I just received an announcement about this very relevant conference that is being held at Drexel University College of Medicine on Thursday, October 27, 2011 from 9 am - 4 pm.  Regisration is free.  Please see the website for more information. 

So to go off of what we were talking about in class I want to mention a music center that for me is extreemly unappealing. Perhaps  someshine can voice his thoughts as he is also from Seattle, but we have a building near the Space Needle called the EMP (Experience Music Project) which is a museum basically of Seattle pop music and science fiction (a weird combo to begin with). It has stuff on Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, etc. It was designed by a famous architect, Frank Gehry.

While this isn't a concert hall, it is a memorial to music and I feel is meant to represent what music was and is. I'm torn with the EMP between extreem hatred for its exterior, and an appreciation with what was done with the inside. The inside is cool. Just as some think that the Pyramide du Louvre is the scar on the face of Paris, I think that the EMP is the scar on the face of Seattle. I can't get beyond the exterior to see the beauty of the inside because of the blaring exterior. I don't know if that means I judge a book by its cover (I hope I don't), but how should I judge this building? By the interior or the exterior? How does the EMP make you feel?  

Since I had my Esem, I have been more and more unsure about how to define the word education. But at least I am pretty sure about one thing; that is education is actually v. at the time one starts to go to school and receive education, the education she or he gets is far more than education. We don’t have many “racial issues” in China, but Kai Davis’ experience reminded me the influence of education on students who so not belong to the “mainstream”. For some of them, being a member of minority may motivate them to study harder and become more ambitious; but for some of them, anger and stress accumulate, which may lead to big tragedy.

 For Rodriguez, being minority is a motivator. As a “scholarship boy”, it is difficult for him to find a place both at home and school. But instead of getting frustrated and hopeless, he spent more and more time studying to in order to attain his goal. Though often feel lonely, being isolated by “mainstream” is generally not a very big problem for them. However, for others, being minority is painful and unbearable. A piece of breaking news happened in china in 2004: four dead bodies of were found in their dorms and all of them were killed in a very cruel way. Surprisingly, the killer turned out to be their roommate, a boy from a poor village of Yunnan province. When the murder was caught by the police, he said calmly that he never felt regretted about killing his classmates, for they treated him in a extremely harsh way, just because he came from a poor farmers family.

At the end of her first chapter, Price notes that her book includes “abundant examples of what can happen when, against the odds, those with mental disabilities find ways to speak, write, dance, and otherwise communicate against the grain of able-mindedness” (57). While reading her introduction and first chapter, I kept thinking about the use of Adderall as a “study aid” by students who have not been prescribed the drug or diagnosed with ADHD, a practice that I perceive to be is relatively common at Haverford (though not talked about openly). I’m not quite sure how this fits into the dichotomy Price has set up between mental disability and able-mindedness, but I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts about non-prescription Adderall and Ritalin use and abuse, especially as it relates to the concept of able-mindedness (when “able minds” are not “able” enough!) and to the Honor Code.

I think education, as it is right now, does not level the playing field. In my latest paper, I talked about how access to education is distinctly different because of the stereotypes that are perpetuated by society about various people from different backgrounds. At the same time, I argued that education may be the very tool that can change this issue of stereotypes in society. However, when talking about education as the tool to do such a thing, I feel that I was referring to a more dynamic type of learning, based on Freirian's theory of problem-posing education. The back and forth relationship between teacher and student that Freire suggests, brings the possibility of an always changing education, with many perspectives being included. The fact that many students and even many teachers bring different perspectives into their daily dialogue and interaction allows for so much growth in the education system, also proposing a way in which the stereotypes and assumptions made of people from different backgrounds can be changed and actually allow for the barrier of access to education to be broken.

I've been thinking, and talking, about our class discussion on Utopia.  My thoughts are scattered right now, and this may be a rather dull post, but I have a question I want to ask, dull or not.  Is imagining a utopia (and eventually realizing it is impossible) a useful exercise?  In one way, maybe.  It helps us understand our place in the world to some extent--we have to learn that nothing is perfect and nothing ever will be.  After all, what is perfection without imperfection?  In another way, the exercise seemed pointless and upsetting to me.  How will thinking about utopia--and ultimately giving up (which is how I felt after class)--lead to a better world, or a better understanding among peoples?  It seems futile.

I'm reminded of an essay I read in high school, by Tolstoy.  He basically says that every person who is well-off (financially) is directly responsible for one person living in poverty.  I don't know how this relates to utopia, or to building a utopia, but I keep thinking about it in relation to utopia, probably because of the title of the essay: What Then Must We Do?