Table of Contents

Table of Contents The Reflecting Pool Colliding Thoughts = Critical Thinking Crash Write, Re-write, and Write Again The Choice is Yours Playing to the Crowd The Evolution of My Identity Markers The Dating Game Dating Trends in Popular Culture

The Reflecting Pool

Wow- it’s hard to believe this quarter is almost over and I’ve managed to live through it. It’s been a challenge to return to school after 32 years. I’m grateful for the support of my husband and co-workers, but I’m most grateful for the support of my classmates and instructors, who challenged me to step out of my comfort zone. I’ve always felt that anything worth having was worth working for, and this is no exception. What factors have led me to be in this class in the first place?

Here’s my story: After graduating high school in 1975, through an unfortunate turn of events I saw my academic scholarship to the UW slip away. I attended a local community college and graduated with a degree which served me well. I worked part time while my husband and I raised our children, but now my years as room mother, soccer coach and part time stay-at-home mom have passed. In 2004, after spending many years as a lab technician I began a new career in the field of bioethics in clinical research. Although this career track was a perfect fit for my values, something was missing: that lost opportunity to obtain a Bachelor’s degree had left a void in my life. Today, I'm a married woman with grown children, and I’ve decided to fulfill my lifelong dream by returning to the UW for a B.A. in Public Health.

Throughout my life I've been fortunate to have known many interesting people from all walks of life. I've come to appreciate people's varied perspectives and the factors that have shaped them. Some people like to label me as a liberal; I prefer to think of myself as open minded. Through my participation in this class I’ve reaffirmed my position on the importance of embracing diversity in my life. My careers in healthcare and in an academic environment have afforded me exposure to diverse cultures, and while I’ve always tried to celebrate the differences, this course has enabled me to step outside of my shoes and consider those differences from another person’s standpoint.

This English class is the first step on my journey towards that Bachelor’s degree. The diversity component of the course is an added benefit in that it has taken the English 101curriculum and made the course more thought provoking and challenging by exploring the ideals of identity, community, and tradition. The class and my classmates have stretched my perspectives and expanded my insights. Although I use critical thinking skills every day at work, it seems that applying them in an academic setting is similar to returning to the gym to work the upper body when you’ve been working on just the lower body for a long time. In expanding on these processes I’ve caught myself thinking about them in my sleep. As I recently posted on a discussion board, “If only I could think as clearly when I’m awake as when I’m asleep- and why is it that I can’t remember all the really good stuff from my sleep/think processes? This tells me that I have set mental boundaries for myself that I have difficulty crossing”. There’s the word of the quarter: boundaries.

Through this course I’ve discovered that boundaries are much more than simple lines in the sand. Identity boundaries are evident in the ways in which we perceive ourselves or others. In her essay “Who You Callin’ a Bitch?” Queen Latifah indicates that her identity is influenced by the choices she’s made. In contrast, Emily White’s work titled “High School’s Secret Life” illustrates how identity is defined by how we perceive others, using high school students as an example when they “imitate one another, because the imitation speaks of their power” (18). I now have a greater appreciation for what boundaries are, how they affect us, and how we respond to them.

I’ve learned that community boundaries present themselves when we try to determine how we fit in with others, which in turn adds another dimension to the development of our identities. The community unit expanded my own concepts to consider those communities that may not necessarily act in the best interests of their members, and to think about how being in these communities affects a person’s identity. In “A Secret Society of the Starving” essayist Mim Udovitch describes Internet sites as places for anorexic girls to connect; their identities are defined by their membership in a faceless club. On the other hand, gang members publicly declare their membership in the ways they dress and communicate. This class has inspired me to look beyond the obvious illustrations of community that we see on a daily basis and to conclude that we all have a strong need to belong.

The challenge of maintaining old traditions while assimilating new ones is a natural part of our evolving society, and is something we all struggle with. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” Gloria Anzaldua demonstrates the struggles faced by immigrants as they try to integrate into American society while maintaining their native roots. The “traditions” unit really stretched my thought processes and made me look past my own concepts of traditions, based on my middle aged, white, female, and moderate station in life.

The pieces I've chosen to include in my e-portfolio are:

1. Critical Thinking: Timed Write #2- "Crash". I enjoyed this movie and the team discussion that followed. This particular section of the course challenged my sense of boundaries by allowing me to look past the obvious boundary of race and see that everyone has boundaries of some type that can be destructive to others and/or self-limiting to personal growth.

2. Revision Skills: Identity Paper "It's All Up to You". I changed the title to "The Choice is Yours" because I felt it was a better fit for the essay. Since I scored my lowest grade on this paper, it seemed a logical choice for revision. While all of the assumptions in the Identity unit were valid ones, I felt the strongest about the assumption that identity is shaped by personal choices.

