I really enjoyed Mathew’s final reflection on the CAP global citizens stream and our ASTU class. He spoke predominantly on how much he had learned and although we all knew we would learn a lot in our first year at university I don’t believe Mathew and I are alone in noticing how much we’ve developed in a relatively short period of time. Where I really found relation to what Mathew was describing was in his newfound ability to never leave a stone unturned, to essentially question everything in order to form a proper, well rounded perspective. I’d say this attribute is the most influential thing I’ve taken from the CAP stream and something that will have me properly equipped for my future here at UBC

Mckaylee‘s blog post is not only well written, but I found it incredibly thought provoking. My attention was especially drawn by Spahr’s statement about how we all feel safe in our beds, without thinking what is actually happening just outside our doors. This statement was underlined by Mckaylee through the use of the lines “We wake up in the night with just each others, and admit that even while we believe that we want to believe that we all live in one bed of the earth’s atmosphere, our bed is just our bed and no one else’s and we can’t figure out how to stop it from being that way” (Spahr, 30). This explains how naive people can be, because we have the tendency of ignoring the connection that is present among us all, and how our lives depend on each other. This state of dependence, I believe, can be linked also to Judith Butler and to her argument of what life is it worth sparing. That being said, this connection underlines how important it is to understand that each decision that we make has consequences.

Benedetta Franzini.

Spahr, Juliana. This Connection of Everyone with Lungs: Poems. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. Print.

Benny’s recent blog post about trauma and poetry is very intriguing. She discusses how over the term she has realized that poetry is one of the best ways to convey trauma. We can see this through history, such as the rise in poetry after traumatic events such as 9/11 and the World Wars. Benny argues that poetry is so key to understanding and discussing trauma because they are open to a multitude of interpretations. While I agree with this, and can add that poetry is so vital to understanding trauma because of its accessibility, I would argue that other genres of literature do just as well a job as poetry in reflecting trauma. In fact, I found that I was more moved by the graphic novels (Persepolis and Safe Area Gorazde) than I was by the poetry we studied.

Out of all the genres we have studied this term, which one do you think you related to most? Which genre helped you understand the trauma the authors attempted to portray the best?

Lauren’s thought provoking post drew my attention to a line in the short story Redployment by Phil Klay that says: “Getting back feels like getting your first breath after nearly drowning”(Klay 9). This is the main characters description of finally coming home after serving in the military overseas. I find this comparison absolutely terrible; knowing how that first breath feels all of a sudden makes this story more relatable. Since reading this story, I’ve had a new appreciation for veterans. I have always been so thankful for the work that they do but lately I have found myself trying to imagine what they went through rather than just passing it off as ‘unimaginable’. Re-reading the quote mentioned above hits me hard each time.

Devon Coady

Hi Everyone!

Doing the class blog at the very end of the year was definitely a good call, I had some doubts at first, partially due to the towering load of rough drafts currently staring me down, but hey, gotta love uni right! Reflecting on the closing statements you all posted on the topics last discussed was great! The questions raised by the contextual understanding of the course shine a new light on many of my other courses, and its pretty evident to me that this extends to many of you as well as I noticed a lot of recurring themes in your posts from our other course’s conversations.

I particularly enjoyed reading reflection by Amy this week, as she asked: what does it mean to be a global citizen? What better a question for the final blog post of the year, for it truly is question that we have all shared in contemplation over the last two semesters, yet answering it seems more challenging than it was before. To you Amy, I say, it is almost harder to answer now that we have taken a bite of the vastness that is academics than ever before, but if we have the courage to try, make mistakes, and learn, I’m sure one day we can all find our own answer to that very question.

Andrea pointed out, and I would have to agree, that ASTU has definitely been an eye opening experience in the realm of academics and writing in particular. For international students who are not fluent in English it is a daunting task to face the strict demands of the professors here at UBC, English isn’t my first language either and I can attest, it doesn’t make sense, haha, it will always remain a rather weird language, but oh well, that might just be me. The transition from high school to University was much easier thanks to ASTU as it pointed out very clearly what is expected in an academic writing format, which was very unclear when looking at the instruction professors gave in their particular classes for particular essays.

These blog posts have made it much easier to communicate thought between all of us I feel, its hard to keep up with everyone in our classes, with our busy lives, but these blog posts really allowed me at least to get a glimpse of you guys were thinking about the things that came up in our classes, and I must say, it was a pleasure. As Devon stated in her post, it has become clear that uni isn’t as much as a free for all as it appears beforehand. The “Hunger Games”, as she puts it, aren’t all that bad, I guess the odds were ever in our favor haha, the UBC community is definitely welcoming and I believe it is in part thanks to ASTU that we have been able to explore many components of this community.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you for blogging and supporting each-other in this format, it was very eye-opening and in one word delightful to do this, even though we have all had some tendencies to curse at our laptops 10 min before blog due dates, as I myself plead guilty, I think its safe to say we all enjoyed this. Its saddens me to say this will be my last post in this setting, so id like to wish you all the best in you future endeavours and academic writing!

