Dr. Felder's Lecture - Jahna Carolina

This week’s lecture by Dr. Felder was very influential. He spoke mainly of freedom and justice. I liked that he was able to capture our attention without trying exceptionally hard to do so. His voice was very soothing yet empowering making it nearly impossible not to listen to what he had to say. He did a good job stating his opinions and not once did I forget how he felt about freedom and justice. He was also very passionate about his stance on freedom and justice and was not afraid to show that. Dr. Felder defined black Diaspora as the dispersal of people outside of the African Continent. He defined freedom as a person’s right to exercise choices. He also stated that freedom is solely a conditional state of being. According to Dr. Felder, “freedom has consequences.” He also said that Adam and Eve had choices and they chose the wrong one’s. Dr. Felder believes that the Bible, written by men, portrays women in a negative way. He believes that women are portrayed as lesser than equal. Jesus is the justice of God and if you want to be a practitioner of justice you must practice religion and God. He is a firm believer that we are not living in a free world although it is displayed that way. He says that if we were incarcerated her, how ironic is it that we’re called free. They made the choice to bring us here and therefore made our freedom. Therefore, we are not entirely free. 

Jahna Carolina

Dr. Taylor's Lecture

This week’s lecture was defiantly one of kind. Dr. Taylor is an extraordinary women, and story teller. Dr. Taylor managed to keep my attention throughout the entire class period just as all the rest of the speakers did. She was able to engage the whole audience and make us laugh. A lot of the terminology she used during the lecture like “dumbass-ification” was something that made everyone pay attention. Not to say that that’s the way we like to speak, but it’s a way in which our attention is grabbed. It a word that many of us never heard before and made us curious to find out what it meant. I have a lot of respect for Dr. Taylor from just being able to experience her presence one time. She is very intelligent and wise. Dr. Taylor started off her lecture with the significance of Diversity in Higher Education. She mentions that Howard University was one of the most diverse institutions of higher learning, if not the most. Dr. Taylor also spoke about a very important person, Ronald W. Walters who was actually a professor at Howard University. Before this lecture I had never really knew who Mr. Walters was but after hearing the significance of him, and about the sit-in I was glad to have learned about it. It made it even more significant to me because during the week I saw the funeral procession coming through the campus going to Crampton for his memorial service. He was great man.

Dr. Traylor's Lecture - Jahna Carolina

This weeks “lecture” could not even really be called a lecture, but instead a story. Dr. Traylor did a phenomenal job of capturing our attention throughout the entire presentation. She made it a point to engage us because she knew it was a big group and she wanted to keep us all entertained. She did not feel the need to yell at us, but instead talk with us. She kept telling us how smart and intelligent we were just by the aura we were giving off, which let me know that she is a very kind lady. I appreciated the fact that she wanted all of us close to her so that we could further engage in her lecture. She was also funny and silly which allowed us to further engage throughout the entire presentation. She spoke of life and how ours has just begun by us attending Howard University. Dr. Traylor showed us many power point articles about diversity in higher education. There will always be jobs in higher education because people will always want to learn more. There are many different types of learning and different branches of teaching that one can go into so there will always be a need for professors. Of course, you may have to work a little harder than most to earn a higher degree to teach in higher levels but the hard work will pay off in the long run. It is important that people are educated to their fullest potential.

Jahna Carolina

Freshman Seminar Lecture 2 (9/9/10)

Last week in Freshman Seminar, we had a guest speaker. We were told that she was going to talk to us about the Human Genome Project. I was really excited because I had read a lot about the project and am even considering getting my DNA tested to find out exactly where my ancestors came from. So, needless to say, I couldn't wait to hear from Dr. Dunston, our guest speaker. The lecture given was a bit of a let down. The entire time she was talking it seemed like she was doing an intro to a speech. I was waiting for her to talk about the project and to tell us if she got her roots traced back. Every once I awhile, it seemed like she was about to reach that point, but it never came. She also kept going off on these strange tangents. Before I wrote this, I kept trying to find something nice to say about this lecture, but I have to say how I really feel. Maybe I was just expecting too much. She did have a powerpoint presentation but she didn’t use it until the last thirty seconds of class. Something I did find interesting is that Howard has a National Genome Center. This is news to me. Maybe Howard should make this more widely known because not every college has one. Even though I didn’t like this lecture much this week, I still appreciate Dr. Dunston taking time out of her schedule to come talk to us, because she really didn’t have to do that. Who knows, maybe somebody else in the class really enjoyed it.

Freshman Seminar Lecture 1 (9/2/10)

Two weeks ago, Dr. Carr led the lecture in my Thursday Freshman Seminar class. So far, due mainly to Dr. Carr, Freshman Seminar seems like it’s not going to be the class I expected, although that might be a good thing. I thought, in this class, I was going to learn a little about the history of Howard, some information about how to help out in the community, and some information on the ins and outs of Howard. It looks like I’ll have to learn much of that on my own, but I don’t really mind, at least if class keeps going the was this lecture went. In this lecture, Dr. Carr talked about African history in a way I’ve never heard it told before. He was very passionate and he didn’t sugarcoat anything, which I appreciated. He had a powerpoint ready but he skipped around all over the place. Usually, I would have found this to be distracting, but it really meshed well with his speaking style. The only thing that could have made the class better is if it could have went on longer than the hour it was scheduled for. At the end of the class, Dr. Carr played a piece of music by an artist whose name currently escapes me. He narrated the music by telling the story of the history of black people. It highlighted our struggles and our determination to make our lives better. I have to say, out of all of my classes, Freshman Seminar is by far my favorite. I’m glad Howard requires transfer students like me to take it, but I wish they would name it something different.

