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MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, so this is the second part of the class,
and this the last for the semester.
So I think we've traveled a lot.
We see many difficult issues I think.
And I want to give you credit, I think,
for-- during the semester for being so open, and honest,
and being able to engage into difficult issues.
And each time that you guys were presenting you
might remember me liking you to you
to get deeper into personal issues
and not just the abstract.
And the reason is because I think you make a better
case where everyone is of use you can bring
your own narrative into it.
And I think it's-- overall I think it has worked and myself
learned so much from the semester from listening to you,
some of your own personal discoveries about yourself,
about issues of race, language, gender, sexuality.
And I give you lots of gratitude.
It's risky, and because when you came here,
you didn't know each other, most of you right?
And yet to be able open yourself to the difficult questions
and to give answers that were so thoughtful.
And so-- many of them I didn't expect some of you
to literally come out in this class, in a way.
Right?
So I thought that very well in this class.
So I give you my respect for that.
So I'm going to end passing to you.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: You get a little while more,
maybe you've got things that you feel
you take with you to the next steps
so that you feel that all this will come
after you this class might benefit from anything that you
want share, in terms of your learning
experience in this class, and how you think
can bridge those gaps that we've seen because
of our societies, our families?
So I wasn't here last Thursday but I watched
the video of the whole class. [inaudible] too,
actually really impressed by how you guys brought up
your personal issues.
And so but these are going to have worked on.
I assume you have to make some.
For this class-- for this class 40 minutes or so
you have to be something to bring out.
We'll go to Nicky.
You're going to take a pass?
OK we'll go to Edna.
AUDIENCE: She's quicker with words.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Yeah.
AUDIENCE: So I'm not sure if I fully understand what
I'm supposed to say, but I'm--
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Anything.
AUDIENCE: --going to say what I was thinking.
So for me personally throughout this class I think I realized--
I explored myself and my identity way more,
and I think I was forced to ask questions about myself that I
hadn't.
And for me the main thing I realized
is like how uncomfortable I am with being multiracial.
I enjoy being multiracial but I didn't
realize that there's parts of me that don't necessarily
fit together, and how I don't really see myself as one
certain race, or whatever.
And I think the things that with that were our personal essays,
and definitely free writing assignments
that one of the guest professors had us do,
that got pretty deep.
And I was kind of like, oh crap I
have to write at 9:30 in the morning, when she first
said that.
But then I really enjoyed it.
And I think like maybe bringing out more multi-racial topics
next year would be beneficial to people
to know that that was a problem with themselves.
And I think also a really interesting topic
that we went over was--
I think-- What did we call it?
Faking?
Passing, passing-- and how it's a privilege.
And talking about like all the controversial issues on that
and don't think I really also thought about that
before this class.
So that was something I benefited from.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: So you say faking instead of passing?
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
And it reminded of a comment Cynthia made back then, right?
That often, when we think of passing
we think of it as something which is negative--
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: But contained in that point, which
I remember very well, I thought very important
that passing should not be viewed from that perspective.
I say to that point that we can think
of passing as a normal survival strategy in a way.
So maybe--
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: That's a nice segue to think of [inaudible]..
AUDIENCE: I actually have another one I think.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Say it again?
AUDIENCE: Nothing, can I have another one?
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Sure of course. [inaudible] [laughter]
AUDIENCE: So I guess it's sort of hard,
I think it sort of takes a lot of reflecting--
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Yeah.
AUDIENCE: Sort of think about all that that we've discussed.
Sort of a quick note, one of things that this class has
sort of solidified for me is the importance of conversations.
And so I think most of learning that I've done in this class
and other sort of seminar based classes sort of pales
in comparison-- or what I've learned in my technical courses
pales in comparison to the things
that I learn in classes like this
because at the end of the day, I think most of the learning
comes from those around you.
Class needs this.
So, experiences that they have more so
than what you learn in these technical classes.
There's a saying that says five years after you graduate
you won't remember 90% or whatever of what
you learned in college.