3. Illustration of Awareness of Audience/Voice: For this piece I chose my discussion board posting "The Evolution of My Identity Markers" which demonstrates my skill at synthesizing various readings into one main idea.

4. Writer's Choice: "Dating Trends in Popular Culture" (Tradition #3 Paper). After a great deal of deliberation, I opted to analyze how the culture of dating has been altered, thus having an impact on society as a whole.

Colliding Thoughts = Critical Thinking

This timed write assignment required us to consider how the film challenged our own perceptions of non-conformity, and to identify the ways in which the film tested the boundaries or lines between conformity and non-conformity.

I selected this paper to demonstrate my critical thinking skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation because I felt it reflected both the challenges I’ve experienced and my progress in mastering these skills.

An example of my critical thinking skills is when I stated, “I’ve developed a sharper awareness of how boundaries are tested, and I’ve recognized that boundaries don’t always serve our best interests.”

Crash

The movie Crash was full of examples of both simple non-conformity and crossing the line. After watching the movie and participating in the discussions with my classmates, I’ve developed a sharper awareness of how boundaries are tested, and I’ve recognized that boundaries do not always act in our best interests.

Terrence Howard plays Cameron Thayer, a Hollywood director who, with his wife, was wrongfully pulled over by a corrupt police officer while driving home from an awards ceremony. Although the well dressed couple had done nothing wrong, the officer racially profiled them, assuming they “must be up to something”. Racial profiling is an example of crossing the line at its worst. Cameron is an African American whose success contradicted the insidious stereotype of what a black man should be. Rather than defend his wife who was being inappropriately searched, he remained cooperative, hoping to avoid an unnecessary arrest. While his partner stood by, the officer abused his power of authority by groping the woman while her husband helplessly watched. While his wife undoubtedly appreciated the affluent lifestyle his profession afforded, she accused him of crossing the line when he failed to react like an “angry black man” to the officer’s profiling and treatment of her.

After wrapping up a film scene, Cameron is approached by a white actor who expressed concern about the performance of a black colleague. Although the director disagreed with the actor’s concerns, he re-shot the scene after providing the black actor with some corrective feedback. While it was Cameron’s prerogative to accept the scene as he saw fit, he found himself in a position of having to choose which boundary to cross: the one in which he deferred to the white actor’s wishes, or the one that came at the expense of the black man’s performance. I felt that Cameron crossed the line when he re-shot the scene after asking the actor to speak more like a black man; perhaps he even crossed the line by wanting to be perceived as a director, and not as a black director.

I’ve always considered myself an open-minded person in terms of society, diversity, and culture; after watching this movie and participating in the discussion boards, however, I’ve gained a deeper awareness and appreciation of how challenging boundaries can be for both insiders (conformists) and outsiders (non-conformists).

Write, Re-write, and Write Again

This assignment required us to draw a conclusion about the relationship between identity and personal choice, based on our personal experiences. Our writing was to focus on analysis, or the relationship between two qualities.

My original submission of this essay had a broad thesis. The analysis didn’t always support the main argument and some ideas were underdeveloped. There were some weak transitions, and I tended to narrate more than provide evidence which would have proven my point. I learned that floating quotes are not a good thing. I had some punctuation issues with titles of essays and the television show.

I demonstrated good use of MLA formatting and citing of quotes, and I expressed some good ideas and insights.

This paper was in need of considerable revision. I narrowed the thesis down to a more manageable argument which made it easier for me to link my paragraphs to the main idea. I changed the title to be more reflective of the assignment. I tethered the floating quote to my own thought like this: “Queen Latifah’s quote, “Life will put you through plenty of tests and throw many obstacles your way, but it’s how you pass those tests, how you overcome those obstacles, that distinguishes you as a queen” (35) really rang true for me. Looking back through the years I can see how those events of my childhood have contributed to the development of my identity.” I expanded my analysis on a few of the underdeveloped ideas. I worked to improve the transition in the paragraph about the frogs in Donald Trump’s parable. In the paragraph about inner drive, I revised my topic sentence to better connect with my assumption about choices and identity to say, “Inner drive gives a person the control to make the best personal choices for him- or herself; in this way, inner drive is a contributing factor in a person’s identity.” I revised the conclusion to better tie in to the thesis.

The Choice is Yours

It's All Up to You

From 1975 to 1987, David Hartman, the first co-host of ABC’s show, Good Morning America, ended every episode with, “Go out and make it a good day.” In this way, Mr. Hartman was encouraging viewers to take an active role in how their day would unfold. Every day we’re faced with the option of whether we will make the day, or whether the day will make us. Driving that decision is the armor of our identity. Like arrows in a quiver, life’s experiences, personal choices, and inner drive can have a significant impact in defining a person’s identity.

