Sunday, January 29, 2012

Class Assignment Turned Class Assessment

From now (January, 2012) until the end of this semester (May, 2012), I've been instructed by the professor of my Student Development class to be a voice for another culture. What this means is that instead of speaking for white, male, able-bodied, heterosexual, mid-twenty, semi-middle class, shoe size ten, agnostic, Americans, I'll be taking every opportunity to speak for a specific and different culture in class and on this blog at least once a week.

If your eyebrows are raised, then you're not alone. Addressing the particulars of this assignment easily took up all of the Q & A time allotted in our first class. It was clear by the discussion that a lot of students were alarmed, even panicky, about having to wander out of their comfort zone and discuss the intimate details of another's culture with, get this, an actual person from that culture. But I feel The Voice Project (that's this project) encourages intimacy as a way to combat the sort of discomfort that gives rise to not only miscommunication, but discrimination as well. (pause for applause). According to the handout that was given to me, Dr. Carney Strange agrees with me (okay, okay, I agree with him since he came up with The Voice Project).

The handout goes on to detail a few key aspects of the project: first, I must position myself in the other culture’s “sphere… of influence.” Second, I have to listen to the personal stories of people from this culture. Finally, and the end goal of the project, I should be able to understand this other culture so well that my world philosophy will change to better reflect not only their desires, but their needs as well.

My name is David Norris. I am a graduate student in Loyola University Chicago's Higher Education program. Every week, I plan to post a blog discussing the steps I've taken to get to know the homeless population here in Chicago. While the homelessness epidemic is a genuine concern of mine, it should be known that this blog is for a grade - in fact, it's for a whopping 30% of my grade; so I acknowledge my motives may appear suspect. My reply to this... Shut up. I can have more than one motive. And you will still get some useful information. Win, win... win.

I'm looking forward to getting started. My knowledge is very limited on Chicago's homeless population as well as on homelessness in general. Sadly, my general familiarity with this disadvantaged demographic has come from Saved by the Bell episodes - not Saved by the Bell: The New Class or Saved by the Bell: The College Years or even Good Morning, Miss Bliss (remember that one?)... These three never taught me anything. I'm talking about classic Saved by the Bell. I did, however, volunteer overseas with an organization that helps homeless children get off the street; but this was a secondary project and I didn't do it for long. I never really connected with any of those children. I never learned their stories. I hope to change things this time around.

For next week's blog, I plan to have accomplished the following:
  • detailed some statistics on the homeless demographic
  • discussed the controversy surrounding bumvertising
  • learned the story of at least one homeless person
  • and probably learned something else that I’ll share