November Thoughts...

Glad to say that this semester is coming to an end! But...sad to say that this semester is coming to an end! School is moving too fast, and it's kind of scaring me! But it was a good run, and it's ok because time has to always move on. Still...this is going fast! This month was good for somewhat repairing things. By next semester everything should be patched up and good! My grades are kind of unstab;e as of now...But I know I'm going to fix them and everything will be good by the end of the semester! I'm happy freshman seminar is over. This was very pointless...and this whole portfolio was so much pointless work! I HATED IT!!!!!

October Thoughts...

Now THIS was a crazy month...so many things happened and so much drama unfolded! I just wasn't ready, and it really took me off guard. A lot of people I was cool with, kinda disappeared and I wasn't as cool with them anymore. And a lot of my girl friends were getting into some trouble as well...it was kinda bad. It was good however, because I joined the organization Misses At Meridian Outreach Society, where I found a lot of love! It was also homecoming, and I did work as a volunteer for the fashion show. This allowed me to meet a lot of new people, and I had a lot of fun. Also my boyfriend visited from home, and I loved that a lot because I missed him so bad! So a lt of crazy things happened, but a lot of good happened as well, and I'm thankful! :)

September Thoughts...

This was my first whole month at Howard University. I've gotta say that this was a good month!! I had solidified a lot of my friends, and we partied every weekend, and had a lot of fun! At this point I was doing really well in all of my classes. I had gotten a bad grade on a calculus test which really threw me off! But I still had a lot of time to improve and try to make my grades up, so I was optimistic! I went to all my classes everyday, and I was on a good track. I didn't really like freshman seminar at this point. It was boring and pointless. But I came regardless...

All About ME!!!

My name is Megan Faith Tate. I was born in Chicago Illinois, as my parents first child. My parents later had two more daughters; Taylor and Sydney, my younger sisters. When Sydney was born, we moved to Minnesota, and I have lived there ever since.

Being that I am from Minnesota, I know that I have had a quality education that not everybody can attest to. Coming to Howard it has only reassured the fact that the education system in the northern states is exceptional, and that it has adequately prepared me for college. However, it is not only the location that I received my education in that makes it unique, it is the path that I took in obtaining my education. When I was I second grade my mom decided that I was not being challenged enough in my classes, and that I should try to come to a higher level of learning. So the second half of second grade, I moved up to third grade, and finished the year there. From then on, I have always been younger in every grade that I've gone to.

Transitioning to new stages such as middle school and high school were kind of challenging because of my age at first. The school work was always easy, and I was able to excel at that in school. It was more the social aspect that held me back. But I soon adapted well and I was very prosperous socially and academically throughout my school years.

For college I actually never wanted to attend Howard University. It was my very last choice. I really wanted to go to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It's a very renowned school, whose name carries a lot of weight. However because they do not give merit based scholarships, so my parents couldn't afford that school. My next choice was the university of Minnesota, because it was more affordable and in my home town. But when I really looked into the scholarships I had received there, there certain catches to what my scholarship really included. And it turned out I couldn't go there either! So ultimately I had to come to Howard, where I had a full ride I was ignoring...

Now that I'm here I love Howard so much. I realize that this was the right choice for me to make. Although it's very far from home, I quickly adapted, and age was not a factor at all! I fit in quickly and easily and I'm learning a lot and enjoying myself here.

Over all I'm really proud of the progress I've made over the years to get here. I went through a lot in my schooling, and it was a weird transition because of my skipped grade. But really, it was worth it, and I'm really proud of myself for what I accomplished!

International IQ

• Jamaica is the largest English-speaking island in the Caribbean and the third largest in the region.
• Classified as a developing country. Its mixed, free-market economy consisting of a combination of state-owned entities and private-sector organizations. 
  
• A parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy with the monarch being represented by a Governor-General. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who officially uses the title "Queen of Jamaica" .
  
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• The Jamaican coat of arms depicts one male and one female Taino Indian standing on either side of a shield, bearing a red cross with five pineapples. Above the shield, a Jamaican crocodile rests atop the English royal helmet and mantling. Master". This was later replaced by "Out of Many, One People". 
  
• The indigenous streamer-tailed hummingbird or "doctor bird" is Jamaica's national bird. It is called the "doctor bird" because of its long black tail resembling an old-time doctor's coat. The doctor bird's feathers are the most iridescent and beautiful of all the hummingbirds on the island.
• The flower of the lignum vitae tree or "tree of life" is Jamaica's national flower. It is a lavender-blue flower, which blossoms during spring and early summer. The tree is indigenous to Jamaica and grows best in the dry woodlands on the northern and southern coasts. Its wood is thought to have medicinal value. It is also widely used for the manufacture of furniture and to create beautiful art objects, sought after by locals as well as visitors.
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• Although ackee is not indigenous to Jamaica, they have embraced it as their own, making it our national fruit, and a key ingredient of our national dish - ackee and saltfish, which is usually served for breakfast or brunch. A delicious fruit and a local favourite, it is also a part of our everyday diet. Ackee was brought from Africa, probably on a slave ship, and now grows extensively throughout the island. The unopened ackee is poisonous, but once the sun has dried out the noxious juices, the ripe, yellow fruit is safe to eat, with a flavour and texture much like scrambled eggs.
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• A diagonal gold cross divides the flag into two black triangles and two green ones. Opposite triangles have the same colours. "Hardships there are, but the land is green and the sun shineth" is the flag's theme. Black represents the strength and creativity of our people; green, our wealth of agricultural resources; and gold, the sunlight over our island and our future hopes. 
  
• National motto, "Out of Many, One People" reflects Jamaica's rich racial heritage.
  
   

1st Coloquium

Well the topic for this program was "What's Research?". It was held in Cramton Auditorium. I sawe the famous Professor Greg Carr. He spoke well and was able to hold the attention of all those over hormonal youth and keep us all interested in what he was saying. I was able to learn a lot about the campus and it's history that I never knew. For example that this majority black university was founded by a "white" man; while there is nothing wrong with that but i must say I was suprised and that on this same university, on the steps of the same building (Douglass Hall) that I walk on 3 days out of the week MLK n Malcolm X met. He also went into a deep convo on how research is so important and the 5 w's of it. Got me interested in taking his class and possible studying abroad.

3rd Coloquium

On November 19th, 2009, Dr. Fatimah Jackson came to speak on the Importance of Interdisciplinary Approaches in African American Studies (the How and Why). 
A little background info on her:

• She is a Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Institute of African American Research at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
• She is one of the most important scientists studying the origins of humanity, and was one of the scientists who helped map the human genome.
• She was the coordinator for genetics research for the African Burial Ground Project in New York City.
• She has published over 30 research articles.
• Received her B.A. from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.
• She has studied and used research from geography, molecular and population genetics, ethnography, demography, history, evolutionary biology, bioethics, toxicology, epidemiology, and public health and integrated these data in a biocultural anthropological context.
  

Some of her main points of her presentation:

• Ethnogenetic Layering (EL) needs to be used as a tool to incorporate data from diverse fields in addition to important research issues
• Human hetereogenetic and bicultural variability present a challenge to classical racial stratification models of epidemiology and public health
• New approaches needed in order to comprehensively capture the nuance of human biodiversity  as it relates to health
• Enzymes vay among different groups of people

I do feel like a presentation to this depth should not have been made mandatory to all freshman seeing that it could not hold the attention spann of those not at all interested in the biological differences between diverse groups of people.