Safe Zone Dialogues

The Safe Zone Dialogues during class were a very interesting experience for me. I truly enjoyed the dialogues because they were eye opening and in a comfortable environment. The Safe Zone dialogues focused on the questions surrounding the LGBT(Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) community. The dialogues had a facilitator and two informants to lead the discussion in a progressive productive manner. The students participating in this ongoing conversation were allowed to ask questions and present opinions after being informed on the lifestyles and experiences of our informants. Many questions were presented in the dialogues on homosexuality . I felt that the majority of the students in my group were comfortable and open about their feelings on the matter. The subjects ranged from gay marriage to attraction. I thought it was incredibly interesting to listen to the different opinions. The best part was the informants though. Our informants were a bisexual UAB employee and a gay UAB student. I label them this way for the sake of relevance , their stories however showed that they were much more than those labels. They made me realize that one of the best ways to point out the ridiculousness of homophobia may be to point out humanity. Our informants talked about relationships , life, happiness, pain, and struggle just like anyone else would. One thing I respected about our Informants was their openness. You have to give the proper recognition to someone who gets up and gives you a wonderful testimonial of themself in such a humble manner. I feel like by doing this it may have opened some eyes or further progressed some into acceptance. This was a great thing for me to see because I hate discrimination. I relate to any oppressed group on the planet and understand the struggle. I was happy to discuss this with my peers and see some new sides of a subject I'd like to further educate myself on.

Global Connections- Winnie Mandela at Alys Stevens Center

When I first heard Winne Mandela was going to be speaking at UAB I was ecstatic. I knew about Winnie's controversial history in women's rights, social work, and anti- discrimination. These things all interest me and sparked an interest in her work for me early on. When I arrived I was surprised to see the Alys Stevens Center was not packed completely full for the former first lady of South Africa. The audience was pretty large and predominately African American. After listening to sponsors and even the newly elected mayor of Birmingham , William Bell I was ready for Winnie. She sat on the stage in a very poised firm straight manner the entire time she waited. I noticed her facial expression change from a very calm blank stare only once. I felt like her composure was that of a Queen.



When she finally decided to take center stage she did so with a very angry looking body guard next to her the entire time. She immediately began an all out attack on capitalism , patriarchy, poverty , and discrimination. Her criticism began with the USA and it's imperialist campaign throughout the middle east over the last few years. She specifically focused on the Afghanistan and Iraq war and their current roles. "America, what do we in the world community think of you when you preach peace and do something differently ?" Miss Mandela asked the audience. A strong reception seemed to rise every time she critiqued the war. The audience seemed to be almost wholeheartedly in agreement with what she was saying. When Miss Mandela began to chastise Israel the mood somewhat changed though. She condemned their actions in building new settlements and further "choking" the Palestinian refugee population. I heard mumbles and noticed facial expressions changing. Some people seemed unhappy enough to leave during these final moments of her lecture. Winnie's time attacking patriarchy was very direct and more blunt to me than the rest of her lecture. I felt she was trying to be subtle in most points she made. I was very satisfied with her presentation myself though.

Rituals- The Cathedral of St. Paul at Birmingham

Since I was a small child my father has raised me in a very protestant fashion. I was reared in the traditional teaching of black protestants in the United States of America. This upbringing is an extension of the white protestant values inherited through slavery. With that being said, I was raised very anti-catholic. The first place I thought I should visit for rituals should be a catholic church. Therefore, I chose to attend The Cathedral of St. Paul. When I first awoke and got ready to attend church I put on my traditional Sunday dress. I wore a button down shirt, cardigan sweater, black dress pants, and Sunday shoes. I didn't want to over dress or under dress. I found myself feeling a bit nervous about entering this worship service. The thoughts of people staring at me because I was not following ritual made me a little uneasy.


I arrived and was welcomed by a short man who looked very clean cut and straight. His posture at the door made him seem like a guard almost. The cathedral was very beautiful and impressed me on a large scale architecturally. The church had a very gothic look to me. I would later be told by the church father it was built in 1872. This was different from any church I'd ever attended. The building itself was somewhat intimidating to me when I entered. I found the stained glass and Roman looking statues to be quite eerie. The priest prayed in latin and waved around what looked like a jar on string. The father told me when we spoke after service this was incense burning. Throughout the service I found myself confuse by many things. I was confused about how Eucharist was performed, the incense, the symbolism of the cross and other things. This is the main reason I sought out the priest afterward for clarity. He spoke to me with a sort of condescending tone about how others criticize the Catholic Church but claimed it to be the father of all organized Christianity. He and I spoke for quite some time and he told me about the light of Christ. I told him I was attending the service for a class only and he politely told me to return sometime. Overall I didnt feel to uncomfortable. I felt mild discomfort ,but only because I didn't understand everything happening around me.

Anthro Analysis-Pho Que Huong (Food/Ethnic Restaurants)

Sean Moffet and I had been planning on eating somewhere together for culture blog for a while. We decided upon Pho Que Huong after I recommended it for a new experience. I am someone who is usually open to new experiences visually, mentally, and palatally so the idea intrigued me. When we arrived at Pho Que Huong I was ready to eat and hungry.  We walked in and seated ourselves which I didn't find to be that strange even though I was expecting to be seated by someone. The servers wore all black and acted in a fashion I am accustomed to. The menu was overwhelmingly big to me for some reason and the ingredients to some dishes confused me. One particular dish jumped out at Sean and I , it was called the Hu Tieu My Tho. Hu Tieu My Tho is a rice noodle bowl with pork strips, shrimp, squid and quail egg.  This array of things was served with lettuce , bean sprouts, lemon grass, and some other food items that cannot be identified on a side plate.  

       

  I looked up our choice and found it originates in Mỹ Tho, Vietnam. Mỹ Tho is the capital city and municipality of Tiền Giang Province, located in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam.   Mỹ Tho has a large seafood market which relates to this cultures subsistence . This explains the emphasis on the shrimp and squid in the broth. These two meats seemed to be in the most abundance.Mỹ Tho is  one of South Vietnam's largest resources for dried fish and other dried seafood products such as "Kho Muc" , which is squid.  Overall my experience was okay. I was not impressed by the taste of the food. I was a little ethnocentric towards it, since my taste buds judged the food somewhat on how different it was to my "normal" meals. I would return to this restaurant to eat though because I like trying new things. 

it didn't taste like lettuce....