Brent Tibbetts

CST 4/5B

Mrs. Coupland

SAMO #4

 

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Northbrook Public Library for a viewing of “American Creed” with Steven, and David Zelkowitz whose blogs you can find at, keepingupwithdavidz.wordpress.com and 50000cities1.home.blog. I had a very eye opening and pleasant experience during this SAMO. Upon arriving and entering the auditorium there was a speaker who briefly stated what would be taking place that night including a discussion afterwards. We all watched the documentary which was about an hour long, and then attended a discussion nextdoor which was about an hour long as well. This entire event was free and was very local so driving there was not a problem at all. The Northbrook Public Library does screenings followed by discussions very often and I do recommend it to anyone who is interested. It really makes you question the role you play in society and how you can better your community or country and I believe this could benefit anyone who is willing to think.

The CST course essential question that I could really relate this experience to would be how do I learn about the world around me in a socially engaged, thoughtful, and responsible manner? I feel that for starters going to this documentary is a great and mentally engaging way to learn about the world around us. It involves a discussion after which fulfills the social aspect, and by going to the documentary it is thoughtful and responsible at the same time. The documentary makes you think about what it means to be american and how you can better your society and country. When I was thinking about it, there is a lot that I could be doing to better the people around me in many ways. I could be helping out in charity events more often, spreading positivity everywhere I go, and doing my best to educate others on this. I have a feeling that if others went to this screening, they would also feel the same way, and eventually if this spread like a wildfire, we could be living in a much better society. People would care more about what it means to be american because today, it feels like the ‘american dream’ has been forgotten. With more educated citizens around, this can be revived and we could be living in a brighter society that cares about bettering life for those around them. This is the significance behind this SAMO opportunity and why I recommend it to others.

GoC Research Blog

Brent Tibbetts

CST 4-5B

5-3-19

 

Post traumatic stress disorder is a monumental problem not just in the U.S. but globally. Approximately 5% of American adults will develop PTSD at some point in their lifetime. 8% of all adults globally will develop PTSD at some point in their lives as well (Sidran Institute, 1). This leaves a staggeringly large amount of adults around the world suffering mentally day in and day out.

PTSD forms from a traumatic event that occurs in an individual’s life. What makes it even worse is that it can occur in many forms, weather its violent outbreaks, mood changes, night terrors, or suicide, there are so many things that PTSD can lead to. In ‘Thank You For Your Service’ there are several returning veterans that are seeking help for their PTSD and they all show different symptoms and health problems. One of the things they hate the most is that no one knows what they have sacrificed because they are walking around with what they consider to be, the invisible wounds of war. The mental injuries from war in veterans have a shockingly high diagnosis rate. One of the main problems these characters have in the book, is finding a treatment center that has the room for them. Most treatment centers are already fully booked with patients and have no room to take in anymore. These are just the local centers, meaning that if the veterans want to seek help, they have to drop everything and move across the country to get help. They are forced to give up even more after they were prepared to give their life for their country. For example, Adam Schuman, who has a wife and two kids, is forced to move all the way out to California against the wishes of his wife in order to get help. Adam has been having personality changes, suicidal thoughts, and what leads him to leave, is the fact that he dropped his infant child, and felt he wasn’t good enough to be around him, and his family anymore. Solo, Adams best friends and comrade, saw symptoms including, violent outbreaks, hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, and all of these lead him to seek getting into the world of heavy drugs to take away the pain. PTSD has the potential to wreck peoples entire lives, and take them. Along with the several other challenges people with PTSD face, is dealing with the treatment process. Some places have treatment programs that take up to 9 months and some only take 4 weeks, however what works for one person, does not always work for the next so there is a great deal of experimentation when it comes to treating PTSD. Scientists are also yet to find the most effective treatment for PTSD, even though many things have been tried. One method for recovery was called Imaginational Flooding (IF) and was used in a controlled study. It was reported that “Flooding had no effect on level of depression or trait anxiety, indicating that it is a useful adjunctive treatment for PTSD but likely cannot be used as the sole vehicle of change” (Nancy Cooper, George Clum). Even with the combination of all these treatments, doctors still have no real cure. Instead, they say that it will always be a part of you, you just have to learn to lessen it, and live with it. Adam and Solo eventually learn this and because of that, Adam eventually feels its ok for him to go back home finally. It did take him several months, but he eventually got there. Some of his other friends had a tougher time getting over it, and some only dealt with it for a little while, but it shows that PTSD really does affect everyone differently.

