First Class
My Second Writing Class started last night at 5:30. It's an Art Ed class, which means, you guessed it, it's focused on art. 5 papers, 5 presentations, and various discussions. Not too bad, I guess. I'm a little intimidated, but I was also intimidated by the technical writing class I had at OU, so I'm not really worried. The class is led by a soft-spoken, petite assistant professor named Lyn.
The subject matter for the class (Ethnic Arts: A Means of Intercultural Communication) is a bit new for me, but I intend to make the most of it. When most people say "Ethnic" they immediately think "Black" and that is simply incorrect. I've become accustomed to thinking of Ethnic as Polish or Lebanese or Irish or German, depending on who I'm speaking to. Black does not mean Ethnic.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, ethnic can be defined as:
Of or relating to a sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage.
In fact, in today's terms, ethnic could be more about which part of our HUGE nation your family is from. Growing up in the midwest is certainly a different culture than the upper east coast, which is different than the deep south, which is different than the pacific northwest.
Part of the class is learning to defend statements like these, which I imagine I will continue to do over the next 10 weeks here on my site.
Fun, fun.