Hello ladies, gentlemen, and everyone inbetween! The year has been full of new and wonderful experiences and I can’t believe that It’s coming to an end! The CAP Global Citizens program that I’m enrolled in has been amazing and I couldn’t imagine regretting it for a second! With so much going on (and going wrong) in the world, the Global Citizen stream’s content is more relevant that i could have ever imagined. I’m so glad I have taken each class in the stream, as I find that they all discuss to the real issues that are taking place today. I’ve learnt about, discussed, and broadened my view of the politics of many current events in Political Science. I’ve explored sociological theory’s applications to problems such as gender inequality and racism. In Geography, I’ve learnt about topics like modernity and geopolitics while exploring more specific content like the militarisation of developing world and the Eurasian heartland. Finally, ASTU provided a strong literary foundation and dove into the intriguing topics of memory and global citizenship. The Global Citizens program has not only allowed me to learn about important content, it’s allowed me to engage with it. With discussing so much of the programs content and hearing so many different perspectives I truly feel that the CAP Global Citizens program has made me a more informed and well rounded individual. This program has lead me to question the things happening around me as well as my own position on many topics. It might be (/definitely is) cheesy to say, but the more and more I learn the more I realize how much there is that I don’t know. This is true for both the content of my courses and the different ideas presented by my peers and professors. Almost everyday in class I am lucky enough to have my own ideas challenged and perhaps that is the best aspect of the best program I could have chosen. While signing out I would like to thank my professors, TA’s, and classmates for making this year great, I wish you all the best!
Author: matthew phillips
My Thoughts on “The Names” by Billy Collins
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in-between! In this post, I would like to discuss a poem called “The Names” by Billy Collins.
This poem features the last names of 9/11 victims recited throughout the poem in alphabetical order, described by Collins as appearing around the city. The last names used are very diverse, which is very reflective of the large diverse amount of people affected by this trauma. As a memorial to 9/11, Billy Collins’s poem is inclusive to all the people whose names he didn’t use, all due to one line near the end of the poem. When Collins writes “let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound”, he is memorializing all the people that have not been mentioned. This includes everyone that Collins has not mentioned as well as everyone who has experienced this trauma, and have not been recognized by any memorialization. Similarly to Collins choice of names, he chose to describe these names appearing in a variety of locations around the city. He uses diverse Phases such as “A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox” and “Names blown over the earth and out to sea”. This is very reflective of the large area that 9/11 affected. The trauma that 9/11 left was not only the physical damage that surrounded ground zero, It was the emotional loss and suffering that covered the entire city and spread around the globe.
Finally, This poem recognizes the impossibility of representing all the people impacted by 9/11 in its last line “So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart”. Billy Collins is representing the incomprehensibility that comes along with a tragedy like 9/11. It’s so hard to think about all the people that we aren’t remembering, and it becomes emotionally difficult to understand the scale of mass trauma that comes with an event like this. I admire that Billy Collins finishes off his list of names by acknowledging that, just like 9/11, This poem is very heavy and difficult to process.
The Frames I see the World Through
After reading and discussing Judith Butler’s article titled “Frames of War; When is Life Griviable?” in my ASTU class, I have started to think a lot about the ways that I see things, and how that differs from everyone else. Butler talks about the different “Frames” people look through when they remember trauma, but I have thought more about the frames that I look through in my everyday life. Just like from behind a window, I see the world through my own biases that are unfortunately unavoidable. Everyone hold biases, even if they don’t want to, and learning that has really changed my mindset around them. Instead of trying to eliminate bias from my own opinions, I have started to try and better understand the biases that I hold. In other words, I have stopped trying to get rid of my frames, in favour of identifying them.
So what are the different frames I look through? It’s very difficult to identify the biases that one’s self holds, because to us they just seem normal. In my own case, I know that I have come from a middle-class Canadian family, I am male, caucasian, I have had the privilege of education… the list goes on. All of these things affect the way that I perceive the world around me. Even if it’s subconscious, all my actions are influenced by the biases that I hold.