Veterans returning from war with these invisible wounds, need to be treated just as seriously as the ones with physical wounds. As we have learned, the consequences of PTSD can wreck someone’s mind and cause them to do a variety of things they wouldn’t normally do that could put others in danger. Our recovery options for veterans with these wounds aren’t only majorly inconvenient for them and their lives, but it doesn’t even guarantee their full recovery in a set amount of time. These veterans are told to go in blindly across the country, leaving their families behind, to these treatment centers. All of this just so they can hope to get better and one day be able to return to normal life.

Throughout Citizen, there are several microaggressions that are brought up, which overall lead to a crushingly racist experience for minorities in America. The term ‘microaggression’ is almost misleading. Yes, it is a single statement or action, making it micro, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s much bigger than that. It causes people so feel discriminated against, shamed, self conscious, and it produces and overall negative experience in America. Most minorities are used to hearing these phrases or questions day after day and it becomes bothersome. As a society, we cannot simply be ok with the discomfort and discrimination others are feeling. It can be addressed, but carefully and properly or the issue will not be dealt with, instead it could fester and turn into much more than it already has become, and is becoming.

In “Citizen” by Claudia Rankine, there are many microaggressions that are mentioned and brought up, but certain ones seem to sting a little more than others. For example, this incident takes place on a plane, there is a little girl and her mother that come to your row, to where you are sitting in the window seat. The little girl assumes that you’re in the wrong spot and tells her mother. The mother knows that her daughter is wrong, but responds, “I see, I’ll sit in the middle” (12). She says it as if you’re an alien and you cant be allowed near her daughter. There is no need for it, you could have been nice to the daughter throughout the ride and made it better for the both of you, but instead the mother treats you this way, and the rest of the ride will be filled with hidden tension now. It’s hard to speak up for yourself because you don’t want to cause drama on a plane so instead you have to swallow your pride, and continue letting the mother and daughter think that it’s ok. What makes it worse, is that the daughter will now grow up and see that what she did was ok, and the cycle will continue. This idea is touched upon in “The Cycle Of Socialization” by Bobbie Harro, when she touches upon the idea that if we don’t challenge the way our society is, it will never change. This is stated in her illustration of the cycle when it reads, “The Continuation: We fail to challenge, question, or think about what’s wrong with this picture” (46). It is very easy, to realize that something is wrong with our society, and it’s easy to admit that we could change it, but where many communities fail, is in their actions. If there was someone on the plane next to the mother and they heard that, they should politely point out to her what she did, and the impact it not only has on the passenger, but on her daughter. Only then, when, as a community, we start to make a change, can we hope for this problem to get better.

Although these microaggressions seem to just happen here and there, they unfortunately occur much more. They are like mosquito bites, and we react to them the same way. Just hearing one isn’t the end of the world, it just bothers us, but when it occurs all the time, then it becomes a real problem and we desperately want it to stop. Take Serena Williams for example. She is a pro african american tennis player who has dealt with racism and discrimination in the form of microaggressions her entire career. Her coach know ahead of time how bad it would be and he wanted her to be prepared for it, so he paid kids that would watch her starting matches to yell awful things about her and her race so she would get used to it. Her entire career she has dealt with these racist outbursts and it’s gotten so bad that the referees make poor calls to make the game more difficult for Serena. Some of the commentators even realize it. “More than one commentator would remark on her ability to hold it together during these matches” (35). Eventually her anger builds and builds and she has lost it during matches before, blowing up and looking extremely angry while shouting obscenities at the refs poor calls. No one can blame her for her actions however, because they know that the referee has a terrible call just because of her skin colour. Im sure Serena at first was not very bothered by these remarks she would hear and receive, but everytime they have lead to a truly crushing and racist experience in America. As a crowd, we would have to show that we don’t stand for the racism expressed by others and the referee. Weather we just have to speak up, or protest the racism, something needs to be done for anything to change. This not only needs to be done at sports events, or airplanes, but action needs to take place in all aspects of life. People who hear these microaggressions don’t just hear them in certain places, they hear them everywhere, Everyday. As a country, we don’t want to be known for racism, and discrimination. We should want to be known for our freedom and opportunity, but with everything that’s occurring, we are slowly forgetting about that goal. It won’t take just a couple people to make a change for an issue this big. Many people need to become aware of it, and bring it to the attention of more people so we can stop it as a country.