But I think what you do remember is
these sort conversations that boil down
to personal experiences.
And so I think, again, there is a challenge
in this world of sort of approaching
people who aren't really willing to have these conversations.
But sort of changing yourself is the first step.
And I think if everyone sort of makes this, or has
this realization, takes a step toward making this change,
It's very idealistic, but I think
the world be a better place.
And so I think that's probably one thing that I've
gotten from this class.
AUDIENCE: Go man.
AUDIENCE: Bouncing off of what Burk said,
I think one way in which I would like to see his class grow is
the integration of having some sort of conversation like open
discussion instead of debate with someone who does not come
from a similar theological-- not theological--
AUDIENCE: Ideological.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
Ideological background as opposed to people
in this class, to try to see and sort of gain practice
in having a session with someone who
is a lot different from you, and developing a common trust,
and come to see each other's viewpoints
in a way that would be more informative than what
one could do among a set like-minded individuals.
AUDIENCE: Let's see.
So one thing that I enjoyed about this class
I can distinctly remember one class
that literally blew my mind I think I turned to Sonny
and was like, oh my gosh.
And that was when we interrogated
what MIT was as an institution and where
we sit in this hierarchy of social--
in the social hierarchy in the US.
And I think when coming to MIT I was
willing to give the institution a free pass a lot
because I felt that I was getting
a lot from the experience.
But I think now that I'm senior and all the seniors here
graduate-- last day of class with you
guys-- now that I'm at this point where I can think back
on what MIT has done for me and what
and how it functions I think I'm better
poised to think more critically about the institutions I choose
to join future for postgraduate education and after.
AUDIENCE: So I took this class as a challenge
to myself because at the beginning,
I knew about the prejudices and stereotypes
that I had been taught, and I wanted to get rid of them.
And I think this has helped a lot with that
just by hearing everyone else's perspectives from the readings,
from looking at the world, by taking a step back
and looking at things as they are
and not how we were specifically taught that they are.
And I really appreciate that.
I want to- from here on I want to move forward
and try to figure out how to be an ally
from an asian-american perspective
because a lot of the times asian-american families
try to be the status quo.
Like my parents have always taught to try to be,
not explicitly, but implicitly try to be as white as you can.
And I think that that was a really difficult lesson
to go through, and then come to a place like MIT which
is so diverse and which has so many different backgrounds.
And so come in thinking there's a hierarchy where
there isn't and now going forward,
trying to break that down.
AUDIENCE: Related to what you said actually
is this concept of being multi-racial, and interrogating
that for yourself.
But also within a context of being in a society
of multiple races, and understanding the spaces that
exist for meaningful conversations
across cultural, and ethnic, and other sometimes
just socially constructed boundaries
that don't necessarily need to be boundaries.
And I remember in one conversation Cynthia actually
really challenged this idea of forming alliances especially
between historically, systematically
oppressed groups.
And in a class like Black Matters
I think that we actually think about people who don't identify
as black, and who may not be read as black in society,
and we've engaged critically with the issues
that they face as well.
When we talked about immigration from Mexico, and in other times
where I insist upon interjecting indigenous
North American issues into the conversation.
But there seems to be space for all of that,
and so what I want to take away from all of these discussions
is how can we create meaningful alliances, and be allies,
and how can we collaborate between groups
who are distinct and different, and face similar challenges
in this society, but also have really specific perspectives
and experiences, and future goals.
So the idea of collaborations, especially
among historically oppressed groups
is one that I want to continue thinking
about outside of this class.
AUDIENCE: A lot of what I was thinking about
during this class for me personally
was comparing and contrasting because I come from a very--
I'm from Zimbabwe.
So there's not a lot of diversity,
and this is an entirely new experience to me,
so a lot of what I were doing was
comparing my past, my history, my experiences
with you guys experiences and everything around me,
and thinking about for instance, in the readings
how they analyzed different situations,
the situation in America, the situation in Haiti.
And thinking about where these things are connected
how they are different.
What could have been done what should be done?
