Self Evaluation

I came into freshman seminar confused. At first I thought the class was going to be  structured very differently than it actually was, and just that alone was enough to make me not like the class. But over the weeks, with the different scholarship from all over the world coming in and lecturing us on the importance of contemporary issues, I began to take my first opinion of the class and change it a little. I realized that there are things at hand greater than myself, and one of the greatest lessons I learned in the class is reaching back while moving forward. Turning around after my success and helping those less fortunate, or those that want to be successful in life. I learned that if I don't advance the community around me that my success will have been for nothing, for what use is a successful man if he has success alone and does nothing for others? There's no values in that. I looked at some department heads and excellent professors get up and deliver impassioned speeches, that really showed how involved they were with helping others and advising us, the class of 2010. So I was very grateful for that. The class also taught me a little about group work and research, that through the combined effort of many individuals from many different fields that it's still possible to solve today's problems, from many different perspectives. I learned that with a common goal in sight, that any group of people can achieve success if they work hard enough through good means.

self evaluation

To be honest, When i signed up for this class thought it would be a waste of time due to prior students filling my head with their own opinions about the class. After the first lecture with dr.Carr I immediately fell in love with the course. There were spme days that were very boring I have to admit, but all in all this class was very beneficial in my first semester at Howard University. I experienced some of the finest teachers at Howard without having to take their courses and I recieved advice on what to expect and what to do to reach my ultimate goal of being a Howard University Graduate

Presentation 2

I walked into class today not really feeling thee whole freshman seminar presentation thing. I had a stressful night the day before and I did not get that much rest. The group that was presenting was speaking about stress so I payed attention to what the group had to say because I was going through a lot of stress in my life during that time. Turns out, the group touched on several basises of stress and how college students are more than likely to be more stressed than any other people. We go through a lot of different trials and tribulations throughout our college careers and it takes a lot to succeed with all of the odds against us. The group then passed out some test for everyone to take to rate their stress levels and most of us recieved high scores due to the amount of stress in our lives today.

presentation 1

This presentation started with a video of a girl who thought she was a dog. The video basically showed how we are products of our environment. The little girl was raised by dogs so now she crawls,barks, and eats just as a dog would. The video showed how if we are socially deprived y the human rce and raised by animals, we too can begin to think we are savage. The video freaked me out because I was puzzled to see how a human being could think they re an animal.

Faculty Interview

I interviewed Coach Travis Lyons of the Howard Mens Basketball Team on how he felt about race in sports. Coach Travis uttered that race plays a big role in sports in the pros and definitely in college sports. Blacks are unable to express themselves as individuals in sports because they are looked upon as thugs or uneducated individuals. Coach Travis also said that the black coach is definitely rare nowadays in sports although they are always interviewed to meet certain quotas. This does not mean that black coaches are not qualified but it means that black coaches are frowned upon in professional sports and also in collegiate sports. Lastly Coach Travis spoke on how race plays n important role in salary as well. A white pitcher in baseball will be paid more than a black pitcher of the same quality due to race.

African burial ground

The African burial ground was a very interesting and informative field trip. Firstly, New York was a great experience in itself. The scenery and the environment was a great experience. At first, I initially just wanted to go shopping in New York and that was mostly why I went on the trip. My opinion was suddenly changed once we embarked on our journey at the African Burial Ground. The things that were talked about were very interesting and I learned that much more about my African forefathers. Another thing that interested me as well was the video shown inside of the building about how the slaves lived decades ago. The sculptures seemed so realistic that I thought they were regular people. After the African Burial ground I went shopping in Harlem and found a lot of things that fit my taste. All in all, the trip was a splendid success.

Dr. Carrs lecture

Dr Carr introduced us about the African history. The history helped me open up on different parts I f Africa. He talked about the language. He was so intrigued about the African culture he began to talk about the African language.  The different words he was bringing up shows how important the culture was. The words he talked about I never even heard them before. He also said that our ancestors went through so much.  They were being carried in chains on ships to be taken to work in the fields. They had it hard and I wish it wasn’t them that had to go through it. They Growing up I never even learned African Literature because my teachers never told me about it. In class we would always talk about the Civil War and the Vietnam War but never anything about how our ancestors struggled just to be here. I was amazed how he preached the African literature. He was so strong about it. To this day I’m still amazed and I want to be in one of his classes so that way I can understand more about the subject. I enjoyed this lecture a lot which is a reason why I liked freshman seminar for the semester. 

