This is kind of weird. I mean, blogging almost daily has become part of my routine. It feels strange not to have to do it anymore. Its a relief not to have to log on and find out if a blog post is due, but it also feels weird not having to check if a blog post is due and then hastily finding pictures to fit the topic. Sometimes, I even gave an opinion. Who knew?
I learned quite a bit while being in Intro to Christianity with Dr. Tracy Hawkins. I didn’t know I would, but I did. While registering, I asked around to see which religion teachers would be the better ones to take, as I did with all of my courses. I found that many people encouraged me to take Hawkins. So I did. I didn’t look at rate my professor, I just went off of word of mouth, and it turns out she’s highly regarded for a reason. I believe that she tried, and succeeded to achieve a relatively high level of objectivity on such a touchy subject, like the one of religion, probably the subject that people are most adamant about. I mean, sometimes she would show her bias, but that was to be expected, since it is pretty much impossible to have a discussion based class that the teacher is in fact encouraged to speak her opinion on, without showing bias. That delicate balance between one’s opinion and the feelings of others in regards to that opinion is one of the most important things I learned in this class, aside from a glimpse into the history and intricacy of religion.
This class will impact my life in many ways. One of them being that I will probably (unless Dr. Hawkins fails me in this class due to any reason) never have to take an undergraduate intro to religion course. I still have to take an upper division course, but that may be a blog for a future time. Another way this class affected my life is in the people I met and the glance into opinions people typically don’t share for fear of confrontation or judgement. It always interests me to see how people think and react to certain issues. That doesn’t mean I consider myself exempt from reaction, I wish I could see how I react to certain situations, that’d be so cool.
One of the coolest things I did/learned in this class was my visit to the Quaker meeting. It was so weird and quirky yet an experience that I will always be able to share. How many people get to say they sat in on genuine Quakers having a genuine Quaker meeting? Not many, aside from Quakers themselves. It was one of the most relaxing things I’ve ever done. I mean, we literally sat in a circle for an hour and did nothing but look at other people sit in the same circle, sleeping. I thought that part was funny. The actual Quakers, most of them, anyway, fell asleep. But how often do we let go of our phones and computers and just listen to what goes on around us? I don’t think I’ll do that in a while, actually. Unless I’m asleep.
Well, I think that’s most of what I have to say for now. I’d like to thank Dr. Hawkins for allowing me to be in her class, which I consider to be one of my favorite classes this semester. I’m trying to get into your upper division religion class next spring semester, keeping my fingers crossed.
Thank you for reading.
Luis Burgos 
The experience we both went through together as a project on the Quakers was definitely something memorable. Relaxing, different, and educational, the Quaker meeting we attended was something very unique and something that not everyone can say they’ve done. I found them very inviting and welcoming, something I didn’t expect. Even though they knew we were only there as a class project, they went about their normal business and invited us to worship in whatever way was comfortable for us. They were extremely respectful and that’s something that I have taken way from the class- respect. I’m glad we could share the experience!
Luis what are you talking about, you always gave wonderful opinions! I must say, I appreciated you always having something genuine to say in class when no one else would talk. I agree with you though, I think Tracy was a really good teacher for this course. For a discussion-based intro to Christianity course, it definitely could have had the potential to get out of hand in terms of debates and such. I think she did a really good job of establishing in the beginning that we had to maintain as much objectivity as we could. It’s kind of weird responding to that since I know she’s going to read this…but thank you Tracy!
Taylor, yea, that experience was really cool. I didn’t really realize until afterwards that we had sort of invaded someones religious space, which can be incredibly personal. However, they welcomed us with open arms and even invited us back to other meetings, which I thought was pretty cool and really reflected their progressive ideology beyond social movements. Sam, I agree with your agreeing with me because yea, some discussions could have really gone south. She really did a good job of handling certain situations like the controversial topics in a professional manner that should be replicated by other religion teachers. I would like to thank you again, Tracy.
I really have to agree, that blogging every day and all of a sudden stopping is really weird for me. I always manage to get them in at the very last minute anyway, but now not having to stress for those final minutes to turn it in before the clock hits 12:00 will be a relief. However, I also agree about how well Tracy handled very controversial topics like abortion by taking a neutral stance and mentioning both sides. She would also remind us of the opinion of the side arguing against the class consensus was leaning toward one extreme. For example, the class seemed to be leaning toward the direction that abortion was the woman’s choice and that pro-life people are being a little inconsiderate. Then Tracy pitched in and reminded us of the other side’s debate so we understand their opinion as well. This made debates more productive, because it prevented them from turning to simple long complaint sessions.