Now that this class is over I am so glad that I took this class. I have a psychology background and I am currently back in school majoring in International Studies with a minor in Criminology. So my reasoning for taking this class was mainly personal. The main reason that I took this class was because I wanted a deeper understand of addiction. Back in Cleveland I have multiple friends who are addicted to drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, and bad relationships. I wanted to learn how addiction affects an individual in a non medical source. I feel that it is my duty to be more educated than the common person about issues that are taboo. I also feel that it is also my duty to understand why people make the choices they do. Thanks to this course I can understand the pains that my cousins went through while battling with their eating disorders. From watching the movies about eating disorders I know how hard it is to not relapse down that dangerous road. I also feel a sense of pride that I can talk to my friends who have drug addictions and it will NEVER come from a judgmental place. The other thing that I could take away from this class was to look at non conventional forms of addiction. If it was not for the digital scrapbook I would never have thought about shopping as an addiction or playing video games unstop and an addiction.

Now that the quarter is over I would not change anything about the course. I loved that everyone could openly talk freely about the articles and you know that it was a safe place to share your feelings. It was nice that there were women and men there from all walks of life. Each women had a different experience that we could learn from and grow spiritually, physically, and emotionally as strong independent women. Even when we were in our individual groups you could freely talk about the topics tell stories that related and there would be no judgment. Even before we watched “Thin” I talked to one of the girls, who were always in my group, about all the emotions I was feeling. She even told me that I should talk to the professor about what I was going through because she of all people would understand. She was right the professor did understand. While we watched “Thin” I even ran out of the room because it was too much for me to handle and while I was waiting for the bus with other members of the class I was not treated any differently. We were even talking about the movie about how difficult it was to watch. I made the comment, “yeah, well at least you did not run out of the room crying” and they were concerned with how I was doing. For that I appreciate. Even though that was a very hard week for me, thanks to this class I could take that experience that learn and become a better person.

The other thing that I liked about the course was the professor. I loved that you were not a “fema-nazi” blaming all the problems that women experience on men. If everyday focused on the point that everything was the man’s fault then I would have dropped the course. I appreciate that you picked articles that were not written by individuals with that opinion. It was also fun that you called me Twiggy. I hope that I will be the only Twiggy that you will ever teach. Thanks for a great quarter.