101 North Merion

Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010

Box C-675

December 9, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad,

            I write you this letter to inform you that this has been one hell of a semester. I am convinced that I have been through it all. Ok, maybe not…

These past 3 ½ months have been full of its ups and downs. It has included: all nighters, sleeping on the benches outside in 42-degree weather because I had nothing else better to do, eating 7 clementines in one night because there was nothing else good to eat, waking up my roommate at 1:37 in the morning because I thought it was funny, printing more than 40 pages in the Canaday library on accident, riding my scooter down a hill in the rain…and falling, crying in my room by myself because I had too much work to do (this happened very often), laughing very obnoxiously past “silent hours” in my room and then being yelled at to “SHUT UP”, and the list goes on and on…

http://www.slideshare.net/hsburke/e-sem-book    <---- Click me! 

Here's my project! It's really a children's book, but I took pictures and put them in a PPT so you guys could more easily see it. I will also be bringing it on sunday to turn in, in case it would be easier for you guys to see it in person. Also, I included the script at the end of the PPT, in case the words in the picture are difficult to see.  The author's note is also a good explanation of what my whole idea was. 

I hope you enjoy it! 

Attached is a short story of a freshman going between two very different classroom environments- a large lecture and a 6 person course. Inspired by the educational autobiography at the beginning of the year, I realized that the most poignant experiences of mine thus far have been the varying classroom environments I have experienced.

After 3 months of discussing class and education, i developed an 8th sense - class sense. This video is an attempt to call us in on some causes of class divide here at Bryn Mawr. It is a declassified paper, so dont expect certain formalities to be observed. Enjoy, criticize, comment and most important act. I must acknowledge my roomate for her moral support and for being Oota.

I thoroughly enjoyed our shared experience of Skype this morning.

I hope that someone can record what Parkway said to Bryn Mawr--I would love to savor those words!

Here is what Bryn Mawr said to Parkway:

Thank you for inviting us to see in new ways, and speak so frankly, about our own experience at Bryn Mawr.

Thank you for making us grateful for our campus and all the opportunities that Bryn Mawr College provides.

Thank you for calling us out on our inconsistency: a bunch of us wrote that college isn't necessary for success, but you pointed out that we are in college now; it was easy for us to say that college wasn't necessary... because we're in college.

Thank you for helping us recognize that the things we say are very much influenced by our life situations and where we are right now.

Thank you for forcing us to reevaluate our choices and goals.

Thank you for reminding us of the need for positive thinking.

Thank you for opening up different perspectives.

Thank you for reminding us that we can make our goals more concrete – we can make paths to follow.

Thank you for giving us renewed faith in the youth of this city.

Thank you for teaching us that it's ok to identify ourselves as what we aspire to be, to say "I am a writer" or "I am a basketball player."

Thank you for being our friends.

Please see the attachment!

I began the course excited to see how far I would be able to push the boundaries of my knowledge about gender and sexuality studies but I was a little bit concerned that the class was to meet only once a week and at night. Seeing as I had never participated in a course that was like this, I was a bit nervous that I would not be able to keep track of everything that was going on in the class and that the conversations would not flow as well as I was accustomed to.

At the end of the course, I still feel the same way about many of my assumptions about the course. Given its entangled nature, I felt that I definitely valorised the two and a half hours we spent as a group once a week. I found it difficult to keep my thoughts flowing because of the large gaps between classes and as a result, I found that this was the biggest factor in keeping me from learning as much as I could. Although I am a fan of Serendip and appreciate how conversations can go on outside of the classroom in the ‘virtual’ world, I found that it just was not the same as meeting each other face to face. Though this was the case, I did find myself talking to others in the group about the subject material and this was a nice way to keep myself participating. This drawback was definitely a personal thing however, I have heard of others that liked the once a week meetings and online discussions.

Everything that went on in class today made we realize how much I've come to love ESem. I'll admit it, In the beginning, I was quiet, unsure, and cursing myself for choosing a topic which I knew nothing about. After these 13 weeks I'm glad to say that I definitely feel differently. So, like we did with Parkway, I have some thank yous for you all as well:

Thank you for introducing new points of view to me, and being willing to share your unique backgrounds.

Thanks for always being such an open, understanding group. 

Thanks for being the only one of my classes that I actually feel close to, and that I know everyone's name.

Thanks for being so awesome outside of class, too. 

And finally (and repetitively), thanks for being my friends. It really means a lot. 

I hope that we can continue to remain close. Thanks for a great semester!

Hayley