Brent Tibbetts

Mrs. Coupland

4-5B CST

3-16-19

 

On Tuesday March 12th, I was lucky to have the opportunity to attend a presentation called: African Americans and Jews: Parallels and Divergences, at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation which you can find at, https://www.jrc-evanston.org/.

 

Professor Tony Michaels had prepared a presentation on some of the unseen tragedies and connections between Jews and African Americans and it was very eye opening. I am Jewish myself and so naturally I took a much deeper look into what he had to say and I loved it. Personally I would recommend visiting this congregation for another presentation, or going somewhere else to see Professor Michaels speak again. It is very apparent that there are certain groups that have gone through many struggles, and people are aware of the struggles African Americans have faced, as well as jews, but many people fail to see the connections between them, and many people are not conscious towards those things. For example, Jews are the first large, non-christian group in the states, and the African Americans are the only group of people ever, to have been forced into the states. Obviously both comings here were met with different challenges but they can still connect to each other. I was not consciously aware of this similarity until this SAMO allowed me to be conscious towards the world in that way.

I was able to connect this SAMO experience to some of the CST essential course questions. For example the question: How do I learn about the world around me in a socially engaged, thoughtful, and responsible manner? I was able to do so by attending this presentation and it has very clearly educated me on the world and some things people don’t see. I believe this was a socially engaged, and responsible thing to do and it really had an impact on me as a learner. It has inspired me to try to be more conscious towards other relationships that I don’t currently see in the world. Even maybe some relationships that I am not a part of. Another essential question that this presentation made me think about was, What Responsibilities Come With The Use Of a Public Voice? I thought deeply about this because what Professor Michaels was speaking about, was a very sensitive subject, given the events of the past, and he, with his public voice, really had to watch how he phrased everything to not offend anyone. I believe this is a big responsibility that comes with having a public voice.  Especially now a days, there is a lot of controversy that goes on and not a lot of people feel very comfortable talking about some, but those that do, need to make sure with everything they say, that people feel  respected.

 

Brent Tibbetts

Mrs. Coupland

4-5B CST

2-17-19

While going through this mashboard project, I learned quite a bit about the world and discovered more connections from my memoir to class content. For example, there are about 400,000 youth gang members, which is about 40% of all gang members, (helpinggangyouth.com) and they, similarly to the main character in the memoir, come from awful home lives. The reason for this is because they seek a place to fit into, to belong, and to be part of a family.

Their gang lives may not be the safest, or the best, but all these kids want, is attention and affection and love, and they can find this in gangs. For example Reymundo in “My Bloody Life” comes from not only a broken home, but from a home that has extremely abused him, both mentally and physically, from a young age. He took the abuse to save his sisters, and then eventually he was disowned and was left in chicago to fend for himself. He turns to gangs because that is his only way of finding a place to sleep. They take him in and make him a part of the gang and he soon learns that the more he kills, the more he has power, the more girls show him affection, and the more love he gains. This is why youth in gang rates are so high, and why crime rates are so high in these gangs.

Another portion of my Mashboard has quotes about how easy it becomes for these kids to kill people. Reymundo was 11 when he committed his  first crime and killed a man. This is extremely young and would be a very traumatizing event. The crime did have a big impact on Reymundo at first however he was able to find an escape through weed and alcohol. Right before him and his gang would go on a hit, he would intoxicate himself because it became easier to kill. This lifestyle is killing these kids both mentally and physically and we need to find a way to break this rotation of kids joining and killing. Gang youth has actually gotten so high in these big cities where they take place that youth gangs commit a total of 11% of all crimes in these cities. This fact cannot be taken lightly.

