Diversity, Photography and Intro to Writing

I got an AWESOME letter from Kjersti today, which reminded me that some of you like to follow along in my classes with me. I started school again on Wednesday. I was half an hour late for my first class because of the car accident on the freeway. (Danae, I heard that you got stuck in that too.) Anyways, my first class is called Photographing Diversity. It was kind of like a toned down version of Freedom Writers. He had us answer questions by standing up if the question applied to us, such as if we had ever discriminated against a person based on color, or sexual orientation, etc... It was neat. Also, we have to keep a response journal to the things that we discuss in class, but if anything is too personal, we just have to fold down the corner of the pages, and he won't read it. We also will be having class discussions, etc... The only downside I see to this class is that there are only going to be 4 photo assignments. :(

I had about a two hour break between classes since the first day always ends early. In that break I got my parking permit, paid my tuition, got some of my textbooks, got a Student ID card, and ate lunch. I still ended up early for my next class too! My second class for the day is Photography I. I actually knew most of everything that we had to take notes on for the class. Since I already took Intro to Photography, a lot of this class is going to be review for me.

After another two hour break, I went to my Intro to Writing class. My teacher was a little weird and my class was REALLY full. It also wasn't anything like what I was looking forward to. I just want another class like my AP Lit class from high school. I wanted the assigned reading, and essays written about what we had read. Not so much reading out of a text books about the different kinds of essays and then writing them. Oh well. I am sure my essay writing can use some improvements. The best thing for me about this class was actually the getting to know people part of it. I usually hate these, but I actually interviewed a really nice guy in my class. I also learned some really interesting things about my fellow students. One woman was actually a refugee from Rwanda. I thought that was really neat. Another girl in my class helps children that are deaf and blind, etc...

My homework for the week is to go to www.understandingprejudice.com and taking the top two surveys and then the bottom one about finding Hidden Biases. Then, we are supposed to go back and do them again at the end of the class to see how our opinions have changed. For my Photo I class, I am supposed to bring in a picture that inspires me to want to be a photographer. It is supposed to be something professionally done, not something that I, or someone I know, has taken. And then I have to read the first chapter in my Intro to Writing class and write a question without answering it. More as it comes... Love you all!