Humanities
"Your Life on Earth" Personal Philosophy Project
Project Relfection
The “Your Life on Earth” philosophy project was about finding what we personally believed about the world, and our place in it. We studied many different kinds of philosophy including existentialism and transcendentalism, as well as read books with certain philosophical themes. For my project, I wrote a poem about my belief that people need to stand up for what they believe and who they are, and I created a video of the same topic. Throughout the project, I had been thinking about what my personal beliefs are, and while the topic of my project was very narrow, I feel that the topic I chose is the strongest belief I have.
Before this project, I had not thought about my personal philosophy before, and this project made me think about that a lot. I found that there are so many different aspects to what makes up a philosophy, and so many different ways to express that. For me, having a sense of place and being able to stand up for myself is incredibly important. During the sense of place mini-study, I realized how important having a sense of place is to me, I need to be in a place I care about and appreciate in order to be truly happy, and I didn’t completely realize that until this project. I also feel that it is very important for me to stand up for what I believe in. This is something that can be very hard, but it is better in the long run, in A Tale for the Time Being, Nao begins to be able to stand up for herself, and she feels much better because of it. It gives people confidence, and more awareness about what is going on in their lives. These two values are what have shaped me as a person, and this project allowed me to understand myself and my beliefs more.
Questions I still have after this project:
Before this project, I had not thought about my personal philosophy before, and this project made me think about that a lot. I found that there are so many different aspects to what makes up a philosophy, and so many different ways to express that. For me, having a sense of place and being able to stand up for myself is incredibly important. During the sense of place mini-study, I realized how important having a sense of place is to me, I need to be in a place I care about and appreciate in order to be truly happy, and I didn’t completely realize that until this project. I also feel that it is very important for me to stand up for what I believe in. This is something that can be very hard, but it is better in the long run, in A Tale for the Time Being, Nao begins to be able to stand up for herself, and she feels much better because of it. It gives people confidence, and more awareness about what is going on in their lives. These two values are what have shaped me as a person, and this project allowed me to understand myself and my beliefs more.
Questions I still have after this project:
- Why do people have specific strong values that others don’t, what makes us all so different?
- What are other values I have that I haven’t realized yet?
- What are my beliefs around what happens when we die?
- Who created religion? Why did they create it?
- Do people actually have religious experiences, or do they just make themselves believe they do.
- What makes my sense of place so powerful?
Poem
Who is God?
Why do so many people worship him?
Or, should I say her?
Because God is definitely a woman.
But maybe it does make sense for their God to be a man.
Christianity and the patriarchy have been together for so long.
Slowly chipping away at women
And their sense of self for centuries.
This religion teaches anyone who is not a straight man,
That they are inferior,
That they don’t matter,
That as women we are just here to be used by men,
And that we better be okay with that.
We are supposed to allow ourselves to be molded into an empty shell.
We are told that we don’t matter
That hell is waiting for us if we dare be ourselves
We are told that if we have the courage to be who we truly are we are damned.
Apparently, we don’t deserve family or love, we gave that up when we dare speak our minds,
And stayed true to our souls.
Too many times, our’s have been ripped from us,
By men who are too scared to see a woman show her strength.
So they call us dykes, and bitches.
Men who don’t realize that we are rising up,
And we don’t have patience for their bullshit anymore.
I have watched women crumble,
Like the statues they have been forced to be,
Under the weight of these impossible rules
That have been imposed on them by the men that are supposed to love them.
I have heard of too many cases of young girls being sexualized
Before they even understand what that means,
I have listened to men say the most disgusting things,
And have it just be brushed off,
Because “boys will be boys”.
I have listened to all of this,
And couldn’t help but wonder where this came from,
How did generations of men learn that this is how they should act.
And I can’t help but think of Christianity
and how it’s teachings allow men to take complete control of women and our lives.
Just like so many priests who think they know what’s best for my life more than I do.
Who is God?
God is the tool used by the patriarchy,
To control women,
So we don’t gain too much power,
And realize what has been done to us for centuries.
Now,
I didn’t grow up Christian,
But that religion has been clawing at me
Since I could understand what religion was.
Trying to destroy my sense of self from the inside out.
For years,
I have battled for my place in this culture,
Not giving into being a woman on their terms,
I am my own woman.