Self Reflection

During the beginning of freshman seminar I thought the class was going to be stupid and dumb. I didn’t think I was going to learn anything in this class. I really thought this class was going to be pointless because I took freshman seminar in high school and it was exactly like that. In the middle freshman seminar started opening up my mind and I started to become intrigued in the class. I enjoyed the lectures especially the one that Dr. Ghabasgin talked about. That really showed me what I needed to do and how to treat the lady right. I also liked the lecture when the guy came dressed up in a dashiki, I thought that was pretty cool how the school blended in with the African culture. When I first came to Howard I didn’t think teachers would come to class dressed up in African Clothing I thought it was going to be way different than that. I enjoyed the blend of the two,the new age versus the old age. I liked his lecture and how he used music from the ojays and put it in his lecture. In the end, I think I struggled with the most was listening to the lectures and not understanding what they were talking about. It seemed as if it was going in one ear and out the other. I can’t believe how I attended every class and took a note that wasn’t like me in high school. I enjoyed the trip and I had an amazing time in the class and I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity. 

Student Presentations

      The first group opened up with a video of a person who thought they were a dog. This person's parents were killed at a young age and she was raised by dogs. She thought she was a dog so much that she walked on all fours, barked, howled, licked herself, and even scratched herself like a dog. This young girl's behavior was very wild and aggressive. Children that grow up in these tough situations with a lack of human community end up socially traumatized. It brought up the question of humanity and what is it that makes us human? Is it our community and culture? The students presenting this topic were mainly psychologists and wanted to help children such as this to figure out how to reverse the process that got them the way they they are.I enjoyed the presentation and how they did their project.

Another group presentation:
 I don’t remember the name of this group but they talked about STDs. The group started off with how you can be safe and what other ways that can keep you from getting them. They then talked about fashion and how it plays a role dealing with sex. When people dress a certain way it can explain how the person is and how they carry themselves. They say younger girls get approached by older guys more because of the way they dress. Sometimes they dress to old for their age group. For guys it doesn’t work that way. Guys are portrayed by the way they carry themselves but it doesn’t make them look any older by the way they dress.  I enjoyed this presentation and it gave n=me knowledge that I didn’t know before.

 

 

Group Presentation

I watched couples and here’s one that I liked. The group was called Berry Man Johnson and they talked about how they lack on teaching African American children African literature. They explained in several topics The one I liked the most was in the media. I noticed that it was true. They lack on teaching African American children literature or even TV shows. The shows on television are Dora Explorer and Nnikawhow, but there isn’t any show teaching children African language or anything about the African culture. There so many Spanish shows but there isn’t any on African language or culture for that matter and I don’t understand that. I also like the graphics of their presentation. I also liked their video that they had it had me intrigued. It’s funny how they talk about learning the African culture and studies but the program at this school is being cut. I don’t understand why the program is being cut, when there are so many people wanting to know about African culture. Next year studies are going to have to pick their majors wisely since there isn’t going y to be any majors that they want.  I think its ridiculous with people having to choose their majors without actually wanting to do that with their life. 

African Burial Ground

I didn’t want to go to the African burial ground in the beginning. I was so tired and I didn’t get any sleep that night either. I stayed up for the whole 24hrs and I was wide awake during the trip. The bus ride was all horrible, it was so hot and uncomfortable I didn’t enjoy it at all. When we got off the bus that’s when it started. I enjoyed when Dr. Carr talked about our ancestors and how he poured water on the ground to ask for the respect of our ancestors. He told us to say ashay to let them know we are asking for respect to come into their territory. We then headed to the sculpture part of the museum. It was the different parts of and what the Africans did. We then went inside the museum and we looked at the different bodies and how they were messed up during the burial ground. We looked at this presentation and it explained how the Africans lived their lives and the struggles they had to go through. I was shocked on how much they experienced I was thankful that I didn’t have to go through that in my life. I was glad that I went on the trip and I enjoyed myself.

Albert Ellis 

Omulabi and community resoponsibility

Walking into Freshman Seminar today, I felt like this lecture was going to be good and in the end I was right. Dr. Gbadegeshin came and talked to the class told a common African folktale.  He talked about a girl and a guy who was in a relationship. The two love each other but the guy treated the girl wrong in every way possible. Even though they had arguments the girl stuck through with it until she had enough. She left the man and took all her stuff with her. Eventually the guy lost all of his money and he started looking for the girl he lost. He traveled through mountains and rivers looking for the girl that he thought he would never find. He found her and he told her that he wanted her back and she said no if he doesn’t change the way we treated her. The moral of the story is to treat the girl right that your with because you never know what might happen in the long run. He then jumped into the drums and what it means. I liked how he transferred the language of the drums to English terms.  I thought it was really unique how he did it. I hope he comes back to the class, I enjoyed his lecture.