And I think I rarely thought about issues like this
before this class, and now I'm starting
to think about it more, especially in education.
I'm really interested in education, and how we can help
teach people in the future how to use their skills that they
learn, how to think about, how to approach certain problems
in a way that challenges them, and also challenges the status
quo, and challenges the hierarchies that are set up.
So personally, I think that this class definitely
helped me think a lot more, and I
hope that in future it will help a lot more people think
about their actions, think about what they're saying,
think about what they're doing, and think
about how they can help and how they
can engage their communities.
For instance, I remember when we're
talking about how we came to MIT we might graduate,
and then what are we going to do would we
go back to the communities where we come from?
How we are going-- how do you plan
to affect those communities?
Do you go back as experts, or do we go back as one of them,
do we to fit in?
Questions like that are definitely
things that we should think about, and I think
are very important.
AUDIENCE: Yeah I think the biggest thing
for me was learning about what we were learning,
but then thinking back to how I grew up in a really white area,
and I was always taught there is one correct way to speak,
there is like one correct way to teach kids.
And thinking back now with all this information
how damaging that really is, and how it it's
not really about the language, and it's not really about
how we speak it's more about marginalizing groups
that might speak that way.
And it's just thinking about how my entire school system was
based on what they thought was correct, and was telling us
what we should think is correct, and I
think coming out of this hopefully
we can try to change some of that in the school systems
because it can really affect how kids
view the world as they grow up.
AUDIENCE: I think one thing I gained from this class
is, I guess, verification of the idea that listening is very
important, and there's kind of various ways
you can think about it.
Just in the context of this class,
whether it's listening to other people share their experiences,
and really taking in and understanding
how they fit in within whatever social hierarchy,
or whatever kind of issue we're discussing.
And seeing how it's kind of played a role in their lives,
and kind of seeing how you could apply it to either better
someone else's life, improve your own interaction
with the world in some way.
Or whether it's listening in terms of language.
We talked a lot about language and how
certain modes of speaking are somewhat marginalized.
So ensuring that as you go forward you really
listen to people regardless of how they present their ideas,
or present their thoughts, or whether it's
listening as far as engaging people who
have opposing opinions as you.
Really understanding that in order
to strengthen your own positions,
and really understand why it is that you think the way it is.
You have to be able to listen to people who think
in a different way than you.
So yeah, I've just seen a lot of different things
in this class that speaks to the importance of listening.
AUDIENCE: I think what this class
has made me call into question a lot is my lack of analysis
of my racial background because I'm Japanese-American.
It's not really something that I'm
forced to address all the time because no one's really calling
that much attention to it because neither one
of those groups is really that attacked in modern society
for being a racial group.
And something I didn't really even think,
my mom is an immigrant.
I didn't really address that ever
because no one was calling in to question her immigration here.
And that also leads to a lot relating
to how the opinions of other people, and especially
my very conservative extended family,
and how their opinions about certain things
such as immigration are relying on people being
of certain races, and being from certain places because it
isn't something that they've ever seen negatively
about my family.
But it is something that's a cornerstone of why
my family exists.
So I think things like that, having people address
their own identities, and their own backgrounds
and how that's affected how they see
everything else in their interactions with other people
I think is a really great part of this course.
AUDIENCE: I'm having trouble just to lay everything down,
but I guess one big takeaway from this class
was accepting that there is no one right
way to exist as a human across individuality, race, and class,
and things like that.
And that was a realization that I
think I came to in this class.
And it all goes back to the importance
of interrogating your beliefs, and why
you think the ways that you do.
And it's really eye-opening and I think
that it's really important.
You have to open yourself up to that
and it takes a certain level of vulnerability.
I wasn't expecting to come out in this class at all,
but I did because this was a place where I felt safe,
and it was really surprising that I felt
so safe in this environment.
And I think that's something we need to recreate elsewhere.
A lot of people I would like to take for this in the future
is therapy who are seniors taking this class,
what do you do now?
What class do you take next, or what actions
can you take because of what you've learned in this class?
