wip

Things are not going any better in the group. I was afraid that breaking up our group would show that we cannot accept diversity - a bad thing in a diversity class. I wasn't willing to risk the loss of a letter grade, and it feels like missing the point of the class. Now I'm thinking it might have been a good idea, just for sanity.

But anyway, I'm trying hard to let the paper unfold itself rather than forcing it like last time. I'm not interested in doing 5 rewrites of my individual section and then trying to bring all the pieces together like last time. I want *everyone* to understand whatever we're supposed to get out of the readings and I want *everyone* to see a thesis as being self-evident based on the discussions we have. Writing a paper is difficult. Writing a paper like this is difficult. Writing a paper like this with six other people is *very, very* difficult.

My favourite reading this week is Lavell. It's no wonder - it's the single mother article. Carol read it before part B started and said to me she felt I would enjoy it. It's nice to see legitimacy given to the struggle it is to go back to school. As a white person I know that I enjoy racial privilege. But even with my privilege it is difficult. From the sociology courses I have taken I know the stats against indigenous women (and men) and education are dismal. I cannot imagine the struggle it must be for a native woman to return to school as a single parent, no support, no childcare, no money...

Lavell is right - the amount of time it takes to fill in the forms for student loans, and other red tape is a nightmare. Add to it all the time it takes to find out what's available. I spend hours on it each month just looking for more funding sources and sending in the proper documentation for each thing.

I like her suggestions - the 'do nothing' approach is a new one I've learned in the last year. When someone says "you should take a time management course" it *is* an option to just say "maybe." Do people really want to know your details? Do they want the full story? Or is it back to Mukherjee - ignorance and solutions that seem simple from the outside?

Reading the poems about native women has gotten me thinking about our proposed summer trip with the homeschoolers - are we appropriating culture by touring a reservation? I don' want to be a gawker - I'm worried about the kind of play it will stimulate in my children after we get home again. Hmm. something to think about.