(no subject)
I can’t help but notice the lack of diversity and multiculturalism in the Mass Communications department. Yesterday I walked into a class of 40 students, and the ratio of people not of colour to visible minorities was... well... 1 to 40. Then in my next class the ratio was 8 to 63; and today's television class had me and my prof (so that's 2 to 30). And don't get me wrong, I don’t normally sit there and count how many visible minorities there are in a class room nor do I dissect how multicultural and diverse my space is - but lately I’ve been working with Agitate, I'm brainstorming ideas for this Ladyfest panel discussion, and I've been working with social justice programs that these things have become more apparent and more noticeable.
It's really sad that this school takes so much pride in representing Canada's capital though they are not as progressive or inclusive as the damn well should be. I can totally acknowledge and respect *some* of the changes and developments Carleton has made (ie queer studies, women’s studies, sexuality studies and so on) but I think it's time we recognized international struggles, third-world struggles, international politics and gender and race relations/developments. Especially in mass comm and journalism! In my graduating year I’m still studying the same shit Atallah opened up with in first year: linguistics, the medium is the m[e]ssage, Canadian television, American television, soap operas, the Simpson’s... the bull shit continues. I asked my prof today if we could study Japanese Anime, or the sex trade in Thailand, or the music industry in the Philippines, or the media censorship in Afghanistan... she said "sure" then looked at me funny, then said "actually, these are things you could write your paper on".
Typical... so fucking typical.
I hate this school and I hate my major... for once in my life I actually feel too smart, too curious, and too ambitious...