February 25

The Montgomery Bus Boycott! This boycott is fascinating.  I took Afro-American History with Dabel last semester, so I got to study this event in greater detail.  Dabel, talked about this in class, but it still floors me that the story of Rosa Parks that I learned in elementary is so far from the truth.  Learning the real story behind Parks inspired me to take a poll with my familty.  I asked my eleven year old sister who Rosa Park was, and why she did what she did.  She answered "she stood up for her rights, because she knew what they were doingt was wrong!"  At this point my eighteen year old sister interjected "No! your wrong, she was tired, she had a long day a work and did not want to get up because she had groceries."  I was floored, I had learned the same story when I was young, and in eight years, the story had changed.  This makes me wonder how much more of what we believe is true will be changed in another eight years, or when my children are growing up.  History is FUN!

A note about my internship...I start Monday with my mentee, I am really excited!

February 20 (Week 4)

This weeks discussion on peace movements  was really interesting.  I knew that there has always been conspiracy theories, and skepticism towards the government.  I, however, had never heard these types of theories for WWII and America's involvement.  I had always learned that because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans unanimously desired to go to war.  I had not heard of read that groups blamed FDR for not only causing the attack, but provoking it.  Accusing him for knowing ahead of time that the attack was coming, and not warning Americans.  I thought that the discussion was also very intriguing.  War is a sensitive topic.  I thought the video clips were especially interesting.  They made me think, and rethink the reasons for war.  Watching how the soldiers in America are trained surprised me, but I see the reasons behind such training.  Peace movements have their place in America and I think are vitally important as an opposition to the governmental reasons for war.

February 11

This week I attended an orientation for BLAST.  It was very informative and really interesting.  Thus far, what I like about BLAST is that although they are fun, sarcastic, and open, they run a tight ship.  They put their hearts and souls into this program, and they are extremely organized.  I am getting really excited to do this.  I know that it will not be easy, but I'm really excited to have this experience.  Something that surprised me from the orientation, is the lengths BLAST goes to keep people safe.  They are extremely protective of their BLAST kids, and legally they try to keep us safe too.  They did a couple activities with us to get us thinking about the experiences that we will have and the kind of mentor we want to be.  I'm excited for this experience and to help and learn from my mentor!

A note about class this week: I found these communitarian societies very interesting.  The leaders caught my attention.  It made me think about the type of person they have to be.  They have to be so sure of themselves, in order to have a following.  Also, how smart and extreme these men were.  I think you have to be extreme to start a new society with new rules and social norms.

February 2

This week, and last, we discussed in class what it takes for a movement to be considered a social movement.  Through these discussions, the reading, and the microtheme discussion I was surprised to discover how few of the movements are considered social movements.  Before the start of the semester I could not have been able to define what a social movement was.  Now I can, and it is increasingly interesting to me how many movements are out there and how many do not qualify as a social movement.  It seems to me that where most of the movements falter are in their WUNC displays.  In the research I did and through the discussion on Wednesday, it appears that most movements lack one, if not multiple, of the WUNC categories; worthiness, unity, numbers and commitment.  What I noticed is that for many of the movements discussed, it was hard to define some of the categories, because the movements were inconsistent and on a more personal basis, rather than on a public, political level.  I find that intriguing!