We wrapped up our class this Friday which was very confusing because usually blocks end on Wednesdays. The end of the block was thankfully pretty relaxed compared to how some blocks end, our final assignment was to come up with a constitution for the whiteness studies club on campus and on Friday we discussed as …
White Club
On both Friday last week and Monday of this week the Critical Whiteness Studies class had two guests help lead a discussion. On Friday Krystal Grint a Training Specialist for the El Paso County Department of Human Services came to discuss how to talk about racial issues with people who are resistant. This was helpful for us …
A Glass Half Full
As I write this blog I am currently watching a CNBC special on the drug war in Mexico, surprisingly something I already watched in my block 8 class on the War on Drugs. I tell you this not only because I highly suggest that anyone who can, should take Santiago Guerra’s Drug War block but …
Land of Art and Glaciers
Our field trip started Monday, July 23rd. We left CC around 10:00 AM and drove to Devil’s Head Lookout where we could observe topographical evidence of the Laramide Orogeny (the mountain-building event that helped shape the front range 40-70 million years ago). Devil’s Head Lookout (besides being a beautiful hike) has an amazing view of …
What are you scared of?
Last week we finished off “Whiteness: an Introduction” with the idea of ‘passing’. What does it mean for a person or group of people 'pass' in a white society? This question made me ask more questions, how does one pass in the United States and country that prides itself on being the Land of the Free …
Local Learning
We had the morning after our 5-day field trip off to sleep in for the first time since class started, but we were right back at it in afternoon, with a little day trip to the Manitou are to practice our new knowledge of sedimentary rock formations. We learned how different formations give …
Volcanoes, Mapping, and Gold-Mining
Monday morning we were still very full from the game of yum-yum I described in the last post. We packed up camp and had a class on extrusive igneous rock (a.k.a. VOLCANOES). We then stopped by an outcrop that had tons of different rock types: I only wrote down observations for seven but there were …
Question Yourself
Heidi always starts the week off with a movie. This Monday we watched Making Whiteness Visible a film which starred many white whiteness activists sharing their personal narratives. After the movie we, as a class, discussed our thoughts on the film. Something mentioned was that it seems like all the activists in the film had …
So It Begins
Class started Thursday and in the afternoon we had our first day trip - to Monument Creek, which runs next to CC, where we learned how to apply the scientific process in geology by observing and sketching a rock outcrop running across the riverbed. Discussing and analyzing as a group we found it to …
What is Whiteness?
You might be asking, “what is whiteness”? This is a totally legitimate question and one that we as a class are trying to unravel throughout this block. Thursday was the first day of C block (which has really thrown off my week) it was filled with introductions of ourselves and the class, pretty typical for …
