Preface: This course is one of the nicest courses I’ve taken in university so far. I think it is because its learning is a little bit different than traditional methods, and there’s something quite nice about that. Even the Dr always says she hates grades and grading, and so do I.I don’t really care about grades and mostly care about learning and interacting with people and listening to what they have to say, because it is always so interesting to hear different perspectives and such.

I’ve learned a lot so far. My favorite lecture so far was the one about othering. The videos we watched, the experiences people have gone through and how simple “jokes” can make people feel pretty bad was something that not a lot of us pay attention to. Granted, our country isn’t specifically diverse (to a large extent) so its hard to see these things day to day, but its good to keep the idea of saying the correct things in front of people in an effort to not make them feel bad! In relation one of the activities we did where we designed some community space to be more inclusive was also fun. It really taught me how difficult it was to incorporate all people, and maybe that’s why many companies just don’t want to put in the effort to make things more accessible. This actually came at a time where I saw a post on social media from a person with a disability who was complaining about how people would reject her from job opportunities after finding out she was in a wheelchair, and things like that really open my eyes to issues that aren’t seen day to day but we should be aware of. This also made me very happy about how (to an extent as well) inclusive the AUC campus is. I was always surprised by the amount of people with impaired vision for example, but I came to the thought that there is a substantial amount of them at AUC because it is probably the only university that caters to their needs and has a ready space for them to be able to interact with. I loved the game assignment we did too, a lot of the games I played involved a lot of putting myself in their shoes. Specifically there was a game I played called “‘bury me, my love” that went through the life of a paramedic/doctor (?) and her husband who were in an active warzone. It was this cool texting simulator and they did really well with pausing the interactions, stopping for hours, etc. and each with moment of suspense you’d think the wife got killed. It really put me in the shoes of the person there and really made me empathize way more than before with people that are going through these things, which i find difficult to do sometimes. The last thing I would say has been most memorable so far was the Lina Mounzer reading. Not only did it go through a lot of topics and such which was great, but the main thing that happened in that reading was how much I appreciated the writing. In the age of AI and insanely bland boring writing it was really refreshing to see a human portraying themselves in words like that. As an artist as well I just took a step back and was like, “wow this is so beautiful” and I was really captivated by the words. Again, what I learned was the same along the lines of empathy, putting myself in people’s shoes and experiences, and also the part about translation and how it removes the other person’s intention and fingerprint was also really nice. I still don’t know how Soliya will go, but hopefully it makes me more aware of more new things. Knowledge is amazing and I love it.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t really learned too much new about myself specifically. I’ve always done a lot of self-reflection and introspection, and I write a lot about how I feel and about my life and such. Though I think the main thing I’ve learned is that I really could be a little more empathetic. I find myself struggling to feel other people who are in distress or experiencing some form of injustice, simply because I am not in their place. The games we played, the activities we did, etc. really removed that layer and helped me put myself in people’s shoes. I think Soliya will do that too. Interacting with people that I don’t know that are probably going to be pretty diverse will help me empathize even more, or I might learn new things about myself. We’ll see, but for now I don’t have any specific expectations from it yet. All I know is I love talking to new people and hope I get to make a lot of new freinds from around the world! 🙂

I learned that I should try to make people feel welcomed and loved is the most part. This course has shown me so far that theres a lot of systemic inequality due to general lack of care towards many people and groups. I think it is important to make people feel safe, welcomed and create a safe environment for them to the best of my ability. Whenever we get international students in the music major I offer to help them with things they might need to do outside of university to avoid them getting scammed for example, and a lot of the time they take me up on that offer. We end up with a nice road trip and new friends made. It is also pretty important to consider cultural differences (what is joking for us could be really offensive to them) so I should just be cautious of what I say generally. Soliya will definitely teach me how to interact even better with diversity.

Well, it really depends on what they think of the issue. I mean, I have to always be prepared to be okay with whatever opinion the opposing end has (especially if it isn’t my own). Many people might have different opinions on the issue that might be “taboo” in a sense is my biggest fear, and it would make it a bit hard to talk without seeming like some kind of stubborn person. I wouldn’t really know how something like that would go, and I don’t know how diverse Soliya will be (or rather what kind of diverse? I don’t know). In terms of actually talking about the matter? I’m okay with it! I don’t have any personal trauma Alhamdulilah because of either, Neither me or my family was specifically affected (at least directly). I don’t mind talking about the issues at all, I actually like talking about global politics and that kind of stuff. I’m not sure how I’d add to the conversation, but I hope I’d be able to.

This was a pretty long one, thank you for taking the time to read.

🙂