Preparing for our on-campus workshop

I love the idea about an on-campus workshop in campus. In most of my classes, even in social science classes, I just learn about the society through my readings. My perspective about the world is created by collecting people's ideas. However, I am not very confident with that because people's points of view may be biased and there are too many assumptions. Furthermore, I always question myself as a learner, when can I go beyond, step away from the collection of ideas to create something on my own. By carrying an on-campus workshop, I can actually collect the information by myself and see what is really happening in real life.

I love Shannon's ideas about the workshop. Learning about people's situations is not enough. We need to ask ourselves: "What can we do about it?" She made me realize that we do research not only because we want to know, but because we want to improve the situation. Furthermore, I think besides asking people questions that Anne mentioned above, we should classify people to see how different groups of people react differently with class and education (e.g. variables may include race, nationality, age -preference may change overtime). When we propose some solutions, our solutions should be specific with each group of people. It's hard to find solutions that satisfy and improve the whole college community.

Like some have already said, I think it would be extremely beneficial to have many people of different backgrounds, races, socio-economic classes, and so on. I know that I am going to try and invite my housekeeper (from Rhoads South 3^rd), Dawn, to our discussion. Like Darlene, she is a very loving woman. A girl on my hall recently had pneumonia and she gave her a care package and came by her room everyday to make sure she was doing ok. I think it would be very interesting to hear some of the voices of people who I do not necessarily interact with everyday such as Public Safety, the custodial staff, etc. I think that by having these difficult conversations we can help spark deeper ideas and conversations that we can have in the future.

One question that I really like is the question of “who’s ‘allowed’ in certain places, where do they feel comfortable? Intruding?” I think that from writing Essay #9, I have realized a lot of things about space on Bryn Mawr’s campus. To me, I feel as though space is accessible to everyone who is a student at Bryn Mawr. But I feel like it is different for people who work at Bryn Mawr/outsiders. I think that that’s when permission is needed from people who own the space; otherwise it would be considered “intruding”. I would like to hear the opinions of people who aren’t students—maybe workers feel uncomfortable when they have to enter a student’s room to fix something, maybe it’s a sense of intruding even though they were given permission? I just think that this is a very interesting question and something that the discussion should focus on because to me, it has to deal with a lot of what we just wrote our essays on (space). 

I really like Mfon's questions about the dorm room competition: "How does the campaign for best dorm room and the price attached promote class distinctions on campus? Can economically challenged students participate in such a contest and what is the criteria for determining the best room, decorations - which cost money or just neatness?" I never thought about that. I was thinking about entering my room into the contest just because of all the decorations (I didn't think I'd win or anything) but because my room is a place where I can display my creativity. Now, I don't have chaise lounges or lace curtains but I do think my room has what it takes to considered in the competition even though I didn't spend a ton of money on decorations. That competition is a perfect example of a jumping off point for one of our many discussions at this workshop.

Besides talking about how space illustrates class distinctions, I'd really like to hear some more discussion about the tension between student workers and non-workers. I enjoyed the short discussion we had in class about it, and I think the only reason I got so excited/passionate about the topic is because I realize that it needs to be addressed. And I don't think we should exclude other workers on this campus. They'd probably have a ton to contribute to the discussion too!

As part of the barometer game; we can ask people to rate Bryn Mawr in answer to the following questions;

• How racially diverse is Bryn Mawr(students)/(faculty)/(staff)? Immediately following that with why do you rate it high or low? If you rate it low, how can that be changed? People can write their suggestions in anonymous pieces of paper which we can collect and collate as post forum data.
• How does the campaign for best dorm room and the price attached promote class distinctions on campus? Can economically challenged students participate in such a contest and what is the criteria for determining the best room, decorations - which cost money or just neatness?
• How much time do you spend with people who do not share your economic, educational, national background? Do you only share class space with them and nothing else? How can you improve on that?
• The audience may also be given some minutes maybe 10, to bring up personal issues/observations related to class that bother them so they are not only restricted to commenting on the questions we have for them.

In thinking about this, my biggest hope for this meeting is that we can begin to open up a larger coversation about class on campus.  As the semester has progressed, I have become very aware of the fact that class is not really discussed here, and I think that it really ought to be.  My hope is that these conversations will not only helo us understand each other better in terms of backgrounds, but also help us get a feel for how others wish to be treated and viewed.  For example, one of our classmates wrote about not knowing how to act around the custodial staff, and I am hoping that our workshop will give them the chance to let us know how they would like us to interact with them.  For example, would they like us to keep them company and chat while they work, or would they prefer we make ourselves scarce?  I'm also curious about whether or not they are allowed to take classes at the college, as the staff at many colleges are, and how they feel about that.  I am interested in finding out how those who don't have to work, and who come from wealthy backgrounds, feel about how they are percieved on campus.  the questions I have are kind of limitless, and I hope that our workshop will help me focus them as it creates new questions.