Learning Letter/Plan of Action

I absolutely loved this class because it opened me up to issues going on in the world and I realized how much of a bubble I've been living in. There's a lot of news I hear offhand but I never really stop to think about it or stop to think about the people being affected by it. The books we read in class all put faces to really serious issues and suddenly I felt incredibly burdened with asking myself what I was going to do with this information. The first time I felt this was after reading Sold. I read the whole thing at a coffee shop in downtown Spokane and after I finished it, I took a walk and I felt this heavy weight on my shoulders, realizing how privileged my life is. I think I finally started to absorb how many children are affected by war and trafficking and the sheer amount of all that made me feel sick to my stomach. Long Way Gone also punched me in the gut. I felt a desire to do something. I felt angry and sick and sad.

I don't think I've ever taken a class that has impacted me as much as this one has. Maybe it has something to do with timing -- I'm one class away from graduating so I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to move forward after college. This class took my ideas and made me think about expanding them. The projects and discussions had a huge impact on me because I tend to have a very narrow focus in my day to day life, going from school to work, spending time with my friends -- I never stop to think about bigger issues going on in the world. It's hard. It's not pleasant. I remember leaving after Sean gave his talk and getting in my car and his words were echoing in my head. Travel. I realized that though I have traveled, it has been to extremely well-off countries. Even my trips to Serbia are centered around the capitol, Belgrade, which is a big European city like any other. I've seen a lot in my travels, but I've never really been exposed to anything that made me uncomfortable. He also asked us about how we were going to impact others. I want to create something. How can my photography or my writing impact people? What message do I have to give to the world? I've been thinking about how to incorporate some real-world issues in my art. What am I trying to say? I'm still finding my voice, so this will be an on-going project for me as I keep exploring.

I'm not a teacher. I admit I felt a little out of place when I realized most of this class was comprised of people going into education. That's not me. But I ended up really loving the class and by taking it with people who are interested in teaching, it made me start thinking about my own influence on others as I move forward. I've been thinking about what I can do in my community once I graduate. My plan of action is this: I'm going to start reading the news more and I'm going to start reading  more books like the ones we read in class. I think the stories people are telling give me more compassion and understanding than just reading the facts in headlining news stories. Since I won't be in school, I'll finally have time to read the books I want, so this is a very achievable goal for me.

What can I do in my community? I'm going to be honest and say I don't really like working with kids. It's not a comfortable thing for me. I think what I'm going to start doing in the community is to start getting involved with nature and trail conservation. I know this doesn't really apply to the topics we've discussed in class, which were more people-oriented, so I hesitated to write this down. But the class really got me thinking about what I want to go out and do in my own community and the environment is something I'm passionate about. I want to stop being so passive and instead, when I hear about a trail cleanup meeting, I want to go help out. I want to do something.

Thank you for this eye-opening class.