This semester working on "The World That Brought Us Freddie Gray" was a very new and unique experience for me. For my group, Current Issues/Solutions, we worked well in the fact that as the different parts of the radio segment were due, we were able to complete them by the requested due date. Also, as a class I think our communication and feedback to one another was great, it allowed each different segment to be "up to par" with the others. It even forced us to go above and beyond what we may have originally thought we could produce. A problem I felt that could have possibly restricted our accomplishments/capabilities with this project was the timeline. I personally felt that if this project was introduced and explained in the beginning of the semester, and then brought back up for more class discussion we could have scheduled more interviews and had a wider variety of voices to create our story. That is one of the things that I personally think could be changed to improve the class, because it allows the students time to gather their thoughts, have some script drafts completed, and be able to receive feedback from you as well as our peers.
Some of the most important things I learned this semester were: the importance of effective communication within a "work" environment, the amount of time and effort that go into making a radio segment, and the bubble that we as a society lock ourselves in. Walking into the class I did not have many expectations about what we were going to be doing, but I knew that I had Dr. King for two previous classes and I enjoyed both. However, as the semester went along my perspective on the class and feelings changed a couple times, just because the course seemed to be broken up into the two parts: the group discussion and guest speakers, then the radio series. My personal experience and mindset have changed in regards to race, class, and society. I know have a slightly deeper understanding of this bubble that each of us actively choose to allow ourselves to live in. I did not even know of the constant struggles and mistreatment that were happening 10 minutes away in downtown Baltimore. Looking for information and creating stories, then putting those stories together are the most important part of our society. We actively choose to ignore our surroundings though, and simply believe everything that is spoon fed to us through mass-media and don't experience things for ourselves anymore.
This course left me wanting to know more about Baltimore, and every other major city; economically and socially. This may be the economist/businessman in me, but I believe knowledge is power, and with that knowledge is the opportunity to create something to make an impact on our world. So the more that we can understand about problems, the easier it can be to create a possible business or solution to correct the issue.
