The Final Identity

To end the semester.  I updated my identity chart.  I believe I did a good job with the first one, but a few more things came out as the year progressed.  I have to say that I really enjoyed this semester and all that came from this class.  The class forced me not to be a bystander in a mission of improving fatherhood in my own city, Memphis.  It also helped me learn how to educate and become educated in my own community.

I Learned

After reading Literacy as Situated Practice, it made me realize how much non formal education has occurred for me in my lifetime.  To be honest, most of what I have learned have come in these kind of settings.  Interactions are very important to me.  I have been a person who listens closely to what everyone around me says.  Experience and wisdom from others is something that has always been fascinating to me.  So it makes sense that learning comes in out of classroom settings as well as classroom settings.  This does not mean that the classroom is not important, but the combination of the two, I believe, is very important in a person's growth.

Growing up, I remember sitting around every neighborhood I lived in and just taking in everything the "old heads" would talk about.  I would watch what my older siblings and others would do.  All these people would try to teach me things just randomly.  I always figured they were bored and had nothing else to do but bother me.  But I learned plenty of things when looking back on it.  One event that really sticks out to me is when I used to have to ride the MATA bus home everyday.  After school I would catch the 69 on Winchester and it would take me to Whitehaven where I would get off on Neely Rd. 

When I first started riding, I was with my older brother.  When he left to go live with his mother I had to ride alone.  So when the women and the bus driver realized that I was by myself for now on, they began to watch after me.  They taught me things about crossing the street and paying attention to my surroundings.  They even taught me things I would learn in school, such as the ships that Columbus brought when sailing and correct English, which I still struggle with.  Even when a new bus driver would drive the bus, the old one would tell him about me.  Times on the bus were very important in my development I believe.  I learned a lot that I still use to this day.  It helped me realize that someone can learn anywhere.

Push Forward...Do Not Be a Bystander

In chapter 9 of the book Soul of a Citizen, there was a feud between RAN and Mitsubishi.  Mitsubishi was cutting down trees for lumber in the natural rainforest.  RAN decided to campaign against Mitsubishi that would eventually force them to stop destroying the rainforest.  At a conference later on down the road, the RAN president saw an executive officer of Mitsubishi.  He tried to avoid the office because of the hostility that had built up over time.  They eventually ran into each other at the hot tub.  It was strange for a while until the Mitsubishi executive officer told the RAN president thank you for what they had done.  The Mitsubishi executive officer and other officers of the company had wanted to say something for so long but did not know how to.  And he appreciated RAN because it would allow the rainforests to be around so that their grandchildren could enjoy them.

This was a lesson in not being a bystander.  A bystander is someone who sits around and expects someone else to handle the situation.  Even though the Mitsubishi executive did not want to be a bystander, he had a career and a family to look after.  We have all been bystanders in some sense, but we have to begin to realize what we are doing.  We have to take steps to correct what we believe is incorrect.  I have had situations were I have had to stand up to authority regardless of my job circumstance because it was very important to me.  Even in my undergraduate years at Rhodes College, I stood up to what I believed was a policy that was being enforced incorrectly by campus safety.  A few other students and I were applauded for our efforts.  Since then, I have tried my best to not be a bystander, but continue to push forward on anything that I believe needs to be changed.

Thanks For the Help Pops

My father and I have a strange relationship.  Do not get me wrong, I love my father.  The thing is we had many fall outs throughout my almost 23 years on this Earth.  Growing up you always so your father as a superhero.  Nobody could stop him if you asked me.  But I did see the rougher sides of him while my mother and him were married.  As I got older I began to catch on to certain things that I did not like about how the situation with him and my mother were.  I also started listening to my older siblings as well about how they grew up.  My father caught on to this and we begin to argue often and not talk for months at a time.  He knew I thought a lot about everything just like he did.  But when I look back, I had to tell myself the things were petty and he was very helpful.
I believe my father so something in me that he wish could have happened for him.  He had a scholarship to attend Kentucky but turned it down when my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer to help her out.  Two of my older siblings dropped out of high school and the third was pregnant when she graduated and did not want to go to college.  I was next, and he saw something in many that he wanted to be manifested.  My father was very instrumental in my education.  He had me thinking critically at a young age, challenging me with questions and pressuring me to get better.  I was almost competitive in some sense.  But all that did was make me want to receive an education and do better for my entire family, including him.
So after all we have been through, I have to look back and say that the superhero may have just knew that I was the one to help save us.  I have to say Thanks for the Help Pops.  I know plenty of friends who never had their parents care or help.  I had two and I appreciate that.

How To Learn English...I Don't Know

I think it is very funny how we expect most people to know English.  Even when we go to other countries, we always can ask for menus at restaurants in English.  But I wonder do most people ever think about how difficult a language English is to learn.  I understand that any language will be difficult to learn when you have not been around it.  It also depends on when you begin to learn it.  It is much easier to learn a language, or anything for that matter, when you are younger.  But when thinking about people whose primary language is not English and who are coming to English speaking counties, especially the United States, how do they adjust and learn while working.

Lets just look at three words: rough, though, through.  These words end the same way but are completely different in how they sound.  There are many words like that in the English language.  Also sentence structure is very different.  English in general is just very different from almost all other languages.  Then nonverbal communication brings into account a totally different set of things to learn.  With this country becoming more diverse in a language sense, I believe that we need to become more conscious of helping others with language barriers, especially if we are hiring them for these positions.  We also need to begin to work on our nonverbal skills with these people to help the adjustment.

Why Can't I Stay Up To Date!!

As I was watching television the other day, I saw a commercial for Best Buy.  The company has started a program in which they will buy back products when more up to date products reach the market.  This seems like a great idea because you believe these companies will have the ability to break down the old technology and dispose of it correctly or reuse it.  But to me the craziest thing was the fact that a company has come to realize that technology is changing so rapidly that people are becoming frustrated and are lost in a sense because there is actually no way to really keep up with technological advances.

As we have discussed in our Education and Community class, this is becoming ridiculous in a sense.  These companies are making alot of money to force people keep up with the changes.  This can cause financial and psychological stress for some.  Many people thrive on technology.  Then when you add what it is doing to our planet, you begin to wonder how to stop this.  I have no solutions myself at the moment, but can we please start thinking about it.  Maybe the new phone that will come out next month can help us organize our ideas...