And I have been fighting for that my whole life.
I have been told that if I want to go to heaven,
I need to believe in God,
But why the hell would I want to go to heaven,
If there are just going to be more men there who are telling me how I have to be.
Who tell me that I need to meet their expectations in order to be a woman.
I cannot spend anymore time around men who tell me what to believe in.
Who tell me that I am here for them,
Let me remind you that men would not exist without women,
So show us a little more respect.
Remember what happens to women at the hands of so many men.
Remember that our culture allows this to happen.
Remember that we don’t have to.
That we can change this world,
and no one can tell us we can’t because we are strong.
And we cannot be stopped.
I believe that we are all God,
That we have control of our lives,
Life is too precious to be ruled by any man,
However almighty he may be.
You belong to no one but yourself,
And you create your own path,
So go take it.
Why do so many people worship him?
Or, should I say her?
Because God is definitely a woman.
But maybe it does make sense for their God to be a man.
Christianity and the patriarchy have been together for so long.
Slowly chipping away at women
And their sense of self for centuries.
This religion teaches anyone who is not a straight man,
That they are inferior,
That they don’t matter,
That as women we are just here to be used by men,
And that we better be okay with that.
We are supposed to allow ourselves to be molded into an empty shell.
We are told that we don’t matter
That hell is waiting for us if we dare be ourselves
We are told that if we have the courage to be who we truly are we are damned.
Apparently, we don’t deserve family or love, we gave that up when we dare speak our minds,
And stayed true to our souls.
Too many times, our’s have been ripped from us,
By men who are too scared to see a woman show her strength.
So they call us dykes, and bitches.
Men who don’t realize that we are rising up,
And we don’t have patience for their bullshit anymore.
I have watched women crumble,
Like the statues they have been forced to be,
Under the weight of these impossible rules
That have been imposed on them by the men that are supposed to love them.
I have heard of too many cases of young girls being sexualized
Before they even understand what that means,
I have listened to men say the most disgusting things,
And have it just be brushed off,
Because “boys will be boys”.
I have listened to all of this,
And couldn’t help but wonder where this came from,
How did generations of men learn that this is how they should act.
And I can’t help but think of Christianity
and how it’s teachings allow men to take complete control of women and our lives.
Just like so many priests who think they know what’s best for my life more than I do.
Who is God?
God is the tool used by the patriarchy,
To control women,
So we don’t gain too much power,
And realize what has been done to us for centuries.
Now,
I didn’t grow up Christian,
But that religion has been clawing at me
Since I could understand what religion was.
Trying to destroy my sense of self from the inside out.
For years,
I have battled for my place in this culture,
Not giving into being a woman on their terms,
I am my own woman.
And I have been fighting for that my whole life.
I have been told that if I want to go to heaven,
I need to believe in God,
But why the hell would I want to go to heaven,
If there are just going to be more men there who are telling me how I have to be.
Who tell me that I need to meet their expectations in order to be a woman.
I cannot spend anymore time around men who tell me what to believe in.
Who tell me that I am here for them,
Let me remind you that men would not exist without women,
So show us a little more respect.
Remember what happens to women at the hands of so many men.
Remember that our culture allows this to happen.
Remember that we don’t have to.
That we can change this world,
and no one can tell us we can’t because we are strong.
And we cannot be stopped.
I believe that we are all God,
That we have control of our lives,
Life is too precious to be ruled by any man,
However almighty he may be.
You belong to no one but yourself,
And you create your own path,
So go take it.
Deconstructing America: Rhetoric, Ideology and the Democratic experiment
Project Overview
In this project, we looked at what it means to be a political thinker in this country, and how to understand each other despite different values and views. We each chose a topic to study in-depth, and structured our projects around that topic. My project was about conversion therapy, so I did a lot of research about what conversion therapy actually is, why people do it, and why people don't like it. I wrote two papers about how I don't think conversion should be illegal, one was from my own perspective and my personal attachement to the topic, the other showed why conversion therapy should be illegal with evidence and statistics to back up my opinion. The third paper I wrote was from the opposite perspective of mine, and I had to write it as if I held that perspective. The project ended with an exhibition for the public, where we showed the work we did throughout this project, and led a socratic seminar that the public was able to participate in.