Prompt 9 - Overview

It's been a crazy semester, inside and outside of this class!

This class was entirely different from what I anticipated it. I can't even say what I was expecting from it, but suffice it to say, it completely defied my expectations and kept me on my toes with each class. Yes, there were days where I felt we were just there to take a personality test and let that be our big takeaway from the class, but there were a handful of other days where I was more motivated than ever to learn about the true meaning of leadership, something I've been fascinated with as of lately. Anyway, I've learned some invaluable information that I'll carry with me and implement into my leadership from this point forward.

Speaking of the aforementioned personality tests, I think the one that has made a huge impression on me as well as everyone else is StrengthsQuest. When it came down to it, I was confused about why some strengths I was aware of prior to taking the test weren't in my top 5, but after sitting on it for a while, I realize the 5 strengths that I came up with are all valuable to how I view myself as a leader. For instance, my top strength is Harmony, and I'm a huge proponent of finding middle ground and hearing all voices that want to be heard. It hadn't actually occurred to me how much it really explains who I am in a leadership setting.

Finally, the two weeks we spent covering topics such as moral muteness, target and non-target identities, among many others, are the two weeks that will stick with me the most and include topics we spent more time fleshing out since I think they play an integral part to leadership. Realizing that you can't listen to one story and run with it is an important anecdote I'll remember when I'm put in a leadership setting. Coming from a family that has amassed many target and non-target identities, these two weeks of class were easily the most motivating for me to involve myself in, and thus the material covered will make the largest impression on myself and my personal leadership philosophy.

Overall, I'm happy I've taken this class and everything that I'm taking away from it. If anything, the one takeaway I'll have from this class is that everyone is different and we all view things differently, but in the end, uniting with one common goal in mind will eventually prevail and all differences will be forgotten about.

THATS ALL FOLKS.

Prompt 8 - Peck's Theory

A community I could best fit within the framework of Peck's Theory is the social committee I serve on in my fraternity. Serving on this committee has taught me so much about how to handle differences and work past struggles. Starting out on this committee was easy, myself and the 4 other guys were unified with the goal to create events all brothers would enjoy, but we all learned the hard way that we'll have to deal with impositions from others not on the committee that would ultimately challenge our decisions and strain the pseudocommunity originally created.

I specifically remember days out from an event, some of my brothers were upset with how it was handled. We had to deal with those opinions as well as work internally to fix the damage caused. Eventually, we came around to the thoughts of those opposing us and used them to better the event and strengthen our connection with the rest of the fraternity. This could be explained by Peck's third stage.

Consensus plays a huge role in how we handle things on this committee. We may not all agree with one another, and we may have people who don't agree with us at all. We've learned to take the voices of those dissatisfied and turn them into something positive. Hearing all voices, whether they be in opposition or not, helps strengthen the overall process. 

Prompt 7 - Target & Non-Target Identities

I loved class last week, it was definitely a subject that hits home with me, so I'm very appreciative of the discussion on privilege and the eye opening activity we started class with.

One target identity that I could align with is my background (i.e., where I come from), because it's from a very small town in Southern Ohio, an area that most of my friends joke around with me being known as generally uneducated. Something else about where I come from is that people slap a race label on the public school system. For instance, my cousin was telling one of her friends where I was from. The conversation went as follows:

Cousin: I'm just spending time with my cousin.
Her friend: Where does he go to school?
Cousin: Chillicothe
Her friend: Oh, so is he black?

Assumptions like that aren't uncommon regarding my high school. Despite being biracial myself, and coming from a school that was probably 1/3 black, it was hard for me or anyone else who I went to school with to escape that identity imposed upon us.

A non target identity of mine is being a (visibly) white male. It's a privilege bestowed on me that I don't stop to think about often enough, considering many people are faced with oppression based solely upon the color of their skin. Considering we have a systematic racism problem in this country, and I'm biologically biracial, I don't realize how often I take my white privilege for granted that my dad or any of my family may not be get to experience.