There are several things throughout this winter term course that i have learned. I would say that one of the most important skills that this class has given me the chance to sharpen my debating skills. Pretty much 1/2 of the class had views that differ from mine extremely. This gave me the chance to debate and reinforce my ideas. I really enjoy this because i always find that my belief system is reinforced through debate. Its not really that i enjoy arguing with people, its just that i really have been given the chance to clarify all the ideas that i think are right. I will admit that seeing the other side of things helps me gather clarity, but nobody in the class really convinced me to think differently. Overall though i really enjoyed the readings and debates in this course.

Today is inauguration day, as i sit here in class, watching the cannons roar as President-elect Barack Obama gets sworn in to office. I realize that, despite being conservative on many issues, i will never forget this moment. Like Barack, my father is a citizen of Kenya and my mother is from the States, so i have extreme pride in what Barack Obama is and what he stands for. One thing that i am glad of is that US kenya relations will undoubtebly be strengthened. One thing that Kenya can be happy for is the military strength the United States will bring to that region.

Caruth Really manages to dive in head first in the first chapter of the book. Trauma is not something that you can beat around the bush with in discussion. In order to gain a better understanding of why Human Beings react so intensely to certain situations, we need to talk directly about it. Growing up in various unstable African nations, i have seen many things that would be considered traumatic by many peoples standards, so reading this books gives me an in depth understanding of why certain things happen when you go through something emotionally intense. All in all i hope that the assigned readings will give me advise on how to deal with many of the things i have witnessed. I would also like to educated myself more about this subject in order to better counsil my friends who have gone through traumatic events.