They turn their cities into gang war zones and slaughter each other all for respect and power and affection. If these kids lived in stable homes they wouldn’t seek this and do absolutely anything for it. When Ray describes the great feeling of happiness that he gets, the reader truly understands that for him, with the way his family treated him, this is truly his only option for happiness. Eventually Ray gets old enough and is able to go to college and that is how he finds his escape from the gangs, and a start to a new, good life. So in the end Ray was able to find his way into a good future, but for most kids they end up dead in crimes, stuck in gangs their whole lives, or uneducated and unemployed. The outside research shows the sheer amount of kids who are involved and kids who are being killed and committing crimes. The reason why I put pictures of kids with guns on my Mashboard is to shock viewers. These kids are no older than 10, and they all have real guns, pointing them at each others heads. No kid at that age should ever have a gun in their hand, let alone unsupervised and with several around. There are also pictures showing police getting involved, because this happens frequently and many kids and gang members get arrested and mistreated by the police all the time. I also decided to include 2 pictures next to each other that show the lives kids could be living, and the one the are living in gangs. One picture of the right shows kids walking through the hallway of a school, all with clean cloths on and backpacks filled with school supplies. The next picture shows a youth gang, all shirtless and dirty, leaning against a wall with graffiti all over it. I hope it makes the viewer think, which life would I want for myself? Or for the kids in these cities?

Recently I had the opportunity of visiting the Illinois Holocaust Museum with Cally Tucker who’s website you can find at: https://callyscstblog.wordpress.com/

We went to the temporary VR experience called: The Last Goodbye which was a very emotional storytelling of a man’s experience in a concentration camp. He had lost his mother, father, and sister to the camp and he is his family’s sole survivor. The virtual reality factor really made the experience quite unique, and eye opening. There are a couple scenes where you are actually inside of a cattle car, inside a gas chamber, and sitting inside the cramped concentration camp bunks. After experiencing that it really makes you much more conscious of what it must have been like for the survivor. When you turn your head you hear his voice changing directions so the effect of him really being there and talking to you makes it so much more emotional. Not everyone has the conscious ability to fully take in what has happened and how emotional it may be but the VR really forces your consciousness to come out. In addition to the experience making me much more conscious of how horrific these events must be like, this experience has also helped me to develop my own ethical reasoning. After participating in this unique experience, I feel my ethical reasoning was able to further develop in the sense that I can truly understand how heartbreaking human relationships may be. This man lost his whole family to these horrible camps and all he has to remember his family, are their ashes in the Majdanek memorial. Ethically I now think more of what I can do to help anyone through what they are going through. I feel now that I have more of a ethical responsibility to make everyone happier. This has also become part of my universe of obligation. I am blessed to live the life that I do, so whatever I can do, like donating to charity or helping someone through a tough time, is now an obligation of mine, and it fills me with joy if I can accomplish those things. This experience also made me think back to reading “Willing to be Disturbed” becuase in order to have obtained this growth, I must accept the truth of what happened and realize how terrible these crimes were. I had to accept how disturbing the issues were before I could really grow from the experience, and this concept is discussed in the book as well. The VR experience really opened my world in ways I didn’t know would happen. For example feeling cramped in the cattle car makes me appreciate how much room I have in my room, kitchen, house, and even classrooms. Overall this experience has really opened my eyes to the true horrors of what happened during The Holocaust. On top of that I was able to change some of my ethical reasoning and I found many ways that this experience made me think back to CST. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone.

 

No one is the same, however the goal is to have them be all the same way. Conscious is defined as The sense or conscious of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one’s own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good.

Having a good conscious is not always common. It is hard to find someone who has everyone else’s interests in front of their own. “It is impossible for any two people to ever see things exactly the same way” (Willing to be Disturbed).

 

Being ourselves is what we all want to do, but there is potential for bad inside of everyone and we only want to see the good. “Awareness of the limits of one’s ethical insight, including sensitivity to circumstances in which one’s native egocentrism is likely to function self-deceptive: sensitivity to bias and prejudice in, and limitations of one’s viewpoint” (Ethical Reasoning, 35).

 

There are many factors that would have to be overcome in order to have a good conscious. However some of these things that we need to overcome may not be that easy. Some of us have had negative morals and prejudice thoughts installed in us from a young age. When parents have specific viewpoints and they share them with their kids because they believe its the right thing, those kids will now grow up with the same viewpoint. It’s a vicious cycle that needs to be stopped from all ages.

 

“We are inundated with unquestioned and stereotypical messages that shape how we think and what we believe about others and ourselves” (Cycle of Socialization, 49). It is clear that these messages are spread to just about everyone and they are even unquestioned. As a society we should all know that this is wrong, but yet there is nothing we are actively doing to stop it. The prevention of this doesn’t always need to start from the youth, instead it should be starting in the parents that are leading the youth to believe these things.

