Looking Back on Core

Jan Brueghel the Elder - The Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark

Now that I am (almost) done with Humanities Core, I’ve been able to reflect on the past three quarters of the year, and I can confidently say that HumCore is by far the hardest class I have ever taken. A lot of my peers have talked extensively about how they “hate HumCore!”, and I can’t blame them. From the first day of lecture, I was thrown fully out of my comfort zone and really forced to absorb a lot of material that was unfamiliar to me. My perspective on animals, people, and power was laughably limited and my skills as a writer were present, but unrefined. Since then, I’ve fallen in love with the Humanities as a discipline, and been able to hone my writing skills in transformative ways. Most of the content I learned this year covered topics that I’d never seen, heard of, or even contemplated before – which made them terrifying, but all the more engaging. Thanks to HumCore, I feel like I’m exiting my first year of college as a brighter, more self-assured, more well-rounded thinker and person.

Fall Quarter - The Scariest Quarter

The first quarter of HumCore was by far the most frightening one, because I had no idea what to expect. Everything was unfamiliar; the topic matter, the structure of the course, and the level of rigor overall felt so foreign, but the fast-paced nature gave me no other option than to delve in, head-first, and take it all in as it comes. I’m really glad I did, too, because I was able to develop a better understanding of the flow and feel of the course. Professor Lupton’s unit on A Midsummer Night’s Dream was my favorite of the quarter, because it allowed me to feel a sense of familiarity (I performed the play in high school) that was incredibly refreshing. The ability to reevaluate a play that I was already close with through the HumCore lens of Animals, People, and Power was motivating and exciting, and I feel that it was a turning point in my journey through Core.

This photo links back to my website project on A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is my proudest website page!

Winter Quarter - The Most Fun Quarter

I loved Winter quarter, which is funny, because I thought I was going to hate it. Visual analysis, surrealism, psychoanalysis, and history were disciplines that I had never interacted with - and when I had, I was bored by them. Moreover, after Fall quarter I had really high expectations for myself academically, and I think for the first few weeks I was holding on too tightly to these academic pressures. Eventually, thanks to a really fun class and the energy that Professor Connell brought to each seminar meeting, Winter quarter became the quarter when I learned that having fun in HumCore was just as important as understanding the content! However, the content of this quarter is not to be overlooked either - Professor Imada’s lectures gave me an entirely new perspective on the intersections between colonization, race, disability, and dehumanization. Eventually, her teachings became the forefront of my research project. Winter quarter was when I finally felt like I was finding my voice as a writer, which was going to be incredibly important once Spring quarter rolled around.

Spring Quarter - The Hardest (and most rewarding) Quarter

Heading into the Spring quarter of Core, I was feeling far more attuned to the course and to myself as a writer. However, I will be the first to admit that I was not prepared for the complexity of the lecture content, or the intensity of the research project. I found myself often feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and doubtful of my capacity for success in this quarter. Thankfully, Dr. Morse was my HumCore fairy godmother, and over the course of the quarter I got more comfortable asking questions and reaching out for help. To be brutally honest, the lecture material of Spring quarter was not my favorite, but it challenged my conceptions of animal-human relationships to a greater extent than any other quarter did. It prompted me to reconsider the way I interpreted interactions with animals, the consumption of animals on a widespread scale, and the way we represent animals in media and culture. This process of questioning and reevaluation became paramount during my research process, because I had to ensure that I didn’t get desensitized to my research paper, a habit I often find myself falling into while I write. Finally, however, I was able to shift my mentality, resulting in a research project I was proud of and course content I felt fully immersed in.

final draft research paper

This is my final research paper! Read at your own risk!

Final Takeaways & Looking Ahead

Moving on from HumCore, I feel better equipped as a writer and a scholar; the class has provided me with tools for thinking critically, performing research, and engaging with scholarship of all kinds that will allow for my success in future classes. Simultaneously, HumCore allowed me to engage with content that piqued my interest, and prompted contemplation that I’ve tried to apply in my everyday life. I feel that I better understand my place in the universe, and I think Core has encouraged me to engage with nonhuman beings to a greater extent - I will remember Professor Schwab’s teachings on ethics of care forever. Most importantly, however, HumCore has given me a better sense of self, and more confidence in my academic ability than I ever could have imagined. I proudly consider myself a capable, worthy, and valuable scholar, and I have a Humanities Core (and my fantastic seminar leaders) for that newfound tenacity.

Thanks for everything, HumCore!

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