Learning Letter

            I have learned a lot in this class not only about global issues and different places around the world, but about how children’s literature treats and attempts to teach the youth about these places and global issues. There was very little that I had already known about the subjects and issues we explored in this class. For example, I knew about human trafficking but I had no idea how large the issue was, especially between the countries of Nepal and India. Another thing I knew very little about was the difficulty of immigrating into the United States. I had no idea how difficult the US makes the immigration process and how strict the limitations are depending on what group or country you are from.

The most difficult things that we’ve discussed, learned, and read about in this class pertain to children and violence. All of the books we read are about children and most of them include some kind of violence. The two books that will stand out most in my mind are Sold and A Long Way Gone because of the level of violence that was carried out against the main characters and how the adults used these children for their own personal gain. The things that the children in these books endured are horrific and are things that no child should ever have to bear witness to nonetheless experience.

            Even though a lot of the books we read are difficult and challenging, I think it is important that these stories be shared and read, especially by children to make them more aware of what is happening around the world. The authors of these books treat these global issues in a way that makes the stories accessible to teens and young adults. They take major and very serious global issues, which might be harder for children to understand when they are just being told about them, and create a story that places the readers into the characters world. Whether the characters in the books are fictional or not, reading about someone who is or has experienced these types of global issues makes it easier for readers to understand the seriousness of the situation and realize that there are real people in the real world experiencing what they are reading about. By teaching these books in the safe environment of a school setting, the youth can get a better sense of the global issues addressed in the books and they can ask questions and delve deeper with their responses and thinking about the books and issues.

            For me, having read these books in a school environment was really helpful because it made me feel more comfortable about discussing these topics. Having discussions about the books and global issues was also really helpful because I got a better sense of what I was learning and reading about. A lot of the time, the discussions got me through reading these books, especially the more difficult ones, because I knew that we would be talking about them and that other people may have had the same troubles, responses, and questions that I had while reading the books. I enjoyed being able to contribute to discussions with my responses and feelings about these books and to hear others opinions that may have differed or agreed with my own. It was both reassuring and eye opening and I learned more than I would have had I just read the books on my own.

            In addition to the discussions, the projects and blog posts were also great ways to help me better understand the global issues we discussed in this course. Writing blog posts after doing research and reading each book helped me reflect on what I had just learned about or read. While reflecting on the research and books, I was able to think more deeply about them and reinforce what I had just learned. It made it easier to contribute to discussions because I was able to remember not only what I read about but what I wrote about.

The projects were also really helpful to my learning process because, like the blog postings, it broadened my thinking. It forced me to take what I read and learned about and think about it in a more creative way or in a way that could be easily understood by others. The project I probably enjoyed doing most was the museum display because I now understand the concept of culture better and how it applies to me verses how it applies to other people and places around the world. I also enjoyed the graffiti wall because again it forced me to think outside the box. I had to think about everything we’ve discussed, read, and learned about in class and I had to portray it all through art, imagery, and the written word. Making my own graffiti wall and seeing my classmates’ was really cool because I was able to see how everything we discussed and learned about affected not only my thinking but theirs.

            This class hugely affected how I see and think about the world. When I look back to the beginning of the quarter, I can see how naïve I was and how little I knew. I probably am still naïve, but my eyes are slowly opening and I am more aware than I was before. This class has taught me so much about being informed of what’s going on in the world. It taught me to keep my eyes and ears open to multiple news station so that I am not swayed by biased accounts. This class has made me want to do more than just sit in my own little world ignoring the pain and suffering of others simply because I can. It has taught me how selfish we all can be to feel like we have our own things to worry about when they are so petty compared to the lives and struggles of others. Because my eyes have been opened, I now feel it would be impossible to close them and why shouldn’t it be? There are people, some much younger than I, who have seen and experienced things that can never be unseen or un-experienced. So why should I or any other “more privileged” person be spared. We shouldn’t. It is our duty to make ourselves aware of what is going on around the world and to choose to do something about it. If we don’t take action, how can we expect it to change?

