Balancing act
Hello world,
It has been one crazy intense week of summer school. I have classes, basically want to be alone for lunch, have classes and then socialise with evening activities. I have fun but am totally knackered by the end of the day.
That whole wanting to be alone thing is something I have noticed quite a bit this last week. Sometimes I wish I was more outgoing in the area of talking to people, but then sometimes I am with people and I just don't want to be. Here I can't really go anywhere alone, whcih I completely understand. But that somemes means I have to go places I don't really want to and it's hard too gauge who will want to go where because I don't really know anyone that well. But what I am trying to teach myself is to find a balance between not feeling the need to do stuff just so I can say I did and getting a healthy amount of social interaction. I will probably continue to have my lunches alone (just because that time also serves as the regeneration period of my energy) but I will also try to get out of my comfort zone and hang out with people when I might otherwise have stuck to myself. I think the thing is that sometimes I feel like I become too dependent people and then I become very determined to make sure I am not... but that's a conversation for another day.
Today I went to a British museum. I saw African Steam Ship Company medallion and was really impressed with the label. It said 'while representing a post-abolition moral fervour, it also conveys the continuing post-abolition exploitation of Africa for trade and the persistent image of Africa as impoverished'. If you know me then you know how passionate I am about neocolonialism and I was surprised but hugely impressed that someone had portrayed it accurately without any euphemisms. Honestly, I was a lot more impressed because it was a British museum and I've heard horror stories of them being filled with stolen artefacts (which they techincally still could be filled with; I feel like I heard or saw something about them getting a Roman or Greek object without permission and when I aked how that was possible, I was told that they invaded the place). This is not to shame Britain or anything... I just had low expectations and was happily proven wrong for the most part.
I also watched a movie today called 'the trial of the Chicago 7'. It was amazing. I had started watching it some time ago, but never finished and so I was happy to complete it this time. There were certain times in the movie that I felt struck the same way I am when I see racism, but it wasn't racism. It was plain, old police brutality with handfuls of corruption. I won't pretend to know what it's like to be a police officer and have to make unpopular decisions, but I also can't with the intention of being the devil's advocate suggest that a lot of the brutality these days is necessary. I watched a video of a girl training to be a police officer and honestly, I still don't know. I get that some people resist and that the police need to be forceful, but even then I don't know. I feel like I'm being indecisive here and that's because I honestly don't completely understand or know how I feel. What I do know is that while we're all protecting ourselves, people need to be treated like people. There has to be some way to find a balance.
Hope you're all having some fun this summer!
God bless.
Dera
It has been one crazy intense week of summer school. I have classes, basically want to be alone for lunch, have classes and then socialise with evening activities. I have fun but am totally knackered by the end of the day.
That whole wanting to be alone thing is something I have noticed quite a bit this last week. Sometimes I wish I was more outgoing in the area of talking to people, but then sometimes I am with people and I just don't want to be. Here I can't really go anywhere alone, whcih I completely understand. But that somemes means I have to go places I don't really want to and it's hard too gauge who will want to go where because I don't really know anyone that well. But what I am trying to teach myself is to find a balance between not feeling the need to do stuff just so I can say I did and getting a healthy amount of social interaction. I will probably continue to have my lunches alone (just because that time also serves as the regeneration period of my energy) but I will also try to get out of my comfort zone and hang out with people when I might otherwise have stuck to myself. I think the thing is that sometimes I feel like I become too dependent people and then I become very determined to make sure I am not... but that's a conversation for another day.
Today I went to a British museum. I saw African Steam Ship Company medallion and was really impressed with the label. It said 'while representing a post-abolition moral fervour, it also conveys the continuing post-abolition exploitation of Africa for trade and the persistent image of Africa as impoverished'. If you know me then you know how passionate I am about neocolonialism and I was surprised but hugely impressed that someone had portrayed it accurately without any euphemisms. Honestly, I was a lot more impressed because it was a British museum and I've heard horror stories of them being filled with stolen artefacts (which they techincally still could be filled with; I feel like I heard or saw something about them getting a Roman or Greek object without permission and when I aked how that was possible, I was told that they invaded the place). This is not to shame Britain or anything... I just had low expectations and was happily proven wrong for the most part.
I also watched a movie today called 'the trial of the Chicago 7'. It was amazing. I had started watching it some time ago, but never finished and so I was happy to complete it this time. There were certain times in the movie that I felt struck the same way I am when I see racism, but it wasn't racism. It was plain, old police brutality with handfuls of corruption. I won't pretend to know what it's like to be a police officer and have to make unpopular decisions, but I also can't with the intention of being the devil's advocate suggest that a lot of the brutality these days is necessary. I watched a video of a girl training to be a police officer and honestly, I still don't know. I get that some people resist and that the police need to be forceful, but even then I don't know. I feel like I'm being indecisive here and that's because I honestly don't completely understand or know how I feel. What I do know is that while we're all protecting ourselves, people need to be treated like people. There has to be some way to find a balance.
Hope you're all having some fun this summer!
God bless.
Dera
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