At the end of day one, I left the room thinking that this class was going to be a very hard one. At the end of day two, my thoughts were confirmed, however, I thought of it more as of a challenge that I would do my best to overcome and less as of an obstacle blocking my way. That was until we received one of our first assignments; web logging. In the past, I did not think that writing was difficult for me, but I see I was wrong. I guess when there is a minimum of two thousand words; it can be a lot for anyone. The assignment itself is not very difficult, but thinking of words to write and the thoughts to think is perhaps the most time consuming component. I am however looking forward to trying to change the world and the topics that are to come because I should be able to find more topics to talk about and go in depth on.
Thus far I do not have many thoughts on the class, but those that I do have are just kind of jumbled inside my mind. The instructor Dr. Michael Homan seems like an easy going type of person, but, we have not had our first exam yet, so I really can not go too much in depth on his testing expectations. From the reading and writing assignments along with those that are to come in the near future, it is obvious that the academic bar is set fairly high for the classes that Dr. Homan teaches. In addition to Theology and the many other work intensive classes that I am taking it is also evident to me that I will be suffering from loss of sleep
When I first read the course catalog for Biblical Studies, I thought it sounded interesting. In general, I like history and reading about things that happened in the past. For a lot of the past though is a lot of uncertainty and it boggles yet stimulates my mind to read and learn about the many interpretations of such an important time period; biblical times. It also helped that Introduction to the Bible and Biblical Studies fit the schedule that I wanted to have. Monday, is my longest day and I don’t get out of class until 5pm. However every other day is cool and I get out on Friday at 10:50a.m.!! After planning and registering for the class and after the Wednesday add and drop deadline had passed, unfortunately, I began to hear horror (well not really horror, but confidence busting) stories about Dr. Homan and his outrageously difficult class. If I would have known this Monday afternoon, evening or even Tuesday afternoon or evening I would like to think that I would have stayed in this class anyway, because I pride myself in confronting my challenges. But since week one is over, and I am still a student in Dr. Homan’s Biblical studies class and since Wednesday has passed, I guess that is a mystery that will never be figured out.
(Between “figured out” and these next words, a lot of time has passed.) I have no idea how I am going to finish this log entry and not fall to much farther behind, but if it is possible, it shall be done… hopefully. We talked in class during the first couple of days about web logging and how in doing two thousand words, the truth comes out eventually, or else there is really nothing to talk about and you find yourself at a loss of words; like I have now. So in saying that, I will try to be more open and hopefully time and words will pass by.
Honestly, I started off with a very positive attitude for this semester and I am trying so hard to keep it but I do not know how long it will last. In this class I expect to learn a lot. Although for the most part I do not mind and sometimes enjoy learning, I am not really sure how much I am going to like this class. I do not think it is so much the class itself as it is the work involved. I know I was made aware of the writing and reading intensity and it is basically up to me whether I do well or not, but in many circumstances, I do not think instructors take into consideration other courses that students may be taking and their obligations that are necessary for them as well. While writing this, so many thoughts are going through my head. While it might sound a bit contradictory, I can attempt to understand a positive side in all this. The purpose of coming to college is to become prepared for the “real world”. In doing so, although so many classes offer so much work such that at times, it seems as if the instructors at Xavier are conspiring against all of the students, the purpose is to make us better equipped to handle life after undergraduate school. It will not get any easier for those of us who decide to pursue post undergraduate education, so I guess it is better to get used to it now. While getting used to it, I will attempt to offer background information on myself, where I came from, what drives me and other thoughts on my brain at the moment.