As a result of taking this class and all that I have learned, I have prepared a “Plan of Action” to not only to pay more attention to the news and do more research about global issues, but to do something in my own community. I have now been volunteering for two years at The Domino Project where I work with children who have autism. It is something that I have grown very fond of and although I have gone to school for creative writing, this job has been so much more rewarding. I have learned tons about autism, from what it is to how it affects the individuals who have it. I know that what I and my colleagues are doing is an important part of these children’s developmental growth. I love my job so much and I want to be able to do more to help the people in our community who are directly affected by autism, so I have changed my entire life goal and plan. Instead of getting a job as a writer or at an editing company, I have decided that I want to go back to school.  I plan on earning a Master’s degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences so that I may become a Speech-Language Pathologist. In doing so, I will be able to continue helping children with autism develop better communication skills so they are not dependent on others to communicate for them. I know my “Plan of Action” doesn’t directly correlate with the global issues we’ve covered in class, but it’s definitely something I feel capable of doing to make a difference in a community that I’m passionate about.

Artists' Statement for Graffiti Wall

            As I was thinking about what to include in my graffiti wall, one image came to mind. The image of a child with something covering her mouth and the word silenced beneath it. The reason why this picture came to mind is because many of the children in the books we read were forced into silence and keeping quiet or manipulated in such a way that didn’t allow them to make their own choices. The little girl in the center of my poster represents the girl in Sold, who has her childhood stolen from her by way of human trafficking. In Crossing the Wire, a boy is forced to grow up by crossing the border into America to make enough money to support his family back in Mexico. I didn’t use a child for this photo, but I did provide a picture of immigrants to represent the many people who have to make the trek to America to make a better life for themselves and their loved ones. For A Long Way Gone, I have a picture of a boy soldier who, like the author Ishmael Beah, must have been manipulated and brainwashed into becoming a boy soldier for the R.U.F. in Sierra Leone. Finally, I have a photo of children during the Chinese Cultural Revolution dressed the same and holding their red books to represent the book Revolution Is Not A Dinner Party.

            To go along with the different images representing the areas we studied and the books we read, I included certain words that went along with the events within the stories we read. For example, I have a picture of a boy soldier from Sierra Leone and surrounding that picture I included the words “war,” “hero,” and “brave.” These words go along with that image specifically because this boy represents the children who were forced into becoming child soldiers in the Sierra Leon Civil War. I used the words “hero” and “brave” because those are the types of words that the adults who converted them may have used to describe these children if they were to become soldiers and fight for them. These words could also be used by people who hear about the stories of the children who survived and were able to escape. So it goes both ways which I thought was interesting and an important thing to think about when looking at these words combined with the image of the boy soldier.

            Another theme running through most of the books we read for this class were the three words I placed in the top right corner of my graffiti wall. These words are “fear,” “loss,” and “survival.” There was fear in every single one of the books we read, usually resulting from some form of suppression. Loss was also a major part of each of the books we read and came in all different forms from loss of innocence, childhoods, or personal belongings, to loss of homes, family members and other loved ones. Finally, survival was the goal for the characters in most of the books that we read and for the people who have and are actually living through the events and topics we’ve discussed in class. Like loss, survival comes in all different forms from survival in war to survival in different living conditions. I thought fear, loss, and survival, were very important and impactful factors in each of the books we’ve read and in all of the topics and events we’ve covered in class which is why I made the lettering so large.

            I tried to make sure that I covered most of the subjects we’ve discussed in class. I wasn’t able to fit everything, so I chose some things that struck me the most and which I thought were probably the most important things to portray in my graffiti wall. For most of the subjects I included, I was able to use multiple images and words. However, for family, I only used one picture because I thought it was pretty self explanatory and not as major of a topic to focus on as war and loss of childhoods. Overall, I think my graffiti wall says more than the images and specific words say by themselves. I think the words and images I’ve included in my graffiti wall do a good job of portraying the costs and results of war, human trafficking, and borders. I’m happy with what I came up with and I think, or more truthfully hope, that people will be able to make connections and get more out of my graffiti wall than what is explicitly on the poster.