72 Val Final Reflection
I first want to say thank you all for being such an incredibly supportive and inspiring class community. I have enjoyed this class so much, and I feel so grateful to have been able to be part of this class dynamic. There are so many aspects of this class that I’ve enjoyed, it’s truly difficult to pick a few to talk about, but when I try to narrow down how I feel about this class, the phrase ‘creative collaboration’ keeps coming to mind. Even in moments where the assignments were very much individual, the fact that we were able and encouraged to reflect on each other’s work was so impactful for me and such a great opportunity for this class to feel much more like a collaborative community, which I feel like can be so difficult, especially given the virtual nature of the course.
For my final contribution to this pressbook, I wanted to take a creative approach and submit a dance, similarly to my submission for my author introduction. I thought it felt appropriate to begin and end my contributions to this class in a similar way.
In terms of this submission, I danced to the song, ‘Body’ by Gia Margaret (music by Gia over a sampled lecture entitled “Overcome Social Anxiety” by the British philosopher, Alan Watts) . This was a song that I came across a few weeks ago, and it instantly moved me. It reminded me a lot of what we have talked about in this course. Specifically, our discussion of Anne Carson’s ‘If Not Winter’. During my workshop group’s discussion, we talked a lot about what it means to be autonomous, and the theme of autonomy more broadly. And how autonomy and loss are oftentimes inextricably linked. Because ultimately, grief and loss are usually accompanied by a sense of lack of autonomy, and how a lack of autonomy is a loss within itself. Specifically, for this piece, I was imagining the significance of bodily autonomy and sense of physical wellness and ability, and also how loving another person, as outlined in Sappho’s work, can be both terrifying in that one may feel like they lose a sense of autonomy, but how losing that person can do the very same thing. I strove to explore both bodily autonomy and love/loss in this piece, and I hope that you enjoy it!
Thank you again for such a wonderful semester. I am really going to miss this class!