The ISCORE Experience

            On Friday March 2 I attended a couple of the sessions offered at the Iowa State Conference on Race & Ethnicity located in the Memorial Union.  I thought it was a great experience and forced me out of my comfort zone a little.  I had the opportunity to hear about teaching rationalization, listen to a inspiring keynote speaker, and even participate in a workshop facilitated by a fellow Hixson.

            “Teaching Rationalization Critically: A Course on Constructing Race and Ethnicity” was presented by Michael Benitez.  This was the first session I was able to attend and it was not exactly what I was expecting.  I wasn’t sure if it was suppose to be directed to persons interested in HOW to teach about this topic or it is was more of a informational/promotional presentation about the UST 321x course.  Michael dove into what type of things he does in his course to have the most benefit to his students.  I thought the strategies he was using made of a lot of sense but seemed like they would be difficult to implement on a small scale as a peer mentor.

            Next was the lunch and the keynote speaker; Grace Aiko Obata Amemiya.  Lunch was interesting and involved things like vegan wraps with peanut sauce and vegetarian stir fry looking vegetables.  They also had Thai tea, rice pudding, and fried bananas!  It was pretty good and I couldn’t argue with the price.  Grace was born in California in the 1920’s and was a college student studying nursing when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7^th, 1941.  Being of Japanese decent, Grace and her family we moved into internment camps.   Although her family and Grace herself endured many hardships for several years she stills feels no bitterness toward the United States government.  Her message was meaningful and Grace herself is one to admire.

            The last session I attended was, “When Race Becomes More Complex: Giving Light to Racially Mixed People “Bill of Rights” and one of the presenters just happened to be a fellow Hixson; Thao Nguyen.  I was only able to attend the first part of the presentation but it was definitely getting more intense and I was sad to leave.  It was becoming more discussion based and relied less on people actually presenting.  It address some issues that we are all faced with and not always as aware of.

            Overall, great day and an excellent learning experience! Looking forward to spending more time at ISCORE next year.

~Easten