April 1 - Check IN = Active Listening Exercise. Struggle in class, union of practice and theory – Apply it in our lives and our world. Community building activity. Alienation beater. Race, Class and Gender. Gloria Jean Watkins – Cultural critic – You will be too. Our first book, Bone Black. The ism schism, mimic that in your writing. Cultural creator – Becoming a visionary – pg. 3 of syllabus. After 15 books her language changes to be more accessible as a point to be a visionary. You will have a visionary point in this class. My forgiveness is offered and given. Keep breathing. Creating community – we don’t have to agree – we have to stay in the room. Core Messages: Feminism is for everybody – End to sexism, classism and oppression. We all must become cultural critics. [We must learn how to identify the divisive messages about race, gender, class and privilege embedded in popular culture/media in order to become active agents of change within the culture.] We must reclaim our imagination and our ability to be visionaries. [Vision - a vivid mental image; an ideal or a goal toward which one aspires - the formulation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses, "imagination reveals what the world could be." Visionary - a person given to fanciful speculations and enthusiasms with little regard for what is actually possible. A person with unusual powers of foresight.] Understanding White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy is the key. Beloved community is possible. Love and compassion is the path. Visionary feminism includes Everybody. 3 response papers (3 of 5 assigned texts) – Don’t summarize or restate or paraphrase… use her lens to view your life. Interlocking systems of oppression. WSCP. Heterosexism/Classism/Sexism/Racism. “If we can’t see it, we can’t create it.” Take off the good/bad labels so we can have a conversation. Venn diagram with classism, sexism, racism, heterosexism. Become aware of what you love, don’t deny it. That’s when growth happens. Messages embedded in our culture..As adults, we have better words and explanations. Group Projects – you may use media, film clips, etc. to make your point. Privilege – right, advantage, or, immunity granted to or enjoyed by a person beyond the common advantage of all others. “The knapsack of male privilege.” An exemption from certain burdens or liabilities. Beloved Community: quantitative changes – qualitative changes in our soul’s compassionality. This is a point of focus. Enlightened Witness – someone who looks critically at what is being told to them and how they respond to it. aware of oppression and its consequence. aware of own privilege. seeks to gain greater understanding of own oppression as well as how we participate in and benefit from the oppression of others. seeks to be free of judgment, guilt or shame (we like this in our culture). see self with an attitude of compassionate detachment. <- **interact with this in your life. view your capacity to change and be patient with your self. <–brings generosity to the room.

April 3 – Video: bell hooks: Cultural Criticism & Transformation. Skipped the “violent” end. Color Caste system in African-American community. darker skin = less privilege <–> lighter skin = more privilege. Pedagogy – system of education. Diaspora – internal migration. Agency – ability of individual to exercise individuality or self-autonomy. Outlaw culture: resisting oppression – otherness. theoretical paradigms grasped in pop culture. race-gender-class-the pedagogy is in pop culture. it is the medium. southern Black working class culture. Critical thinking as transformation. ct is essential to transform your life. to resolve your life. Agency – sense of entitlement and expectations for the future. imagination. Survival Tools vs. Critical Thinking. professors may fail to offer ct to less advantaged students. it is a gift that can be given to anybody (edu, status). Why studying pop culture is important. otherness, pervasive, scripted, choices she makes. CT – What can it do for you? Pornography + Eroticism. representations. choices. coercion. not an absolute link. Images mean things. mass media uses images for particular impact and effect et they say they are not important. Braveheart – liberal white men with money can produce any image they want. Smoke- good guy/bad guy. reproducing racial stereotypes. consciously created conception. Star Wars – choice of the villainous voice. we get circularly stuck in space. conscious manipulations of representation created for known impact. Motivated Representation – feminist movement then a backlash. Leaving Las Vegas – sexist, misogynist. mass media being used to get women out of feminism back into home ~ post-WWII images to get women “back” into home. Interlocking Systems – WSCP – jargonistic phrase. simultaneously at all times in our lives. whiteness is the norm. the melting pot. military. cultural invasion. Colonization. internal racism. decolonization. whiteness is the center of the conversation. ws doesn’t just mean white people. the racial caste system is an extension of ws and allows collusion with forces of racism and imperialism. not personal constructs -> a larger apparatus. accounting of identity. WSCP complicates things and simplifies. “We are stimulated by violence – socially conditioned – we can be conditioned to be stimulated by other things.” Enlightened Witness – critically vigilant bout our world. greater literacy. transformation (enlightening information) via critical thinking and writing. defined by the books she’s read not the movies she’s seen. Literacy <–must link–> Visual. create new representations. Doing Cultural Criticism. Hoop Dreams – documentary reflected attitudes of those who shot and directed it. not a direct account of their lives. filmmaker wanted a message out of the lives of the characters. idealism, sports, democratic access to success, etc. re-inscribed those values. it was not erotic to study instead of playing b ball. the collusion of the possible…it can give a life meaning. O.J. – spectacle, carnival from the very beginning. women’s allegiance to sexism and patriarchy, even in the face of extreme danger. one-dimensional identity and politics of B/W. how can we have a more complex reading? Madonna – re-invention of herself as she ages. re-embraced sexism. re-invested in patriarchy symbolizes greed. reproduces sexual images for a profit. debase and degrade. Myth of Collusion = the only color that matters is green. no moral or ethical valuation… Spike Lee – different view after 6 movies. Girl 6 – Blackness in Hollywood. Blacks aren’t needed if they aren’t “successful.”. sanctions whites to appropriate culture. white Hollywood occupies the Black space. Representing Blackness – the territory is being taken over. When reading Bone Black, notice how bell hooks is doing cultural criticism of her own life…