 Albert Ellis

Second Blog on a Group Presentation

The second group I took notes on had a presentation about stress and how it particularly affects Howard University's students in the negative ways. They first took the base dictionary definition of: A mental or physical strain that comes from outside factors that can be environmental, personal or physical as well. They expounded on that with some symptoms of overstress like lack of sleep, frequent urination, and dry mouth and irritability. They passed out a test, and as a part of the Freshman/Sophomore group, I accordingly scored over 300 points, meaning that I am super stressed in my life right now. According to the group, stress reduction methods also correlate with cardiovascular disease, and they can reduce the risk of getting it by 75%. To me that was pretty fascinating, knowing that simple reduction techniques could effectively stop a life threatening risk like heard attacks. They talked about reducing stress since it cannot be entirely stopped like other performance damaging things such as diseases and viruses. Time management seemed to play a humongous role in this reducing stress portion. More than one of their scholarship sources said so, and they also reiterated it with their presentation. Other factors were actually asking professors for help, and to just be simply organized. In fact their scholarship wrote a book entitled "Stress 101" I think Dr. Livingston helped their powerpoint prove its point.

First Blog on a Group Presentation

The first group I took notes for was a group that focused on the psychosocial aspects of 'wild children'. Some children grow up without any exposure to humans at all, which is a truly saddening and damaging experience. The children take on animalistic traits from a very young age and as a result, exhibit a slowened thinking in human actions. The group showed a video of a young girl acting as a dog or wolf, even drinking from a spigot like apparatus in dog-like fashion. She crawled on all fours and howled to mimic her 'family' at the time. Since young age is the primary time of brain growth and development it makes a big difference that this girl was not around any humans at that time. She missed some very important lessons, and has even missed speech. The group talked about relief programs in the UK and the US for children such as these, raised by animals or in complete isolation from humans for the beginning and very crucial years of their lives. These programs try to use methods of psychotherapy in order to get the child to regain their speech, so that they would be able to express themselves and live as normal human beings with practice. In conclusion they stated that in general more awareness toward children like these would heighten the chance of their survival along with donations to organizations that help these children. These children are humans as well and just because certain conditions forced them to grow up in a different way does not mean that they shouldn't be able to go and get normal education and jobs like everyone else.

African Burial Ground

Going to see the African Burial Ground in New York City was a unique experience for me as well as the whole freshman class in my opinion. When we arrived there, we poured libation to our ancestors buried within the seven mounds, each containing 60 bodies. We poured to many things in African American tradition, for example Those who came before us, those who come after us, the rising of  the sun, and the slaves who toiled to get us where we are today. The second libation we poured was a mixture of Atlantic Ocean water and sand from El Mina, one of the caves where the first humans emerged in Africa. I learned that often, before being taken away from their homeland, that many Africans would eat dirt in order to maintain that special connection to Africa, the motherland. The burial ground itself, which first documented use is 1712, was used until 1991. Sonny a strong leader, organized the people of New York to a mass protest to the defiling, and building over the land. In the end, even though there was only a compromise, because of Sonny, we succeeded in getting that burial ground memorial there today. Part of the memorial was an unfinished pyramid, in which we, the present generation, are tasked with finishing. Inscribed on it were the words "For all those who were lost, for all those who were stolen, for all those who were left behind, for all those who were not forgotten." Our guide, part African himself, described each of the 21 Sankofa symbols. Seven for the describing the deity, seven for worshiping the deity, and seven describing family values. The one I have heard about before is the heart inscribed on the pyramid, which he also said is depicted as a bird moving forward, while also looking back.

As I walked into class late I realized that Dr. Williams was our speaker I was very shocked because she was the speaker in my class the day before. At first glance, I was very intimidated by Dr. Williams for some odd reason. Dr. Williams spoke about the basic components of research. The first one would be to state the problem or challenge, that includes to advance in knowledge, to solve a problem. The next step was literature review. The third was methodology, which included how you were going to retrieve the information you chose to use, such as is the information coming from primary sources or secondary sources. The fourth is called framework and that is how you choose to present your information such as in a report or a power point. Fifth, is the development of the thesis, and the last is the conclusion which you should discuss limitations you and your group came to during the project or any last thoughts. Afterward, she spoke on on what Freshman Seminar was all about and what our blogs should entail. She read some of the blogs that have been writte and some of the blogs that caught her eye. All in all, it was a good speech and i felt very motivated to do research and better myself not only as a student, but as a human being

