Sarah Smith Blog 10: The Journey

It was obvious from day one that this was going to be a class unlike any I've ever taken. The format was different. The curriculum was different. The dynamic was different. Early on, I was mostly intimidated by it. In a class about sex and race, I didn't think I would have a lot to say.

I've been challenged. I grew up in a homogeneous environment, and through this class was exposed to a lot of things that previously only existed in my periphery. I didn't identify with some of these struggles because I had never experienced them. I think of Twilight, of Vincent Chin, of Black Girl and American History X. I think you can know about racism, you can experience little bits of it here and there or read a newspaper article about it--but that isn't the same as participating in the story, of experiencing the film and trying to really empathize with the characters. Not just to sympathize, but to empathize.

For me, that's been crucial to my journey. To understand their journeys--the journeys of those characters--as I seek to understand my own journey. To learn about my classmates, each of whom comes from somewhere, in both a physical and metaphorical sense, and through learning where they come from and learning where they are now, we grow together. I'm so grateful to have had a class that wasn't just teaching to teach, but also putting it into practice right there in the classroom. Because a big part of my journey has been looking at myself and looking at where I come from, because I believe that my story matters just as much as anyone else's. And that's when you begin to understand that everyone feels that way. Every story matter. And if we forget that all of the people around us have stories too, come from somewhere and have goals and ideals and memories that have shaped them, then we all lose.

I think Savage Nights demonstrates this in the selfishness of the character Jean. Though perhaps not central to the plot, his selfishness brings him to treat all of the people around him--these people who genuinely care for him--as objects. He only thinks of his own plight, and it's almost as if Laura is just something that will come and go, and be unchanged. It's that attitude that I don't want to have. I'm grateful for this class, for helping me to see it and to see how important it is to value each and every human experience.