Sunday, September 12, 2010

The Human Genome

Last Wednesdays lecture from Dr. Georgia M. Dunston who was from the microbiology department was about the human genome. She did not get past the introductory slide, but she still gave some vital information. However before she went into her lecture, she started by saying the dean stated that our class was phenomenal and she sees how we are such a phenomenal class. Dr. Dunston goes into her lecture by saying our genome holds knowledge. It holds knowledge of not only out family history but our ancestral history as well. The genome contains not only this but knowledge of biology and life and how it works. Being a record book holding the legacy of human kind and our cultural story, Dr. Dunston goes on to say that every culture has a story but other cultures feed of the story of the Africans. Africans are the foundation for other cultures.

Dr. Dunston also said out genomes represent knowledge to solve problems of our time. Our genomes have an energy and what disturbs our energy is what we are destined to do. In other words we already know our calling and what we were put here to do and what problem we are going to solve. For example for me I know what disturbs my energy is dental hygiene. This is why my dream is to become a dentist to make people more aware of how important dental hygiene actually is to your overall health.

Overall the message I took from the lecture is that we all have a unique genome and each and every one of us is unique. Our genomes hold information that stems from our ancestors and from our family and the information we all hold is unique. Even though Dr. Dunston did not get past her first slide, she still gave us all some very good information that I actually found interesting.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Freshman Seminar September 1, 2010

Wednesdays Lecture was entitled Learning, Wisdom, and the African World Experience which would cover these objectives as follows:

1. Reflecting on the African foundations for our intellectual work at Howard and in the Human Community.

2. Sketching an outline that traces the connection between Learning and Wisdom.

3. Opening our personal pathways for engagement and renewal.

Normally giving a lecture, a teacher of professor would start from the very beginning, but Dr, Carr started from the end which is where we learned of Djehuty and Seshat. Djehuty and Seshat were not only brother and sister, but they were also husband and wife. Djehuty was the creator of letters and his wife Seshat was the creator of numbers. The Pathway of Djehuty accepts content masters and precision as the responsible behavior of the teacher and student while The Pathway of Seshat accepts accuracy, reliability, and preservation of knowledge as the responsibility of the teacher and student.

We were also informed on the three authorities of the classroom which are student, teacher, and text. All three of these authorities work hand in hand, however Dr. Carr stated that there will always be two of these authorities present in the classroom. Furthermore that if there is one authority absent, the other two have to work even harder.

Moving back to the beginning of the powerpoint we learned of some basic africana terms. A few that stood out to me were Ma'at which means truth, Sankofa which means go and get it, and Iwa Pele which means good/right character. These three stood out to me because these are some of the attributes I think I have. I'm a very truthful "go getter" with good character.

Dr. Carr also spoke of ancient egyptian writing which did not look like writing at all. They were little pictures called hieroglyphs. These little pictures depict the alphabet and symbols which stood for words like man or woman.

The basic message Dr. Carr gave us to take home had to deal with just that taking your knowledge home. I've learned my knowledge means nothing if i'm the only person it is benefiting. Dr. Carr said we should take our knowledge back home and share it with our community. Coming from Delaware, I can safely say I have had a good life living in the suburbs, but in the inner city there is so much going on. People fighting and shooting and sometimes there are innocent lives being taken. Just being at Howard University I have learned that there are just some things in life that are not worth fighting over, and I think the people in the city of Wilmington, Delaware will benefit from the things I will learn over my four years at Howard University and I will be sure to take everything I learn back to the city.