Representative Thinkers

This week's lecturer, Dr. Kane Felder, examined the ideas of freedom and justice. In true Socratic fashion, the class was expected to really think about the questions: "What is justice?" and "What is freedom?". These questions seem to have such clear cut answers but in reality they're incredibly complex. Really thinking about them was a very self-actualizing experience. Dr. Felder very appropriately began the lecture with the quote, "All that is hidden will come to life!" From what I understand, this meant that regardless of what your idea of freedom and justice is, the two concepts exist and any action you carry out will be known one way or another.

Eloquence of Scribes

This week's lecture has been one of my favorites so far! Dr. Benjamin of the Fine Arts department spoke to us about the "ancient scribes" who have shaped the world's culture simply by writing things down. She then gave a detailed history of Howard, specifically explaining the significance of the numerous influential African-Americans many of our buildings are named after. I'm a history buff and loved learning about the meanings behind the names of the different buildings. I was somewhat familiar with many of the building's namesakes but there were a few that I did not know anything about. Dr. Benjamin referred to the Douglasses, the Lockes, and the Drews of the African-American community as our "ancient scribes". It's truly mind-boggling to know that one day my peers and I will make our own marks on the world and become "ancient scribes".

The Human Genome

This week's lecture featured Dr. Georgia Dunston, the chair of Howard's Microbiology department and a Founding Director of HU's National Human Genome Center. Dr. Dunston explained to us that Genome Center is just one of the many things that makes Howard such a unique institute because it is only one of a few in the country. Throughout her lecture, she explained to us that each of us has a genome, a type of genetic code that makes up who we are. What I found particularly interesting though was that she also spoke of a type of aura that surrounds that makes us who we are as well. She spoke with conviction as she explained to us the connection between science and the spiritual. that each of us has an aura. Because Dr. Dunston was so engrossed in the material, she unfortunately did not get to her actual slideshow. Although I was lost at certain points throughout the presentation, overall, I was impressed.

Learning Wisdom and the African World Experience

I've been experiencing difficulties with my blogger account and after FINALLY having them resolved, I'm posting all of my blog entries now.
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Dr. Carr's lecture was both enlightening and inspiring. He called to attention that as a result of years of historical disenfranchisement, all too often we are taught that our history begins with American slavery. This could not be any less true. Africa is one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of earth's civilizations. African history pre-dates slavery thousands of years. We are taught that the Greeks and Romans have shaped Western civilization. But, it was another Mediterranean country, Egypt, that shaped their civilizations. Classical Africa is a fascinating civilization that has had an astounding impact on all civilizations and unfortunately, much of it has been left unstudied. Nevertheless, I'm eager to learn more! I think this quote is the most appropriate way to conclude this entry: "To be black is to be the beneficiary of a great inheritance."

Self-Reflection

Aisha J. Brownlee
12:10-1:00
Freshman seminar was an interesting class. At first I didn’t really enjoy it. I didn’t understand why we had to take the course and what I was supposed to gain from being in this class. I don’t particularly enjoy lectures but I did find some of the lectures interesting and others not as effective as they should have been. Either way, I believe that the lectures should have been more interactive, seeing as how the speakers needed to capture the attention of 100 freshmen at a time. Although they weren’t interactive, the lectures were great and sufficient examples of detailed research projects that each speaker undertook. The speakers provided information from different fields of study that gave the freshman class a perspective of Africans and research from different points of view. These lectures showed that intellectual research is essential to all fields of study and that research should be done for the good of the black community. Once research is done, it should be inscribed so it can be passed down to the next generation. This concept of inscribing and moving information to the next generation was stressed in all of the speaker’s lectures and is needed in the reeducation of blacks in the community. These lectures provided the class with examples as to how to go about undertaking research which was ultimately the goal of the course, to conduct intellectual research to contribute to the black community as well as others. My experience with the research project was essential to the rest of my academic growth at Howard. To learn how to do research is an important part of learning and is something that contributes to one’s intellectual development. Freshman seminar is vital for this reason, and provides us with the foundation to build on our research to continue the inscribing for the upcoming generations.

Group Presentation: 4.0

Group 4.0’s research topic was informative. They did a comparison on Historically Black Colleges/Universities and primarily White Universities’, and compared the graduation rates. Their comparisons, as well as statics showed that HBCU’s had higher graduation rates than primarily white universities. Of course I find this information to be outstanding as well as useful, but I do believe that a little more information could have been put into this comparison. I think that reasons why HBCU have higher graduation rates should have been included in the presentation to make it well-rounded. I do remember the group discussing some of the programs that are offered at HBCU and not at the predominantly white schools, which can be seen as a huge contribution to the reasoning, but I still think that the group could have dug further. Instead of explaining programs and showing multiple graphs and statics of schools, the group could have given more reasons. Such as the learning environment, the faculty, the students they accept, or how confortable a student feels in a school. I think that such factors as these are very important when making a comparison and analyzing things. Ever effect has a cause. The group’s presentation was very information and is very encouraging it shows that HBCU has a lot more to offer than people expect. It shows how HBCU is progressing, which I think is another detail that the group should have mentions. But the overall presentation was very well done and informative. Makes me more proud to be at an HBCU!

The Stampede: Group Presentation

Suicide is a serious topic that has a lot of attention, or should I say enough attention. Such topic should be just as important as HIV/AIDS and even genocides. Group ‘The Stampede’ has done an excellent job by bringing to our attention the big issue of suicide. They began by defining the suicide, and then they began to discuss the causes. I believe that the information that they gave was accurate because I had recently been reading about the topic in my sociology book, as our professor discusses it as being a result to stress. The group overall performance I would say, has to be an 8 on the scale of 1-10. They were consistent, their ideas and thoughts were together. Everything flowed and I understood the concept of their presentation. One of the things that’s I thought about during their presentation was, how many people knew of the statistics and deaths that were caused by suicides. For me the information was not first time hearing, I have worked on projects for suicide awareness in the past and even help conduct assemblies so that my peers could be aware. But how many people really knew about suicides and how many people really cared. Some of the reasons that the group gave was, alcohol and drug abuse, depression, stress, and even relationship problems. Such reasons like these make me question our society. I have reason to believe that such factors are caused by unequal opportunities. The fact that our social structure makes it difficult for people to move through a class makes things harder in life, and results to suicide and even homicide. I really enjoyed this group and I give them two thumbs up for their presentation.