I think something that maybe they
could have it in this is thinking about concrete ways
to actually do stuff.
Because we had Professor Chomsky in here on Tuesday and he said,
almost anything, is the answer to what do we do.
So maybe having some sort of an initiative coming out of this
class is to make tape just at MIT for just impulsive
[inaudible]..
AUDIENCE: So kind of piggybacking off
of what Chris said, I think the most
those meaningful conversations and talks
that we've had for me, where when we talked to professors,
people all over Cambridge who were using
their own backgrounds, their own field of study,
and they're making tangible changes.
It's Christmas day.
So for example, when we watch the virtual reality
kind of simulation in terms of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
And I feel like those conversations and the fact
that I have had the privilege of taking
this class in my semester has really kind of driven me
to really to take action outside of MIT,
and hopefully in the future back at MIT.
And to really take that with me in my specific field
of medicine, and how these various identities can really
affect people's health care, and that's life or death.
And so I feel like that is really been eye-opening for me
and that's driven me to action.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, I think for me, from this class
has made me more aware of how many things they go through.
Compared to what I didn't know about the Haitian Revolution
as it occurred.
And I didn't really know how to question during the time.
But it's all things that we are taught just
because a lot the history that we
learn is taught from a very westernized perspective.
So I feel like it's very important
that this class teaches that there's always many ways
to view certain things, and there's many things that aren't
necessarily taught just because society just doesn't want us
to know about these things, so that we
could learn from this, yeah.
AUDIENCE: I think similar to what Hermann was saying,
I think this class is really about the idea
of taking action.
In a lot our readings passivity was just there all the time.
People I remember it, the need to settle down,
or afternoon it's just like, oh that's really strange
but I guess the way things are.
He noticed that things were wrong but he didn't anything,
so I think just trying to take action,
and Megan you mentioned interrogating yourself
is an important way to do it.
And I really liked first assignment,
which was the linguistic autobiography,
and I felt that just thinking of my whole life in terms
of the languages I grew up with, reading, writing,
and how they were presented to me
was a really good way just to look into my own self.
What I think would have been, would be better,
in future versions of class would be maybe talking together
in smaller groups.
Would be harder.
I guess I think it's just easier just
to talk about yourself that way for some people
are more comfortable, I think.
The only time we got to that was last Tuesday we
had Professor Olive ub here, and we worked in groups of three,
and that was really cool.
AUDIENCE: OK, thank you, thank you.
I think so what's adjusted also, you mean like a [inaudible]..
So what Chris said we can try together
because this class I hope will be often many, many,
many, many times again here, [inaudible] I hope.
Actually thinking of next year, I might do it with
[inaudible]..
So from that perspective maybe you guys
could share with me what you think
will be done to implement what you guys think
in terms of taking this knowledge into action.
Because throughout the semester I
was struggling with what kind of project do I assign?
Because I often felt that it would
be so nice to do a project that puts you guys in the world,
not just writing an essay.
And I try to see what--
Something could come up spontaneously
from you that could bond in to out of space.
So how would you advise me in next cycle of this course
to make that happen?
To do projects, maybe throughout the semester only
or optional projects that would really
turn knowledge into action?
OK so it's getting that, and then that.
AUDIENCE: So, maybe some things--
I still think you should have the essays because
at least for me they were pretty beneficial in exploring myself,
but maybe instead of having the essay revision,
although I think revising essays is important,
I think that can be done throughout your essay process
instead.
And maybe like putting in a project where
you have to create a policy, or like a lesson plan,
or something like that, and then present that.
And maybe even have a plan of action of who you
would go to talk to about this?
I think if you just come up with a plan it
can be pretty philosophical, or just an idea
and will never be done with it, what
would be your next step now you have an idea,
how do you implement it?
And then also, something I forgot mention before,
but I thought I was really useful about this class
was when we went to go to the movies
all together on a Saturday.
At first I was like, oh crap, now I have to like allot time,
but I actually really enjoyed that
and was hoping the conversation would keep going.
