Very Pleased!

Dear Everyone,

I am so pleased that this class had had the initiative and interest to actively make this blog so very informative and communicative. Although I get a bit tired or impatient in class sometimes, I must share a secret with you (shhhh . . . don't tell anybody: actually I look forward to this class a lot and think everyone is doing a great job!).

Hey, we're gonna be on film this week! Looks like fun. Let's relax and enjoy as usual.



Let's keep up the big push until the end. Hidetomo had a good suggestion of scheduling for the Performance Festival being held at the main campus on December 10 and 17. Please come see what other students are doing if you can! The festival is still small and can't accommodate bigger classes but we are building and planning for future possibilities . . . thanks to Okawa-sensei. She's really doing a great job.

As for the party, it sounds like it was a blast, although not attended by everyone. I must say that I love parties so it was my regret to have to say no to this one. Two points: 1) I am very busy this year, much more so than usual, because I rush home to take care of/homeschool Ari-chan right after class each day, and 2) I have a policy (unlike some teachers . . . ahem!) that I never go out to a drinking party with students while they are actively students in my class. Don't want possible misunderstandings or mishaps to be seen as unfairly affecting final grades. ("Dr. Armstrong gave me a C in the class because I was dancing drunkenly in the street in front of the pachinko parlor in Fuchinobe!")

Regarding the peanut allergy story, wow, talk about serious bad breath!

More chat about real issues concerning ableism. Has anyone seen the movie Murderball (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000B5XP24/qid=1133430406/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-1932801-9394459?n=507846&s=dvd&v=glance), about paraplegic competative sportsmen in wheelchairs? It has just come out on DVD and looks to be great!
More later. Blog on!

Sexual Harassment

I can understand your shock, Mari. At least, I can understand from some perspective. I am not a woman but I feel insulted when I see things that "objectify" or insult women because my mother, my wife, my sister, my mother-in-law, my daughter are my most precious relationships! To hurt them is to hurt me. Of course, further, we are humans.

All men are not sexist pigs, just as all women are not nice,wonderful people. The key is to first educate yourself so as to live a life of respect for other people, then to do all you can to live and work in an environment where people respect one another. Finally, you owe it to humanity to try to teach these things. The most obvious students for this is our own future children. We are their prime teachers.

All we can do it to learn, live, and love. Blog on!

My Ongoing Question!

You know, the thing that I can't understand about sexism is this: with racism and other oppressions, it's usually one group trying to dominate the other out of fear, ignorance, and "territorial instinct." But with sexism, it's so clear that the power of women could produce astonishing things for all humans! Why do we hesitate to all work together for our clear common good?! Blog on!

You made it!

Hey Madoka, you made it. Good work.

Marie, if it isn't too personal or too difficult for you to describe, what was the discrimination you experienced against Japanese?

Everyone, don't forget to check out our public page sometimes at http://aogakusocialjustice.blogspot.com/. It really is very handsome :)

Also, use Spellcheck!

Blog on!

Excellent Scholarship Opportunity!

Hey everyone! I have just heard about an excellent scholarship opportunity for 2nd or 3rd year students who may want to study in Canada (Kingston, Ontario). Check out the Price Takamado Memorial Scholarship at http://www.queensu.ca/registrar/awards/. Deadline is March 25th. You world travelers, go for it! Blog on.

Blogging and Podcasting for Social Justice

This is the blogsite for your Aoyama Gakuin University Acting Like you Care: Performing Social Justice acting and social justice research class. As you heard in the first class, "social justice" is research into the systematic and historical oppressions that groups of humans enact on others. Let's use this blog to discuss what we learn and to share information with each other. Knowledge is the candle that lights the darkness. If we can study discrimination and inequities deeply, maybe we can become aware of how to begin to correct them. Remember: if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem. Ok, let's . . . blog on!