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 …
GS 554 — Contemporary Issues: Personal Experiences of Ascent and Immersion
Here are some resources that came up in class today: www.amazwi-voicesofwomen.com -- Go to Archive www.cas.org.za -- Go to Gallery, Pick Theme www.lesleenelson.com -- Go to Memory Cloths www.artisthelp.wisc.edu www.veteranprintproject.com