What this leads me to wonder is: who is benefiting from my biases, and more importantly, who is being negatively affected by them? I have been lucky to be able to look into these questions in my other Global Citizens classes. In sociology, learning about socialisation has helped me better understand how biases come into place. In political science, I have learned about group polarization and it’s role in supporting biases. Finally in Geography, I have started to learn about the changes that have happened and are happening in the way people and their biases. It has been really nice to have so many connecting ideas within the CAP Global Citizens program, and I look forward to exploring even more!
The Biases in the Portrayal of Trauma
After reading and discussing the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close book by Jonathan Safran Foer in my ASTU class, I thought a lot about the different biases that people experience trauma through.
This book is about a young boy who loses his father traumatically in 9/11. Half the book is written from the perspective of this boy Oskar. The way he experiences and conveys this trauma to us is extremely different to the way one of the many other millions of people that have been affected by this event. His perspective even differs so much from his own families, as does everyone’s perspectives differ from each other. There are so many ways to tell the stories of trauma, and different ways to experience it too.
An excellent example of a different perspective is when Oskar says “A few weeks after the worst day, I started writing lots of letters. I don’t know why, but it was one of the only things that made my boots lighter” (Foer, 11). Firstly he say the “worst day” and is referencing the traumatic day of 9/11. Secondly, he says that writing letters making his boots lighter, referencing his happiness. labels like “the worst day” and phrases like “make my boots lighter” and expressive of how Oskar interoperates and experiences his trauma. It’s not just Oskar that sees this trauma in a very different way, it’s everyone.
No one is going to have the exact same perspective looking at a traumatic event, or any event for that matter. each person is going to experience the event with their own biases. This is not a bad thing, but it does make me question which parts of the trauma’s stories are being heard? Which biases are we listening and learning through? And who is not being heard?
I hope to look more into these questions by exploring different perspectives on trauma in my ASTU class
My First Semester
Unfortunately, I was sick the day my ASTU class visited the Kogawa Fonds and, therefore, cannot write about it like my peers. Instead, I am taking this opportunity to reflect on my first semester in the CAP program, and at UBC. (sorry class bloggers)
My very fist semester at UBC is coming to an end and it has been, for the most part, an amazing experience. My classes have been very interesting, the people I have met have been extremely friendly, and living on my own has led me to a large amount of self-growth/discovery. As per most of my education experiences, nothing has been more impacting than my classes. I ended up taking only four classes this semester to give myself time to adjust to a new living environment, new education format, and to give myself time to get a job. I am so glad I made this decision! Though I completely believe I will be able to handle more classes, this lighter course load has successfully given me much-needed adjustment time. Out of my four courses, three are a part of the CAP – Global Citizen program. The CAP program has been really great to be enrolled in, specifically because the content of the courses relates extremely well to current world issues. For me, this really brings the material alive and mixes my passion for social change into my education. I have found that when I’m writing about (or working around) topics that I’m not passionate about, the quality of my work diminishes along with my interest. Overall, the CAP program has been a very good fit for me; the classes are interesting and I believe that they have significantly helped me figure out want I want to do for the rest of my education. It’s not that I know what I want to do, but I’m defiantly starting to figure it out.
Diversity of media representing important content
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in-between! Since analyzing the graphic narrative Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, I have discovered how important diversity of media is while representing world issues. This is because I don’t often read books and it’s not that I don’t enjoy them. Books to me are daunting, paperback time commitments that are never appealing before I read them and always appealing after. For me, this leaves a lot of great content unread and a lot of terrible content in front of my eyes. This is all because of availability and simplicity. A post on Facebook, a self-made Youtube video, or a funny comic on Reddit is so much more accessible and easy to process than a book or even a newspaper article. With these types of content you don’t have to research, commit time, or spend any money. The point is that I would like to see more appealing and accessible types of media representing valuable content (world issues, important stories), rather than seemingly trivial content (celebrity break ups, false personality quizzes).