 

This racism and prejudice can get so bad that one racial group will actually have benefits over the other. “I have listed conditions of daily experience that I once took for granted. Nor did I think of any of these perquisites as bad for the holder” (White Privilege, 6). Most people are not consciously aware of the privilege that is happening, but at the same time, it is undeniable. The ones who feel it the most are those that are greatly affected by the privilege unbalance and their conscious is in a much better place because of it. However this does not mean that in order for everyone to have a good conscious, we need to make them at a disadvantage. It simply means we need ways to educate them on different it really is and how to balance privilege around the globe.

This key idea is described perfectly in Ethical Reasoning, “Being consciously aware and putting yourself in place of others to genuinely understand them” (35). It is all about putting yourself in place of others. Think about how they feel, and how you can make a conscious effort to change things. Change will not happen unless everyone can realize that there needs to be change, and then a movement can start and grow and flourish into something beautiful. These large goals always seem like they are much too big to achieve but it takes time.

 

Having a good conscious, and good conscious thoughts starts with awareness. You can only make a change if you are aware of the issue, and you must be aware of how others will react to the change you are making. Awareness is a simple concept but much harder achieved than most perceive it to be. There is much to be aware of, and it seems that everytime you become aware of one issue, another stems from that. However we need to become aware as a group of people that way the largest issues seem that much smaller. With a group awareness is also much easier. It is said that two heads are better than one, and three is better than two, so with this theory the more people you get to support the idea, the easier overcoming obstacles will become.

To have a good conscious there are many things that will need to take place, and not every option has been explored yet so there is a real possibility to change all of our conscious. Having a good conscious is being aware of everyone’s best interest, and doing what is best for everyone even if it isn’t the very best for you personally.  This is a very hard thing to do and many people are having trouble with this which is why there is such an unbalance of privilege in cities and communities around the world. It is never too late to make a change though, with groups of people who are consciously aware of this issue change can be made.

(848)

I live in a nice home, go to a good school, freely practice my religion, and am guaranteed a college education.

Sometimes we hesitate to listen for differences because we don’t want to change.

He is really a whole colony of persons, of people met all during a life.

Targets are disenfranchised, exploited, and victimized by prejudice, discrimination, and other structural obstacles.

Groups include disabled people, Jews, elders, youth, and people living in poverty.

Many of us choose to do nothing because it is (for a while) easier to stay with what is familiar.  This learned helplessness is often called internalized oppression because we have learned to become our own oppressors from within.

To the extent that we fail to interrupt this cycle we keep the assumptions, the problems, and the oppression alive.

In order to succeed, change needs to be strengthened, monitored, and integrated into the ritual of daily life. Just like anything new, it needs to be taken care of, learned about, “debugged”, and modified as needed.

Yet I believe we will succeed in changing this world only if we can think and work together in new ways.

Curiosity is what we need.

We don’t have to let go of what we believe, but we do need to be curious about what someone else believes.

I know I need a better understanding of what’s going on.

This past month, I had the pleasure of visiting the Museum of Contemporary Art. I visited with Taylor Davison, who you can find at: http://davsionsdandydecalogue.wordpress.com

Visiting the museum helped me answer some of our class essential questions. For example now that I have visited, I have learned about the world around me in a socially engaging, and responsible manner. Having walked the museum and observing all of the art exhibits, I can now understand what the modern view of art is like. I have learned what kind of art is valued in society today from completing this SAMO. One exhibit shows how art and science have combined to make an efficient and beautiful, plant watering system. 

This piece of art shows me how technologically advanced we are becoming. However when it comes to the crimes that are taking place around the world, this piece wouldn’t add a lot in terms of getting rid of peoples hate. The only way this piece could do that is by gathering many people of many different backgrounds and allowing them all to come together to admire this piece of art.

While observing this sculpture, I realized the way that the person was sitting. It sparked a thought that if everyone could just sit alone like this, and process everything going on around the world, and in their lives, maybe people would make better decisions. There is a lot of rushed decision making in my everyday life, so maybe I need to be more like this statue every once in a while. Sit calmly, by myself, with just my thoughts, and process everything going on in my life. 

Overall this trip was a very eye opening experience. Going with my fellow classmate Taylor helped me understand the art much better. We were able to bounce our ideas off each other and we both learned a lot together. We look forward to going on more SAMO’s soon!