Kamryn Dehn: Week 2 Recap

This week has been quite interesting! I have been going through Indiana social studies and science standards to see which ones fit lessons plans in the Freedom Seekers curriculum which connects Great Lakes science and literacy principles to the Freedom Seekers, the Underground Railroad, and the abolitionist movement, as well as some Civil Rights figures. I didn't realize how complicated and specific some of these education standards are, and I feel so badly for teachers! I'm a huge supporter of interdisciplinary learning and bringing in concepts from multiple fields to teach students, so having to look through all of these standards made me realize just how much the education system needs reformed. I also felt a little disappointed by some of these standards because they seem a bit Eurocentric, meaning they promote US and European ways of life as the pinnacle, or the best. This was especially prevalent in the economics standards that subtlety seemed to suggest we had the best economic system and other countries need to "catch-up." In a lot of my anthropology coursework, we've gone through dozens of examples of communities that don't follow the same economic and/or governing principles we do and are thriving (and have a lot less environmental degradation)!

Outside of work, I did something exciting and that something was adopting my own dog! I had been in contact with the dog rescue for about a month before I drove to Illinois and adopted her this past week. Her name is Zaria, she's a stunning three-year old Siberian Husky, and she is such a sweetheart! I was originally going to adopt her daughter Bella, but I connected more with Zaria and she seemed like a better fit for me. I'm super excited to start taking her out this summer when I go hiking or to my local park! Enjoy the photo dump of my dog :)