Journal 1

After missing the first day of class I had my reservations coming in. I had read the article on the class and heard from some classmates what the first day was like, So I was hoping I was good to go. What happened in class was nothing what I expected. I guess we live in such a world where we encounter some type of racism or categorize a new person into a stereotype everyday, but of course no one talks about them, especially not like in class. It was interesting to hear that black Americans do not consider islanders (to generalize, as we always do) as smart as them, and vice-versa. It was even more interesting to see Laura and me jump when Pico compared Colombians to Venezuelans, as if he had just insulted us. The reality is he didn't, I have family there and the cultural similarities are many. I guess I just don't like Colombia being compared politically to Venezuela and that's how it took it.

All these "discoveries" made me feel almost ok with the fact that in Colombia we love talking about the region where we're from and criticizing the other occupants of the land. The "Costeños" are the Caribbean beer-drinking bums of our culture. The "rolos" or "cachacos" (the first referring to the more current generations, the latter to the parents and grandparents) are disliked by the rest of the country because of their superiority complex due to the fact that they are from the capital, although honestly they don't help their cause. The "paisas" are looked at, for the most part, as quite not as educated as the "rolos" but everyone likes them and they like everyone, unless you give them a reason no to. The "pastusos" are the looked at as the truly uneducated portion of the population who mostly work in farms and in manual labor.

I realize it is not at all ok. I was brought up with these notions and I'm sure everyone is brought up the same way, thinking there's a group of populates of that country that is superior to the next group. We grow up thinking that our thought system is good, or at least reasonable, just because is passed down by our parents. We then pass it on to our children and the cycle goes on. Class made me realize that they shouldn't, they should end with us, not just as young adults but more so as journalists. Class helped me realize that everyone has a role, and no role is more important than the other. Watching "The Barbershop" made me think about the roles of everyone there, and even those roles that we didn't get to see but that as journalists we love looking for, police officers and government employees. What makes them more important than any other citizen? Nothing really, but yet we look to them for help, and think that everyone else is inferior to them. We use our everyday prejudice to do some of the most mediocre reporting possible. Maybe after this class I'll be able to report better and be wiser, if possible, in my thinking and my interaction with others.