Paola Vargas-Corbacho

Instructor Francis

Reflection Paper- Humanities 1010

Over the course of this semester, I have to say that lots of knowledge was gained from writing
many journals, be part of discussions for all the modules in the course and all the readings we had to do.
I have been able to compare and contrast the disciplinary writings and notice what makes each of them
stand out. Reflecting back on these individual papers helps to express what I have learned. The
humanities journals helped me understand more of an artistic analysis of the Artwork that we had to
write each week for the specific module we read and learned about. I have to be honest to say that
when I went through all the modules I thought it was going to be very difficult to complete all the
homework, and seeing that the humanities field is all about expressing your opinion and deconstructing
the text for what it says and not really how it does it. As I began to write my first couple of essays and
also the discussion, I kind of got the idea and felt much more comfortable knowing that people in the
class wont judge me if I wrote something wrong (English is not my primary language). I wanted to be
understood and to express my ideas and opinions without hurting anybody. Towards the end I felt much
confident when I had to write my last journals and discussions. Being able to look at a piece of art or
image and deconstruct it in an attempt to identify the artist’s idea was exciting. I was able to see and
realize things about the painting that I never would have noticed if it had not been for this questions I
needed to answer in the discussions and journals. Some images and paintings would have colors or
shapes or images that were used to express sadness, romanticism, happiness, depression, etc. I have
learned that there is always more to something than what meets the eye or from what our eyes want to
see.

The humanities are the stories, the ideas, and the words that help us make sense of our lives
and our world. The humanities introduce us to people we have never met, places we have never visited,
and ideas that may have never crossed our minds. By showing how others have lived and thought about
life, the humanities help us decide what is important in our own lives and what we can do to make them
better. By connecting us with other people, they point the way to answers about what is right or wrong,
or what is true to our heritage and our history.

I also have to mention that volunteering was such a great opportunity for me to be able to help
in the community and do something for other people. When I left the place where I volunteered at, I
told Bob (the manager or organizer) that I would come back to help more because I really enjoyed being
part of the group for the few hours I was there working with them. I have always thought that
volunteering would be fun and very nice to serve others. Thanks for getting me started on this that I
have always wanted to do!
 I am very thankful to our Instructor and for the class I took this summer. It has been a great
experience, brought me to a better understanding of arts and culture. It has been a class that was totally
different from what I have taken in the past and I have really enjoyed it. Thank you. Thank you .