Discussion Journal #4

Over the last week (Sep 23- Sep 27) among the many topics covered was the topic if white privilege. Now, stay with my because I know many of you are thinking that same thing I was when we first started this topic which is, what are you talking about white privilege.  Firstly what is privilege? Well if you look at dictionary.com it is defined as “a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most”.  Knowing this and how I felt prior to this week’s readings and lectures, had I been asked to list off my privileges I might have said having both my parents, playing multiple sports growing up, and growing up in the US. However, I would have never listed my race as a privilege I had never thought about the benefits that come with my inherited white skin. These privileges were only pointed out as I read White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack an article written by Peggy McIntosh.  In her article she talks about the many privileges that she has as a white woman. Also about how society almost makes a point of ensuring that those who hold the privileges of being white don’t recognize them as privileges but merely as the way things are.

So what types of privilege come with my white race, I have never been looked down on because of the color of my skin, people are more likely to trust me, all of my teachers in grade school were the same skin color as me and so I had many same race role models. I have also never been looked at as an outsider, never been told to go back to “my land/country”.  While discussing white privilege Peggy McIntosh lists 26 different privileges she has because of her race. She mentions flesh colored Band-Aids, the accessibility of dolls that resemble her race, and also that the color of her skin does not make people question her financial stability. All of the above also apply to me and to every other person who has been born part of the Caucasian race. Whether we realize it or not we are granted the rights and benefits of the white race, and immune to the stereotypical assumptions that come with other ethnic races.

Now I know I didn’t ask for these privileges, and neither did anyone else. None the less we were born with them, and so they are given to us, and it is what we do with this knowledge that is up to us. Our teacher this week played for us a rap by the artist Macklemore titled White Privilege, in this rap he mentions how the white culture takes over things originally started by other races and how he as a white artist gets away with more than a black artist would with lines like “I speak freely when I write this if a black emcee examined race there goes half of his fan base”. Lyrics like this refer to the fact that he as a white rapper can question a whites place in the rap community, but if a black artist asked the same question or pointed the same fingers there would be a more hostile reaction. It is in situations like that that we can use our white privilege to benefit those who are not receiving these privileges.

So as I am a member of the white race having acknowledged my privileges, and what comes with those privileges. In the future I want to remind those around me that when we fight for equality it should not be just for equality with in a position or with in a company but equality across the races. Hopefully helping others become aware of the privileges they have and the ways they benefit from those privileges.  From that point it all falls down to a choice that everyone must make for themselves.  They can silently acknowledge the privileges we have and do nothing to make it right, or they can use their new found awareness to fight for the rights of those who were not born with such privileges. 

Discussion Journal #3

        Another week gone (Sep 16 -Sep 20), and more knowledge acquired. This weeks discussions were on topics like diversity within race, and the impact of a persons age on there ability to do recreation. I found the second topic particularly fascinating. During the week while I was reading it really made me think about the people in my family. How much recreation and how leisure time each of them have, and how old they are. In our reading "Changes in leisure behavior over the life span" there was a graph showing participation in recreation and leisure declining as the participants age increases. Looking at my own family I don't necessarily see the same results that the graph depicts. While my younger siblings do participate in many more physically demanding activities, my grandparents spend just as much time if not more doing the things they enjoy. I am unsure if the chart would look the same if the data used was from more current times.
        Despite how the chart looks and my feelings on the mater the fact is that if not in the present then in the recent past it was true that older people tended to do less. The idea of that makes me very sad, and makes me want to ensure that within the lives of the people I know and care about that they continue to participate in the activities that make them happy. While in class discussing the same issue, we talked about how children are still developing balance even into their teen years. I believe that just as children participate in activities to increase their ability's, the older generations should be maintaining their ability's through participation in group events and activities.
        Based on all I have learned about in class and from reading, I realize that as I grow older and as my parents grow older it is important to ensure our health stays well both mentally and physically. Recently I downloaded one of those mind puzzle game applications because I now understand that if I don't continue to challenge my brain and body then as I get older they will both become weaker. I plan to continue to challenge my self as often as possible.I also think I will challenge my mom and sisters to start doing the same so we can grow old and happy together, continuing to do the activities we love long into the future.

