Assignment 4- A letter to my cousin Maggie

May 13, 2008
Dear cousin Maggie,

It has been so long since we saw each other last. I have missed you so much and am pleased to hear from my mom that you will be visiting us here in Maryland this summer. She has told me that you’re interested in taking a course at the University of Maryland during your stay. My mom also told me that you’re interested in taking an abstract course unrelated to your major in order to expand your knowledge in fields you have yet to be exposed to, and asked me if I could help you out in your selection of a course.
I am writing to tell you about an amazing course I took this past semester here at UMD. This past semester I decided to fulfill a CORE requirement (a course that all students here at Maryland must fulfill before graduation), by taking a Women Studies course called “Women, Art & Culture.”
First day of class, I was very hesitant about staying in the course, because the topics, ideologies, and view points Dr. King presented in class seemed too abstract. I was terrified thinking to myself “I’m a biology major. I understand mathematical and scientific thinking only. How can I survive in a class that has nothing to do with either?” After consulting my counselor, I decided to not drop the course and give it a chance.
As we progressed into the semester, we were assigned readings and assignments. Our first assignment was to take a week off from class and visit certain museums in Washington, DC. I was very excited about this assignment because having lived in Maryland for the past 8 years, I had visited many of the museums before, and so I figured this project would be a piece of cake. We were to determine our down definition of feminism, make analytical observations of these museums, and then determine whether these museums are feminist. Contrary to my prediction, the assignment turned out to be quite challenging. I never knew that art and politics could be so interconnected. At the Museum of Women and the Arts, I saw so many pieces that portrayed the frustrations women artists felt as oppressed individuals. The beauty of this institution is the representation of feminist art from different periods of time and from different locations, by artists from different parts of the world. After walking through these museums, viewing the art in them through a feminist lens, it was very hard to come up with my own definition of feminism. Because now, feminism wasn’t just a movement, wasn’t just a protest, wasn’t just an article in a journal, no it was anything you can imagine. After this experience, feminism to me meant maybe an aura, a vibe, a picture, an institution; anything could now represent feminism. It was at this point that my feelings about this course changed, because I found assignment one to awaken something in me that I had never felt before. This was something no science or math course could offer me.
Continuing into the semester we were assigned a number of short books to read. One book that stood out to me the most was Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. In Kindred Octavia E. Butler creates a whirlpool type story by connecting the past to the present. Kindred is highly related to feminism because it makes the personal political by contrasting the treatment of African American women before the civil rights movement versus their present treatment. Kindred makes the personal political by telling a story of an African American women in present time who keeps visiting the past (the time of her ancestors, becoming her ancestors) by time travel with her husband. This very engaging book opens your eyes to many of the mistreatments of women back then and in the present time. Through its detailed descriptions of rape, its gory imagery of beatings and killings, and through its analysis of the effects of such events on Dana (the main character of the book), Kindred is able consume its readers on a personal level. This creates an exigence for movement toward a world where men and women are equal in every aspect of life.
Another portion of the course that I enjoyed the most was the class blog. Professor Katie King would always post interesting short readings, websites, and introduced artists to us on the online blog. For example we were asked to read upon and watch Youtube clips of the Guerilla Girls on the web. This feature of the class enabled us to do our own research without feeling restricted to school databases. The Guerilla Girls are a feminist activist group that doesn’t use the typical approach of activism. This group of women uses humor, satire, and sarcasm in their shows, protests, and video clips to interest a new type of audience into the topic of feminism. The Guerilla Girls appeal to everyone: a male, a female, or even a child. The Guerilla Girls are able to use humor to make feminism look and be fun rather than be its old typical image of angry, wronged women.
Lastly, I really loved how open professor King was to promoting events that interested the students themselves. Everyday in lecture, before starting class, professor King would ask the students if they had any announcements to make. Often random students would stand up and announce events they were personally involved in that related to the class. One announced event that I was able to attend was the viewing of the documentary “Chocolate City” by Ellie Walton. I really enjoyed this event because three of the people filmed in this documentary were present at the event. After the viewing we were able to have a discussion with Ellie as well as the three “actresses.” This documentary was about the taking over of big developers of the public housing neighborhoods in DC. This was a very touching experience because the documentary filmed the personal stories of the people living in those neighborhoods. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to attend such an event.
So dear cousin, I really advise you to sign up for this course before it is full. I really enjoyed this course; I’m sure you will too. Can’t wait to see you!

Always,
Mahta