A DJS Journey

The idea I’m about to discuss is better experienced than explained, so I will begin with the experience first before I jump into the nitty-gritty. Describe the color red to someone the next time you get a chance. You could try and describe what your bedroom looks like back home. Describe anything you like, it really doesn’t make a difference to the point I’m about to make. Even if you perfectly painted the picture in your head, down to the very last detail, the person who is on the receiving end of your description will never be able to see the picture in your head. We are all effectively blind to your thoughts. These situations are brought about by the qualia within human language. .....What? Qualia, singular quale, are situations or identities that cannot be described because we each experience sensations differently. Pictured from left to right: Beau Smith, Kimberly Roman, Nellie Moran, and Andrew Morris.  Yeah yeah, ok, but what about things I don’t see, what ...

I have often witnessed Orientation Guides attempt to describe the Diversity Center to new students, and while many hit key points, I have never heard a succinct and satisfying way to describe it. So, here's my attempt:  I want you to envision the Diversity Center, but picture it as a box shaped void, devoid of the people, couches, colors, and identity. Begin filling the box with words; good and bad, gendered and non-gendered, hateful and kind. Now, add ideas to these words, let them flow from your mind and into this space. Some of these ideas attract each other, others repel, still others spin about each other seemingly engaged only to disappear into the growing mass of thoughts whirling about in this void. While you're envisioning this conglomeration, picture your parents and your great-great-grandmother. Picture the president and your high school bully. Picture the world wars, and picture smallpox. Include the native people displaced and destabilized in colonial countrie...