I recently attended the Student Life Multicultural Center’s presentation “Who am I? Who are You? Who are We?” During this presentation we broadened our knowledge of specific terms, as well as redefined the vibes and assumptions our culture surrounds privilege with.

I was able to learn more about commonly used terms to expand my understanding of diversities and identities. Included in this I learned that the term Latinx is used to incorporate people in the Latinx community that do not identify with binary genders. I also learned to differentiate between prejudice, discrimination and oppression. Prejudice is inherent and preconceived thoughts or feelings towards specific identities . Discrimination is acting on these notions, and oppression is a mixture of prejudice and power, and can occur on a macro or larger level.

The speaker in the “Who am I? Who are You? Who are We?” presentation spent a lot of time talking about the connotations surrounding the word “privileged” in our society and culture, and we spoke about how being privileged is just not having to encounter specific situations because of something out of your control. We also spoke about the guilt surrounded by being “traditionally privileged” and that no one is completely privileged.

A diagram was shown listing privileged and minoritized categories and I was surprised on the overlap between the two. As an example, one of the “privileged” identities was being a feminine female, while in the minorotized category was solely just being a women. This was a reminder that privilege is not the stereotypical vision most of us associate with the word. We also discussed how it is easier to speak out when you’re privileged (straight person speaking out about homophobic), and the abilities a privileged person has to use their privilege to help the minorotized.

I also learned why the term “minorotized” is preferred over “minorities”. There are two main reasons. The first of which is that people we often refer to as minorotized are often not minorities, like how there are more women than men in the world, but we still consider woman a minority. While people may be a minority in their community they may not be a minority on the global level.

The use of the word minorotized also makes being a minority an action that is done onto the minority. It is not a fault of their own, but the result of prejudice, discrimination and oppression. By using the term minorotized we are showing that being a minority is at no fault of the minorotized.

The “Who am I? Who are You? Who are We?” speaker introduced a new, more broad way of thinking about diversity and privilege. I was able to expand my knowledge on some communities and cultures that I am not specifically a part of, as well as engage in discussions among my peers about our privilege, and are minority status. The speaker created a very welcoming and safe enviroment for this type of conversation, which is probably the most important thing to do when seeking out conversations about this subject.

I am most active in Air Force ROTC. From physical training twice a week, Leadership lab, Air Science classes, extra workouts, drills and morale even flight study sessions ROTC is a major time commitment. Add that into a full schedule of classes and working I’ve still been able to use my ROTC community to find ways to relax after stressful weeks.

In September 2019 the Air Force celebrated its 72nd birthday. We ended our weekly leadership lab early in order to celebrate. We began by singing the first verse of the Air Force song. Next the detachment gave out scholarships from alumni of AFROTC Det. 645. Then we ended with cake. While during training the environment of ROTC is very focused and concentrated on the tasks at hand the cadets always find ways to unwind. We rarely have time to do this during training. Normally we fit these in during ROTC tailgates during OSU football home games, or breakfast after physical training.

The ability to unwind and relax after bad training sessions, rough PT workouts, hard classes and the general stress of college life has been pivotal in my success during the beginning of my first semester of college. Having so many people who go through the same trainings, the same early hours, an the same failures and successes lends it’s help in a feeling of community outside out training. It gives meaning to the line of the Airmen’s Creed we recite every week. “I will never leave an airmen behind.”

About a week before celebrating the Air Force’s birthday, the entire country stopped to recognize the 18th year anniversary of September 11 2019. For physical training one day close to the events anniversary, the detachment did a 110 stair climb, to memorialize the 110 flights of stairs the emergency responders attempted to climb on 9/11.

The meaningfulness of my future service to the country had never seemed like something that could directly help other people. 9/11 was the worst terrorist attack on United States soil, it has caused the most casualties for the FDNY, and it was the beginning of the United States’ longest war. A war I had grown up with, one that inherently shaped my generation’s childhood.

I was about to turn one when 9/11 occurred. While the yearly discussions in school every year taught me of the events of the day, it was not until this day that I recognized the heroism of the FDNY, and it’s tremendous effects on my life, with a future in the military. We had the entirety of our PT time to complete this climb, which we did at a memorial pace, with just our PT uniform on and a water bottle in our hands. By the time we got about halfway through all I was thinking about were the fire fighters, sprinting up and down the stairs of the World Trade Centers, in full gear, carrying people out.

On Tuesday I took my first midterm at OSU. On Monday I attended my first tutoring session. I had a gap in between my morning and afternoon classes, and I found a nice shady picnic table out on the oval to sit and study, and took a little study break to visit the dinosaurs in Orton. After a late biology lab I ran across the street to where NeuroPsych tutoring was held. This was a completely different setting than my 9:30 class.

Even though I had missed about half of the tutoring session because of my lab I still immediately got some one on one attention to my specific questions. The notes  supplied to us through Carmen cram so much information into slides and videos.While my professor has many resources for our class, they are all designed by him, and it was so helpful to hear someone else explain what I had been struggling with.

Since it was the day before our exam all of the tutors were prepared to teach us for the exam. Now that I have taken the exam it seems like my professor had given the tutors hints about what we would need to know to succeed since they went over many topics that I referred to when I was taking the midterm.

My biggest takeaway from this actually had nothing to do with the class, but my learning style. I always took notes on paper in high school, and using my iPad seems so much easier and faster. Yet using a paper and pencil during tutoring reminded me what was so nice about it. I drew my own diagrams, focusing on each individual part of them and taking in all the information being given to me. Since this midterm covered so many similar receptors and elaborate concepts it was integral that I truly understood and were able to distinguish between different processes.

While Psych tutoring is cut in half because of my lab, I did really enjoy the tutoring session, and will look into tutoring for my other classes.  It was helpful to receive one on one attention, get concepts explained to me by someone new as well as the ability to work at my own pace.

This tutoring session was extremely helpful since I am always very tired during class since I have to wake up early for ROTC. We also go through about eighty power point slides of material that are overwhelming in such a short period of time. These two things have made the class seem very overwhelming to me, and I have struggled to learn the material.

Tutoring was something that I had inherently not wanted to do. However I was able to get taught in a way similar to how I was taught in high school, and it felt like I absorbed information much more successfully during tutoring than I do in class or studying on my own.   

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