The reason I have been thinking about this is because Persepolis exemplifies what I want to see more of perfectly. Persepolis is the story of Satrapi growing up in Iran through a revolution and a war. The story is told as a graphic narrative, which makes it extremely more appealing to a larger audience. I believe that I speak for many when I say that it is amazing to be able to read a comic book that not only informs me of the event of the Iran-Iraq war and the Islamic Revolution, but also give me insight as to what the experiences of those affected by it are. I was excited to read Persepolis in a way I have never been before when about to read a novel.
I believe that we can go much further with this idea of taking more accessible and appealing types of media, and using them to voice the stories, issues, and information that are a benefit to knowledge. This can take place in the form of songs, images, videos, speeches, comics, games, or diagrams — the possibilities are endless. As a population we would be extremely more educated and aware if the mass media played towards good content rater than popular content.
Bellow I have listed some links to content that I find interesting that is presented in many different forms of media.
Ted talk, Sam killerman
The Genderbread person – related to the video above
Runaway Love – Ludacris ft. Mary J. Blige
The Pencilsword: On a plate : by Toby Morris
http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate
Persepolis – What I find Interesting
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in-between! It turns out that my first university novel was a lot less intimidating than I ever could have guessed. I pictured a dense paperback beast, but was met with the graphic narrative Persepolis instead.
Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi , is the story of the author’s experience growing up during the Islamic revolution. This brilliant story is accompanied by even more brilliant illustrations. Though the story is told through childhood memories, there is an amazing amount of adult and political content. As readers we are constantly updated on the political situation in Iran by Marji’s parents and family. Due to this we gain insight on what the people of Iran thought about the revolution. I’m very impressed at how much information Satrapi was able to place into the narrative. It was not just the story of a young girl growing up, but a story of a revolution and war.
I really enjoyed that Persepolis was illustrated in black and white because it is nicely used to portray good and evil. There are various frames that depict the characters on Marji’s side as ‘good’ as they are white in colour, while their opposition is drawn in black. My favourite example of this was this frame on page 18:
As you can see, the military is drawn primarily in black whereas the people revolting are drawn in white. This is because according to Marjane’s point of view the military are the “bad guys”. This is true at the beginning of the narrative because she is younger and less informed about the political situation. I also noticed that as the novel progresses the colour contrast starts to be less “black and white” (clear). I believe that this is because, as the narrator grows older she learns more and more that political groups are not simply good or evil. She begins to realize that the war is more complicated than the good vs. bad idea that is depicted above.
What Is a Global Citizen? – Response
Hello ladies, gentlemen, and everyone in-between! Last Friday I had a joint lecture with three of my professors discussing what a global citizen is. We got to see the similarities and contrast between sociological, political, and literary points of view on the topic.
This joint lecture was followed by a great deal of discussion that spanned from the authority/responsibilities of a global citizen to debating the possibility of a global citizen even existing.
During the discussion I posed the following questions: if as global citizens we are trying to represent/give voice to everybody, do when still promote the opinions of those who discriminate? And if we exclude the many discriminatory voices of the world, are we still global citizens? And how do we productively address discriminatory views? Do we have the authority to decide which voices should be heard and which should be silenced? These question that are very difficult to answer and I doubt we will ever have perfect answers. We all see global citizens in different ways and I’m finding it very interesting to challenge my own ideas with these kinds of questions.
Another topic that I discussed with classmates after this lecture was, how does one’s personal biases impact their ability to be a global citizen? And is a global citizen ideally unbiased? Over the last couple of weeks I have started to move away from my own ideas around avoiding biases and instead trying to acknowledge and work with my own biases.
This is closely related to a discussion that we had in class about bias being unavoidable and that we can use more positive terms we can use to address it such as position or point of view.
During my first couple of weeks in the CAP Global Citizen program I have had an amazing time learning and discussing literature, sociology, and political science. I have been amazed at how much I am learning through my lectures, readings, and discussions. It is also spectacular to see the content of my different courses interact with and add to each other.
Welcome!
Hello everyone and thank you for checking out my blog! This blog will be discussing the content of my Global Citizen’s classes and the discussions around them.