So maybe having more things outside the class,
because I think it's really hard to explore all the things
that we want to do in an hour and a half.
So maybe having somewhere--
I don't know what types of places
you can go to-- but maybe going to an inner city
school in Boston together, and seeing how it's taught there,
and what you would change?
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, that's good to hear actually
because one thing I'm toying with the Fox, Mr. Harald,
is to see whether we could change the format, instead
having a hour and a half to add once a week from three hours.
In the past I tried that because of the schedule for MIT
it's hard for students to enroll with a three hour class.
when they graduate.
So we stepped away from that, but now
I don't whether we should do that.
In admitting with three hours we could go someplace else.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, I that might be beneficial.
I know negotiation at Sloan does it at Thursday at 5:00
or something like that.
So it's hard to schedule a three hour class during the day,
but if you do it as a night session.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, OK, OK.
Thank you for saying that Alisa?
I will report back to Colton and see what--
So it goes Dana, then Sarah then Jackie.
AUDIENCE: Well its related directly
she just said about time--
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, OK.
AUDIENCE: It's just like a short thing,
but having a class at 5:00 would be difficult
because there is a lot of athletes
who participate because they practice from 5:00 to 7:00.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: I see, I see, OK.
AUDIENCE: Yeah there's another section at 7:00
I'm pretty sure.
So.
AUDIENCE: Closing class are from 7:00 to 10:00.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: 7:00 to 10:00, yeah.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK.
AUDIENCE: Yeah we were talking about projects.
And I think that could definitely work in this course,
and I think one thing that I've really wanted is to be able
to affect change in this-- within the context of this
course and sort of have a reason to do so based on everyday's--
I would like to go into school and say,
let me try my at teaching kids in this way
and see if it actually works there.
So if you wanted to organize that sort of thing
it could be cool to also work in small groups
and we diversify the--
I mean we have a ton of courses in here,
but I think there's a lot of working, going out
into the real world and I think--
I mean this is just me agreeing.
I think a three hour course could be good.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK.
Sarah?
AUDIENCE: So I just think add stems
from what Colin said about talking
to someone with a different ideological perspective
than yourself, so maybe having students
go in groups of two [inaudible] out into world and maybe
interview someone, or share some of the information
about the Haitian Revolution should have,
it was like one of visionary revolutions to have.
[interposing voices]
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Yeah, yeah.
AUDIENCE: Something along those lines.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, OK, OK.
So going back to the last point.
So in terms of going into the schools
I have some good news, which is that, I
think I should have [inaudible] with you about this new program
that has been launched in the Boston public school,
this new program.
And Vindlam Khan actually she's I think Chinese,
and she actually, she launched-- she had launched
the program in Chinese and English
can be introduced as going reasonable well,
from what I hear.
And then she's also responsible launching this Creole
to English learning program.
And she has offered that if there
are students in this class and other classes
at MIT if they want to come and volunteer, and take advantage
of that new program in terms of doing research that's
socially based, or empirically based,
or even like [inaudible].
Measuring students learning games
she would be happy to work with you.
There's one student in the other class
posted it's [inaudible] with the [inaudible] twice,
and was to be going on a weekly basis
to the meetings who try understand how they are
creating this new program where there would be I
think half kids who speak creole and half who
don't speak creole.
And this would be truly bilingual,
so you get American or other of these kids learning creole
and get the Haitian creole kids.
We've got to include both the English and bigger English,
so I think it's really I think very radical move
for the government school.
They've had other programs of that sort
but never one involving the non-imperial language.
Typically it's Spanish-English, French-English,
Chinese-English, but it's the first time
that they are doing one that includes
a language like Haitian Creole that's been over the years
as you know [inaudible] history.
So we're excited, we've hit some push back
including push back back from Haitian parents, some of them
would prefer to have it in French, as you can imagine.
They don't speak French, it's a difficult neo-colonial
[inaudible] into an imperial language, so to speak.
But I think there has been some good progress on that front.
