The most extreme thing I learned about was the genocide in Rwanda. “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families” was really scary and graphic. I feel like I learned a lot about the plight of third world nations who are dying because they have no assistance from the outside world. It really opened my eyes to how much is going on in the world that we never hear about with the American media. I don’t know if we’re ever going to be able to stop atrocities like this if there isn’t at least more awareness about genocide and small countries. There are probably genocide's happening right now and we’d never know it. You’d think that when so many people are being slaughtered you’d be able to feel something, some change, but we can just keep living our lives and never now the difference.
I also feel like I made more friends in this class than I have in any other class I’ve taken so far. Maybe it’s because we were forced to be together for 9 months, and because we were forced to communicate on projects, but I feel that I’ve had positive experiences with almost everyone in the class. I’m kind of a shy person so it’s been nice having so many people I can add to my buddy list and stuff.
Our work on viruses during Winter semester was really scary to me because I have known many people who have, or have had, HIV. Even though some of the information we studied was outdated, it made me happy that now it is easier for people to live with the disease, even if it hasn’t been cured yet.
Reading “The Scar” was really interesting because I expected it to be the worst book ever, because it started out so slow. It turned out to be really interesting and unique, I’ve never read a sci-fi like that before, it was really engaging and reminded me of playing a video game, for some reason.
And speaking of video games, I loved having the opportunity to make one for my creative project. It took a lot of work and made me very frustrated sometimes, but I was fortunate enough to find the expert on the game software I was using on the internet, and he happens to attend Portland State in a giant coincidence. We became great friends because of the game. He saved me during my presentation when my Playstation broke!
I liked doing the Talk Story because I got to talk to Dorothy, my 92 year old crocheting buddy, about her experiences with life. I don’t think I got a very good grade on it because it was only about a minute long, but the experience of talking in front of a camera was extremely nerve wracking! I told a story about when both of her brothers were in WWII and one of them had to watch the other one’s ship get attacked and sink when they had just pulled out of the harbor. That was really scary and sad, and I think it made me nervous telling someone else's story which is why it didn’t last that long.
The Native American poems and short stories were really cool because I’ve never read any other Native works in any other class. I liked learning about how some of them really hate white people, and some of them don’t give a damn, and how some of them still tell stories about Coyote.
Overall, I think this class was a very enriching experience. I learned a lot about a broad range of subjects, which is the point of Inquiry. It was a pleasure being in a class with such a great mentor, and such a great professor. Professor Dillon’s compassion and understanding have made my freshman year much less scary than it could have been, and I’ve been lucky to have her as a teacher.