Purpose?

While the purpose of this blog is for the class WGST 111, American "Queer", I feel somewhat of a need to explain my reasons for taking this class and (more importantly) choosing the blog option. I assistant directed a Mindy Garner's acting comps show last Winter; Jane Chambers' "Last Summer at Bluefish Cove," or as most Carleton students remember it as, "that lesbian play." This was the first thing to spark my academic interest in gay and lesbian issues. While many study history to better understand the present (or not repeat the mistakes of our past), I find my fascination with the content of this course is more centered on history for history's sake, seen in the time it took place and not immediately transposed and compared to the present. This class and my blog is somewhat of an homage to what I learned from doing that play and how it has inspired me to take a more active role in my own life via intellectual discovery and not so much of the "I feel, I think, I want..." side of queer issues. Hence, getting this out of the way beforehand so that I can move beyond Bluefish.