AWS Final Reflection

Reflection:

Before coming into this class I had very little idea of what to expect and what I would be learning about this semester. I saw that it dealt with border thinking and at first I assumed the main thing we would be discussing would be immigration. However, I soon began to see we would be dealing with a lot more than just that.

The first thing that was new to me was watching films and analyzing them. I had watched films before for classes, but I had never had to analyze or think about them like I did for this class. For example, while watching the films we had to interpret the meanings and symbols such as in Children of Men and we saw how it relates to religion. What separated films from the readings, was that in films I was able to see how everything happened and had a clear visual of the details that were unfolding. Films were also helpful because the characters were always dressed appropriately and spoke the actual language of the region. I think the best example of this was in the movie Osama and how it showed 4 different cultures of people and how they live. The readings were also very interesting but it is always harder to try and picture the images in my own head. My favorite reading was probably The Middle of Everywhere because it was interesting to read about how people from foreign countries come to our own state and how they have to adapt to our way of living. This particular reading related more to me because it was an actual example from our area and I could understand more of what they were going through in their transition to our culture.  Another way of learning that we did almost everyday was with class discussions. I enjoyed working with groups and other people and hearing from classmates during discussion. I learned to listen to others ideas and tried to share my thoughts as well. What helped me express my own feelings and thoughts was because of how accepting and non judgmental everyone was. I feel like I have further developed my social skills because of this and I will be using my previous experiences in this class to guide me with group projects/discussions in the future. This also helped me learn new ideas and everyones input gave me a different point of view on the subjects we were discussing.

The most difficult and challenging part of this class was by far the 10-page research paper we had to do. It seemed to take forever to finally accomplish and once it was over with I felt very relieved. It did, however, greatly develop my writing skills because I was not used to the in-text citations and it was also the first time I had to use the Library on campus to gather resources, which I am sure I will have to do many times in the future. The class in general was a challenge in the fact that I was not well informed beforehand of many of the topics we discussed. I was soon caught to speed with many new topics such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Children of the Drug Wars. Some of the readings were also difficult and lengthy but I felt like I had a much better understanding once I had finished reading them. The most enlightening class activity to me was the Walk for Refugees that some of us went on. It really opened my eyes to a whole different world and I cannot imagine having to live in a tent that size with so many people. I was glad that I chose to participate in this event and I could see myself doing something similar to this in the future.

If I had to evaluate the class as a whole I would say it was very interesting and I learned a lot about borders and how borders are crossed everyday. I am glad I was able to take this particular course and have two great professors who taught me a lot about the subject and how to be a successful student at Nebraska Wesleyan as well. Also, I was lucky to be put in a class with a group of very smart classmates that I learned a lot from and hope to see in the future. In the end, this class exceeded my expectations and I am glad I was able to expand my own borders of learning.

Relating to Class

In relating family to our class, the story of the refugees in The Middle of Everywhere coming to Nebraska is another example of a different type of “family.” They were completely lost when they first came to the U.S. and with the help of the author, Mary Pipher, they were able to learn and adapt to our culture. She brought them into her life and treated them as a family. In doing this, she had to put down her own personal borders and help others who are different from her. I think this sets a good example for others as we all need to put down our borders and help those in need. Participating in the walk for refugees was a great way to get another view of the life a refugee family is like. Living in a small tent for many years would be difficult and I couldn’t imagine doing that for so long. In the end, The Middle of Everywhere showed a great example of how helping out a group of refugees can result in a great bond and form a type of “family.”

Other Types of Families

I personally define family as those you share a blood relation with that you look after and care about. This can also be looked at in a different way when thinking about friends or a group of people. For example, when I was in high school I had a great bond with my friends. We did everything together and looked out for each others backs. I view close friends as a unique type of family that you share a same common interest in, such as school or sports. Also in high school, I had a different type of family which consisted of the sports teams I was on. You spend an enormous amount of time with your fellow teammates and you are constantly preached not to let them down. This is a special bond you share with your sports “family” because you have to cross your own personal borders and let yourself show who you really are in order to get the most from your teammates. I would definitely include sports teams I have been on as a part of my family because that is a bond that will last for a lifetime. One more type of group I like to think of as family is school or class room. The entire school has a connection because we all share the same buildings and class rooms and we have all been through the same thing. A school may be a little bit of a reach to be considered a family but I believe we all look out for each other and have each others backs. When I look at it closer I realize that I have been involved in many families through out my life so far.

