In this world, there are many thoughts that play a role in who we are and how we define ourselves. During this trip, I have learned so much on how society’s standards play a role in how we view or express ourselves. On Sunday, July 8th, we participated in a workshop led by Jessica Fullenkamp. She had given us a chart with a list of things that may define us. It contained a section for us to list our hobbies, our characteristics, our names, our favorite colors, even information about the number of siblings we may have. Next, we flipped over the paper and described ourselves through society’s eyes. We wrote down our race, our gender identity, our nationality, the language we speak, and so much more. After this, she old us a personal story of hers. Individuals, including myself, felt a connection with at least one part of her story. Personally, when she had stated that we had friends or family to support us, I felt like I could not exactly relate. I discovered that I felt disconnected from my family, and I put up walls around myself so I was isolated from people on a deeper level. This of course, changed how I viewed everything in my life. At some point, all of us had discovered a time or quality that created oppression for us based on society’s views and norms. She created a quadratic graph where the Y-axis was society’s approval and the X-axis was our own approval. Of course, the scale was from negative to positive. I observed that many people felt like their race or the color of their skin, their sexuality and their nationality had negative impacts in their lives, according to the society around us. It was an overall educational and spiritual experience because it helped us find ourselves. This is essential for the artists to express themselves before the eyes of an audience on the 17th, and also the audience of the world in everyday life. In the next blog, I will tell you all about the performance and the steps leading up to such a special night for us all!!! Stay tuned.
In this world, there are many thoughts that play a role in who we are and how we define ourselves. During this trip, I have learned so much on how society’s standards play a role in how we view or express ourselves. On Sunday, July 8th, we participated in a workshop led by Jessica Fullenkamp. She had given us a chart with a list of things that may define us. It contained a section for us to list our hobbies, our characteristics, our names, our favorite colors, even information about the number of siblings we may have. Next, we flipped over the paper and described ourselves through society’s eyes. We wrote down our race, our gender identity, our nationality, the language we speak, and so much more. After this, she old us a personal story of hers. Individuals, including myself, felt a connection with at least one part of her story. Personally, when she had stated that we had friends or family to support us, I felt like I could not exactly relate. I discovered that I felt disconnected from my family, and I put up walls around myself so I was isolated from people on a deeper level. This of course, changed how I viewed everything in my life. At some point, all of us had discovered a time or quality that created oppression for us based on society’s views and norms. She created a quadratic graph where the Y-axis was society’s approval and the X-axis was our own approval. Of course, the scale was from negative to positive. I observed that many people felt like their race or the color of their skin, their sexuality and their nationality had negative impacts in their lives, according to the society around us. It was an overall educational and spiritual experience because it helped us find ourselves. This is essential for the artists to express themselves before the eyes of an audience on the 17th, and also the audience of the world in everyday life. In the next blog, I will tell you all about the performance and the steps leading up to such a special night for us all!!! Stay tuned.
