Alice's Menagerie

To say our class is a little bit odd might be the understatement of the year.  As we discovered thursday, our myers-briggs letters are all over the place.  And for a plan II class, we have a surprising number of both introverts and sensing types.  I suppose all our differences are part of what made it hard to get the ball rolling in the beginning of the first semester.  Like the animals who washed ashore from the tear-born ocean, "they were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank- the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable." (29 Alice)  I think that it might have been a bit the same for us.  We all felt a bit distressed at so many changes going on around us.  It was a completely new setting, new living arrangements, new responsibilities, and certainly new expectations.  I know I was feeling a bit ruffled for the first few week or so.  

Alice is certainly surrounded by a queer assortment of creatures and I think we can all relate to the
confusion she feels at learning to interact with all of them.
http://the-office.com/bedtime-story/classics-alice-2.htm

But, I think time helped wear down the anxiety edges on all of us and we began to open up more.  I mean, it certainly takes some guts to crawl under a table/womb and be reborn as an animal with a group of freshly-minted college students.  College certainly doesn't have the same unnecessary drama as high school did but I still felt a bit of fear at opening up so completely to a group that I wasn't sure how they'd judge me.  I felt a little like the poor white queen for a while. "'I wish I could manage t0 be glad!' the Queen said.  'Only I can never remember the rule.'" (199 Looking Glass)  I was too nervous for a while to really enjoy our various hare-brained activities.  It took until around our viewing of Earthlings for everything to really click into place for me.  I don't know why that was the switch but suddenly I felt comfortable.  Meditation became a serious endeavor, discussions took on a new air of gravity, and our goofy experimental learning became something I truly reflected on.


As strange as it may seem, I really enjoy sitting next to new people nearly every class.  In my high school experience, everyone I interacted with were extroverts to the extreme.  So having such a currently diverse class gives me the chance to see so many new perspectives.  Our class doesn't just take everything at face value and agree on a single point.  Our discussions vary widely- from animal mistreatment (and what to do about it) to world cultures (and how they do or don't connect).  And though for most of my life I've had this driving need to be "right," I just don't let that feeling control my thoughts in class.  Everyone in Plan II is obviously intelligent and we all have opinions that we hold and can defend with great voracity.  Thankfully, no one in our class uses that attitude to try to "fix" the others.  As Alice says, "'but aren't you going to run and help her?' Alice asked, very much surprised at his taking it so quietly." (228 Looking Glass)  Except we're not running over to "correct" each other.  We all have valid beliefs that can agree sometimes and be in opposition at others but that doesn't mean we should try to create a single homogeneric set of ideals.  The beauty of our class is that everyone is so different and I'd hate to lose that diversity.

Let's not be like everyone else.  Let's break the mold.
http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/h/homogeneity_gifts.asp

So I guess Red Hawk and all of my fellow animal compatriots deserve a thank you for making me keep an open mind and heart towards all the variations of life.