Portland Freshman Inquiry
2012-2013 NATALIE LYONS
CREATIVE EVENTS
Diversity of the Human Experience
​My Interpretation of this Goal
The University goal that was of the most importance to me for my first fall term was diversity of the human experience.To me, this goal means finding ways to interact with new people who come from different ethnic backgrounds, cultures and parts of the world that I have never been exposed to before. By experiencing these new perspectives, I gain insight, add variation to my own opinions, and br​oaden my own horizons through learning from the lives of others. I feel that I have gained a better understanding of this goal because fortunately, I am in Portland Freshmen Inquiry class with many different cultural backgrounds. Almost half of the people are non U.S. citizens and this has allowed me to collaborate with a classroom community from parts of the world that I had no connection to before. Sharing ideas brings growth and mutual understanding that we are all human and in the end, we are not as different from each other as we might think.
 One assignment that I feel accurately represents my progress towards this goal was the essay assignment on a section from Carl Abbott's Reading Portland of Fall term. In this paper, I chose the story from Janet Steven's departure about a unique relationship between a white woman and Native American woman living in the Pacific Northwest of the early 1840's. I chose to evaluate the treatment of the Native American people in the Pacific Northwest and specifically Portland, how the introduction of the white man's disease killed off the original Native American people and how a double minority of a Native American woman might feel living in her new racist home.
I have always been fascinated with the Native American culture , but I never fully looked into the history. This paper allowed me to see the cultural perspective through an "Indian's" eyes, let alone a Native American in my own home of the Northwest. I felt that I had developed a naive view of the Native American history through my many years of public schooling. It had never really occurred to me that violence was not the only form of exploiting the Native people. Being able to research into their culture and understand its practices that sadly lead to its pitfalls has broadened my view of the Native American people as a whole. In the end, my perspective on the culture changed dramatically, I gained a new-found respect and I learned how to diversify my experience.
Another assignment that displayed my "Diversity of the Human Experience" was the public art assignment and readings in class from Spring term. For this project we were given two options involving artwork. The first was to go out into the city of Portland, find two intriguing pieces of public artwork (one on either side of the Willamette River), and write a reflection on their history and meaning to the community surrounding them . The second option was to create our own piece of artwork (a screenplay, song, painting, collage, sculpture, or comic book) that embodied our idea of Portland and from what we have experienced with it in the Portland Freshmen Inquiry class. I chose to do write the reflection on two pieces of my favorite public artwork.
Through this project, I saw a new perspective on public artwork with how it ties into the community. Public art can bring positive or negative attitudes into a community based on how and where it is created, what it signifies, if the community was involved so they feel a personal connection and responsibility, and if the artwork brings cultural significance or historical message. If done correctly with these ideas in mind, public artwork can help to signify the effects of other cultures on the area or pay tribute to important people that otherwise might not be recognized. Public art can be a very useful tool in making an area have a certain atmosphere, and pay respect to certain groups or people. The entire message of public art should be "Diversity of the Human Experience" because it should reflect a area's diversity of past or present cultures.
"Students will enhance their appreciation for and understanding of the rich complexity of the human experience through the study of differences in ethnic and cultural perspectives, class, race, gender, sexual orientation, and ability" -Definition from the Portland State University Studies Program.