Aloha mai kākou!
One
day a man of the people said to the Zen master Ikkyū: “Master,will you please
write for me some maxims of the highest wisdom?”
Ikkyū
immediately took his brush and wrote the word “Attention.”
“Is
that all?” asked the man. “Will you not add something more?”
Ikkyū
then wrote twice: “Attention. Attention.”
“Well,”
remarked the man rather irritably, “I really don’t see much depth or subtlety
in what you have just written.”
Then
Ikkyū wrote the same word three times: “Attention. Attention. Attention.”
Half
angered, the man declared: “What does that word attention mean anyway?”
And
Ikkyū answered, gently: “Attention means attention.”
What
does all of this have to do with you? In
this class I want you to think about attention in terms of critical thinking
and self-reflection. Using our text book
The World is a Text: Writing, Reading and
Thinking About Culture and its Context and, of course, our minds, we will
examine issues involving gender, race, ethnicity, and pop culture while paying
close attention to what these issues mean to you. As this is a writing class, you will of
course be expected to hone your writing skills, with a number of essays and
regular journal entries, in ways that effectively convey your attention to the
texts we will be reading, our group discussions, and the world around you. All of you are unique, and I want you to
remain attentive to that which makes you unique--your interests, your families,
your histories, and your senses of place.
The issues we will discuss in class will provide a lens for you to think
about and even challenge your understandings of yourself, others, and the world
around you. |
