Journal 14

Today was our last official class,and the class right before the Thanksgiving break. since it was the class before Thanksgiving break we started talking about yams. Basically talking about how yams are prepared, professor Sandrige said he has his yams with marshmallows on top of them ever since a child. and as a child that would be the only part, he ate but personally I never saw people put marshmallows on their yams till I came to Howard. after discussions out favorite thanksgiving dishes Zainab, cyan, and mashayla started their group presentation, on the freedom writers movie. freedom writers was one of the biggest movies in 2007, bringing in $43 million at the box office. the film follows a white teacher, Mrs. Gruwell, as she teaches her students of color who are dealing with toxic environments. the film tackles choosing your own path, being your own person, and finding your own motivation even with all the odds against you. during the discussions, we had to point out when the students became the teachers, and this lead to the showing of the first scene. this scene was the teacher educating the class on respect which is very important because you cannot lead without some form of respect so you need to earn it first. , after going over the scenes the group discussion questions for the other two scenes being what are your thoughts on the denial of agency of the students? The denial of the agency of Mrs. Gruwell?the denial of the experience of the students? Which personally I don’t think it’s new people who often overlook kids who do poorly in school and blake them instead of being supportive. the fourth scene was a comparison to binti, due to the ability to connect to others and bring out their potential. when moved on to the fifth scene where Mrs.Gruwell showing the holocaust museum. I found that this scene tried to established a connection to them and show she is aware of adversity and oppression to strengthen their relationship. the final scene discussion was of of scene 6 and 7, which was about how Mrs. Gruwell displayed menos or mental strength/courage, along with giving students such. Afterward was the plotting of our leadership development questions along with a connection. Next was a transition to Selam, alexia, and Chisom, to their presentation on the Color Purple. The group introduced the Color Purple as a 1985 American coming-of-age period drama film directed by Steven Spielberg with a screenplay by Menno Meyjes, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker. It was Spielberg’s eighth film as a director and was a change from the summer blockbusters for which he had become famous. The film was also the first feature-length film directed by Spielberg for which John Williams did not compose the music. The film stars Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Desreta Jackson, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey, Rae Dawn Chong, Willard Pugh, and Adolph Caesar in one of his final film roles. The film remains a cultural touchstone for African American women, due in large part to its depiction of female relationships as a form of sanctuary, in a patriarchal world filled with violence. Instantly after listening to the introduction you can see the connection from Lysistrata to the color purple. Next, that was discussed was the themes inside of the movie, such as gender roles, equality, and domestic violence. We thing watched a video that had a quote by Alice walker talking about her reaction to Kendrick Lamar’s verse on To Pimp a Butterfly. We then had to share a favorite part or character in the movie right before we went through the scene my favorite part is when they are all eating diner and a rant about Africa goes on. We go through the first scene where it shows Celie as a bad mentor and the reasoning behind that. When then move on to the second scene where Sophia confronting Celie about what happened in the previous slide and how her actions lead to trauma being revealed. The next slide had both scenes 3 and 4, on there we had to answer what characters impact Celie’s development?, Mr.Johnson was the character that impacted her the most, scene 4: easter dinner mythos, does leaving an area help your leadership development? After that, the group made a comparison of the Color purple to other leaders we have studied such as binti, Moana, benjamin, Hercules, and Mulan. In the fifth scene and final scenes, we looked at the “I’m here” scene where Celie displays how despite her flaws and imperfections she still exists and won’t be denied that. We transition into the positive affirmation activity, where we had to create our own similar to Celie. Mine is “Hope is all you can depend on, so get on hoping”. Then we talked about Celie gennaios- which is the best of one’s lineage/noble, basically when she discovered her connection to Africa which most black people fail to connect with because of slavery. Finally, we end with the plotting your leadership development questions, such as How can you rise above your dehumanizing circumstance and decide to lead?Is self-esteem an essential leadership quality? If so, what are some ways to help boost self-esteem? Do you wish to be like Celie? Sure, nobody wishes to pass through her circumstances, but do you desire to let go of the restrictions placed on you by your environment and still lead. We also talked about the connection with clothing and leadership along with culture’s relationship to leadership which was the end of the presentation and all of them in our class.