Societal roles and life’s experiences, particularly childhood experiences, lay the foundation for our developing identities. In the opening sentence of Who You Callin’ a Bitch?, Queen Latifah explains while she is neither a psychologist or sociologist, nor an expert on life, she is a “young black woman from the inner city who is making it, despite the odds, despite the obstacles I’ve had to face in the lifetimes that have come my way” (33). She describes how negative societal roles experienced by the African American woman (such as slave, mammy, bitch, ho) have resulted in them being “so hurt… by society- and by men and by life- that we can’t even wrap our brains around the notion that we deserve better, that we are queens” (34). My childhood experiences have similarly contributed to the development of my own identity. In the early 1960’s my younger brother and I were caught in the midst of a terrible divorce and custody battle between my parents. After the divorce we moved often as nobody wanted to rent to a young divorcee whose enraged ex-husband was always breaking down the doors to get to his kids. At age 6, I was charged with looking after my younger brother which I often did from the front seat of a patrol car while the officers were sorting things out between my parents inside our house. Lacking financial support from my father my mother struggled to feed us. Having had only a tenth grade education, finding a job was no easy task for her. My father ultimately agreed that he would support us only if we were taken away from our mother and placed in foster care for a year. “Life will put you through plenty of tests and throw many obstacles your way, but it’s how you pass those tests, how you overcome those obstacles, that distinguishes you as a queen” (Latifah 35). From an early age, these experiences instilled in me several virtues which have shaped my identity: as nurturer and protector, defender of the underdog, and the belief that an education is the key to independence.

The choices we make significantly impact our sense of self. Regardless of the station in a woman’s life, Queen Latifah encourages the reader to make the choice to “be proud of who she is, whether she is a corporate executive or a cleaning lady, whether she’s an athlete or a housewife” (35), a virtue I’ve worked to impart my own children. People who make poor choices may suffer the consequences by finding themselves exiled by family members, unemployable, or even incarcerated. From an early age, my mother stressed to me the importance of making sound choices and living with the consequences of making poor ones. While she tried to instill these same virtues in my brother, he was unsuccessful in applying them to his own life. As a result his relationships with family members are strained and he is no stranger to the law. In his essay, Donald Trump presents an interesting parable about choices: five frogs are sitting on a log when four of them decide to jump off. Mr. Trump challenges the reader to consider how many frogs are left, pointing out “there’s a difference between deciding and doing” (242). After considering it for many years I recently jumped into the college pond to pursue a Bachelor’s degree after receiving an Associate’s degree over 30 years ago.

Inner drive is another contributing factor in a person’s identity. Donald Trump’s essay Find the Greatness within Yourself includes a quote from Galileo, noted physicist and astronomer: “You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself” (242). Galileo implies that we must look inward to find that which guides us; an opinion which is shared by Queen Latifah: “All things start in the soul and work outward” (34). It is this inner drive, cultivated and encouraged by someone who recognizes your potential, which motivates us to define our identity by our own conscious actions. Determined to not repeat the unhappy history experienced by my mother I began setting my life’s goals by my early teens. My first goal was to take pride in my achievements, acknowledging that each success was the product of hard work and determination. I am my own biggest competitor. Mr. Trump notes that competition is a good thing, while complacency “is the ultimate enemy of success” (242).

I’m living proof that childhood experiences, inner drive, and personal choices lay the foundation for the development of a person’s identity. They’ve shaped me into the person I am today: loving mother and wife, fledgling college student, successful career woman, and queen. There’s no challenge in being complacent. Go out and make it a good day.




The Choice is Yours

From 1975 to 1987, David Hartman, the first co-host of ABC’s show Good Morning America ended every episode with, “Go out and make it a good day.” In this way, Mr. Hartman was encouraging viewers to take an active role in how their day would unfold. Every day we’re faced with the choices of whether we will make the day, or whether the day will make us. Based on my own experiences, the role of personal choice is a defining factor in a person’s identity.

