Hello all! I thought I'd go ahead and write a blog about this even though it doesn't fully relate to our cohort because it does relate importantly to Paideia as a whole. I was recently invited to co-facilitate a freshman pre-Paideia cohort class called a Paideia Conversation Cohort. So I am co-facilitating with Dr. Melissa Brynes (from the history department) a course over her topic choice: "Demonization in our Public Discourse." It's pretty swanky and goes very well with what I am already learning in my Rhetorics of Resistance class with Professor Feyh as well as with the sort of things (protest rhetoric and literature) that I intend on studying further in graduate school. :]
So we had our first meeting last night with a group of 9 total, and everyone was just fantastic. It's very reassuring to be surrounded by such a wonderfully intelligent and energetic group as those 7 freshmen. We discussed everything from the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear to Tea Party rhetoric to Andrew Jackson to Paideia in general. To be honest, it was very hard for me to keep quiet and let them do more of the talking but -- though I do participate a bunch because I just can't help myself -- they certainly didn't let their own voices become subsumed. And yet I don't know if I've ever seen a more polite group of people talking about politics and religion who all had opinions and all wanted to share them.
I'm pretty sure we're only meeting once more this semester (which is kind of a drag, I think, since I loved it) but we are meeting more frequently next semester. I am very jacked up about this -- I think this next generation of Paideia students is going to be just rockin'! I hope everyone from this Conversation group digs it enough to give full-blown Paideia a shot; this is a really promising, sassy, perceptive, and foxy bunch of students.
I can't wait to converse with them again -- November 29th!
ciao for now,
Katie
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