Feminism

I am so thankful for all of you and this experience. Not only do I recognize silence in a new way, but I feel empowered in the classroom and proud of what I can say. I loved having the opportunity to call on my peers and engage with them when they made a face or gesture that would have been ignored in many other classes, despite their relevance to the discussion. Not only have we learned to be hyper conscious of one another, but we have found the methods to creating that in other classrooms and spaces we engage in. I want to thank each and every one of you for your posts and contributions in class, to your supporting me, and for doing great things. You are all so talented in art and critical thinking and engagement.

In a paper pertaining to international feminism, I'd want to focus in on a quote from Nnaemeka's article: "Using the 'weird regimes' as justification for demoting the practitioners of the cultures below human level, the West argues that to exorcise these subhumans of their 'weird regimes' will rehumanize them and lead them to the gates of civilization. Arrogating to themselves the moral responsibility to intervene to rescue women victims from the 'weird regimes,' Western fiminists have brought to the fore intense debates about the conception of good, social justice, and moral responsibility from which, unfortunately, the humanity of those to be rescued is relegated to the background" (371). Specifically, I would examine her thoughts in relation to anthropology and its history.

Not unlike my feelings through most of this 360, I have been reeling ever since Friday about what happened in Rhoads Dining Hall. I was in a group with an alum, a current student, and a staff member, and we had incredibly riveting conversations with new ways of critical thinking that questioned media, including Bryn Mawr culture. Why did this feel so new to me? I considered other ways we may engage in conversations like this, and felt clueless. Why didn't we have exciting intellectual engaging dinners that integrated people from all areas of campus? I wish the participants in my group could have engaged with the silent discussions we had in the last disability class.

I won't forget the last day I went to work with Eva. She was working in the house for the older villagers who require more care and the sun cast beautiful shadows on the comfy furniture within. Eva proceeded to start dusting everything in the room, as the house mother indicated, and I took a seat in one of the chairs and photographed her working in the sun. When she got to one bookshelf, I realized it held several memorial books of past villagers. I remember Eva had told me her boyfriend, Herb, died a few years ago and realized his memorial book was there. I started looking through it, learning about his childhood, when he came to Camphill very young (around the same age as Eva, between 17-19), and looked at pictures of his adventures.

Here is a piece of art that Eva did while we were at Camphill, showing a tea set-up.

Here is the portrait I made of Eva having her snack in the house in which she works. Eva is constantly checking in with others to make sure they are okay, providing hugs and always making sure she knows everyone's name. She is well loved by the House Mother in the house she works in (Eva is very good and thorough at her jobs, which include cleaning and cooking) and is always so polite, excusing herself whenever she burps or accidentally bumps you. Her joy is infectious, only complimented by the bright colors she wears. I will miss her. She wanted to make sure I included a vase with flowers and a cat, potentially Pickles, who also lives at Camphill.

I wish I had had more time to be with Charlene. I only felt as if I had just started to get to know her when we had to leave, but such was the structure of our course.

Much of the time I spent with Charlene was in silence. She’s a very friendly woman, and has a lot of questions, but she can’t always put them into words. She is strongly opinionated too, and has a lot of beliefs about the right way to do things, and gets perturbed when people don’t respect each other.

Here is my self-portrait:

Mark did several drawings while we were together. The first one below is a drawing he said was of Sunshine and me (Sunshine is on top, with the purple/pink shirt and glasses, I'm on the bottom in green and brown). He later changed his mind and said it was of Sunshine and Jill, his house mom. 

Mark just turned 37 and is passionate about music, his work – especially in the orchard –, Harry Potter, and pesto pasta. He and I worked collaboratively on this; he had so many ideas and was so fun to work with (he drew the apple tree in the background, the apples, and Harry Potter in the tree). He keeps it real and never forgets to remind me: "You're a turkey!"