Cheers!
-Ramon

Hello and goodbye readers!

I swear being the last class blogger of the term is definitely worth the little extra stress that comes along with term papers and final assignments because I always get to read the most intriguing and personal blog posts from my classmates. The year has certainly flown by quite fast and reading through everyones blogs made me realize how much we’ve all accomplished and I thought that was pretty cool.

I really enjoyed Amy’s final blog as she returned to the question that has been floating around our classes for the entire year: “What does it mean to be a Global Citizen?”. I like coming back to this thought every once in a while, but like Amy I am also rather conflicted when I attempt to answer it, despite becoming much more knowledgable throughout the year. Amy brought up interesting reminders in her post though, as she reviewed all of our assigned readings and elaborated on what each book contributed to the golden question of the year. This was perhaps the best way to track our development in ASTU and i’d argue that all the knowledge we’ve obtained from each of our readings is the reason that describing a global citizen is so complicated.

What I liked about Ben’s blog is how he reflected on the big strides we as a class of global citizens made this year in recognizing and interpreting world events. I found what Ben was describing relatable to what I feel I can take out of being in this stream this year because in this class I have been able to really broaden my understanding of how the world as a society works and to look deeper and never stop asking questions in regards to world issues.

Lauren shared an intimate story in her blog this week when she discussed grieving a hometown friend who had passed away this year and pointed out how our topic of trauma and specifically public grievance arose quickly in her own personal life. Certainly a saddening blog post, but the comparisons Lauren made to ASTU material made me think about how complex but real the topics we discussed in ASTU this year really were. I know I will always have instances in my life that I will be able to relate back to certain complicated material we discussed in ASTU.

In this final send off to the ASTU blogging page I’d like to just say how much I actually appreciated the blogging aspect of this course as it was definitely a helpful tool to discover new ideas in a more creative fashion, while also being able to look at the original ideas that my fellow classmates were producing. And with that goodbye bloggers!

-A.J.

Good morning ASTU! I hope you are all enjoying this lovely long weekend. I really cannot believe that this is the last blog post for this year’s ASTU class. I have really enjoyed getting to know all of you and reading your blogs every week! This week’s blogs were filled with reflection on everything we have done this past year as ASTU students.

There was so much praise in these reflections for what ASTU has taught us as students, and as Global Citizens.  In Andrea’s blog, she expressed how ASTU has helped build her as an academic.  Through the constant practice of reading, somewhat daunting, scholarly work, communicating and learning, Andrea says that she “will continue to apply the lessons of this class, the base for me to continue to grow in my knowledge of the academic and scholarly world.”

Devon praised ASTU for the “close knit” community it became, and the discussions that we were able to form because of this. Devon explained that it was from these qualities which helped her grow as a student, and learn that university is not “like the Hunger Games, where everyone is for themselves,” it is a place where we can each build off each other, discuss, disagree, and all grow as students and as young adults, in a safe and supportive environment.

Many other students explained how grateful they were for our Global Citizens program, and especially what they had gained from our ASTU class. As in our ever changing and interconnected world, many students commended the relevance of our Global Citizens stream in “real life.” I think that Ben did an excellent job at summing it up when he said,

“While my peers and I may not be engineers, Sauder students, or science wiz-kids, I think what we’ve learned and the way we’ve learned it allows us to contribute to society in different, yet highly important ways.”

It seems that through our studies of memory, trauma and the importance of these topics in literature, we ASTU students and Global Citizens have grown to see the complexity of our world, and realize that, as Matt says in his blog, “the more and more I learn the more I realize how much there is that I don’t know.” However, ASTU has given us the tools to grasp such complexities, communicate with each other, and to continue to grow as global citizens, as well as academics.

Thank you all for reading. I hope you all will continue on your search to find out what a Global Citizen truly is. It has been a pleasure getting to know each of you throughout this past year and I know you will all go on to do great things!

Jen Paxton

Good morning!

For this week’s blog post, many people focused on many aspects of our CAP Stream. While most of them centered towards ASTU, and the novels we’ve been reading in that class, a few of them encompassed the Group Lecture we had with all our CAP Stream Professors (With the exception of David Ley!)

The Group Lecture focused primarily on the #BlackLivesMatter campaign, which originated in the U.S but has since then gained global power. It is a campaign movement that addresses the harsh systematic inequalities of African Americans and calls for action a more equal treatment of their lives.

The blog posts discussing this campaign brought up very interesting points, which I will now share with you.

