A lot of students, some 200, showed up for the “Howl of the Wolf” event.

That event was a coffee house style evening put on by “Wake Up! It’s Serious: A Campaign For Change.”  And that November night, along with the students there were some staff and faculty that I recognized.  But even so, I did not know the reasons that very people came out.

Later I learned that at least one student who came was there to get credit for a course.  Dr. Craig Brookins, my best friend, requires that his students attend a number of events that are relevant to neo-diversity. To get credit for attendance though, his students must write up their experience of the event.  One of Dr. Brookins’ students attended the “Howl of the Wolf” event and wrote it up in this way:

    “I attended Dr. Nacoste’s event which featured student skits and performances and his discussion about the content of his newest book Howl of the Wolf. The skits featured scenarios in which students interacted with someone of a different culture or sexual orientation, but did not handle the situation correctly. We then had an open discussion about the proper way to handle these types of situations and why we think they occur. We also watched a spoken word performs in which the poet described his mother’s life as a maid. Finally, Dr. Nacoste tied in the importance of all of these things amongst students on the campus.

     In the first skit, two girls were discussing their holiday breaks and one student was of Middle Eastern descent. The friend made an ignorant comment in relation to the Middle Eastern student’s culture. The second scenario involved two guys who were becoming good friends but one was homosexual and the other was heterosexual. The heterosexual friend was often too aware of his friend’s sexuality and made conversations awkward. Both these scenarios relate to the importance of socialization. As Americans who live in a diverse nation, it is important that children are socialized to deal with people of different backgrounds in a way that won’t offend them and it is also important for the child on the other end of the incident to know how to deal with an awkward situation and not allow negative incidents to alter how they identify themselves.

     The spoken word piece by Chicas had the largest impact on me.

 

    The poet, Chicas, spoke of how his parents were immigrants into the U.S. from South America and he wrote specifically about his mother’s life on the job. He spoke of how his mother’s hands were used to make beautiful music back in her country, but in the United States, they were just seen as instruments to clean someone’s tub. These are all events he recalled as a young boy and they played a part in shaping his identity. Instead of these experiences making him view himself and his culture in a negative life, he used it as fuel to make a better life for himself and his family. He was proud of where he came from and refused to be treated like a second class citizen like his mother was. He aimed to bring pride back to his family.

     The book Howl of the Wolf is a compilation of stories written in Dr. Nacoste’s class in which students described their experiences with people from different backgrounds. Most of these experiences showed how ignorant people were. Dr. Nacoste said that we live in a Neo-diverse age in which it is important for people from all walks of life to know how to interact with one another. This is especially important on such a diverse campus where despite our differences, we all howl the same. We are the Neo-diverse Wolfpack.”