final thoughts

Our nightmare paper is all handed in and I need to finish up the individual reflection paper. I've had a good thought I think - personal, meaningful - but another ethical dilemma. I think I'll have to take an ethics course at some time because this is where I always end up. I thought my philosophy course might have done in this vein but no luck - maybe gender and moral choice in the summer will.

The dilemma is my family's planned summer trip with our old group of homeschooling family friends. This year's trip is to a recreated native settlement, complete with sleeping in the longhouses. There is a canoe portion past the residence of Alexander G. Bell but I really doubt that anyone will be pointing out the disparity between how differently white and indigenous people lived. I don't think anything will be said about the Indian Act or about the status (or non-status as it were) of native women. I don't think anything at all will be said about racism or how it continues today.

The trip is hosted by a group of white people - which makes it worse I think - I'd hate it more I think if it were a group of native people trying to survive by selling off bits of their heritage/culture to white people. Like Dr. Forrest said in class - (paraphrased here) white people think that anything can be bought for a price, and if an individual has sufficient means to buy another culture than she often will. This is the thinking behind colonialism and imperialism I'd say.

I really need to copy that list of terms from Henry et al and tape it up beside my monitor. You'd think that now that the semester is over I'd have cemented which term means what - but no such luck as yet.