fiction on the shelves. 

Is anyone else making this connection? What are your thoughts?

On another note, if anyone would like to borrow my book before Tuesday, let me know!

Everyone also has a SECOND POSTING DUE for the whole 360 early next week. Please review the postings everyone did, on returning from fall break, describing the sort of activism that interests you--and then BY TUESDAY @ 5 PLEASE POST AS A COMMENT HERE a description of your current thinking about our final projects for this class.

How have your own thoughts about your project evolved? Do you see your project as standing alone, or as allied w/ others? What independent actions, and what clusters of activism, can you now see emerging among our proposals?

We will meet for pizza from 6-7:30 on Wed, Nov. 7th, in the English House Lecture Hall, to discuss and organize further. Before coming to supper, please also read the second round of comments posted here, and arrive ready to share your thoughts towards next steps.

Hi all! I'm wondering who has Reading is my Window and when I cane come get it from you. [: 

Thanks! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqV7HOVOPLE&feature=related

Watching Prisons: Intersections of Reality and Fantasy