May 9, 2015 - 14:59
I had no idea what to expect walking into this “Ecological Imaginings” class--would I be writing beautiful prose about the natural world? Would we investigate issues such as hydraulic fracturing? Would we be “imagining” what the world would look like in 5, 10, 50 years? So as I was eagerly awaiting to find out the “goal” or “purpose” of this class, I was thoroughly surprised that we spent the first ten minutes of the course alone and silent in Morris Woods. Throughout the course I realized that the goal or purpose of the class was shaped and change by the students, the professor, and the different spaces we used as a classroom.
I think that I tried to bring energy and excitement into the classroom every day. I was very eager to listen to other people’s opinions and thoughts on issues concerning the intersection between environment and race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. I tried to find a nice balance between actively listening and thinking and then offering my own ideas or opinions for the class to take up. Listening, in particular, has been something that I have been working on for the past year. In a classroom, listening is not just sitting quietly and waiting for someone to finish speaking so you can say your own brilliant idea. It is becoming invested in what someone is saying, complicating, criticizing, or affirming it in your own mind, and then (if needed) formulating a response. Beyond my classmates and professor, engaging with the readings and responding to them through “indoor” postings offered entirely new perspectives of how people think about identity and environment.
From the first day, Audre Lorde’s poem Outside, completely challenged and complicated my perspective: “In the centre of a harsh and spectrumed city/ all things natural are strange. / I grew up in a genuine confusion/ between grass and weeds and flowers/ and what “colored” meant”. What is natural? What is strange? How does identity influence how we experience the “environment”? These are the questions that I explored throughout the entire course (and will continue to explore after). In this class I challenged myself in my listening and participation. These conversations that I had with participants both inside and outside the classroom really informed my written work as well.
My first web event was almost a therapeutic experience. It was an outlet where I presented my frustrations about how science classrooms don’t allow for creativity, joy, and self-expression. I think it would have failed its initial purpose--a letter to science faculty to induce curriculum change--because it was a little harsh. If I could rewrite this web event, I would try to structure and formulate my language in a way to induce real change in science classrooms. In my second web event, however, I took my frustrations and designed a tangible curriculum plan for a course on the scientific and social implications of HIV/AIDS.
In my third web event I wanted to challenge myself in a different way by collaborating with another student in the class. In our project, we filmed site-specific movement representations of environmental issues. We wanted to explore how movement can also be a tool for communication and expression about environmental issues. For my final web event, I wanted to explore why humans tend to gender the earth female and the implications that can have on the environmental movement. I observed how people represented the earth in pedestrian movements (while being interviewed) and then I choreographed a short piece based on their gestural movements. I discovered that when people talked about the earth, their movements were circular and rounded, creating a space of solace and protection. When people were directly asked to express their connection to the earth through movement, most people looked to hug or connect with the ground somehow. So I tried to incorporate not only the verbal content of the interviews but also the movement into my choreography. I set this dance to the Lauryn Hill song, Adam Lives In Theory. While I was dancing, I imagined “Adam” as humanity, and “Eve” as the earth. This song ties together a lot of the intersections I explored in this class--reality and fantasy, feminism and environmentalism. I think that my final project is a fulfilling culmination of and growth from this class.