longest learning journal of life

Religious Studies:
Are we supposed to talk about Paden? I don’t know. I guess so...
In Religious Studies we studied William Paden’s notion of interpretive frames which I, like ‘Parkhill’, find to be really important and pretty fascinating when you really think about it. I personally believe that Paden’s ideas are useful in almost everything we do, whether we see it to be useful or not. I also now believe that our frames are biased to our own lifestyle. When we read something such as the ‘Nacirema’ text we almost look down at it thinking “what kind of culture does this?” and this is where I find Paden’s interpretive frames to be most useful. I think we only realize Paden’s ideas to be useful when studying something out of our own cultural norm such as the Tibetan book of the dead. The Tibetan book of the dead and the studies we did on Buddhism itself really helped me to learn and develop the capabilities of looking outside of my own frame. I found myself being able to understand and question something I hadn’t really looked at before.
In the world history course I am taking this semester we recently began studying the pilgrimages of Christianity, Muslim and Buddhism. Having learned in Religious studies terms such as bodhisattvas and Gautama Siddhartha has given me an advantage over other students in the course. Also, in the course, with studying so many different areas of the world, I have an advantage of noticing everyone’s personal frame when they speak and with the questions they ask.

English:
My deepened understanding of how reading works has developed mostly and more obviously with the play doubt. I have never read something so in depth before. I think that all the studies we have done of the play have truly developed in me a new level of reading analysis. Reading, if you want it to be can be casual and only for entertainment, but anything can be studied and examined. I realize now some of the many things that reading can do on an academic level, and what it can be for. A written text can help a person expand their thoughts essentially on life. A written text can persuade a person to do almost anything. I see this mostly in the fact that so many people of the class have changed their minds over and over again about father Flynn’s guilt. One minor word of the written text can be interpreted as a suggestion of one way or the other and it can change someone’s opinions completely in an instance. I’m not sure I have really become a better writer myself; I have seen how another’s writings can be shaped for certain audiences and critiques. Shanley, for example, has written the play Doubt with aspects that can intrigue many audiences. He writes for a religious audience and also for a non-religious audience. However, I don’t believe that he has bettered my writing, but more so my methods of interpretation and analysis. Had we of not studied the play so much, my methods of research would not have grown. We used the UNB online library to find multiple sources to help with our understanding of the text. We also learned methods of research on the open web; what is useful and what is not, what sites tend to be more biased and what sites don’t.

Journalism:
In journalism we studied multiple things, from Saudi Arabia and its lack of free speech in the press to how to write a good journalism article. I personally believe that journalism is simply a way of informing the public. Whether there is a difference between serious and light journalism exists I’m honestly still not sure of. After watching the segment ‘College days college nights’ which I personally thought was light, un-serious journalism I was surprised to hear that some people considered it to be serious. This truthfully made me question the existence of serious and un-serious journalism all together. Anything can be serious in the world of journalism depending on the frame you look at it through. In the journalism course, I feel I learned more so what journalistic writing looks like as opposed to what really consists of good journalism. Having not felt that I really learned this, I have come to the conclusion myself after having viewed a story about a man travelling to Saudi Arabia and discussing the issues of free press to a bunch of university students living everyday life that anything in the world of journalism can be serious.

Aquinas what:
The Aquinas program, as said in the prompt given is supposed to help students be fuller members of the academic community of the campus. I personally feel that the occasions have helped me become that. Had they not been a requirement in the course I never would have gone to any on campus events or lectures. Going to these events made experiences for me that helped me meet more of the Saint Thomas community and also helped me feel more engaged in it. Learning, as I believed before, came only in the classroom and only from the establishment of what was declared right by a teacher. Truth in society has explained to me that making a mistake can also be a method of learning and we should not be penalized for it. Many times have I come to class with a prompt in my hand believe it is what was asked to be done and was wrong. It actually has helped to develop my critical thinking. I am now better at “deciphering” complicated tasks.