April 8 – Check IN = Who is in your CD player right now? & Tell your life story in 3rd person. “Imaginism” – poetry created from sequences used to create precise imagery – visual imagery. Memoir (hooks) vs. Autobiography (Angelou). Did she have a bad childhood? maybe, maybe not. says she was deeply lonely. Video: Book TV – In Depth: bell hooks…

April 10 – Check IN = What are you good at? Awareness of your gifts. Awareness of ourselves. Quantitative change (integration) –> Qualitative change (fear, cultural shifts are possible, where is the beloved community?) Oregon -> built on exclusion laws. history/responsibility. Poverty and Class <— common ground. “microwave society.” Audre Lorde article on difference. Discussion questions – respond to book. storytelling and analysis. Radical, open to transgress, to find those who will support us. Divine Spirit, gender and race fall away. Spiritual Practice is important to sustain ourselves through different times. spiritual ≠ western metaphysical dualism <–get outside of (how do we?). foundation of all oppression. inferior vs. superior. Buddhism, right action instead of good/bad. center ourselves to confront and end suffering. African-American people – exilic ~ diaspora, pycho history, intersticies. Black kentuckians – church cultivated creativity, self-development, self-aspiration to become and give back to community, racial uplift. Mass media – cannot be self-loving and watch TV. must be vigilant about the images we consume. sexist, didactic children’s books. –>become cultural producers. Reel to Real = portrays and makes culture, work to make the change in the place that we are = no blind love. Bone Black = without the tense of good/bad. looks at her life and the world in a more objective way. then becomes a creator. Peace. Buddhism. prefer the peace over the ism.

April 15 – Check IN = What aspect of love do you show yourself the best? How do you do that? Attendance taken. [Classroom Guidelines handout - Think well of one another; sometimes we're wrong and ungentle but think of the good intentions. Filter your listening and talking with compassion. Step up and back. Active listening. Practise expressing differences of opinion without ?? to be right or fixing it -> leave it...let it flow.....cathexis - invest with emotions - instinctively connecting... All about love: Erich Fromm goes over all the ingredients of Love. care, responsibility, knowledge, respect, commitment and trust. she was not loved according to these defs. respect was missing. Has religion hijacked the word spiritual? Definitions are important. How can we have a love ethic without a common definition? what we cannot imagine cannot come into being... an act of will = love = a choice -> now we can make choices and be in control of our emotions. love is when an action.... agape love = unconditional love. "love is the will to extend ones self for the purpose of nurturing ones own or an others spiritual spiritual growth." The Art of Loving: Responsibility -> my response to the needs, expressed or unexpressed, of another person. to be responsible means to be ready and able to respond. being present. Respect -> the ability to see a person as they are and to be aware of their unique individuality. respect is an assumption of good faith. respect is to value oneself and others. Knowledge -> does not stay on the surface but penetrates to the core. knowledge is possible only when I can transcend the concern for myself and see the other person in her own terms. ex. her friend who rejects spirituality. Care -> feel concern or interest; attending to someone or something. Commitment -> the act of binding yourself, intellectually or emotionally, to a course of action. Trust -> a relationship of reliance. Open Honest Communication -> compassionately speaking your truth without withholding; attachment and/or judgment. ToDo- as per Branden pick your worst and improve 5%. The sense of complication, what do we do with it? Fishbowl discussion (see hand for rules) B, C, An, Ar, K, L, M, T. unlearn or recover. maybe I wasn't loved perfectly, shine the light then break patterns, first step of the healing process. egomaniac, narcissist (healthy vs. unhealthy), unloved, lovelessness, perfectly loved -> life affirming (love) practices. pinpoint the time when loved disappeared. the energy we send out affects one another. I affect without judgment but by infusing the situation with my loving energy. "Go Well, Be Well."