It was a regular Wednesday morning and i was definitely not ecstatic about attending freshman seminar. The night before was definitely not one of the best but i still had to wake up and drag my butt to class. When Dr. Sesus was introduced, I thought to myself "oh great, here we go again". After listening to his enthusiasm in his little "HU!, You know!", my attention was quickly shifted and i was very attentive.Dr. Sesun explained African origins and the meaning of Iwa. Iwa means the wisdom of application of knowledge to service the community. A person of character earns the respect of peers. Iwa also means existence. Extrinsicaly Iwa is the responsibilty to the self. One can remake themselves through education. Iwa means the responsibility to the community. Immorality is the crown of existence. Iwa also means character. Iwa Iewa means that good character is healthy as well as internal beauty. Iwa lesin says that good character is the essence of religion. Iwa endures. Dr. Sesun also taught us the Instructions of Ptahhotep in addition to the Principles of Ma'at. He basically stated that a man of character is a man of wealth. The coffin text date back to 2200 to 1800 BCE. They were written for the tombs of nobley. The coffin texts contain themes of reward and punishment in the afterlife. Ties that bind ancient Eygpt to the African world are physical, spiritual, and philosophical both ethical and metaphysical. Dr. Sesun tells us to be the dew drop of water. The dew drop represents gentleness.

Research and Methodlogy: Inscription as a liberating practice

      Dr. Dana Williams presented on Research and Methodology: inscription as a Liberating practice. She began the presentation first by discussing how we as students should seek knowledge and how free we can be intellectually by performing research. Then Dr. Williams went on to discuss the ways in which the basic components of research  are performed. First state the problem/challenge by consideration. Consider the purpose of your research by asking if yourself if you're planning to inquire, advance knowledge, or solve a problem. Consider the reasonableness of your research by asking if it requires special types of skills or if it is specific enough. The second basic component that was touched on was  the current state of research. In this state of research one is to ask what has already been stated about the current subject, if the information will reveal new knowledge, and what information is needed to complete the research. The third component of research was the Methodology, in which one is to conduct research by conceptualizing a research design, determining a method of data collection, and considering which disciplinary approach should inform the research. The Framework was the fourth basic component that was described as the structure and the way in which data was displayed from the research. The stucture may be expository, informational, or persuasive. Data may be displayed by power point, handouts, charts, graphs, videos, and depending on the audience that the information is being presented to. The fifth component of research was the thesis- how it is articulated, details are provided, and the structure of the thesis. The last component of research was the conclusion- what new insights were available after the research had been conducted and what future study should the study undertake.

Freshman Seminar, Final Lecture (Research and Methodology: Inscription as Liberating Practice)

Speaking today was Dr. Dana Williams, whose concentration in English led her to write a book in 2005, teach four years at Louisiana State College and to publish in the well-known Langston Hughes Review. Along with all of that, she has edited or co-edited four popular books. Dana drew on the purpose of Freshman Seminar, which ultimately is to stimulate and expand our minds when it comes to doing independent research, whether for a class or not. It also is implied that once we understand how important it is to fully appreciate academic understanding, then research does not become a droll, tedious task, but rather we see it anew as a liberating, curious and fun experience. We should be glad to expand our knowledge in more than just areas that appeal to our specific fields of study. Dana went through Six Research Methods, which were State the Problem, Literary Review, Methodology, Framework, Developing a Thesis, and Conclusion. The one method that interested me the most was Framework, and how it focuses on the structure of your project, whether or not it will stand tall or crash to the ground. If your framework is shaky, then presenting the project with an unstable framework will lead to a shaky performance, and thus a decreased experience of learning for your audience. Framework also concentrates on how will you display data? A PowerPoint or a brochure or maybe even a video? To me, making an important choice like this could very well change the outcome of your project. For example, if your audience is a group of High School students, then most likely they are not going to want to read a boring handout and would prefer a PowerPoint or video.

Freshman Seminar, 5th Lecture (Omoluabi, Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility)

Today's speaker was Segun Gbedegesin, a renowned expert in European and African ethics, who wrote a book in 1991 advancing the popular concepts of personal identity and destiny. Gbedegesin told us the story of Iwa, and how unlike Orunmila, we cannot afford to lose her, because she represents good character and self-identity. It is said that a man who loses their self, i.e. their identity or character will get nowhere in this world, and I believe that to be true. We talked a lot about the Egyptian God Ma'at, who stood for justice, truth and order. Western society took Egyptian philosophy (an interesting aspect of this is that even the Hebrews took some ideas from the concepts of the Principles of Ma'at, which acted as a moral and righteous code for the Egyptians that could've been used for the 10 commandments), and combined it with moral ethics. The Principles of Ma'at in specific were widely followed by the Egyptian people, for angering the God of truth and justice was not a good idea. Another set of texts around that time was the instructions of Ptahhotep, which focused on bettering oneself with character and leadership qualities. Written on ancient Egyptian coffins were texts with themes of punishment and reward in the afterlife. It is said that in addition to the principles of Ma'at that the coffin texts also had influence on the 10 commandments. Today's lecture's focus was Omuluabi, which is a person of character who works constantly to help themselves along with the community, constantly bettering everyone even if it takes sacrifice. The other focus was Iwa, which put simply is existence, with centers around good character and religion.