Childhood experiences can have an impact on our identity by guiding the choices we make later in life. In the opening sentence of “Who You Callin’ a Bitch?”, Queen Latifah explains while she is neither a psychologist or sociologist, nor an expert on life, she is a “young black woman from the inner city who is making it, despite the odds, despite the obstacles I’ve had to face in the lifetimes that have come my way” (33). My childhood experiences have similarly contributed to the development of my own identity. In the early 1960’s my younger brother and I were caught in the midst of a terrible divorce and custody battle between my parents. Lacking financial support from my father, my mother struggled to feed us. Finding a job was no easy task for a woman with a tenth grade education. My father ultimately agreed that he would support us only if we were taken from our mother and placed in foster care for a year. The helplessness I felt and the sadness in my mother’s eyes as we left our home was unbearable; even today, the pain is almost palpable. Queen Latifah’s quote, “Life will put you through plenty of tests and throw many obstacles your way, but it’s how you pass those tests, how you overcome those obstacles, that distinguishes you as a queen” (35) really rang true for me. Looking back through the years I can see how those events of my childhood have contributed to the development of my identity. I made a conscious choice to do whatever it took to be as self sufficient as possible; I decided at an early age that I would not rely on anyone but myself to take care of my needs. Today, I am proud of my identity as a strong, independent woman, a nurturer and protector, and a defender of the underdog. Although I’ve been happily married for over 30 years, my own identity as an individual was well under development when I had the good fortune to meet my husband.

The choices we make significantly impact our sense of self. Regardless of the station in a woman’s life, Queen Latifah encourages the reader to make the choice to “be proud of who she is, whether she is a corporate executive or a cleaning lady, whether she’s an athlete or a housewife” (35), a virtue I’ve worked to impart my own children. People who make poor choices may suffer the consequences by finding themselves exiled by family members, unemployable, or even incarcerated. From an early age, my mother stressed to me the importance of making sound choices. While she tried to instill these same virtues in my brother, he was unsuccessful in applying them to his own life. As a result his relationships with family members are strained and he is no stranger to the law.

When making a choice to do something, the choice is worthless unless it is actually carried out. In his essay, Donald Trump presents an interesting parable about choices: five frogs are sitting on a log when four of them decide to jump off. Mr. Trump challenges the reader to consider how many frogs are left, pointing out “there’s a difference between deciding and doing” (242). After considering it for many years I recently jumped into the college pond to pursue a Bachelor’s degree after receiving an Associate’s degree over 30 years ago. My identity as a student conveys different things to different people; to younger college students, I’m the “why would anyone want to return to school at THAT age?” student; to non-student friends my own age, I’m the insane ‘overachiever’; and to students close to my age I’m another middle aged woman trying to determine what color my parachute is.

Inner drive gives a person the control to make the best personal choices for him- or herself; in this way, inner drive is a contributing factor in a person’s identity. Donald Trump’s essay “Find the Greatness within Yourself” includes a quote from Galileo, noted physicist and astronomer: “You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself” (242). Galileo implies that we must look inward to find that which guides us; an opinion which is shared by Queen Latifah: “All things start in the soul and work outward” (34). Cultivated and encouraged by someone who recognizes our potential, this inner drive motivates us to define our identity through our own conscious actions. For example, determined to not repeat the unhappy history experienced by my mother, I began setting my life’s goals by my early teens. My first goal was to take pride in my achievements, acknowledging that each success was the product of hard work and determination. I am my own biggest competitor. Mr. Trump notes that competition is a good thing, while complacency “is the ultimate enemy of success” (242).

I’m living proof that personal choices lay the foundation for the development of a person’s identity. By refusing to let history repeat itself, I’ve allowed my childhood experiences to guide me, thereby shaping my identity into that which I am today: loving mother and wife, fledgling college student, successful career woman, and queen. There’s no challenge in being complacent. I try to follow David Hartman’s suggestion by choosing to make each day a good one.

Playing to the Crowd

The objective of this discussion board was to draw conclusions based on a variety of readings, a process known as synthesis. The activity also drew on the critical thinking skill of definition. We were tasked with explaining what an identity marker is, what kinds were encountered through the readings, and to reflect on the significance of the markers in our own experience.

I enjoyed this type of writing forum because the interactive nature enabled the flow of thoughts and ideas, which, in turn, inspired other thoughts and ideas from all of the participants. I’ve grown both as a reader and a writer through this process because the discussion boards allow us to present our ideas in a less-formal writing style than in an essay. I’ve found that people tend to express their thoughts and ideas more freely in this forum than in a formal paper, and I’ve enjoyed reading classmates’ unfiltered perspectives. It’s also a clever way for the professors to expand on the concept of community!

In this posting I chose to synthesize my own perceptions of the concept of identity markers with supporting evidence from the essays. I think it means more to the audience when you can personalize your point. My opening sentence seemed like a good ‘lead’ into the discussion by getting the reader to think about what things factor into their own first impressions. One line in my posting that seemed to particularly engage some of my classmates was, "In the same way that an old photo may not resemble what a person currently looks like, so do our identity markers change". In response to that statement I received feedback such as, “Your essay made me look back at the things that have affected my identity through the years. Without directly asking the reader to look back at their life you accomplished it through that sentence”, and” It's interesting how you point out that your identity markers change throughout the years. Very well put!”