Lectures, discussion, dialogue.

BSU brought Gloria Steinem to campus and her speech was quite cool. Packed room. Even "pro-life" feminists outside holding anti-abortion signs. Very interesting. Most people in the room seemed quite agreeable to the points Steinem raised but some tried to ask questions that appeared (to me) to be attempts at illiciting a specific, defensive response. All of this made me think about what it might feel like if the shoe were on the other foot (oh, however cliche it is to say). I imagine that if I had been sitting at an Ann Coulter "lecture" I would probably feel as defensive and annoyed as the people who called Steinem's words "degrading." Do you think people who disagree with a speaker's views tend to go to listen to them JUST to dispute them or bitch about what they say or do you think there's opportunity there to change or challenge the perception? Gloria Steinem's lecture also made me think about how sometimes people try to use your words (or words in general) against you. Eventually, I would like to see a direct challenge to that whole notion of a seperation between activism and academia. Too many times professors are labeled as "activist" or as having an "agenda" if they merely present an issue contrary to or unfavorable to the status quo. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. A good professor will allow you to figure out the issue for yourself and give you the space to prove your position intelligently if you disagree and to back up your position even if you agree. Or at least that's my understanding of the ideal academic exchange. I would not sit for one minute in a class where a professor would demean my efforts at learning or push an agenda on me. I have had not yet had to thankfully. Perhaps the dynamic shifts a bit when it's a speaker up there for an hour and a half as opposed to sixteen weeks of educational exchange. I imagine too it must be difficult for people to hear someone presenting a view that may feel personally attacking to them or attacking their religious/moral/familial beliefs. I suppose though that at that point you would want to either put aside your biases to examine what is being presented to you CRITICALLY or at least work through your biases with the same CRITICAL THOUGHT that you want to unleash in "defense" of your views. "Curiouser and Curiouser..."

Off to read. peace!







"Have the strength to just sit inside your sadness
even if you're sitting there alone"--"Icarus" Ani DiFranco