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| A Flooded School after Hurricane Katrina |
After Hurricane Katrina, my
family was temporarily relocated and I had to attend a new high school. It was
the beginning of my freshmen year, so high school in general was a new concept
to me. I went from a suburban to a rural area, and the people were quite
different than what I was familiar with. I grew up with most of the students in
my high school and had a group of close friends, whereas I didn’t know anybody
at this new school. I was approaching the situation with a negative attitude
because I did not want to be there.
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| An "Old" Desk with Cubby Hole |
There were issues here that were
not present at my old school. The desks were old with cubby holes inside of
them, a few of which had cans full of chewing tobacco spit. Everybody smoked,
which wasn’t a big deal, but the bathrooms were full of cigarette smoke. I had
to wait in line for the bathroom because students were in the stalls smoking.
The curriculum that we started with had been covered in my junior high school. I
separated myself from the situation and people as if I were an “other” in an “otherized”
place. It’s interesting how the “other” can work both ways.
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| I had a Similar Reaction. |
After a week or two, I
noticed more positive aspects of this transition. I met nice people and
realized that the faculty was in a semi-stalemate with students to prevent
smoking in the bathroom. In retrospect, I otherized this new high school and
town as being “hick” because it was not MY high school or town. When I was placed
in a position that strayed from my normal standards, otherizing was almost a
form of defense to handle the new environment.
I like how you brought up the fact that you "otherized" yourself because you didn't want to be at the school. I guess at a certain point, once we accept where we are, we can find the "silver lining."
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting that you touch upon the topic of location in regard to the other. In my personal experience most situations where I have otherized individuals has been because they are from a different location. I think location plays a large part in the concept of ‘the other’. Our familiar locations allow us to grasp on a culture we are a part of or know. However, foreign locations pose an unknown environment where we might not be familiar with the culture. This poses a potential problem because when individuals spot people around who are not observing their cultural norms they might be intimidated by these other ideas or be further motivated to grasp on to what they know and reject ‘the other’.
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