What I learned

At the beginning of class my goals were to understand communication between different kinds of people and to get an A in the class. Even though I haven't gotten an A in the class I have learned alot in how to communicate with different kinds of people. I learned many different "techniques" in communication in race, gender, and even people with different kinds of disabilities. I loved having this class because I learned things that would help me with things in life and work. This class was fun with the snacks and and all the different kinds of activities that we all participated in. I can't wait to come back next year and be able to use my communication skills when I go to Europe and with the new students of next year.

Freedom Writers

I've never seen the freedom writers before so when I watched it for the first time in class the other day I really thought that it was interesting and it brought up a different perspective for me. I really have never been apart of such a life like that so I wouldn't know what it feels like. I feel like this movie helped me see what it's like in some places of the country. I think the movie did a really showed what it's like in all aspects of the spectrum. Like the movie really displayed what it would be like in some places of the country. Second I think the movie did a really good job in showing that we as people should not fight amongst ourselves and that all people should really just appreciate everyones personal voice. I also think the movie covered the diversity topic pretty well. America is the melting pot! and us as people should understand that we all are Americans. It showed that learning english isn't everything and that there is a bigger picture then to just learn about the boring stuff.

week 14

Sadly I couldn't attend class this last week. We were all on the road playing games and luckily we won all of the games that I missed class for. So even though I wasn't able to learn about anything that we learned in class I still learned a lot from events that happened throughout the week. A couple days ago a huge story came out about the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. Stories came out that had given proof of the owner expressing his racial thoughts to a women. He said things along the lines of, "I don't want you promoting you being with Magic Johnson." Also mentioning later in the conversation that he would prefer that she didn't bring black people to his games. This incident is obviously huge news over the nation. I particularly am interested in it because I happen to be a huge Clippers fan. Upon hearing of the news I was disgusted to realize that such a horrible person could be the owner of this team. I would hate to be an African American and be a fan of the Los Angeles Clippers. I mean if you're an African American fan of the Clippers you can't even attend a game without feeling uncomfortable because the owner doesn't even want you there. I'm especially surprised that the players didn't boycott the game. Personally if my coach was so racist I wouldn't be playing for him. No matter what color of skin I was. It's hard to see something so disturbing happening in this day in age. Where we all thought we were past the racist and horrible times of our past. I hope that the NBA can solve this situation and that we can all enjoy this game together as lovers of this great sport.

week 13

Tuesday: At the start of class we started talking about the weirdest food that we have ever eaten and when I got thinking about it I haven't really ventured much when it comes to trying odd and unique foods. I guess if I ever go to Europe or anywhere beside North America I'll be able to experience many more types of food throughout the world. Next in class we got started on a video. I thought the video was kind of disturbing at the beginning when it started just cause it listed cats and dogs and humans! I thought the way he described the level 4 is perfect. I think it's funny that he says that most americans are that way because I always feel like that I'm more picky than everyone else. And even though I'm a level four I feel like all the foods that are listed in level five are gross! A lot of the time they were talking about how'd they'd eat brain! Could you imagine eating something that used to be somethings brain? In my mind it's just so weird to me that anyone would ever like any food above level 4. But when you really think about it the parts are from the same exact animal, and I don't even know how good it tastes. But when it comes to a person like me thinking about eating certain parts of the body I just can't do it.
On Thursday I was assigned to bring a snack and an article. When I was thinking of a snack to bring I thought of the snack I loved most while I was younger. And of course my favorite snack was a PB&J. So I decided to do my snack on peanut butter since I just so happen to have nutter butters. When I did research I found out that George Washington Carver was not the inventor of peanut butter. He just promoted different uses of it. Which I always thought of him as the inventor of peanut butter. Where the first use by the Aztecs which I would've never even guessed. Next was my article on the red mood. The article talked of how rare the red moon was. It said it was something that happened around the world only three times per lifetime. Which if you think about it is probably a big deal to people that are really into astrology. It's amazing that we got to see such a rare event. I guess sometimes as people that we overlook the little things such as a red moon. I'm going to remember the night I saw the red moon for the rest of my life because the mood was a different color! Enjoy the little things and I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

