Monthly Archives: December 2020

New Civic Activities Extra Credit

The Pandemic has changed many lives and they way the world runs. I think about how many companies are going to continue to sanitize and keep shops healthy and safe after the pandemic is over. I think about how many people are going to continue to wear a mask and practice social distancing in public areas. I think about how many schools are going to adapt to a more virtual schooling experience. I, like you, have a lot of questions about the future of the world after pandemic life. Whatever happens in the future, I can guarantee that we will be taking some new pandemic related civic activities with us.

The first civic activity is all the mask campaigns. “Mask up Minnesota” or “Mask up or Pack Up” are just the few that come to my mind. These campaigns were embedded into our brains so much so that it seems weird to leave without a mask or go outside without a mask. They embody many civic commonplaces, we all are going through this odd life event and we all do not want to get sick or other people sick so we all wear a mask. You mights share the commonplace of driving to the store and feeling a panic that you forgot your mask or you are in the store and panic because do you have your mask on or not. These feelings of panic are a commonplace that many people can relate to when it comes to the civic artifact of mask campaigns.

The second civic activity is at home exercising. All those walks with your dog, all those youtube workout videos, all those new Pelaton app users, maybe you were one of the lucky ones who was able to buy workout equipment before stores sold out. Whatever the case for you, we all share the struggle of working out and staying motivated during the pandemic. Perhaps it was better for you, not feeling that gym judgement, but for me  walks got old after the first 10 in two days. Many commonplaces are shared when it comes to exercising during a pandemic and that is why this civic activity is going to be remembered even after the pandemic. However, I think after the pandemic is over, many people will continue to workout from home and cancel gym memberships because what else are they going to do with all their quarantine bought gym equipment.

The last civic activity is online presence. I think it is safe to assume that during the pandemic, if not everyone, the majority of Americans used Zoom or another online talking application to talk to friends and family. Many commonplaces are shared with this activity such as bad signals, not being muted, accidentally being muted and trying to talk, not knowing how to turn on cameras; we all can relate whether it happened to a teacher, friend or family member. I believe that after the pandemic is over the increase in online usage is not going to go back down to where it was before the pandemic. Yes, Zoom will continue to haunt us.

Whatever happens in the future, I can guarantee that we will be taking some new pandemic related civic activities with us. We all went through a pandemic together and we will all come out with a sense of understanding because we can all relate to the pandemic activities.

The Vote Extra Credit

Yesterday I attended the event that was lead by Schreyer for Women. This event consisted of watching part of the PBS documentary titled “The Vote” and then a panel of experts on the Women’s Suffrage Movement answering questions from attendees. This experience was enlightening for me, I learned a lot and as I reflect now I realize how little I knew about the Women’s Suffrage Movement. When I learned about the Women’s Suffrage Movement in high school, my teachers outlined this topic as a more inspirational event; they left out or covered up by positive outcomes a lot of the hardships that occurred during this movement. By being fed the perspective that the Women’s Suffrage Movement was all positive because the outcome was positive was definitely detrimental to my understanding of this important historical event. This event led by Schreyer for Women really cleared up some of my past conceptions about the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

To start, watching the documentary, I learned that there were parades. I knew there were protests and other public demonstrations but I did not know there were organized parades, with signs and everything. That was a new learning that I took away from this event. To add onto the parades, I had no idea how awful men treated the women in the parades. Men would spit on, threaten and sometimes physically assault women who marched in these parades. Many men would also forbid their wife in participating in the movement as a whole and would abuse their wife if they spoke about it or tried to take part. This was shocking to me because I always thought that a lot of men were in support of the movement but in reality the majority of men were against it.

Another learning I took away with me from this screening event was the fact that a lot of black women participated in the movement. I knew that they benefitted from the outcome with the 19th Amendment but I did not know that they were out on the streets protesting. I have no idea why I thought this, perhaps it was because of all the media that I had seen in my textbooks were all white women or that the only influential women I had learned about from this movement were white, whatever the reason this was an important take away for me. Breaking down my preconceived notion, I learned that in fact one of the most influential activists was a black women. Although I can not remember her name, the panelists said that she is often forgotten but she was up front in all the parades and protests.

“The Vote” documentary and panelists for the event hosted by Schreyer for Women truly changed my perspective on the Women’s Suffrage Movement. I learned so many new things that I wish I was taught earlier in my education, but I am grateful that my perspective was able to change because of this new information. I highly recommend watching the PBS documentary “The Vote” and reflecting on the movement because if it was not for these brave, strong women who fought back then, my rights and maybe yours may not have been here today.