Theodore Karabet

Professor Jennifer Byrd

HONR 1700-03
November 17th, 2015
http://karabetportfoliohonors.weebly.com/reflection.html
My Honors Stay
Frank Sinatra once contemplated change in his rendition of It Was a Very Good Year.
While I cant say that my life has been as vintage wine from fine, old kegs, the introspection I
obtained through this colloquium offered me opportunities to muse about my identity and
society. From investigating our inherent prejudices to analyzing gender stratification, the
courses journey was a necessary one to promote a more well-rounded understanding of our
culture an element necessary for any member of the Honors program.
Probably the most shocking revelation for me was Adichies talk about bias in Africa. As
a white man living in a privileged country, it never occurred to me that the African continent had
time for prejudice. Such thinking is primitive, now that Ive expressed it in writing, but I always
imagined Africans in toil and lacking precious resources. Adichie changed that perception; by
underlining the danger of a single story, she illustrated that, even amidst her own population,
images of others could be thwarted when superficial explanations were used to explain their
identities. In fact, the image of Africans as a starved, beaten people was laughed at by Adichie.
Its no wonder that my second artifact, my six-word memoir, evoked a cold, stirring ocean
beating on that vessel; weve always placed value on our first impressions, yet here, that which
gave us power over others was being challenged. The challenge those were the waves beating
on the vessel, constantly jeopardizing its course and altering its speed. Im in the autumn of my
years, sang Sinatra.

Of course, not all work this semester was personal inquiry. One day was spent wandering
among Charlottes wards. Before that day, however, we ventured to the tenth floor of the Atkins
library to conduct research on the citys history. It was here that I tried to overcome my absolute
passion for procrastination. I cant say with absolute certainty that I overcame that love, or if I
ever will, but time management was crucial in that assignment.
In the beginning, the class was assigned a chapter from one Professor Goldfield who
wrote about the vast history of Charlotte from the revolutionary days to its modern growth. As it
was the beginning of the year, and the relaxing summer winds still had their grip on me, I
decided to read that chapter until the last minute. That was unfortunate, since Goldfields history
was truly fascinating. Its length, however, deprived me of some valuable sleep time.
Fortunately, I wasted less time when it came to researching my essay topic. The tenth
floor has some of the most remarkable literature Ive seen; I found a statement on womens
opinions of men c. 1776 in a book, and an undated, rare map lying on one of the polished,
protruding, wooden tables. Here, the Goldfield chapter and my research began forming
connections in my neural networks. For example, while Goldfield described the early mill towns
in the area, I found pictures and an article from around the late 19th century about the exploitation
of child labor in the areas textile factories. Little-by-little, Charlotte began accumulating a
history with diverse customs and rebellious attitudes; the regions shunning of Jim Crowe laws
proved it to be an urban staple of progress rather than some rural backwash. Sometimes, when I
put procrastination on hold, I discover the most intriguing things await my analysis.
How could anyone forget the day when the new Honors recruits travelled uptown? This
journey was the culmination of our Goldfield reading and our research essay into something
tangible, something in the real world. It is one thing to write endlessly about theory and

another soaking ones hands in experiment. This City as Text was my first artifact. Hours of
reading and research won us a trip to the big city. Immortalized in that artifact, a photograph, is
the beginning of our journey a culmination of collection and reflection. And Donald Justices
poetry behind us not only summarized our walk, but our entire semester in the colloquium. The
lives we lead // But do not own - // Stand in the rain // So quietly // When we are gone, // So
quietly. As I see it, Justice is talking about the shaping of our identities through our
environment and their fragility after death. But now the days are short, complements
Sinatra.
I cant talk about Honors colloquium, or any Honors-related activities, without
mentioning scholar-citizenship. When I wrote my application letter to the program, I failed to
give a strict definition of the term. Fortunately, Honors colloquium allowed me to explore and
find that definition throughout the semester. Although my second artifact depicts an image of
uncertainty and instability through my six-word memoir, my first artifact, City as Text, was a
solid testament to individual ability. That is what scholar-citizenship is based on: individual will
and potential. Such an individual must possess the flexibility of an educated mind and the
unbending will of a hard worker; to find the balance is the hardest. City as Text and the activities
before it were a step-by-step development of scholar-citizenship. At first, we were asked to
perform research and, in my case, spend time wisely. Afterwards, those connections we formed
in the early stages were morphed into physical exploration. Thus, all the activities leading up to
and including City as Text were a metaphor for scholar-citizenship. Like the scholar, we too
explored knowledge: the books, maps, and diagrams of the Charlottes birth and maturation.
Afterwards, we were expected to apply what we learned into practice, i.e. go beyond book-

learning and gather experience that helped build character that, in turn, had the potential to give
back to the community.
This semester has been all about finding at least a part of our identities and expressing
them through activities like the six-word memoir. Prior, we learned how to make connections
and form new ideas through our City as Text activities, including the Goldfield reading and the
research essay. As part of the Honors program, we learned how to apply our thinking skills and
experiences to shape our scholar-citizenship; the City as Text activity guided us through these
stages of gathering knowledge, critical thinking, formulating ideas, and gathering experience.
If theres anything I would change this semester it would be the curriculum itself. While
the structure of this half-year was meticulous, I would want to spend more time discussing
certain subjects we covered. To me, it seems that we only touched the surface of the dangers of a
single story through Adichies TED talk. And while her talk was eye-opening, I would have liked
to sustain that feeling for more time. Perhaps, we could have done similar research and readings
on a single story similar to our City as Text prerequisites. We also mentioned white privilege,
patriarchy, and gender, all ideas that Im familiar with but, once again, would have liked to dig
deeper in class. We could have read a book on those concepts to discuss them in greater depth in
class.
Although I would have liked to understand some topics in greater detail, this semesters
colloquium still introduced me to some heavy ideas that prompted critical thinking and/or
introspection. The most positive activities this semester dealt with identity; I dont remember my
high school focusing on that and I could have greatly used it then. In general, Im extremely
satisfied. Both Sinatra and I think It Was a Very Good Year.