Hixson Blog #12 - 

    In class last week, we have a lecturer discuss diversity over ice cream. Towards the end of the class the speaker displayed photos of a woman and man and had us characterize how we felt or viewed their image. For the most part, responses were what I expected. Some classmates put down the typical denigrating stereotypes. One student, in my opinion, put a couple of offensive terms up. For the most part however, I felt the group was even-keel in their descriptions based on what they could possibly know from a picture of a model on the screen during a diversity lecture.

   I live in Iowa. It is a fairly white, middle-class state. For the most part, myself and other Iowa State students included are not exposed to as much to diversity as we would at other colleges it seems. This can be a problem at times. Unfamiliarity breeds uncertainty and can perpetuate stereotypes. The naive rural Iowan in me often overlooks the most basic physical differences. I'd like to think it does not matter what your racial background is or your sexual preference or anything along those lines. But dealing with diversity is something everyone needs to be accustomed too. Too often do bad things happen because someone puts an irrelevant difference into the spotlight and uses a difference to denigrate that someone's overall being.  

Hixson Blog #11 

    In class this week, we talked about ethics and strategy for good practice. There was something particularly awesome about the presentation of this chapter in the Hixson book... might have been the presenters or something but who knows... Anyway, the lesson focused on dealing with situations in which there may or may not be an obvious "right" answer. These situations involve dealing with alcohol, professionalism, and relationships as a small subset of potentially difficult decision-making situations. 

    One of the hardest parts of freshmen year to me was figuring out what was the right thing to be doing. As a freshmen, I really had no guiding compass other than the beliefs and values I carried over from my parents and pre-college life. At times, college can be a quite adept at putting new students into situations where knowing the right thing to do may or may not be apparent. College can often confuse one's moral compass. I was in environments in which I had never been in and some of them I wish I hadn't. I believe, after looking back, I made correct and ethical decisions most of the time. But, I could have used a lecture or a reading like this past weeks to help me think of all the consequences and outcomes of the decisions I make. I never thought about potential employers looking at my facebook a few years ago or my thoughts were never about anything more than what lie a weekend away. I truly hope that I can use this lecture in my seminar next year to maybe even help one student make a potentially life-altering decision for the better.

Hixson Blog #10 

     There really isn't too much to talk about in this week's blog. In class we worked on our digital story telling project.  From the look of things, it appears we have nearly all, if not all, filming done. At this point, we need to finish editing and applying background music.  It was a shock to me to hear that a few Hixson videos from last year were taken down for copyrighted material. Next year I will have to make sure to tell my Hixson class about using copyrighted music or video material. 

     This week, Easten and I have our Hixson presentation. I'll give you a sneak peek and say its about Ethics but other than that, you'll have to find out in person....