Week 10 Journal:

October 22nd 2020: Classwork

I usually think that I do bad on quizzes and end up getting a pretty good grade, but I did not feel confident with this one. I usually understand the readings, but the Greek one’s kind of trip up which is exactly what happened on this test. After taking and going over the quiz we listened to a Hamilton song (The Room Where It Happens). I’ve never been a really big musical theatre fan but this song was pretty good.

After listening to the song we broke out into breakout rooms to talk about plotting our leadership development through different questions. I was in a room with Selam, Rockii, and Alicia. It’s interesting actually because I usually get the same people in my breakout rooms; and I don’t know if it’s intentional or not but it was nice to hear from some new people.

The reflection question that we talked about was: “(Post COVID-19) Interpersonal fondness: showing affection, delighting in conversation, taking an interest in the lives of one’s associates”. I liked talking about this question because we are currently living through this situation right now. COVID-19 has completely changed our perception of life and how we can go about our day to day activities. A big point that we talked about was being kind to service workers for risking their lives. These people have to go home to their families every single day, but they are out risking their lives to help their country. Whether they get gratitude in return or not; they are doing it for the greater good and we need to be grateful. We also talked about setting boundaries for yourself and others, valuing other people’s health, checking up on your friends and family who you haven’t spoken to in a while, and supporting a small business that started during the quarantine. Supporting small businesses is important because a lot of these people pay their bills with the money that they make from their business. Corona has made it extremely difficult for these businesses to flourish which inevitably leads to them shutting down. Even if you are just buying one item from these businesses will help their doors stay open just a little longer.

Opening borders for travel was also a major point that we talked about because we are locking working families out of the country. Every other country has handled Corona a lot better than the US, and it’s because their government took action before it got worse. There are a lot of families that use it in the US to their advantage. They can pay all of the bills, and closing these borders stops them from supporting families. We also talked about giving people more resources and joining community service groups in your community. Especially in prisons, corona got extremely out of hand because they were not given the tools to keep these prison inmates safe. They are left with nothing, and it’s not like they can just go out and provide for themselves. This is why volunteering in your community is very important. You’re able to spread awareness like these issues, and collect resources to give out.

October 27th 2020: Homework

Leadership Development through the Study of the Ancient and Modern World: Finding your Leadership

Finding Your Leadership Calling

Key Passages + Discussion:

Passage One: Gramma Tala Activates Moana

1. Leaves impression that he needs to steal the heart
2. Grandmother plays role of Athena (mentor), uses storytelling (activate potential)
3. Name symbolism
4. Tricker figure (wants power)
5. Shapeshifting to get out of trouble
6. Moana: trickster (able to get out of jams

Passage Two: Moana rescues a sea turtle and wins the Heart of Te Fiti

1. Gestures of kindness and humanity
2. Attention to baby turtle as a choice
3. Ingenuity-escorting the turtle
4. Sensitive to animals
5. Aidos activated
6. General sense of compassion
7. Turtles-mother earth (looking ahead into her rescue)
8. Tension between her father

Passage 3: ‘Where You Are” vs. “Who You Are”

1. Convince her to accept the terms of tradition among people
2. Dependence on coconuts
3. Self sufficiency is key
4. She cares about her people, but she has a longing for journey and adventure
5. Currents are used to connect islands
6. Moana is a connector
7. How does a leader preserve but also move above traditions
8. She is the hereditary queen
9. Uncover a deeper tradition
10. Insider and outsider to her community

Passage Four: Leadership as the Promotion of Abundance

1. Openly criticizing her father
2. Calling attention to problems
3. They have a connection (father is a traditional chief)

Passage Five: Moana articulates her calling

1. Bringing prosperity
2. Seeing Moana set out on her journey
3. Needs to understand how to actually do this
4. Liberating moment for her
5. Bringing skills back to the community

Passage Six: “I Am Moana”

1. Do you know who you are?
2. Poses a deeper reflection
3. She finds ways to make herself comfortable with going through with this
4. Locate herself in story and tradition
5. Oriented into the scene
6. Becoming a master harmonizer
7. Opportunities align

Passage Seven: Moana Restores the Heart of Te Fiti and Mentors Te Ka

1. Need of activation
2. Puts menos in her
3. She rises above everyone and everything
4. He knows who she is and this is not it
5. Relates back to Bintu’s relationship with the Meduse
6. “Rage”: Moana=good reconciler
7. Fertility and prosperity
8. Filled with violence-Moana puts it behind everyone

October 27th 2020: Classwork:

Class today was centered around the Disney movie Moana. When Moana first started showing in theatres I was so excited to watch. Moana is so different from a lot of the movies that Disney puts out and I loved the message that it gives children. A big lesson that I got out of Moana is that patience is key. Although Moana’s father did not want her to explore the sea she had to be patient with him. Proving yourself is also a huge lesson in this movie. She had to prove to her father that she could go against him but at the end of the day, she was still his child and trusted him. The movie Coco is similar to Moana actually because they are both children going against family traditions. Although family traditions are important, they need to evolve which happens in these movies. They are learning something new about themselves and can bring that back to their communities to make it better. CoCo was one of the best Disney movies I’ve ever watched. I loved the story that is told and the soundtrack.

The election has been a huge part of today’s society especially right now. Election day is only a few days away, and to me, it’s honestly scary to think about what our world is going to be like regardless of who wins. I love the fact that I can vote in this election, even though I only count for one vote it gives me a liberating feeling that I am voting towards a change. I hope that everyone who can vote in this election has registered and are voting, whether they have the same or different viewpoints as me. It’s important to get your voice heard in the polls, especially during a time like this. Right now, I am actually in DC which is kind of crazy. Although I am here for the HU24 meet up, it’s crazy to think that I am in the city where all of this is happening. I’m leaving before Election Day so I can vote, but I can only imagine how crazy DC is going to be once the votes are counted and the next president is announced. I’m honestly scared to be in New York for when the winner is announced because regardless of the outcome Trump has created such a divide between everyone that if he loses all hell will break loose. As a registered democrat, I’m voting for Biden. I’m just hoping that he can turn some of the red state’s blues and win the election.

It was also interesting to learn the backstory of your life and how you ended up where you are today. This class helps me build a deeper connection and understanding of my teacher which makes the class a lot more enjoyable for me and the rest of my peers. It was so cool that you had a chance to try out for the Boston Red Sox. Although I’ve never been a big fan of watching baseball it would have been cool if you were offered a spot on the team. You also talked about finding your spirit animal which I think is interesting since you’re so against astrology. We are both Aquarius, and although I’m not completely into astrology I do believe some of the things that I read. I don’t think I’ve ever established a spirit animal for myself but if I had to it would be a dolphin. A dolphin has been my favorite animal for a while now. I’ve had connections with loving dolphins because I love how they swim behind boats sometimes. It almost feels like good luck away.

Paragraph 3 in the discussion voice recordings stuck out to me because I felt like I was able to relate within my leadership development. Tradition is extremely important in Moana’s family, and everyone has been following it for hundreds of years. Moana has an understanding that tradition will always be important to her family but she needs to stick true to herself. I find it extremely brave that she was able to do what she thought was right and not what she thought her father wanted her to do. Breaking out of tradition is extremely rare in these types of cultures and for Moana to come out of top proved her strength and dignity. She was able to be self-sufficient and take her voyage to the sea. This trip taught her that she could be an insider and an outsider within the same community. She knew that she would always be the hereditary queen whether she was shamed by her family or not, but now she was able to truly come out of her shell and connect her family with the sea while finding the deeper tradition.