Reflections on a Good Life

As the pressing issue of summer classes closed in on me, I decided to take the one class I found the most interesting and available online: Introduction to Humanities. I am an outward thinker, and always found the different cultures and customs around me interesting. I also love analyzing the responses the humanities receive from society and why. I started this course not even knowing the definition of the word humanities. After completing this course I personally define the humanities as any culture, behavior or custom that a human interacts with. This course has helped to both strengthen and challenge some of my previous opinions. I believe that college is a place to find yourself and explore, and this course directly affects one's understanding of their surroundings.

The “New Latinos: Peril and Promise” blog entry was one of the first assignments that sparked my interests. I found the module information compelling because I had never educated myself on immigration and Latin Americans in our country before. This assignment has proved to be one of the most important assignment for my self growth. Watching the video and hearing these people's stories of “chasing the American dream” I became to instantly appreciate my country more than ever before. I was also sickened by the society's reaction and how easily we can fall into racism and stereotypes. Very quickly the Latino community gained a reputation affiliated with gangs, drugs, and sex work. These generalizations only fueled American's distaste towards immigrants. The media even supported these stereotypes. I realized that I too had been manipulated by society to make these generalizations about Latinos. I became conflicted with my new outlook when the story about Emmy Schafer was shared. Emmy Schafer was an immigrant from Europe who became the face of an “Anti Bilingualism” campaign in Miami, Florida in the 1980's. Schafer believed that immigrants, like herself, needed to learn the language of their new home. She argued that Americans were beginning to feel like the foreigners in Miami. I personally agree with Schafer's campaign completely. Working in retail I have come to realize how many people living in America do not speak English, and deal with language barriers on a daily basis. I do not sympathize with someone when they become frustrated because they cannot communicate to me what they want. I believe that one should speak the language of the country they choose to live in. This argument brings me to my middle ground stance on this topic. Although I believe that Latino immigrants are met with a lot of negativity in America, they should assimilate more into society.

The next assignment I felt was valuable to my personal growth was my blog entry named “Don't be a Flamingo in Florida”. We had to capture modern Florida in some type of display and compare our work to that of Herald Herzog's. I chose a picture I took of Flamingos at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. I used this photo to combat the ideas and assumptions of what the sunshine state is really about. Metaphorically, these assumptions are those hot pink plastic flamingos in a retired couples front yard. People's false assumptions are only caricatures of the real Florida. I want others to know that this state is not just beaches and camouflage. For this assignment I only related this topic of assumptions and predispositions to Florida but with a second analysis I've realized it can be applied on a bigger scale. We live a life full of assumptions, whether it's about other people, or even our own self. We assume that others may be snobby or rude, and we set our selves up to fail before we can even try something. Society is full of Floridan flamingos and we need to start tackling situations and learning for ourselves.

The most influential assignment for myself was my blog post called: Dancing Around the Good Life. Here we took a virtual tour of the Good Life collection at the Harn P. Samuel Museum of Arts. The part I found the most interesting in this assignment was when we got to choose any work from the museum and analyze how it depicted the good life to you. I chose White's photo called Getting Lindsey Linton. This photo displays three men and a life-size puppet holding a woman down and pouring milk on her. I believe this photo draws a parallel to society's relationship with the humanities. With such a striking image one cannot help but apply this to themselves and their surroundings. The depreciation of the woman is symbolic of the humanities in today's world. We clutter and dehumanize so many aspects of life that culture and opinions are lost. Humanity cannot survive or continue without the constant battle of opinions and new innovative ideas. Society has become more single-minded and soon enough we will stop questioning everything around us. The viewer can also identity with each character in the photo. I personally found the puppet most compelling. Like the puppet, we can become bystanders in situations and can inevitably lose our voice. This analysis encouraged me be become more active in the humanities around me.

All in all this course granted me a better understanding of what the good life is. Too often we are concerned with the superficial aspects of life and gauge our happiness off of that. I've learned that it is not just the physical things that can enrich your life. Communicating and participating with the humanities around you can give one self a new meaning. My whole life I loved learning about other cultures and ideas but always from afar. I have a new appreciation for engaging in the humanities on a more physical and personal level.

What this course has taught me not only can be applied to future life pursuits but also my academic career. I tend to heavily focus on my core classes for my degree audit and lose sight of liberal arts classes. Like I mentioned in the beginning of this essay, college is a time to educate yourself in other ideas and cultures. By participating in these humanities classes one can receive a better college experience. In my current and future life pursuits this class has showed me to be more active in the humanities and less of a bystander.