Week 15 already?!

Where the hell did the semester go?! Man that went by quicker than I could have imagined, and I'm sure I'm no the only one.  It's been a quick 15 weeks and I enjoyed this class more than I ever though I would.  A lot of that has to do with some of the awesome discussions we've had, the differing opinions, the interesting readings, and most of all an environment that encouraged people to speak their minds.  I would gladly take this class again if given the chance.  Now, on to my final blog post.

I've learned a lot of things from our journey through the discussion of race and how it affects us in not only our communication but also our lives.  However, the one main point that I've drawn from all of this is that no matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, race will almost always be a factor in everything we do.  It doesn't matter if it's explicit or not it's always going to be there influencing the things we do and how we're perceived.  If you're black, white, Asian, Hispanic, or any other race, it doesn't matter because it will affect you both negatively and positively.  Obviously these affects vary depending on your race and the stereotypes/schemas that are associated with it.  Sometimes we're aware of it, other times we're not.  For example, I had never heard of the idea of whiteness before this class yet I've experienced it multiple times throughout my life and I'm guessing I'm not alone on this one.  However, I do feel as if race is becoming less and less important as current and future generations become more accepting of people and their differences.  That's not to say that racism and discrimination will cease to exist, because they won't and it'll always be an issue, I just feel that we're moving in the right direction.  Sure there's still a lot of work to be done but something like this is going to take time.  Race is so deeply embedded into our culture and society that changing certain aspects and thoughts about it is going to take some time.  As it stands now though, race still affects our daily lives, and if I've learned anything from these last 15 weeks it's that we need to be aware of this.