Firstly, Ben‘s blog post talked about how you can never really understand something without living it. He mentioned how he could read every single article on the campaign, but it would only serve as primary data. For him to fully understand the #BlackLivesMatter movement, he had to also understand the significance personal anecdotes. Statistics are definitely one way of understanding a topic, however, testimonies and stories can sometimes serve as much more valuable (and accurate?) depictions. People are not just numbers!

On the topic of personal anecdotes, next comes Mariana! Mariana gives us her own testimonial perspective of the globalized movement of Black Lives Matter. She mentions how she, as a Latino Woman, has less of a chance of success, simply because of where she’s from. She questions the fairness behind culture and colour having an impact on one’s future. Additionally, Mariana discusses the kids who are affected by this movement. She explains how this specific movement is vouching for kids who’ve been told their whole life that their dreams are subpar and secondary to those of perhaps their white classmates.

“…if kids can’t dream, if they’re not told that they have just the same opportunities as everyone else, if they don’t believe that they are entitled to rule the world, then what can they hope and aspire for in life?”

Lastly, I want to talk about Ramon’s blog post. Ramon also, like Ben, emphasizes the importance of personal testimonies. Ramon mentions how his Geography TA shared his own experience, and, therefore, contributed to Ramon’s understanding of the campaign, highlighting the “circumstantial frailty of the situation”.

This just goes to show that the personal can be just as, or even more, important than the total. You can hear about the statistics, and watch the videos, and share the hashtag on Facebook, however do you really understand a campaign that advocates for rights you already have?

This brings into question the counter-movement All Lives Matter. All Lives Matter was created as a sort of backlash to Black Lives Matter, dictating that we should not only be concerned with Black Lives, because – well, All Lives Matter. The problem with this counter-campaign is that it trivializes the opinions and perspectives of the members already in Black Lives Matter. It’s telling them that  yeah sure, they matter, but hey – so does everyone else, you’re nothing special!

Black Lives Matter was created as a way to combat the systematic racism present in the United States, however, it does nothing to trivialize the harshness faced by other minority groups – it simply states it’s own presence in the Global fight for rights. All Lives Matter is taking this advocacy and lowering it to diminished standards, ignoring that while All Lives Matter, not All Lives Are Equal.

Until next time!

Naima

Hello Everyone,

These past weeks have been active and busy ones for the CAP Global Citizens students. In our ASTU class we read Phil Klay’s short story, “Redeployment,” Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist and had a joint lecture with our professors from ASTU, Sociology, and Geography to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement.

Much was written about about our joint lecture. Ramon’s post was very interesting as it discussed what the joint lecture taught him about the contrasting differences between the disciplines through which we viewed this phenomenon. Ben wrote his post about our joint lecture on Black Lives Matter and how much he enjoyed hearing the perspective of Geography TA, Guille, describing him as a primary source to this event and reminding us of the importance and relevance of primary sources. In her captivating and thought provoking post about our joint lecture, Mariana discussed how she grew up with innocent perspectives of a child and how now, as a university student in Canada, her perspective has changed. She takes this idea of how she may have grown innocent and not brought down by a fear of discrimination and compares it to the reality that other kids may experience when they are discriminated or treated differently because of the color of their skin.

Another subject that our class also looked into this week was the book we read and analyzed. Fiona discussed the identity crisis faced by the main character of Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Changez and compares it to the anime Death Note. She talks about the suspicion that lingers in the characters telling the story and the reader and how, although Changez may be innocent, he is put into question because of his post-9/11 presence. Harnoor also wrote about this book its issues with suspicion and how suspicion plays such a key role in the novel. She discussed the question of whether it should be considered a thriller. She quoted the author and analyzed how we may consider it a thriller precisely because we have grown in a fear culture. I enjoyed A.J.’s post as he also wrote about this book’s structure and how its effective in allowing us to view the character of Changez change throughout the book. The blogs posts really captured and synthesized our class discussion about fear culture, Islamophobia, and how our views shape the way we interpret our readings of a book.

The media has had multiple effects on our culture and the way we lead our lives but these impacts range from negative in their creation and strengthening of a divisive fear culture to the empowering of people and groups of people through movements like Black Lives Matters.

The posts from everyone were very interesting!

Have a great day!

Andrea Barraza

This blog was extremely interesting to read! I loved how Naima introduced the poem “The falling Man”, through explaining what we have been discussing in class. Most importantly, though, I found her own and personal explanation about this poem really thought provoking. I agree with her argument of the speaker freezing the moment of the man falling, through the use of her words. The way in which Wislava describes this moment makes the reader perceive it as slow, delicate and calm. This representation is absolutely different from how people remember and feel about this event, and I believe this is one of the reasons why it has been so successful. Also by not adding  “a last line”, it helps the reader picturing the moment not as a tragic event as it is unfolding, but focusing more on the calmness of the action.