1/18/2016
Hard to believe that today was the first day of classes…
Where did winter break go??? It seems just like yesterday that I left Curry
eager in anticipation for this very day, and it did not disappoint.
The morning started off with Politics with Professor
Keating, he was bright and lively considering that it was 9:00 am. He was very
energetic and passionate about Politics and I have a feeling he is going to be
a really good Professor.
He started off the class by going over the syllabus in great
length. He made it clear that this class wasn’t about political ideology or theory.
Instead it is about applying these theories to real government systems. He
explained how he quote “wears a different hat when he is teaching the different
styles of government.” Take for example we are learning about say a communist regime,
he will teach in such a way that reflect that of a communist point of view. It
sounds very interesting and I am looking forward to getting started.
He also told us a few stories. My favorite was the one about him being a
hippy in Australia. He told us this story about how he and other hippies were
trying to prevent a logging company from cutting down a particular type of
tree. The hippies would either chain themselves to a tree or climb up it to
prevent the logging company from cutting the trees down. However, this was not
very effective. Then someone suggested that they get a celebrity to climb a
tree. As it turns out one of the hippies knew a famous football player. She
called him up and lo behold he climbed up the tree. Media coverage of this
event was wide spread and soon everyone wanted to save these trees. The coach
of this football player even did a 30 minute documentary; about how passionate
he was about saving the trees, and how he admired what his player did. Sure
enough no more trees got cut down. Thus the day was saved This just goes to
show you the power of publicity!
I then made my way to the Kensington Campus for my next
class. However, before class I met up
with Professor Goldsworthy the head of the MA Public Relations program here at
Richmond. He and I had an interesting discussion about the story above. He
asked me whether or not I thought it was ethical for the hippies to chain
themselves to the tree, because technically they were breaking the law. The
hippies did not own the land, someone else did and they were trespassing. This
changed my perception of this whole ordeal and made me think more critically
about the ethics that are raised. None the less it was still, a very
interesting conversation!
I made my way to grab a bite to eat and then headed off to
my next class which was Travel Writing. Oh wait a minute… Travel Writing????!!
Must be some coincidence or something, surely I must not have planned this all
along… Or did I??? But I digress; our Professor Marcus Slease was an interesting guy.
He told us about his passion for travel and all the places he had been to. He
then opened the floor up to the students to ask us what interests’ people in
traveling. Most people gave the same response that they wanted to experience a new
culture and go outside their comfort zones.
He then told us about the different assignments we will have
throughout the semester. One of the final projects is to write our own guide
book to where ever we want, whether it is our hometown, London or beyond, the
skies arethe limit! I am really pumped for this assignment and will surely share
the completed version on my blog when it is finished!!!
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