 

History

The history of my family name and as well as where my family members have been and how they ended up in the southeast corner of Nebraska has a unique story of its own that involves crossing many borders. My last name is Stahl which is from German decent, and my dads grandparents came to America from Germany. I’m not quite sure why they chose Nebraska but I am assuming they did for the farmland and the fact that there wasn’t a lot of people around. This an obvious example of my ancestors crossing borders to have a better life in America. My grandma on my dads side has a unique story. She was born in Iowa to a man and woman she would never meet again because she was given up for adoption. Her future parents picked her out from the rest because she stood out to them and then they took her back to Johnson, Nebraska. I thought this was interesting because my grandma was crossing borders of families and states before she could even realize what was going on. My grandpa on my dads side also has an example of borders and boundaries because he fought in the Korean War. Although he never really talked about it and passed away when I was only around 8, I have still seen pictures and heard of how rough the Korean War was. It’s hard to talk about war when I have never personally been but I imagine it was very difficult to go to a different country and try and survive during a war. 

My moms side of the family has also crossed borders to end up where we are all at today. She was the third oldest out of 5 children and she was born in Corning, Kansas. Soon after she was born though, they moved to Texas because her dad switched jobs which was the cause of all of their moves. After a couple years in Texas and two more births, her dad received a job in Johnson, Nebraska working at the local grain elevator. This long and complicated journey again shows how my family crossed multiple borders to end up in “The Middle of Everywhere” Nebraska. I Personally have barely traveled in my life so I am not so familiar with crossing borders into different territories. However when I went to the places I actually have traveled to, such as Washington D.C. and Chicago, I felt out of my element and a little culture shocked by all of the big buildings and busy streets. I can also see this happening as I moved from a small farm town into a big city such as Lincoln for college. Lincoln isn’t as big or as intimidating and I have been familiar with it for awhile so I think I will be able to manage it for awhile. 

Included is a picture of a soldier from the Korean War which my grandpa fought in:

Background

Growing up I believe that I was very blessed when it came to family. My family is from Johnson, Nebraska which is in the southeast corner of the state and about an hour from lincoln. My mom works at the school in town while my dad farms and my sister works here in Lincoln. However, my “family” extends much further from just that. On my moms side, I have 5 uncles, 5 aunts, and 12 cousins. My moms side of the family is very close as we always gather for holidays at my grandmas house in Johnson. One thing that I would consider a boundary or border is that other than my immediate family, all of my other aunts and uncles from my moms side chose to move away to different parts of the state. I think of this as a boundary or border because I cant just go and visit my cousins or vice versa because it takes a lot of time and planning to make it all happen. For example my closest cousin Mark is from Humphrey and I love to spend time and hangout with him but unfortunately Humphrey, Nebraska is 3 hours away from where I live. Looking at it from a different angle though, maybe the fact that my relatives are so far away is what makes each gathering and reunion so special and great. 

On my dads side, however, is a different story. There isn’t as many borders because my dad only had one brother who never married so I have no aunts or cousins on my dads side. My dad and uncle have both lived in the same area for all of their life and have done the same thing as well which is farm. They learned all of their techniques from my Grandpa who was also a farmer. I believe growing up on the farm was the greatest gift I received because I think it taught me many lessons on hard work and dedication and how they pay off in the long run. The only boundary that might separate me from farming is that with all of the technology and equipment in todays world there was no way for me to join in on the family farm and make a career out of it. My dad and uncle can manage the whole farm and get things done on time with all of the new equipment, which this is much different from back in the day when the sons were expected to stay home and help on the farm. 

Included is a picture from main street from my hometown of Johnson, NE.