week 5 reflection

Fiction colors my life. My bookshelves are 95% fiction. My DVD collection is probably 98% fiction. Last year I read 45 books and 42 of them were fiction. A big goal of mine for 2016 was to consume more nonfiction. I am watching 1 documentary a week, and reading as much nonfiction as my busy life allows. It just so happens that all of this lines up with this Teaching College Composition course. I never once considered teaching fiction as part of a composition course until Professor Hayes said something about it like a week or so ago. It also coincides with the decision of the English department at my school to have me take over the AP Language and Composition course next year, meaning all of this nonfiction consumption is going to come in handy. It also means this Teaching College Composition course is going to have a serious impact on my teaching next year. In fact, the material I will be producing for this class is shaping my syllabus for next year's course.

I have my four major nonfiction texts picked out already, and I ran into the same problem with AP Language as I did with AP Literature; a majority of the recommended texts are by straight white dudes. It is frustrating to be confronted with this everywhere I turn. I did manage to get one text by a white woman, and one text by a black woman in my major texts. I will definitely be doing more supplemental materials from underrepresented groups of people.

I am finding myself in discussions about inclusiveness on a nearly daily basis. Just yesterday my friend and I were talking about the use of language like "black film" as if that somehow means films without qualifiers are the standard and that standard is white. I have too many students who do not see the problem with white-washing, or the problem with the fact that women have almost no chance to direct big budget films, or do not see the problem with stereotypical characters because they are funny. I believe it is a huge part of my job to try and help open their eyes to some of the injustices in our world, not just the super big things like overt KKK style racism, or idiocy of Men's Rights Activists, but the more covert issues that color our world.

I find myself exhausted at the struggle, but then I think about the struggle People of Color, women and the LGTBQ community goes through on a daily basis, and it reminds me how lucky I am. It also reminds me I have to do my part to show my students that the voices of the underrepresented matter, and if that means Straight White Dude voices, like mine, have to be silent for a little bit, that is okay. That was weird to write because as I type up this blog post, I am using my Straight White Dude voice.