RESPONSE TO LETTERS - Sandra Chu

[sandrachu]

When looking up "Apperception," I found that it is typically described as "fully conscious perception," or the act of being conscious of your consciousness. We are indeed trying to be aware of how we think, and how we can then translate those thoughts into words in the Fishbowl.

[sandrachu]

This conference looks very interesting. I am excited to see the final outcome of the gathering of all of our work in the Fishbowl.

[sandrachu]

In reading the General Theme, I am wondering what specific question our paper would tackle.

The papers in the "Sub-themes" section are quite short as well. One of particular interest to me was "Sub-theme 16: Challenges and Prospects of Democratic Organizing." The last sentence stood out to me: "'More recently, Sabadoz and Singer (2017: 196) contend that the concept of deliberative democracy is 'ill-suited' for corporations since in their view 'even if pursued genuinely, corporations themselves are poor venues for deliberation, due to how they are situated in, and structured by, the market system.'" I'm still trying to find out the answer to this idea myself.

[sandrachu]

Through the Fishbowl and our exercises working together, we are able to form a sort of workplace friendship within our groups. In "IV. People Who Can Be Friends: Selves and Social Relationships," I am wondering how we will be looking at an "uncompromising view of friendship" when the type of friendship we are forming in class and in groups is something different.

[sandrachu]

"To do business in a digital society (365), you have to resort to design thinking (443)." It is indeed important to know how to do business in today's fast-paced world, both online and off. I do not know anything about design thinking, nor am I enrolled in that course with Professor Dugal. I am interested in understanding exactly what is meant by the quoted sentence.

[sandrachu]

Thank you for sharing your creative process with us. I am looking forward to discussing the paper in class and reading more as the paper comes together.

"We're looking at each other looking at each other." I've started to get quite used to this phrase, and the act itself within the Fishbowl. It's become extremely normal to read other classmates' posts to see what they are thinking and to use that to help formulate my own ideas. The key word is "help," as we should not be letting others think for us, but instead let them be lights of inspiration.

[sandrachu]

We've all been on teams or groups sometime during our lives. Whether it be for recreational or professional purposes, we've all had to work with others. It's true that the Whole becomes greater than the Sum of its Parts. We each bring our own unique characteristics to the class, and together we are a stronger unit. The quality and amount of our work will increase if we work together. We each make up a part of the Fishbowl, and altogether the Fishbowl is a cumulative source of our knowledge and learning.

[sandrachu]

"Indeed, we are all in one big fishbowl, where opposites co-exist."
"It's about having awareness."

These particular sentences really reminded me of a commencement speech I had heard online many years ago. It's called "This is Water" by David Foster Wallace. I think parts of it really encompass what we are trying to do in this class. At one point, Foster says, "The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time..." In this course we are learning how to think and how to learn, and we are trying to have awareness of ourselves and of others around us. The way we view the world can have a world of a difference, and it can alter the meanings we give to each experience. In a past letter, we talked about Apperception, and it is definitely a key theme of what we are doing here.

(Link to a video of the commencement speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC7xzavzEKY)

[sandrachu]

This inter-subjective space that we are creating is everywhere in the Fishbowl. We are allowing others to read our work and it can evoke symbols or images in the readers' minds. We're very used to creating these spaces, especially online. For example, I have created such space with my friends in our messaging group chat where we speak to each other through texts.

[sandrachu]

It is truly the future that is at stake. Everything that we are learning, we can take with us into the future. The ability to clearly think, to be aware of ourselves and what we are doing, and to navigate social situations without confusion will allow us to go in the right direction.

[sandrachu]

We are constantly performing Action Research in the Fishbowl. I regularly look back at my posts and I am able to reflect on my thinking process at that point in time. I've noticed that the way I read these letters has changed over time - it's easier now to stop reading everything as the first perception that comes to mind and to try to see other perspectives.

[sandrachu]

There have been times in conversation where I've needed to be careful in my word selection in order to properly convey my thoughts and experiences. This happens a lot at home, as I need to be aware of what words I'm using around my mom, whose first language is not English.