Noam Chomsky was here, Tuesday he
had an interview which I put on my Facebook page--
I can show it to you-- where it goes me,
him, and I think that's [inaudible] together
from Mexico, but he grew up in California.
And this was a very interesting exchange between the two of us.
Where Chomsky might be important of promoting these so
called [inaudible] support for really
of duration of the [inaudible].
So, I think those are good suggestions,
those are very good suggestions.
And since Harrell is from a background in computation,
and as we saw doing the project on involving virtual reality
that might be another part where we can do action in the course.
AUDIENCE: With the-- just based off like the Fox Harrell
computation part, I thought it was really interesting learning
about what he was doing.
I think if there was-- but I don't know if this
is where you're going, but it.
I think there was a more of a requirement
to do more computation based things I probably would
straight away from this class.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK.
AUDIENCE: Because, so I'm not like the stereotypical major
here, I'm a business major, I think
I would been slightly intimidated if there
was a CMS type project in here.
So maybe making that one of the facets of what you can do,
but not a requirement.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, that's OK.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Yeah, good for you, thank you.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
CYNTHIA: I think also taking advantage of the learning
styles of the students in the class could be interesting.
So maybe doing more creative projects,
or doing projects that people feel
like allows them to use their best skills
and actually have fun I feel like--
MICHEL DEGRAFF: So tell me Cynthia if you could
a project that was creative what would you have done?
Just to the extent of what you could think of in the future?
CYNTHIA: Just off the fly I maybe would
have made a fucking 10 foot tall papier-mache person
and written stuff all over it and then put it in lobby 10.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, OK.
AUDIENCE: Like negative comments or like--
CYNTHIA: Anything, just like stuff that's interesting.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, and then they
would have to the part that includes communication
of some sort.
So how would do that, so you do that
and have a paper describing why you did it,
the mission of what you've done and the objective
it's trying to accomplish?
CYNTHIA: I mean if it just like a black body
or like a brown body of some sort
I would even just to leave markers and stuff
for other people to put messaging on it
I feel like would be giving--
I think art is a great way to give people
an entry into having this conversation.
It would be an artifact.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Excellent, excellent I'm
so glad this is being recorded so that way we have this.
No really, so that way we have this--
I can watch it with Fox, Carol and we
then we can play around with the idea, it's great too.
Actually, anyone has concrete suggestions like that?
So they told you--
AUDIENCE: So my class one of those I don't-- maybe
you've taken it, Psychology of Gender and Race?
No?
OK.
This [inaudible] psychologist who works in local area,
I think her first name is Shiby I forget her last name.
But part of the class is training or doing mock training
on how do you present cultural awareness presentations.
Where you go with-- you basically
form a group of students and kind of teach
the other students her role play and how to college frat,
members of a college frat or sixth graders
out of a local Boston public school
about how some things that they could be doing
may be disparaging to minority groups,
and it could be interesting having a conversation with her
to see what things she incorporates
into those presentations and if that would be
useful inside of Black Matters.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, that would be useful, be very useful.
Dana?
No I was-- I'm done.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK. [laughter]
AUDIENCE: With the wiki that I think
was a new thing this semester, I think,
it's another way for us to communicate as students,
it would be great because just maybe someone
said something to you that was really interesting
and you only have their email.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Right.
AUDIENCE: It's hard to get in contact so maybe an opt-in way
to have--
MICHEL DEGRAFF: So the wiki didn't really work, huh?
Why does the wiki not work?
AUDIENCE: It's hard.
AUDIENCE: It's not a good platform.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: The wiki is not a good platform,
all because we have you here. [laughter] The wiki not
a good platform, I heard that as well in my other class,
the students say, we don't like the wiki.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
[interposing voices]
AUDIENCE: What about like a Slack Channel
or something like where you be more-- [interposing voices]
AUDIENCE: Or like a Facebook, something that we already
all use and wouldn't have to go out our way to use.
AUDIENCE: Yeah.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Who had their hand raised?
Was there a hand raised over here?
Was it Shope, was your hand raised?
Oh, OK.