April 17 - Check IN = On a scale of 1 to 6, how honest are you? How are you? discussion. honesty discussion. (suicidal = do you have a plan? and the answer is yes. call 911.) Heterosexual couples are often the audience. cultural shift starts to happen when.... Video: Book TV in Depth: bell hooks. Black women and health... reluctance of Black women to invest in feminism.... Black men still want a patriarchal home Happy to be Nappy affirming to children. start from a positive. don't be didactic. affirming. body hatred is very strong in Black community. in white supremacy (instead of racism because it includes internal oppression) we don't control our images. Standardized testing - it is the right of every child to read and write. ready for a revolution in public education where stnd. tests are not needed because every student...nyc, subway, rhythm~ Langston Hughes, psycho-history of west village, writers, orchid~resurrects itself like Black people, saintly austerity, Red - personal and political memory. memory mundane-majestic-rituals of remembrance. red chair. Integrated - openness and honesty as part of healing in most of my books. Toni Morison's The Bluest Eye <- one of the best of all-time.

April 22 - Check IN = Say your favorite quote. Chapter 4 of Love. "Considering love involves accepting your partner as they are and loving oneself by accepting who we are. Is it still OK for others to highlight your faults and help you work through them? Can you make yourself a better person while being in a relationship or is that something you should work through on your own?" Nathaniel Branden's Six Pillars of Self-Esteem (Living consciously, Self-acceptance, Self-responsibility, Self-assertiveness, Living purposefully, Personal Integrity) must be taken together. Everybody must be working. "Doing the work." Ingredients of love and six pillars...some relationships have to change or die. Fishbowl discussion. 2nd fishbowl discussion. "Be Visionary."

April 24 - Check IN = In 8th grade, who were you dating or have crush on? "love stronger than death" -let go of the fantasy of Falling in Love. changed by love. new self. mysterious connection between our soul and that of another persons. Fishbowl discussion. Where is the shift from "Falling in Love" to choosing love. The click -> doesn't need to be acted upon. Video: Book TV in Depth: bell hooks Q: third world feminism and solidarity with women of the west? solidarity-ending sexism and patriarchy-learn about those countries-drop our..Go to people where they are, listen to their experiences ->this is where you bond cross-culturally. different ways of thinking. freedom has different meanings. respect these differences. holistic perspective. Q: how do I get people to hear and feel me? wrong positionality -> connect with people where they are. don't assume you have the answer. share knowledge -> it may come back to help in the future. The work we do may not manifest into an immediate reward, it may help in the future. Q: self-love->hair->the only thing I liked->change how we talk about it and frame it for a child. not negative-new ways-new eyes-m.x Critic of Capitalism and Materialism. how we live our lives. ecology. perpetuates domination. learn what you need to learn despite the sexism, racism, etc. Rap -> traditional sexist patriarchal but the women are speaking about sex. LK is a negation of..this is the way she makes money. economic whoredom. bad for girls. What are WE doing to counter negative images? critiquing. liberating images. Wounds of Passion - stigmata wounds. guides of vision.. Thomas Merton. Saint Teresa of Ávila. ecstasy of writing. gift of creating. White supremacy implies Black inferiority. wounded and oppressed people want to hunker down with their own kind. can't just criticize images 9why I didn't like it) --> must create positive images (new, non-hostile images). dogmatism keeps us from re-imagination. Radical Openness --> Seeing and Being. common yearning across race, gender and class is love <--commonness to settle difference. ex. braids or yoga, accessible to everyone but ask why am I doing this? am I treading on a territory I should respect. we need a new and human image of the poor. when people are threatened or fear something is being taken away they may feel diminished. matriarchy is not the answer. mutual partnership. Care and nurture <-- not true that women naturally do it better. Honor all of who we are. "Holistic Selves"-feeling-thinking. Ugly American...must separate capitalism from cultural appropriation. Practice. Craft. Discipline.

