Blogs

Hello everyone!

My name is Genesis Feliz and I’m not quite sure where I’m from exactly. That may sound weird but I never have an exact answer to the question; “Where are you from?” I feel as though that can be interpreted many ways-- and in my case, it is interpreted 11 different ways. My father is in the Navy and I have moved almost every 2 years (or less, in some cases!) to a different state. 

I was born in the Bronx, New York but I do not claim that to be my “home.” From New York I moved to Atlanta, Georgia to Norfolk, Virginia to Pax River, Maryland to Seattle, Washington to Chesapeake, Virginia to Ceiba, Puerto Rico to Boston, Massachusetts to Jacksonville, Florida to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and finally, Hatboro, Pennsylvania. The place that I actually lived in for more than 2 years was Jacksonville, Florida and then Hatboro, Pennsylvania (for all 4 years of high school.) I like to claim Florida as my “home” because all of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. live there. My father and brother also live in Tampa, Florida (my dad works at the MacDill Airforce Base in Tampa) so for me, home is in Florida. 

In class we were discussing some global progress (or lack thereof) on not only women's rights but gender rights in general. When I was in high school we had a Maasai warrior who was a tribal leader visit. He brought his sword and demonstrated how he would hide in the bushes and jump out to kill the lions and how those hunts were a traditional right of passage for young boys becoming men. His reason for coming to the U.S. was to spread the word about female genital mutation. For young girls that is their right of passage before they get married. Often it is done in large groups and the blade are not cleaned in between, and nothing is sterilized. He spoke to us about the importance of cultural tradition to the Maasai but also his understanding of the health risks to female.

I am a biology major, NBS concentrator at BMC. I haven't taken any GenSex classes yet but one of my hopes at college is to be able to take as many different types of classes as I can and I love Anne's classes, so I decided to show up. Even though topics in GenSex are familiar to me from my family, friends, and school I can't really say I am very involved in or understand a lot about different sexual orientations (for example)  or other issues that we have/will be touching on. What I hope to gain from this class is a better understanding of how to comfortably discuss GenSex and learn about all the different ways that people can percieve their own and others' sexuality.

Hello All, My name is Shannon Yaeger and I grew up and currently live in Philadelphia. I am a McBride Scholar who has just entered Bryn Mawr as a junior. My educational background is pretty long and varied, as I have, over the course of my primary and secondary education, attended 8 different schools in the Philadelphia area. After high school, I traveled throughout the U.S. while waiting tables to support myself. Eventually, I decided to return to school and pursue an education in English Literature. I spent two and a half years at the Community College of Philadelphia before transferring to Bryn Mawr this fall. I am still a little shocked at having been admitted and haven't really thought about what I am hoping to gain from this seminar in depth yet. However, I know that I do hope to improve my listening and speaking skills, and to get to know all of you better.

Greetings!

  My name is Jia and I am from China. There are a lot of interesting facts about me. For example, I was a shooting athlete previously and I am still considering continuing. I love animals and I have one puppy and one rabbit with only one ear... I stayed in the same school, which is actually a kindergarten, my primary school and middle school for 10 years. My high school is an odd place where all geek boys and girls surrounds me. I still remembered the silence in our first Art Class because no one could answer a question about Pablo Picasso or Henry Matisse. But my high school experience is indeed unforgettable.

  For the question of what I am looking for, I want to answer it in two aspects. I remembered my mom asked me a question: why do you want to study in US? My answer is diversity. For this specific reason, I chose Bryn Mawr College. I could argue that globalization is a trend and what one should do is to embrace it and make the most of it. Meanwhile, many problems do arise in this process so it is essential for one to understand it and to engage into this process. Personally, I am interested in people who are from different countries, with different stories and backgrounds.

Hello, everyone -

My name is Serena, I am 19 years old and live with my mother and cousin in Paulsboro, New Jersey, which lies on the Delaware River across from Philadelphia. Although I lived in other similarly small towns throughout New Jersey in my childhood,  I found my home here in the most fundamental years of my upbringing. Paulsboro is nearly equally black and white, with a handful of Asian residents. Here everyone is around the same social class, with some of the more affluent are able to take vacations in other states or own more than one car. There is a sizeable section 8 (government assistance housing) "manor" across from one of the two elementary schools.

I attended the Paulsboro public school system in elementary school from grades 3 to 5, before being placed into a local Catholic school and finally into homeschooling following an injury to my neck and back. In homeschooling I learned very little and insisted upon being placed back into "regular" school after 9th grade. My mother and I decided that I would not attend Paulsboro High School; most graduates attended community college or, at best, Rutgers University (the state university of New Jersey) and I had decided that I would take nothing less than University of Pennsylvania (my taste has since changed).

Hi, my name is Chandrea. I'm from the Greater Boston area. I'm looking forward to participating in candid discussions in this class and maybe even some debates! After our discussion about classification, I thought it was really interesting that most of us described ourselves based on our personalities. I described myself as Asian American, a Freshman, and part of the working class. I don't know why I did that, and I'm curious if this class will help me understand why I was so quick to describe myself in those ways. 

Hello everyone! My name is Morgan Widuch and I am from La Crosse, Wisconsin. La Crosse is a small, yet very beautiful city located right in between the Mississippi River and a range of bluffs. I absolutely love my hometown, for though small, it offers a wide array of wonderful activities; my favorites include biking on the Hixon Forrest Nature trails, hiking up the bluffs, canoeing, hanging out with my friends by the River, and frequenting the local coffee shops located in our historic downtown area. As much as I love my hometown though, I am excited to be in Bryn Mawr and studying here at this beautiful campus.

Through this course, I am looking to gain a better understanding of the education system in America, what is wrong with it, and how it can be improved. I first became interested in this course after seeing the movie “Waiting for Superman” which discusses the problems that our education system is facing today. One of the very important focus points of the movie was the idea that a person’s education is largely dependent upon class.

I am very interested in continuing to examine the idea of class and how we classify ourselves, throughout this course. In our discussion yesterday, we observed that the majority of us tend to classify ourselves by what makes us distinct or gives us our uniqueness. I find it very interesting then, that when we examine others whom we do not know, we tend to first classify them first by that which is easily visible to the eye. 

Hi All! I’m Meg Sumner-Moore and I’m from a small town in the San Francisco Bay Area. I would say that my education started at church camp during my middle school summers. That’s where I started to learn more about the world and living a meaningful and compassionate life in this crazy world of ours. My education definitely continued in middle and high school, when I attended a school that was founded by hippies in the 1960s. My high school has more of a “whole person” approach to education. In addition to preparing students for college, the curriculum also focused on unconventional subjects, such as outdoor adventure, environmental stewardship, and international and multicultural understanding.

Hello! My name is Laura James. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia but for the past four years I have been living in Dubai. Dubai is a city in the United Arab Emirates which borders Saudi Arabia and Oman.  I moved there because my dad is a pilot with Emirates. Living in Dubai was the best experience I have had. When I am finished with school I might move back to Dubai or another part of the Middle East or Africa. From this seminar I am looking strengthen my writing skills and learn more about the struggles that different classes have. I am especially interested in the disparities between schools across classes. The issues I noticed in our first class discussion that most of us were nervous about giving ourselves categories that we had no control over. Absolutely no one categorized themselves in an economic class or race and very few people categorized themselves by gender or size. Though, it was good that as individuals we cared more about what was “on the inside” it nonetheless displayed our fear of that type of classification.