Reflections on our Class Discussion #1

This post is not in response to any particular set of readings or any given writing assignment, but is instead simply a reflection on my experiences in MLS 722 up to this point.  I often leave our meetings with much to consider and much to keep my mind occupied with for the remainder of my Thursday evenings.  I have found that this consideration most often centers on how our discussion evolved that night and why it seems we don't often arrive at any sort of fundamental "truths" or conclusions or even a simple consensus after several hours of dissecting our material.  Not that I'm asserting this as a critique of our classes, but more as an observation about our group dynamic.

This notion has often left me feeling frustrated and unsatisfied as I bike home at the end of the night, but this week it occurred to me that maybe to hope for resolution is just not realistic.  Maybe it doesn't really matter if we "get somewhere" at all and that where I want us to get isn't even where we need or want to be.  I think that thought is at the root of our shared class experience.  MLS is designed to be interdisciplinary; it's designed to draw in a cohort of students with different experiences, different interests and backgrounds.  We might be considering the same readings, films, and images, but we're reading and viewing them through entirely unique lenses.  So it makes sense that in discussing an issue we sometimes go around the group with everyone expressing an opinion that speaks to the ultimate "truth" of their point of view, but doesn't necessarily move us any closer to a more meaningful consensus on the subject matter.  While this merry-go-round of opinion and editorializing may leave us wanting something more, it may also be just the thing that MLS is out to achieve.  

We have filmmakers, parents, artists, environmentalists, cops, and retirees in our group and each of our perspectives holds unquestionable value, the trick lies in working toward some shared vision through all of these lenses.  As graduate students this can sometimes be difficult (given the investment we each have in our specific discipline) but the journey is valuable and the frustration can be illuminative.  Just some thoughts at about the halfway point and in anticipation of where our shared path will take us...

Here's an interesting pod cast entitled "The Human Mule" from the Dirtbag Diaries on a journalist's adventure in re-capturing his youth (cut and paste if you're interested in listening):

http://c3.libsyn.com/media/18739/The_Human_Mule.mp3?nvb=20101031041316&nva=20101101042316&sid=aa69100d6c01ab0b26b446b3c968af03&l_sid=18739&l_eid=&l_mid=1698514&t=0016df019aaaca89ebaf1