From the beginning of my life all the way up until three years ago, I attended public schools, so the Catholic school setting is new to me. By the way, I am from the Midwest (Detroit to be exact) and New Orleans is a totally different world. I pictured New Orleans to be a city of swampland like in Eve’s Bayou (a VERY good movie by the way). Anyway it is because of the many situations that I get myself into that I have learned not to have many expectations but to just go with the flow. However, for this class since we have to state any expectations for this class, I will try to think up some and write in depth on them all. Before I actually started writing my web log a very long time ago, I visited Dr. Homan’s ‘about me page’. Here I believe that I was able to receive and read a little background on him what drives him, where he came from, etc. so that I can possibly get a feel for what the class is to be about and what it is fair for me to expect from the class. I expect to do a tremendous amount of reading from the bible and the supplemental books for the class. I know that within each of these books the information will be interpreted from different points of view. Hopefully after taking this biblical studies class, I can leave with a better understanding of when to take any information, especially ancient literature, and sort those points that I am to take literally and those which I am only to learn a lesson from. Between now and December, I will be exposed to a lot of information that I had no idea about before.

In the past, I have not had much education in the Bible and/or Biblical Studies. When I was born, both my parents were practicing Muslims, hence the last name Muhammad. My brothers and I were given that last name in spite of my parents having different last names because I guess it was like a new start for us (my brothers and I). As I was growing up, we attended the mosque at home and were quite involved as a family, however, as time passed, (as I saw and remember it) my mom started working and our involvement became less and less. The duration of time was only about seven years and I remember very little in depth detail about the whole situation but I know, we kind of drifted. I learned just a few years ago about the connection between Christianity and Islam in one of my history classes. As I remember learning it, they are based on many of the same principles, the main one being a belief in a higher power, that power being one God (“Allah” is the Arabic saying for our “God”). The origin of many things that are in existence today and how they came to be are similar. I could not go into depth yet about specific similarities, but hopefully I can learn something new and then come back to share on the web log as I edit my entry.
At the present time, my main religious focus is the belief in God and I would consider myself non-denominational. In regards to me keeping my last name, even when I was young… especially when I was young I was asked quite often why my name was different than both of my parents. It started off as a nuisance until I realized that for the most part, in general people are very curious and they (we) are not satisfied until our questions are answered, otherwise, we make up an answer. Any way, I usually just explained that I grew up in the Islamic religion, and my parents gave me a name representative of such. In addition to asking why I had the last name Muhammad I have also been asked if I would ever change it. I try to keep away from the word “never” but how I see it, everything happens for a reason, and those names that have a meaning, are symbolic for the person who possesses it. The name given to me, Amyre (Princess or rich woman; I have heard both translations, but primarily the first one) Muhammad (worthy of praise), defines the person that I am growing into and the person I hope those that know me would believe I have achieved as well. My goal in life is to be worthy, worthy of praise, wisdom and being. Conversely, I was just thinking of situations that are possible to arise in which name change would be an option and I stumbled upon a likely (maybe) possibility. If I decide to marry one day (and my fiancé’s name did not end with Muhammad, I guess I would have to choose between keeping my last name and discarding his altogether, taking his last name and using my initial, or hyphenating our names together. I guess I have plenty of time to think about, but if a definite answer comes to mind you better believe I will be back to write about it. (Maybe that will push my word minimum over the top)

My last commitment for this web log is to read the course commitments and speak on them. In response to the class attendance and punctuality, I do not think Dr. Homan will have much of problem with me being excessively absent or tardy for class, (at least I hope not now that I have told the world). I looked over the syllabus and the assigned reading and although that seem time consuming as stating, it has to possible, otherwise it would not be given to us right? “If He brings you to it; He will take you through it” Within the classroom, I try to remember to make it a point to turn my cell phone off before I enter. This is done for the most part out of respect. Disrupting the class with a rendition of Beethoven’s fifth or Usher’s latest single is kind of embarrassing to me. Another reason I turn it off is in hopes that I will have messages when I leave the class  As it deals with academic honesty and preparation for class, that is do- able. The only commitment that may be of concern to me is class participation. When it comes to the random, picture chooser, I will probably not have a problem answering a question, but if a question is asked on more of a volunteer basis, it might take a minute to get my hand raised. I do not know the reason for this. I don’t shy away from, yet I don’t make it a point to speak in the class discussions so I guess that is the only commitment I am indifferent about.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 30th, 2004 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Week 01: Background. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.