Dr. Dunston's Lecture on the Human Genome project

Dr. Dunston's lecture last thursday was very informative. I had no Interest in the human Genome project but through her very uplifting lecture I am now very interested in where my ancestor come from in Africa. My roots have never been any interest to me but now through the Human genome project I want to take an active interest in finding where my ancestor came from in Africa. There are endless possibilities in which my ancestor could have come from for all I know they could be from Egypt, Nigeria , or even Ghana. I have Dr Dunston to thank for my renewed interest in the roots of my ancestors.

Chris Nestor

Dr. Dunston's Lecture - Jahna Carolina

Dr. Dunston’s lecture was also one that was enlightening. I was not aware exactly what the Human Genome Project was until Dr. Dunston spoke of it. Because of this lecture I am know more interested in doing more research on the Human Genome Project. I had no idea how big this project really is. I had no idea that our genes actually listen to us and respond to us based on experiences- the more that we experience, the more that we can learn. There are even ways that you can get personalized medicine that can match our genome type. Thinking is a biological process. We must think about everything and anything we possibly can. We must think about what we think about. As Einstein mentioned, “thinking is a reality that resides in you.” She also mentioned that knowledge is power and in order to truly be successful, we must have power. If you want to be successful you have to be willing to take the time to learn all the knowledge you possibly can to avoid becoming ignorant. She mentioned that your battleground is your mind.  I personally enjoyed this quote because your mind is everything, which goes back to the statement that knowledge is power. Dr. Dunston was very passionate in her talk about the Human Genome Project and her feelings about knowledge. She really believes and wants us to believe that knowledge really is everything. She was able to keep my attention because of her emotion throughout the lecture.

Jahna Carolina

Dr. Dunstons Lecture

The lecture presented by Dr. Georgia Dunston was very inspiring. I think she did a very good job in the way that she delivered the message. Dr. Dunston was able to touch on a lot of different topics and facts that I never knew about. She was able to present the information in a way that I was able to actually take in and interpret. She was a very good speaker and she was able to keep my attention throughout the whole lecture. I was impressed by all of Dr. Dunston accomplishments. Dr. Dunston has accomplished a lot in here life time. Dr. Dunston was the founder of the national human genome research center and also a professor and former chair of the department of microbiology and graduate adjunct professor the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Howard University. That’s a lot to jungle for one person, and the fact that she did is very impressive. The one thing that she talked about that I really took in the most, was when she was talking about the genomes. I had never really understood the makeup of genomes. She was able to break it down and explain it in a very cool way. She explained that genomes were exactly like record books. Record books went way back into our time as people, and African Americans especially. The main concept in the lecture to me was that knowledge is very important. Knowledge and wisdom are one of the same. They go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Dr. Carr's Lecture - Jahna Carolina

Dr. Carr’s lecture was extremely enlightening and inspirational to me. I was able to better understand my culture and heritage after listening to his lecture. His passion and feelings definitely came out during his lecture and I enjoyed watching him become so passionate about his speech. He spoke of subjects that I feel we, as an audience, were all able to relate to.  I appreciated the fact that he was able to keep my attention throughout the entire lecture. I never knew how much of a role that African American’s played in the creation of reading and writing in the world. It was great to hear that many of the creations throughout the world originated because of the African people. It was encouraging to hear this because you don’t hear of the great accomplishments that African American’s have achieved.  Instead, we are taught what the European’s were able to create and discover. I fully understand that African American’s did not create everything but now I know that we did in fact have a big part in many of the things that were started in this world. Dr Carr’s lecture left me with a sense of pride and I am overly confident and honored to call myself an African American. The way that Dr. Carr was able to summarize the entire lecture with Louis Armstrong was impressive. It was intriguing to watch him dance and create our entire in a three-minute song. I will never forget what I learned that day because he was able to make his lecture entertaining and unforgettable.

Jahna Carolina

Dr. Carr's lecture

Dr. Carr’s Lecture was very educational, and one of a kind to me. I took a lot from the lecture, and learned a lot of things that I was never introduced to throughout my life. The things he brought up and talked about where things that I feel every black and non-black person in the public school systems in American, and around the world should know before reaching a collegiate level of education. The way in which the speech was delivered also made it very easy to take in and understand everything being said. Dr. Carr did a real good job and kept my attention the entire time. One part of the speech that stood out to me the most was finding out that so many of the things that we depend on the most in America, and the things that helped build the country we are today, were because of black people. A lot of times we are made to believe that black people had very little contribution to the makes and works of society today. I never knew that the whole alphabet and calendar system was something brought on by blacks, and changed around by other people. I feel it’s all something that was just “mistakenly” left out of the history classes that we all took, and the classes that our children in the future will be taking. I’m glad I was able to take in all that was being said through the lecture, and really understand it all.