sigelphoenix

That's not supposed to be a riddle, but I guess it was for me. After I laid down to rest my eyes last night at 10:00 p.m. and didn't wake up until 8:00 in the morning, I figured there was something off with me, but it wasn't until tonight that I finally realized I might be getting sick. :P Considering the fact that people all around me have been ill, I probably should have realized this sooner.

Oh well. I'm downing vitamin C and fluids, so I hopehopehope this goes away quickly. Luckily, Wednesdays I only have work and no class, so I feel okay staying home. I figure if I take a day off right now when I'm feeling almost-sick, I might be able to prevent it from turning into full-sick. *crosses fingers*

My hope is that I don't have to miss class on Thursday, because I seriously love my courses. I know I was initially freaking out about my workload, but about a week later I ended up dropping a class and things have been a lot easier. Ironically, it was my easiest class - a course on Asian-American women, which I really wanted to take, but was actually not very useful. (I still have the textbooks, and plan to read them on my own; honestly, I think I'll learn just as much on my own than with the professor who's teaching that class.)

It's not that this course was taking up that much of my time; but getting rid of just that one obligation has made my schedule much more manageable. Now I'm busy, but not (abnormally) stressed out. I have the time to relax on weekends - I even managed to play chasdini's game on Saturday, and irishninja's game on Sunday, without falling too behind in my work! :D I'm also working out 2 to 3 times a week, which can only be good for me - I can't tell if I have more energy or anything, but at least it's something. In general, I'm just happy that I'm not spending every hour of my day thinking omgwork! and that I get to do things I want.

So, my classes! The first is a department requirement called "Women Studies Community in Colloquia." It's only 2 credits, and credit/no credit instead of graded, so it's just a little extra work that doesn't stress me out. Largely I ignore it.

Unfortunately, while I know some great people in the class - miss_arel and some classmates from other courses - there's a general level of ignorance in the class, particularly when it comes to racism and ethnocentrism. To be fair, there are only two people who are blindingly stupid enough to make me want to beat them over the head; but the rest of the class tends to either agree with them, or at least not object to their stupidity. I have a couple of tear-my-hair-out anecdotes, but I'm feeling too positive right now to dwell on them.

I'm also taking a course called "Reading Native American Women's Lives." The material itself is interesting on its own; but as I learned from the class I dropped, good material doesn't necessarily make a good class. Luckily, the instructor is brilliant - she's educated and intelligent about systems of oppression, but she holds firm to an equanimity that I find really inspiring, since I find myself angry so much of the time. She does so in a way that makes it clear that she doesn't consider these issues unimportant; they are worth getting angry about, but she makes the conscious choice not to be, for her own sake. I'd like to think I'll be able to do that someday.

She's also very patient when it comes to teaching about Native people, and Native women in particular - which is important, since there are so few Native people in the class, and the ignorance of us non-Natives can be overwhelming at times. Anti-Native racism is a different animal from other forms of racism, and one that's often underexplored. I'm really coming into this class blind.

Finally, my last course is "White Privilege and Racism in Health and Human Services," taught by none other than the Women Studies department chair, David Allen. UW students and Seattleites might have heard of the minor controversy when he was chosen in 2005 - David is a straight, white, heterosexual man. The short version of his story is that he was one of only a few candidates eligible for the position, and the only one who wanted it - so his appointment was certainly a product of the sexism (and racism) in the University system. However, what I find most important is the attitude he's taken toward his role, and his conscious efforts to counteract his unearned power as a white man. How much he succeeds, I can't say; but I respect what I've seen from him in class.

What really makes the class for me is the other students. Maybe it's because it's a graduate level course and most of the students are older than me; maybe it's because it's one of the most racially mixed classes I've ever been in (UW students, ask yourselves how many times you've been in classes with more than one or two black students, if any). It's just been great. Getting to talk about racism - really tackle the issue head-on - with other people of color has been such a release and a relief. Of course there are still problems, still instances of racism, however well-intentioned the white students; but there's a level of honesty and willingness to engage that I appreciate immensely.

So yes. I <3 my classes. But now it's time to sleep.