Jael's Blog: Reflecting on College So Far

Now that I am in college I have a different goal that I had in high school. In high school I was the type of person who was accustomed to getting a 4.0, but now I find that I am not as interested in my GPA but in becoming a competent music therapist. This new goal has changed how I study and my feelings about school.

In high school I was content with the half-hearted work that I did to recieve an A. I would simply regurgitate what the teacher said in form of an answer on the test. I was more of a disciplined worker than a hard worker. My study habits have caused me to leave high school with little sustaining knowledge of the subjects I did not care of about but recieved As in. But now education in no longer a task in which I am forced to take part of but now a means to fulfill a personal dream of using my musical talents to help others. I now find myself content with recieving constructive feedback from a teacher in response to a test I failed or understanding a concept that will aid in me becoming more efficient as a therapist.

Now that I am in college I feel like I am living my future and not thinking about it.

Research and Methodology

In this week's freshman seminar class, professor Dana Williams spoke to the class about research and methodology. I learned some important things during this seminar. The first thing I learned is that before beginnig research, one should plan out their methodology. Methodology includes determining how to show your research, and how you are going to go about collecting it. One should also consider the audience that will be reading your writing. The next thing I learned deals with framework. Framework is how you decide to structure your data. This is important because different types of data require different representations, such as graphs or pie charts. Lastly I learned that in college, students are giving the opportunity to present new data instead of sumerizing things all of the time. This is important because new research should confirm or deny previous findings and expand on those concepts. Dr. Williams' seminar was very informative.

Newark

The year of 1916 started a phenomenon that once started, could not be stopped. This phenomenon is known as The Great Migration. Until 1970, African Americans from the South packed their belongings and headed to the North in search of a new opportunistic life. Southern Blacks yearned to escape the Jim Crow Laws of the South that disallowed them the rights that the North allowed. Six million Blacks took advantage of this trending movement and made the North their new home. Specifically, Blacks settled in cities like Chicago, Baltimore, New York City, Washington DC, and Newark, NJ. These cities were eventually overflowing with Blacks who were trying to make a living with either: 1) the little pay they were receiving from their jobs or 2) no job at all. Cities like this began to become overcrowded and filled with people living in poverty. This is the start of what we know as the “ghettos”.

Growing up in Newark, NJ, I have always looked around and wondered how we got where we are today. Studying the Great Migration in my classes have given me new insight and a new appreciation for my hometown.

Jael's blog on The African Burial Ground

The trip to New York to see the African Burial Ground was life changing. I grew up in a predominantly African American community and the first school I had attended was an afro-centric Christian academy and therefore the trials and tribulations of slavery and the middle passage was nothing new to me. However, on the trip, specifically during the liabation ceremony, I was exposed to how other people have come to grips with their own blackness. I chose to not participate in the liabation ceremony by repeating the words and clapping my hands because many aspects of the ritual was contrary to my own spiritual beliefs. This experience catapulted me into maturity because I forced myself to respect the sacredness the ritual held for others while still standing my ground.

Later on when we were allowed to experience Harlem for four hours without chaperones I was able to excercise more adult maturity. Time management and social discretion was key in a strange and busy city. There was a situation where a man walked around whispering in people's ear "new movies, new movies". If I was the type of person who was interested in getting a "good deal" on bootleg movies, it could have ended very bad for me provided I was caught during the transaction or the man was an undercover police officer. I doubt the police officers would release me in time to catch the bus back to Howard University.

The trip to New York was very good for me. It strengthened my self-concept.

Jael's Blog on "Miss Ever's Boys"

I was absolutely blown away by the performance of the actors in Howard's "Miss Ever's Boys" production. I was already somewhat familiar with the goings on of the Tuskegee experiment and so the historical backbone of the play did not move me as much as the actors' interpretion of their characters. I was shocked just going into the Ira Cambridge theatre because I did not realize so many people would attend. I arrived twenty minutes early because I was informed by one of the set workers that they had over sold tickets on Wednesday. To see so many Howard students supporting the arts was amazing, expecially since I had come from a high school where students were not even aware that we had an art program and opted to only attend the athletic events. But anyway, that actors did a great job, especially the actress who played Miss Ever's. At the end of the play many people stood up and clapped for a long time but I did not because I was in awe of the great performance.

Ms. Evers' Boys

This Wednesday, the theatre arts students at Howard University hosted a play called Ms. Evers Boys. Too much of my peers' surprise, the play was very intriguing and kept our attention the entire play. The play was a unique tie between deception and love.

The play starred a woman by the name of Ms. Evers, who was a nurse fighting the spread of the sexually transmitted disease, syphilis. She specifically works on a group of boys who were determined to pursue their passion as a musical group. This group won contests and were on at an all time high. They showed their appreciation to Nurse Evers by calling themselves "Ms. Evers' Boys". Then a white doctor, Dr. Douglas, came along who was very accepting of the group, and the group came to trust him. He drew their blood to test for the epidemic in their community, syphilis, and as it turns out, they all had it. Nurse Evers' and Dr. Douglas have a meeting with a black doctor who convinces them to use these boys as the subjects to their experiment. They would use these boys are the control group, meaning they would leave them with the disease, and treat the others in the community to examine the difference.

Years later, the effects of the illness began to kick in on the dancer, Willie. Willie's leg began to give out on him and he was having a hard time dancing. Even with his determination and inspiration from his grandfather, his dancing wasn't the same. It was then that it hit the boys that they needed penicillin, but Ms. Evers convinced the boys that that would be a bad idea and might send them to an early grave. As the effects got worst, one member of the group, Caleb, decided that he wanted the penicillin anyway and got it at a local clinic, while the remaining members listened to Ms. Evers.

Things continued to get worse and Benjamin died from the disease, while Hodman died from ingesting mold that he was convinced would make him feel better. Willie was no longer able to walk without a cane, while Caleb was doing perfectly fine. When Caleb informed Willie on the experiment, Willie approached the doctors and made them realize how they had ruined his life, and took away the one thing he loved the most -dancing. No apologies of monetary compensation could make up for the damage the doctors had done to their boys, both mentally and physically.

Knowledge is Power

This week's speaker, Leslie Fenwick, introduced the class with a questionnaire that she has given students before. The questionnaire asked questions like "What percentage of crack cocaine users are white?" and "What subgroup of twelfth graders deem drug use unacceptable?" The answers amongst the class varied. The people we were sure about their answers were wrong, and very few were correct. The point of this questionnaire was to prove to ignorance of college freshman to their community, as well as to inform us on the information that we should know.

The facts were shocking. As it turns out, sixty-eight percent of crack cocaine usage is among whites, and seventy-two percent of powder cocaine usage is among whites. This question shows the under estimation of our people in society because people a quick to refer to blacks as "crackheads" and "crack babies". Another fact is that mostly African American twelfth graders deem drug use unacceptable; In addition, African American males tend to score higher on the SAT (and other standardized tests) than African American females. This raises another question in our society that continues to go unanswered. If boys are scoring higher on these tests, why are they underrepresented in college?

A lot of people, black or white, like to blame the downfall of today's society on African Americans. However, these people fail to know the facts of their community. We have to teach our young children the FACTS, so that we can push against misconception in our country.