week 11

Thursday: On Thursday we listened to two guest speakers talk about their physical disabilities and how they deal with not only the disability itself but also how they deal with other peoples reactions to it. Mr. Peterson talked to us for awhile about his disability and how he's gone through life with his disability. Even though Mr. Peterson might be physically disabled, he is still one of the smartest people I know in and out of the classroom. If you get talking to him about sports it seems like he knows everything about any particular sport you mention. Then the other speaker started telling us  about his disability and what he's gone through. His disability is a little different from Mr. Peterson's. From an early age he was diagnosed with what seemed to be a less severe type of bipolar. Which you wouldn't be able to tell just by talking to him. He really knew how to speak to a classroom and just seemed like any normal person. What I got out of the two speakers that we heard was that they just want to be treated like any normal person. They want to be able to talk sports with their students and joke around just like any other teacher or person in society would want us to do. I mean Mr. Peterson might be in a wheelchair but he's probably not only one of the smartest teachers I've met but one of the smartest people I've met too. I just can't understand how two people that're more friendly can be treated so unfairly sometimes. Mr. Peterson hasn't been able to walk and he understands that, but maybe the people without physical disabilities should understand that most of us will never have to be in a wheelchair, so we should have to respect what he goes through everyday. And same with the other speaker! I don't know what it's like to have any sort of bipolar, but I couldn't imagine having such disorder! All I know is the two men that spoke for us are two people that're stronger mentally then I'll ever be. And I respect them for that.

Week 10

Tuesday: In class on Tuesday we listened to Ed tell us about his life and what he has had to go through. I appreciate what Ed came in and had to say to us. I couldn't imagine being put in his shoes and trying to talk to a group of college students about something so personal. I think that the story Ed tells us about his life is very life changing and moving to everyone listening, not only for people that are transgender, but for everyone. Everyone needs to learn that when the going gets tough you need to fight through it and not just give up on everything. I think that the way Ed tells us about his life experiences really helps us as young naïve students to understand how it REALLY is for someone that is transgender to life. This is how intercultural communication can improve throughout the world. We as a population don't exactly know what it's like to go through such a change or something such as being transgender, which oftentimes will make people feel uncomfortable about the situation or they will act negative toward the situation because it's different from what they learned or what they've been taught throughout their lives. When Ed speaks to our class he seems very comfortable and open about the situation, which in turn makes us as listeners comfortable with him talking to us about it. Today Ed helped me learn a lot about people that are transgender, and I'm glad he is able to spread along his word about all he's been through. Which in turn helps us realize and respect all that he's been through throughout his life.

Week 9

Me and Braydon just listened to what Mary had to say about the GALA community and about her life and her interns life. I apologize for not remembering the interns name. I found it interesting when she asked about the gay and lesbian community in North Dakota, with the response being Rudy telling her that heterosexuality is the norm in North Dakota and that homosexuality is at times looked down upon in the state of North Dakota. I found it interesting when Rudy said that because while I had worked at Albertsons as a cashier I never recalled seeing anyone come thru that could've been openly gay or lesbian. The majority of people being oil workers or mothers of families doing their weekly groceries. I feel as if that makes the gay and lesbian population of Williston extremely low or that most of the population is scared to even go shopping for groceries because of how the state of North Dakota feels about homosexuality. I believe that things need to change. Talking to Mary and her intern I would've never been able to tell if they were gay or lesbian if I had a normal conversation with them. They are just like us with the way they act, eat, and interact with people. I loved learning from her because she was so comfortable with herself, because oftentimes she would even crack jokes to the class. I think that if there were more people that were as comfortable in their own skin as they were the world would be a much better place.
While me, Braydon, and Jarrod are upset that we couldn't make the class we're happy to be in Arizona learning even more about intercultural communication between the northern states and southern states. Even during our baseball games you can tell that things are different between how us and the teams from down south play. We even had an umpire comment the other day asking Marc LeCroix if he was from " up north " because of how he did something in pregame. It's funny how big of a difference a few states can make.