April 29 - Multiple one-to-one individual discussions. Male privilege checklist. How do women participate in patriarchy? collusion. Who benefits from patriarchy? Chalkboard drawing of pyramid with individual stones at the base representing cultural creators supporting patriarchy at the apex. dominator vs. victim. blind obedience. collusion. intimate relationships re-inscribing patriarchy. father-son healing. loving and compassionate. Handout - [ENVISIONING A NEW MASCULINITY -At the end of this book we will spend some time envisioning what our community looks like when the men and women both embrace a version of masculinity that hooks attempts to describe in this text. What does childhood look like, what do the school years look like, what does our media look like, what does adulthood look like, etc. As you read the text, begin translating hooks’ ideas/theories into everyday practices.]fill front and back with visioning and solutions. Due May 8th. What does masculinity re-learned look like? foresight, visioning…

May 1 – Check IN = What (new) music is artist is affecting you now? (Ex. – Mary J Blige). 15 minute “experiential reality” free-write w/ Andi – Discussion groups – Video: Book TV in Depth: bell hooks.

May 6 – The Will to Change – group acting/skits by chapter

May 8 – Cat’s in the Cradle Video. The Will to Change – group acting/skits by chapter. Share one vision each from April 29th handout.

May 13 – Book TV in Depth: bell hooks. Teaching to Transgress, teaching community, dialogue… Space, architecture, design, principle of harmony and balance to buildings and our lives. Houston’s 3rd ward – Project Row House. what does space create? able to live in community. art. I’m obsessed with art and architecture. housing is a major issue worldwide. Q: Hopkinsville community first embraced me as a thinker. public libraries -> support them. nurturing african-american environment. sustains me as a thinker and a writer. where we stand……… Goups of 4. Single parent with 6 and 3 year old. Resources exercise. take $285.38/week from 2 jobs and chose among the options on the handout. bus fare/$15, weekly rent/$158.77, electric/$38.50, daycare/$46.45, snow day neighbor watches kids with video and pizza/$18.00. Unable to afford a day off work to take daughter to Dr., worn out/ outgrown shoes for all family members, trip to zoo to engage son’s school work, groceries not paid for by food stamps. 15-minute writing exercise to explore our own class lens on the exercise. Discussion. Class mobility is a myth in America.

May 15 – Attendance. Check IN = What is your initial impression of / response to Class Matters? Discussion groups outside.

May 20 – …lost notes…. New York Times interactive graph from “Class Matters” special section. Poverty
Research Center at Madison, WI. (funded by Dept. of Health and Human Services) there is also a center in Seattle, WA. The complicated definition of poverty.

May 22 – Attendance. poverty statistics by state. one-to-one discussion -> ten years into the future acceptance speech for ending poverty award. A certain base level of support is required so you can search for meaning in life. Here is a visioning question–> what goals must a “poverty plan” include? We all have something to do! We’re not doing our work. get feminism out of academia and into the community…reach people where they are. the da….of the elem…consumer liberation movement.??.. Cut poverty in half in ten years. discussed the irony of John Edwards’ quote, “…restoring the fundamental fairness that this country was founded upon…” Promised Audre Lorde’s “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” essay…………..reclaim your imagination–>it’s calling out to you.

May 27 – The Color of Fear with Hugh Vasquez, Loren Moye, Gordon Clay, David Lee, Roberto Almanzán, Yutake Matsumoto, Lee Mun Wah, David Christensen, and Victor Lewis.

May 29 – Film – Serial Testimony = Testimony bearing witness, giving evidence; speaking the truth of one’s experience and perspective; bearing responsibility for one’s own truth. This group activity is very simple in concept; the facilitator poses a question, and each participant speaks in turn without reaction from other group members. Question = Who do you identify with in this film?

June 3 – Check In = What food do you like that you would you like somebody to bring to the pot luck breakfast. Film – 5 minute write – Question = What’s scary or hard about talking about racism? … Underneath anger is fear. pain…unheard..displaced anger…

June 5 – Film – 5 minute write – Question = What moment in the film effected you..?

June 9 – FINAL – Visionary Projects Due – Potluck Breakfast (10:15 A.M.)