“10 ways I can Help the Earth,” was the title of a poster I saw taped to the refrigerator at the Juvenile Law Center in downtown Philadelphia. It was a lime green initiative to combat climate change illustrated with childish cartoons and littered with nearly useless ways for saving the earth. The irony, while I attempted to learning about advocacy within a systematic firmI was confronted with the very real and often poorly dealt problem of global demise. With the looming fear of Trump’s reign in my foremind the raging mad desire to undo the probable pain that he will cause as our nation’s new president-elect, I was caught in my tracks.

I chose the TV room of Pem west for the class location. The main reason is I live in Pem west. And the TV room is more quite than the common room, so I choose it. I always like to lie on the coach in the TV room because it always have enough sunlight and make me feel warm. And Pem is an old building, sitting on the floor of the TV room and discussing the topics we had with my classmates made me feel like go back to centries ago.

Dear Anne:

Thank you so much. I’m so glad to have you in my first semester in college. I mean it.

I really appreciate the in-class discussion. I didn’t feel like to talk much in public before, not mention having discussion with others in my second language. But Anne always encouraged me to talk more in class in our conference, so I forced myself to talk more in the class. But gradually talking became less stressful, and I didn’t have force myself anymore because I started to feel comfortable to express my opinion whenever I want, and this really makes feel that I’m truly involved in this class.

In last paper, I recalled that before starting to read As the World Burns, I thought the main solution to people’s indifference toward the global warming is to tell people what they can do in daily life, no matter how trivial they are, instead of just stressing on how serious the problem is becoming.

I started out the semester really excited for this 360. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but it was important to me in so many ways. I already knew that I would be declaring an English major and Education minor, with the goal of someday becoming an English teacher, so having the two subjects in one 360 was perfect, and I knew that the topic of race would be relevant to my future work as a teacher. It was also the first time I would be taking an Education class, which was exciting and scary. As for Museum Studies, I knew it would be interesting, but I was nervous, since I normally would never have even considered taking a class in such a subject.

       “Do we take plants’ right into full account?”

       My seminar professor raised this question in class for us to discuss. In my group discussion with Kat, we soon moved our focus from merely plant rights to the comparison between our attitudes towards animals and our attitudes toward plants.

During Thanksgiving break, I was in New York City meeting my high school friends. One was dressed in Canada Goose jacket, and another one was going to buy one that afternoon. In the meantime, there was a protest against Canada Goose held by animal rights protesters in Manhattan. Animal protesters argued that plucking feathers from geese are cruel practices that producers should stop producing goose down jackets and consumers should stop buying that kind of jackets.

Revisiting A Thought

            Through the course of this E-sem class my biggest inquiry has been the term “Contact Zones.” This term or idea was first discussed, on the second week of classes, after my class read, “Arts of the Contact Zone”, by Mary Louise Pratt. I have decided to revisit this topic because I realize that in all this time, and discussion about this term, that I still have a hazy idea of what this term actually means. On the last few days of class I asked my peers, “What are contact Zones?” And While at first there were no answers, the answers that I did eventually receive seemed to be far from the actual definition of a contact zone.

earlier in the semester, i remember someone saying in jody's class that "safety is knowing what will happen when things become unsafe." (i wish i could remember who said this, but it's stuck with me.) these past few months, i was unprepared for the ways and times that this 360 felt unsafe. by the end of the semester my only focus was to make it through class without having a panic attack. for my final project i have created the safety planning tool that i needed way back in september, based on a model used in support work for folks who have experienced sexual harm.

Where Am I Now

“Funny All Her Life”:

Race, Place, and the Coming-Out Narrative in Getting Mother’s Body

* Note: I use “he/him/his” pronouns to refer to Dill, as prompted by his interest in being referred to as “Mr. Dill Smiles.”