Digital Photos of Macroinvertebrates sampled by Delaware Valley Friends School seventh grade science class on September 28, 2008 from Rhoads Pond and Mill Creek, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

 

Ongoing Research:

Students should research one organism below (it may or may not be the one you photographed yourself).  In the blog section below, post information on the life cycle of your organism and identify with the name given next to the photograph.  In addition to life cycle facts, you may report on eating habits, prefered habitat, and unique or interesting behaviors.

Although I already had a pretty shaky definition of what a feminist is when I began this course, my definition has become even more opaque and indefinable. However, I feel as if something even more important has happened – I have a definite feeling toward the word. Whereas, before I started taking this course I was (dare I say it?) indifferent to feminism. Now I know its importance and the word has become internalized. Maybe by December I’ll be able to give a definition using words, which, of course, will serve me better in the long run.

It is only halfway through the semester and already it seems clear to me that much of what I thought I knew and/or understood about feminism can essentially be thrown out the window. It has been both refreshing and a bit unsettling at the same time to tread this new ground and think these new thoughts. In fact, all of the readings have really pushed me (as well as our sometimes intense class discussions) to examine my preconceptions and assumptions of the meaning of feminism on the one hand, and the meaning of being a feminist on the other. Whether or not these two things are necessarily incompatible is not something I am ready to deny or confirm-just that there certainly seems to be a fundamental

Hannah Slavitt

Professor Dalke

Critical Feminist Studies

9/25/07  

I find Cixous’s article to be the richest one that we’ve had to date, maybe because of its “free” style that other people have commented on, which allows it to make bold assertions about the future of feminine writing, academic and personal, and also because it seemed full of commentary on what we’ve read so far. 

Introduction

When I came to class on Tuesday after reading Spivak's essay, I was feeling terribly daunted. I hadn't read any of the books she used to illustrate her ideas (though I was pretty familiar with the plot of Frankenstein), and found it very difficult to get through her writing and extract anything useful, if only because I didn't know what she was trying to say most of the time. Our discussion & small group work in class were helpful, but I still didn't take very strongly to Spivak's ideas. I suppose, as I've said before on this forum and in class, feminism is something that I feel involves a connection on a personal level as well as on an academic/activist level... and I felt virtually no connection with her essay at all.