If I Could Turn Back Time

Better late than never? (Not at all! I understand I will NOT be receiving credit for this entry, but still!)

I'm not gonna lie... I totally forgot about posting a blog entry. But here I am nonetheless. I was a little bummed that we didn't have class this week! AMS is one of my favorite classes, it helps balance out my other dull classes. I totally registered for this class like a month before school started just to have a back up. I had originally planned to drop this class (before classes started) because I felt like I was taking too many credits. BUT NO. I went the first day and saw Lady Gaga on the first page of the syllabus... I knew it wouldn't be a typical class, so I decided to stick with it. I'M GLAD I DID!

I have enjoyed all of the topics we've covered (even if the text wasn't necessarily my favorite read). I really enjoyed the weekly articles. One that I found the most interesting was that of Rap music. I am a music lover, and whenever I get a chance to learn more about it in any class, I take it! The whole thing with MTV not wanting to play certain music videos was really interesting. It's weird looking at how much MTV, and our society, has evolved!

I apologize for the terribly late blog entry, but this week was kinda odd with not having class and having this due by midnight on Friday. My planner tends to be the last thing I look at on Friday nights, see you in class!

Semester in Review

I believe I'm with the majority of this class in saying they were pleasantly surprised with this course. The broad range of topics relating to America and American culture kept me interested and engaged with class. I especially enjoyed the unit spent discussing vampires and their origins. I feel like the more modern incarnations of vampires continue a trend of straying further and further from their true roots. I feel that this theme of adaptations based on the time period carries through to many other parts of the American Studies field.

Class

This course provided some really excellent information and commentary about society, and the indivial's place within society. The "other" was a very powerful theme that permeated through each concept that we studied. It's important to analyse how our ideological foundations have formed and changed as time has passed; and this course provided that analysis. The knowledge gained from this class will stay with me, and assist me in my other studies.

To be completely honest, I did not really know what an American Studies class was when I registered for it besides a course for my humanities credit. This class was completely different than any other class that I have taken. Most of my classes are in large lectures where we take notes and then go back to our dorms and memorize our notes. This class was completely different. I found myself going back to my room to look up more information on what we had talked about in class. The topics covered during class were very thought provoking and honestly things I had never really thought about at this level before. For example, we talked about disability in a way that was so far beyond the medical terms that I have learned in other classes. We focused on people instead of terminology and labels. Another thing that I got from the course is that there is more than one side to everything and definitely more than one opinion towards it.

Reflection

To be honest I did not really know what this class was gonna offer. I just took it to get enough credits. Once I got into the class I really started to enjoy it. It was very interesting to learn so of the things that you taught us. As the semester went on this was probably the only class that I actually looked forward to going to. It was the only class i did not skip atleast one class. Also I did not think that I would end up taking another AMS class but I really enjoyed this class so I wanted to take another. You were also a great teacher and made it enjoyable to come to class. You really opened my eyes to all the different things that happen in our society and what makes our country a unique place to live.

Class Reflection

In this course, American Study 107, I have learned a lot of American culture in the class. All of the themes that were taught and discussed in class were very interesting to me especially the Vampire. Compared to the old version Chinese vampire TV show that I used to watched before, Dracula was very intriguing for me. Actually, all of the themes that I learned in class were unfamiliar because it is very hard for me to find out some event about those themes such as disability and race in my homeland. Although I am not in American study major, the course materials are meaningful to learn it.

AMS 107 - Great Class!!

I lucked out when a seat became available the second week of the semester because this was a great class. I learned that almost everything in society is socially constructed and that as time goes on, things seem to change in an effort to adapt to the specific time period. So many things contribute to the "make-up" and identity of society (religion,race, gender, sex even vampires and freak shows) and as times goes on the influence of the media and internet become greater. I learned that the theme of "the other" has been prevalent in society for such a long time, when you think back to slavery and presently to vampires, the disabled and gays/lesbians. Through the years these groups have faced so much scrutiny and discrimination and I want to believe that as a society we are taking a look at history and learning from previous mistakes. Everyone should take an American Studies course so they can learn about people and see how many things contribute to who we are as a society and and as an individual.