AUDIENCE: Yeah sure.
So first, you were asking what kind of projects right?
So from the teaching perspective,
I think after the classes last week I'm
learning about open and fixed mindset.
Something that would have been interesting
as the project would be to create a curriculum, just
a lecture or a workshop for an age group, whatever age,
it could be college, it could be lower
and try to implement the like teaching
techniques that we learned to foster a more open mindset.
That would have been a school project to explore.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, great.
OK so, Fenny, Dana and Edna.
AUDIENCE: But mine is off of that.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK.
AUDIENCE: OK, so I think that would be a good idea.
Also we can still enlist the help of the professors who
made these lectures because I think that will give us
a little more-- when we actually go into these schools
and say we'd like to bring this plan to you because have
professor backing, we have this whole slew
of research behind us.
AUDIENCE: Another cool thing that you could do about
community outreach, is I know one time a couple weeks ago
in Amphibious Achievement we had a bunch of people from
Chocolate City come in, and also it's-- there's a group--
it's like something something Latinas.
And I don't know-- [interposing voices] Yes!
And so they came in and Chocolate City came in and--
AUDIENCE: But you have to give some background about Chocolate
City and Amphibious Achievement, make it self-contained.
[interposing voices] So Amphibious Achievement
is we-- it's a program at MIT and we work with Boston public
high schoolers and it's an academic mentorship program,
but also we just work with them to try
to build their confidence, and we also
help them apply to college, and things like that.
But, and then Chocolate City is just like it's
a living group here on campus, and it's African-American men
and then-- say it again?
AUDIENCE: Mujeres Latinas.
AUDIENCE: That's a-- [laughter]
AUDIENCE: --group of Latina women,
and so they came in to talk to the high schoolers
in Amphibious Achievement and we just had a discussion about how
they feel about what they've been told they can and cannot
do because of who they are.
And it was really, really interesting for everybody.
And I think that would be something cool to do--
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Do you have a Facebook page?
AUDIENCE: We do, it's called Amphibious Achievement.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Right.
That's great.
Thank you, thank you.
Actually, so which Facebook would be a better way
to communicate instead the wiki.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, yeah way better.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Way better.
So maybe next year we create a Facebook page for the course.
AUDIENCE: Yeah, a page for the course
and then a messaging group for the students.
OK, OK.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, OK that was good idea, good idea.
All right.
I should maybe [inaudible] a page,
a Facebook page for this group, and that way you guys
can keep in touch.
And if there are ways that-- even what [inaudible] has
explained and then we should do other projects that might bring
your strength and your knowledge together
to bring actual change, that might be
something we could figure out.
But you would have be responsible for it.
Colin?
AUDIENCE: Bouncing off of your idea here,
I think it would be really interesting to actually
have one part of that would be a [inaudible] support literacy
class, or presentation or something like that.
Where you going to take a certain section of literature,
maybe just one book like Madam Bovary,
and dissect the ways in which the society in which it
is embedded create the themes within it.
A major thing inside of Madam Bovary
is centered on this one woman who's
married in countryside of France back in 1900s or 1800s,
and she gets really depressed because she has nothing to do.
And just explaining that she has no options for employment,
and is stuck at home because that's what was expected
of women back in that day.
And dissecting both that cultural phenomenon
and then examining how that may play out in today's terms
with different patterns in society.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: OK, good, goo.
SO a statistic fact, you may have the last word.
AUDIENCE: Wow, OK.
So something that I was thinking about
was what you had about having an art project,
and I realized I'm not artistic at all, so I was trying
to figure out what I would do if there was an art assignment.
And I was thinking about something that's in a show,
where like you put yourself up, you stand up there
and then you have a projector screen,
and you write words on it of what
you don't like about yourself.
And that could be instead of what
we don't like of ourselves, things
we've been told about ourselves based of our race, or gender,
or sexuality, and also having things you would rather
have been said, because what I really liked about this class
was the self-exploration, so.
MICHEL DEGRAFF: Good, good.
All right guys so thank you so much.