WELCOME

This is a course about questions. Who am I? What is my purpose? How should I interact with others? How do I live a just and meaningful life? These are just a few examples of the questions that will be posed. To be honest, I am not sure if you’ll find the answers in this course. If anything, you will probably uncover more questions than answers here. If you do uncover answers, don’t be surprised if it changes as you grow older. In fact, don’t be shocked when the questions evolve too.

Each week, we will explore a variety of topics that will be both personal and challenging to some of you. Being comfortable is not our friend. We will read, write, and discuss about how our lives intersect and derive our identity from issues on race, gender, sexuality, career, ethics, and relationships. This is a course about grappling with how we feel about topics and issues that define who we are, who we want to be, and in what kind of society we want to live.

Admittedly, this course is very superficial. I am just opening a door, but it will be up to you to decide which one you wish to step through. Researchers have made entire careers out of exploring just a segment of these topics. However, it is my goal to expose you to some of the most interesting essays, poems, books, videos, and works of art that I have found helpful in my own search for meaning since I was in college.

I am not a leader, a guru, a researcher, or an expert in any of these topics. I am just like you, a regular person, grappling with these same topics. I have my own insecurities, beliefs, demons, and dreams. In some situations I know a little more, in some less. But I am looking forward to engaging in deep discussion where we can learn from and teach each other based on our own ideas, experiences, and knowledge.

The one thing I want to emphasize is that this will be a safe, confidential place for the exchange of ideas. With compassion, respect, and openness, this will be a place where we will uplift each other to grow, to be curious, and to be better people. Hopefully, this will be the class where you build your college support system and establish lifelong friendships.

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, an online dictionary that attempts to create words emotions that do not have words, established the word “sonder” to signify “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own – populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries, and inherited craziness.” It’s not an official word, but the concept that it illustrates is applicable here. Everyone in this class has a unique and rich and meaningful story. Why don’t we take some time and explore them together?