Conflict

Background: I have taken a training class for intergroup dialogue facilitation and I am currently teaching a class with similar structure to IG dialogues. Dialogues are small group conversations that revolve around understanding personal experiences as a foundation for understanding social issues. The goal is to have all participants be as open about themselves and their beliefs as possible with the goal of everyone inthe group fostering understanding of everyone else's views. Due to the vulnerable and personal nature of dialogue, conflict between members is inevitable. Another note, diference between safety and comfort. One can feel safe but uncomfortable, but not unsafe and comfortable.


Conflict is not all bad. That is not to say it cannot be bad, many kinds of conflict are terrible and have resulted in the most atrocious acts on this plaent(violent, ignorant, etc.). What I am trying to explore is the conflict that happens as a result of cognitive dissonance. When two people who have different beliefs are trying to understand each other. This kind of conflict comes up all of the time. Can't think of an example? Try families; teen rebellion is like an advanced course in conflict. In dialogue, we strive for (and occasionally instigate) this kind of safe, but uncomfortable conflict. To do this, it helps to feel comfortale with conflict.

This is the concept I want to get to. I certainly believe that a faclitator can feel comfortable with conflict, perhaps with the concession that they are not apart of the conflict. I am not at this point and I wonder howit might feel to be able to separate my own emotions from those of a conflict in my class. Will I need to distance myself from what is occuring so that I may help the participants explore the conflict? Is it possible for me to not feel uneasy when conflict is occuring in my class without being a sociopath?

The other part of this topic is how one manages personal conflict. I do not think it is possible to feel comfortable when experiencing conflict (note how this is different from above), but I do think it is possible to be distressed with the knowledge that the result of conflict is change, so life will be different when it is over. Personal example: Conflict with mother; something I have avoided at great cost. I have recently noticed that I am becoming increasingly comfortable with conflict with my mother. No longer will I sit in a puddle of my emotions with the passive agressive attitude I learned while growing up!

Music Drop: Girlyman


Harmonies - if you had to describe the music of Girlyman in one word, this would be it. The story doesn't end there, of course: the band blends modern acoustic, americana, and folk-rock into a musical recipe The Village Voice has called "really good, really unexpected, and really different." The wide range of instruments - acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, djembe, electric baritone guitar - reflects an eclectic sound, and the band members switch off lead vocals and songwriting duties. But it is the stunning three-part vocal blend that creates the Girlyman magic.
-From their website http://www.girlyman.com/



Their description of themselves is quite accurate. They have some amazing harmonic power as well as a fantastic ability to entertain. Their album Somewhere Different Now, a live album, is gravid with satisfying music, hilarious tuning songs, and smart political commentary. 

Check out their music page for samples of their music. 

DRM is Dropped!



Big news! Apple has decided, along with Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, to drop all DRM from iTunes. How fantastic is that!? Not only that, they will also be dropping the price for individual songs, unless they are very popular. I can now do all of the things I was prevented from doing with DRM like putting music on my non-apple mp3 player (I have an iPod) and...and...certainly not sharing music thats for sure. 

Adventures in Intro Biology Part 3

I walked toward the natural science building and was surprised to see a line of students queued up from one of the doors. At least 30 students were in that line or pressed up against the door and once in a while, a student would burst free from the cluster and exit the building. I laughed on the inside and put on my best expression that said, "huh, why are you all standing there like that? You are all so strange," as I walked in the door just to the right of the ones they were lined up against. I easily walked into the building, strolled into the lecture hall, and immediately found a seat in the front row. I know that the freshman who were waiting were ignorant of the lesser known portal, but superiority is a great feeling.

Having gotten off to such a great start, there was no way I was going to give my undivided attention to the review of the syllabus that has been elongated into an hour long lecture. Instead, I thought about all of the changes the biology department has been making. I do need to throw in the disclaimer that I only have three semesters of knowledge about the biology department so hopefully there will be some input from more experienced readers (or siblings or significant others of siblings that bought me a wonderful book of hilarious comics that shares the title of my blog). There is a noticeable difference between the biology classes I have taken and the other natural sciences and I assure you it was not the subject matter. The biology department has been trying very hard to teach "processes of scientific inquiry", a subject I find extremely valuable to know.

My attention was drawn away from class and to this idea first by why this was being included. Obviously, the process and method of scientific investigation is important to SCIENCE....that's what it is. Has this been taught in the past? Did it used to be a part of all science classes and slowly fell out of the course content? Has it ever been its own class? Why are they teaching this in an introductory class? That last question is easy to answer; because it is so vital to science that students need to be exposed to it before they continue. If it is so vital (it is the foundation of science), why is it not a separate class?

After having thought of more questions than I wanted to even think about answering, I started thinking about to whom they were catering. The knowledge of scientific design is important to biologists (scientists), professors (who, at least at research universities, are scientists), and....doctors? I hope so. The most represented demographic in the class was pre-med freshmen and my, oh my, how they looked stereotypical. I hope that despite their current conformity, they go on to become doctors who have a decent idea of real science. That way, my detestment and distrust of M.D.s can be directed completely at their arrogance and greed.

First day of class: successful and largely uneccessary. The reason I continue to attend classes is that being forced to sit in one place for an hour or so does wonders for my imagination. I have had some fantastic ideas during class, I just hope they come during intro bio part 3, not orgo.

I Will Not Remain Silent


“We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did,” the airline said, “but we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount and cannot be compromised.”

...however the dignity and humanity of your passengers only matters if they are not from the Middle East.

This story is the exactly why I wear my "We Will Not Be Silent" in Arabic shirt. Why must we go to amber alert every time we see a hijab or hear someone speaking Arabic? Success is ensured in our cunning plan our scaring all 1.8 billion Muslims away from this country by perpetually inconveniencing them especially when we pick on the lawyers. Great Job Americans. 

We Will Not Be Silent is a protest campaign organized by Artists Against the War as a call for action against the racism occurring against Arabs and Muslims worldwide. You can order a free shirt in Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, German, or Hebrew with Arabic. There is also a story about a gentleman who was harassed in JFK airport simply for wearing one of these shirts. My favorite quote is, "Many people called and complained about your t-shirt. Jetblue customers were calling before you reached the checkpoint, and costumers called when you were waiting here in the boarding area ..."We cant make sure that your t-shirt means we will not be silent, we don't have a translator. Maybe it means something else." Obviously! Terrorists have decided to stay away from technological communication and talking to each other; they have moved on to mass producing t-shirts with messages on them. How effective. 




Game Review: Amorphous+


I've learned an important lesson over the past few days: To survive, I can't sit at the computer and play web games all day. I learned this unfortunate lesson through the game Amorphous+. The game is so simple, but lethally addictive. You are a little warrior wielding an enormous, albeit blunt, sword which you use to squish various goos that squiggle across the ground. You win awards for doing certain tasks and get fun toys to play with if you recieve enough awards. I warn you, if you want to play this, but having anything to do in the next 
hour, DON'T. 

Click to play