Week 12: Highlights from the Highlight of My Week

It feels weird typing this, knowing that this will be my last weekly blog post. I unfortunately do not have anything incredibly creative, mind-boggling, or intellectual for this week. While brainstorming for a topic worthy of my last post, all I could come up with is sharing my highlights from this class. Maybe it is the two all-nighters I pulled this week or the allergies that have now turned my brain into snot, but this list is the best I could think of. This class, of course, deserves only the best (even if that is my drowsily decided-upon best), so I will go for it... 

1. Our Weekly In-Class (and Online) Discussions 

This aspect of our class was perhaps my favorite, because I loved getting to know all of you. I am going to inflate our egos for a bit and say that our discussions were bomb. You all brought your own smart, unique perspectives to the table, and I think it is safe to say that we all benefitted from each other greatly. We all learned about so much in the way of feminism, gender, and humor from just talking to each other. Of course, the readings and standup specials helped us learn as well, but I believe our discussions solidified everything and made it more relatable. In conclusion, thank you for sharing your wonderful viewpoints with me and the class. 

2. Our Blog Posts 

On a similar note, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about you all and what you find interesting. My world has opened up so much from the various things I have read on this blog. Additionally, the comments on these posts are such a lovely feature, and I appreciated getting to interact with you even further through the comments. These blog posts were another highlight of my week, the biggest one being the class in general, and I am so grateful to have read your amazing (and hilarious) writing! 

3. The Readings and Comedy Specials Themselves 

While I am discussing writing, I will go ahead and include our readings and specials in this list. These sources were the foundation upon which we all came up with our great discussions, so I cannot NOT talk about them (you feel?). On a more serious note, Phoebe Robinson's book we were asked to read, You Can't Touch My Hair, taught me so much about the unique and unfortunate situations that black women must face. Robinson very eloquently and also hilariously recounted stories and made important points about life as a black woman. Her use of pop-culture references, which we also saw in many of the standup specials, was just great, smart writing. I could go on and on about our readings this semester, but that was the one that stood out to me the most. 

4. A Safe Outlet for Expression 

This class, both in the discussions and blogs, provides a wonderful opportunity for us to share whatever we feel comfortable with, with each other. You are all so encouraging and kind, so I feel like I could tell you anything, really. I was able to open up a bit about my depression in the forums (and also my unhealthy obsession with Animal Crossing and Tom Nook hehe), and many others have shared personal stories and other things, like their sexuality, with the class. This speaks volumes about how safe and comforting this class' environment really is. 

5. The fact that I was able to write a blog post about Tom Nook and be taken seriously... 

This last point is kinda silly, but it is true! I never in a million years thought I could write something about Tom Nook for a class (with cuss words and memes in it!!!) and be taken seriously, like AT ALL. That is one of the aspects of this class that I enjoyed the most—the freedom to discuss whatever you would like as long as it relates to class discussion somehow (which my Nook post did loosely haha). There is true room for creativity in this class, something that is lacking in a lot of the other classes here at Shepherd. For example, someone else wrote about the Blue Wiggle dude, and another wrote about drag queens. The possibilities are ENDLESS (just like in Animal Crossing hehe)! I promise that was the last AC plug, well, because that was the end of my last post... 

Seriously though (and not Tom Nook-post seriously), thank you ALL for such a wonderful, encouraging, and helpful class!