Event: The Defamation Experience

Another Event on Campus I attended thi Semester was the Defamation Experience. This event was on a Monday night in the Student Union Ballroom.  This is a program which is put on at schools throughout the country which touches on the topics of race, class, gender, religion, and the law. The event start out with a play of a courtroom case. The case follows a black woman who is suing a white man for defamation. When she went to his home for an interview for a project for her company, he then accused her of stealing hi watch to her other main business partner, who then in turn decided to use a different company, and ultimately her business failed. Each person involved in the case gives their side of the story along with the Lawyers as would follow a normal court case. Then at the end, rather than having the judge or a acting jury make the decision on whether or not the case was defamation, the audience becomes the jury and makes the decision.
The case itself was interesting in that it utilized it’s actors and their identities in ways that really made you think. For example, the lawyer defending the white man who was being sued was also a woman of color. This brought in another level of the aspects of societal oppression which exist and how they are also internalized. They provided compelling arguments for both sides of the story that really made the audience think about how they would vote, even if they came in with a predetermined idea on who they would vote for.
The discussion jury aspect made it different than any other play or play-like event that I had attended in that it brought the audience into the situation. I found it really interesting to hear each person's take on the story and how they felt throughout the performance. There was a lot of talk about identity and the process of relating to the characters and how that impacted a person’s vote. Multiple people explained that while the different arguments made, made them think, they still felt a connection to specific characters who they related to and ultimately felt that they would still vote in favor of the person they related to.
I think this event therefore also ties back into our anchor of identity and its importance. Throughout this event, not only were the ways in which identities experience power and exploitation in our society expressed, it also showed the connection people have with their identities and how they ultimately can make you relate to another person.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODmrhFggVh0

Event: Dirty Computer Screening by Janelle Monae

One on campus event I went to this semester was a screening of Janelle Monae’s Dirty Computer in Gaige 100. Dirty Computer is a visual album or an “Emotion Picture”. While I had watched it before, on my own laptop, watching it projected onto the big screen in Gage 100 was a completely different experience. The film focuses on themes of race, sexuality, gender, and an overall criticism of American Society.  The film follows the character of Jane 57821 as she is captured by the government and her memories are being wiped away since she is a “dirty computer”. As this is happening her memories play and you see her partying with her friends, being stopped by cops, her relationship, and ultimately her arrest, all with a song critiquing the overall issues which are occuring playing. Following the screening, there was a discussion led by Pegah.
 The first aspect discussed was how there are so many layers and details in the film relating to each of the themes, both through the lyrics and the visuals that there is always something new to notice. Also, there was a lot of discussion on the identity aspects discussed throughout the film. Janelle monae herself is a queer woman of color, and each of those identity aspects are touched upon through her character. In addition to this, other key identities can be seen throughout the other characters and themes in the film. This is the aspect of the film and event which most ties to our class, through the anchor of Identity. Dirty Computer is rooted in the different identities in our society, and how any that go against the dominant ideologies are seen as lower, wrong, or dirty.
The discussion then went on to discuss the rise of music video films to make comments on society, such as Beyonce’s Lemonade and Childish Gambino’s This Is America, in addition to Dirty Computer.  There was also then a discussion on how the commentary in each of those videos is different and the vibe and story they are telling. While both This is America and Dirty Computer are critiquing our society, in This is America the dancing and partying aspects are portrayed as a distraction from the issues in our society. Contrarily to this, Dirty Computer utilizes these aspects to portray the identities and issues that are arising, and to provide a sense of hope.

Jenkins and Play

I decided to utilize the Play we did in class for this assignment.

The Six P’s:
Permission: In order to play you must give yourself permission to do so.

I think this is one of the P’s that I think is very key to play when you are no longer a kid. While there is still the deciding factor and permission aspect of play as a kid, when it is not what you are doing on a regular basis, there is and was a lot more of a permission process. I think this was most prevalent when we engaged in play in class following this reading. The experience was different than playing with a kid, and I think that us all having to really give ourselves permission to do created a playful interaction that is different than any other typical interaction we’d had as a group. Even though we are a class where we play games and do purposeful play activities on the regular, giving ourselves the permission to play and not thinking about it as an assignment really changed the way the activity worked.

Process: The process of play is what makes it fun and what makes it play, and that you need to be aware of the process that is happening.

Passion:  Passion brings in learning and an expansion of knowledge when playing.

Productivity: Play allows for creativity and the transformation of your surroundings.

While we were playing in the hallway, I feel as though there was a lot of productivity and expansion of knowledge. For myself, I utilized the materials and created a slingshot, and also worked to balance a castle made of cards. As the play went on I took the rubber band which had been holding the box together and utilized it to create a new toy itself. This represents Jenkins explanation of how play allows for the transformation of items in one's surroundings.I  I feel as this is one of my favorite aspects of play, both as a participant in it and as an observer.

Participation: Play is social and requires participation. As a youth Worker it is key to observe the participation in Play.

Throughout our play in the hall, while we ultimately split up into multiple groups, everyone was participating in the play and with others at all times. 

Pleasure: Pleasure is key to play. As a Youth worker, aim to bring in play that is open ended and provides pleasure for everyone.

Student Centered Learning Conference

For the Student Centered Learning conference I attended Session A for the first round, which was “Exploring Mastery collaborative, a Competency/Mastery-Based Education Program, Using a Culturally Responsive Research Design”. This session explained a research project being done by NYU in school’s throughout the city which uses a mastery based program and culturally responsive curriculum to work with students in their schools. While the session was very informative of the program, I felt as though the majority of it was them explaining what they did, but did not provide any information really on how the practices could be implemented in other spaces. This session was however where I saw the most support for purposeful play in the conference. They had us do a photovoice activity at the end of experiences we felt capture mastery based education. While the activity was rushed, it still held a lot of value and is a very unique activity.While photovoice is typically a research method, it was utilized as a creative activity similarly to a purposeful play activity.


My second session was, “Student-Centered Learning is Political! The Role of Youth Activism, Voice, and civic Readiness in Learner-Centered Education”. This session was set up more as an open conversation for everyone in the space to speak about their experience and opinions of Youth Activism and Youth Voice. Two of the student researchers had been in this session, and it was the point during the conference when I felt the ideas of leading with were most prominently held. The facilitators of the session took a seat in the circle and allowed the conversation to flow, and the researchers were able to share both their experiences in  their schools, and aspects of their research project. This varied from the end of the conference where there were many issues with the way they introduced the student researchers, spoke over them, and re-said exactly what they had previously said. While that had been their attempt at promoting students at the center, it failed to represent leading with and failed to promote a space where the student researchers were equal to their other researchers.