Discussion Journal #2

         Hello again everyone, this week’s (Sep 9-Sep13) class lectures were on readings about Disney’s storyboarding techniques, Disney U, and on logic models. While all the reading were all important to understand as I develop and continue in my degree, and eventually into the employment field I really enjoyed the ones about Disney. The reading explaining storyboarding and its uses within everyday business not just in producing stories or movies, as well as the one explaining Disney U and showing the emphases that Disney puts on customer service both stuck with me.
         Of the book titled “The Disney Way” we only read chapter 10 which highlighted storyboarding. I had heard of storyboarding before but only in the concept of movies, some of the Disney films I watched as a child would talk about the storyboarding process in the special features. I had never thought about how you could use the same process to as the reading puts it, “solve complex business problems”. We learned that storyboarding allows individuals with in a company give their ideas anonymously and therefore promotes even the shyest of employees to share their ideas without the fear of being ridiculed. This is a huge pro to using this process as it is important to get feedback from all employees when setting up new projects or even reviewing old ones. I started to think about how awesome it would be if my employer used storyboarding to get feedback from us, and about all the issues that would finally be brought up and perhaps resolved if we could just write it down and post it.
         We also read a small excerpt from the book “Disney U”. The pages we read were all about orientation when first hired and how important customer service is within the Disney parks and business. The book talks about how Disney employees are called cast members and they are all part of a big show that Disney is putting on. Disney is well known for how welcoming its parks are this leads to its being called the happiest place on earth. As I work in a customer service driven industry I understand the need to keep the behind the scene stuff exactly there behind the scene. I also realize how devastating of a blow a company can take when the right precautions are not taken to ensure the public are kept out of internal business.
         Both these articles talk about ways to make your business better both for the employees and guests. While in class professor Mary Wells explained further the extent that Disney goes to ensure guests feel welcome, she described how Walt Disney did research on how long a person will hold on to a piece of trash before letting is drop to the ground. Although a small detail this research makes all Disney parks better, because when he found out it was only 27 steps he decided to place trashcans with in 27steps of anywhere in the park. By placing trashcans so often it helps reduce the amount of trash being dropped and helps the park stay clean, in return the cleanliness of the park makes people feel happy and comfortable inside the park. This is a lot of thought that when into such a small detail, a question now posed to myself is, do I put that much thought into anything I do, and if not why? I have many things in my life that are very important to me and usually I just run on auto pilot this should change.
         I am glad I am learning so much about business and the important aspects often overlooked. I hope as I advance in whatever organization I work for in the future that, I will remember to treat my employees well so that their happiness with the company will reflect in their interactions with our guests. I am also delighted and grateful to have learned about storyboarding and am sure in the future it will be a very practical tool to use to brainstorm ideas either in group projects in school or within a company.

Discussion Journal #1

Over the past week (Sep 1-Sep 7) in class we discussed many topic such as what is race and ethnicity, diversity inside of organizations, social justice with in a diverse society, sustainability, and constructed categories of difference to name a few. While many of these topics had interesting points within the readings and class lectures, one of them provoked much more thought about my life and about the people around me. The reading titled “Constructing Categories of Difference” addressed multiple ways in which people view the world and many of the categories that people are placed in before they even have a chance to introduce themselves.

After reading the article “Constructing Categories of Difference” last week I began to look closer at the way I am treated by others as well as the presumptions I put on others based on what the article labeled as master statuses (i.e., Gender, disability, race). I realized that no matter how I see myself, to others first I am always a woman and therefore that is my master status. I will be prejudged on things I can or cannot do based not on past life experience but based on my gender. As I looked at my relationships with others I also realized that without even noticing it I was doing the same to others using phrases like “my German friend Hanni was reading a book” the fact that she is from Germany has nothing to do with her reading the book and yet I will add it in there.

“Constructing Categories of Difference” also addressed the essentialist and constructionist world views and how they differ from each other. Making the point that the essentialist sees things as they are, and that there is no room for interpretation as things are independent from him.  Also stating that the constructionist sees thing from his perspective and uses his beliefs and experiences to interpret the world around him and make decisions based on a total grouping of those experiences. Looking closer at these points and listening to the in-class discussion I would place myself in a “somewhat removed from pure essentialism” (Constructing, 3) category. This means that I take in a lot of what I am told is true but that I believe that it is also correct to include some individual interpretation into my decision.

You might be reading this and saying yea ok so this is great information but what is the point? Well the point is that because of preconceived notions based on the white male society that the United States started as, anyone without the master status of white male is starting off at a disadvantage. The realization of this made me stop and think more about the role that gender or race play in a day to day society. My professor Steve made this clearer as he was discussing his master status of being black. He said that from a distance before you can even tell if he is male or female people will always know he is black and they will make their first judgment based on that fact alone, also that people are shocked when he says that he is a professor because most people assume he is a coach or that he works within the athletics department. Having realized the judgments I make on a daily basis pertaining to similar situations, I realized that I need to challenge the way that I look at life and the people around me. I need to make the point to see people as they can be and not try to fit them into a cookie cutter idea of what the dominant culture says they are.

Based on the new information I learned last week and the discussions we had in our class I am going to try to step back get to know the people I meet better before I make a judgment on who they are. I understand now the tendency to judge people on the color of their skin or on their gender or even on a perceived disability but that these things don’t make a person who they are they are just parts of who they are and there is so much more that what is visible to take into account. I plan in the future to intentionally be more open-minded when meeting new people and to get to know them prior to deciding who they are or what they can do. I will do my best not to categorize the people around me, and instead I hope to see them as the individual that they are and be grateful for the skills they have to offer.

Intro

Hey everyone my name is Jessica Farmer, I am 28 years old and am currently attending the University of Utah. This Blog is being designed to turn in discussion journals for one of my classes feel free to read and comment. Just so everyone knows here are the goals of each post as I have had it explained to me,

I will complete a short journal submission that includes reflections on class discussions, readings and homework from previous the week in the context of my life. Each reflective journal submission will aim to answer the following three questions:

·         What? Over the course of the week, what did I experience and how does it relate to the week’s readings, materials, field experiences or in-class/on-line discussions?

·         So what? Yeah…so these things happened. I went and did something or something happened to me. What is/was the POINT? How did it make me feel? Did it challenge the way I understood something?

·         Now what? So…based on what happened/what I experienced, what am I going to do, not do, or do differently? Have my understandings or viewpoints changed? What’s my action plan?

So now that we all know what is expected lets continue.