• Why am I taking the course?

I love learning about and researching women’s, gender, and sexuality studies and political theory. In fact, for the longest time I simply had to do it on my own. While I did enjoy the process and felt a sense of accomplishment I knew I was missing praxis. What’s the point of studying how to create a better, more just world if you don’t have a way to enact those changes? I tired to do my part in smaller ways by volunteering and getting involved with some grassroots political organizations, but wanted to try something else. This desire to enact greater change led me to taking WGSS 001 last semester, and it was there where I started to learn more about the different, larger scale opportunities to do meaningful work and to make in impact, with GSIF being the most interesting to me. I saw in GSIF the opportunity to combine my twin passions: research/academic work and real, tangible social impact.

On top of the desire to study general women’s gender/health issues I thought this course, and specifically the safe motherhood project, would give me the opportunity to explore an area I find critically important to understanding our global situation, yet strikingly underrepresented. By this I am referring to the intersection of the political, historical, and environmental factors at play in building up of former European colonies in Africa. Neocolonialism comes into play much more than could be thought, and its influence on countries like Sierra Leone can be seen all the way from the political systems in place to (as we are focusing on for my project) the health of a nation’s citizens. By taking this course and working on my specific project I see a way to bring light to these issues, to examine their impact, and hopefully to create a new perspective and approach to tackling the problems presented.

• How will the course make me a better student?

I have limited experience working on large, research based projects with groups. I have even less of an idea what I want to major in and do after college. Therefore, I’m hoping the GSIF is able to help me become a better student in these two principle areas. To begin, I’d like to quickly touch on the group work point. I don’t mean to say I have no experience working with groups; I did have to do some smaller projects and assignments in groups while in high school, but in most of those experiences the word “group” can be used very flexibly. I was one of those “I’ll do most of the work, you all check it over, and we’ll all write our names on it” kind of people. While this worked in high school, I know how foolish it would be to go about college projects, especially GSIF, with this same attitude. Furthermore, I know I can work in groups well and have already demonstrated that to myself in Bus 001, but that is much less applicable to the real world and more advanced projects than a GSIF project. Hopefully, through this course, I will be able to hone my group skills and learn the most effective way for me to work with others on more serious projects.

Now, arguably the best reason I lose sleep at night despite the relatively insignificant gravity of it compared with other issues, if the question of my major and career. While hoping to find an answer to this question might not seem like being related to making me a better student, I see no way to become a better student if I have no idea what I fundamentally want to do. I have been trying to narrow it down all the previous semester and i’m no closer to reaching an answer than when I started. I am at the point where I could go down two radically different paths and don’t even know where to start. But then GSIF came along and I saw an opportunity to explore a potential field of interest before I make any definitive choice. I also hope that taking the course will open up new paths for me to explore and give me the best view of what I could potentially do. Of course, knowing what I want to dop doesn’t immediately mean I will be a good student while studying it, but it does mean that when I eventually do come to a decision I will have much more off a drive to excel because I know it’s for me.

• Eyeglasses problem

To address this issue I would first try to understand the true need for eyeglasses and to see if the population is capable of making them themselves. If they had the capacity to produce their own glasses then finding out how to get them the equipment would be the solution. If they would be unable to produce their own then I believe a solid short term option would be to provide them with reusable contacts. Contacts would be much more durable than glasses, easier to store, and would be resistant to ware. On top of all that, they are relatively cheap and easy to replace.