The second half of this class made me much more likely to make an active effort to change not only my own habits, but to advocate for change in a larger scope as well.
I of course enjoyed the few documentaries we watched this semester, as they are always very informative and eye opening. I would say the most influential one we watched the second half of the semester was the Story of Stuff. Although just a simple narrated animation, it really makes you think about what you are doing to the environment and what is even motivating you to buy new things. Even though you are buying something really cheap, the real cost is hidden out in the rest of the world with things like pollution and harm to other people's lives.
The advocacy project was pretty fun as well, as even though I pay a little bit of attention to politics, I really didn't know who everyone was that was representing me (or is supposed to be anyway!). Finding an issue and contributing to it's cause by educating and informing an elected official is a very empowering thing to do, because a lot of times you just think of yourself as one of many people that person is representing. You can then think about how many of those people even know who is representing them, let alone going through the effort to research an issue and writing in to the official.
Our junking project was very fun as well, and I know I am supposed to have a picture of it on here, but considering I gifted it away to one of my friends, unfortunately that is not possible! I did have a fun time looking through so many ideas before coming up with mine though. All of the ideas in class that we shared really inspired me to think that really anything can be re-purposed and made into something awesome. Also that hockey sticks can be made into pretty much anything!
Going to Goodwill was a very eye-opening experience as well, as I have shopped there hundreds of times but never really knew what happens behind the scenes, or even that their main purpose was employees disadvantaged individuals. I look at the company and the people that work there in a much different light now knowing what they are doing for our community, our country, and the individuals they are offering employment to to help give purpose to people's lives.
Overall, I really enjoyed this class and have spoken very highly of it to all of my friends. I try to share as much knowledge as I gain with others and hope to continue advocating for change in my own life as well as whatever community I settle down in.
