Author: Chester Pergan

In the course INTD 105, we learn about the risk and rewards of academic partnership. Within the course we read “Bloodchild” by Octavia E. Butler, which contains an epigraph that provides a throughline for the conversations that would take place in the semester. This epigraph is a quote from “Bloodchild” and it reads “If we’re not your animals, if these are adult things, accept the risk. There is risk, Gatoi, in dealing with a partner”. I feel that this epigraph coincides well with the course when you’re able to understand it in a deeper meaning as you break it down. You see as the new students come to this institution, they are the “animals” referenced in the very first part of the epigraph. They can be seen as sheep as they come from an educational background where students are taught what to do then asked to do it. They’re guided by a teacher who acts like a herding dog to the sheep. Then the “adult things” is the course INTD 105 as it is a course taught within the institution of SUNY Geneseo. It is not a course where students are guided to the answers they seek but rather find them on their own. Students must take their education into their own hands as they try to learn and about the risks and rewards of academic partnership. Finally the last part of the epigraph is “there is risk in dealing with a partner”. There’s multiple partnerships within this course. Partnerships between two peers, partnerships between student and professor, partnerships between student and the course. There is a risk that comes with that as everyone is on their own path to master the course. Some partnerships may throw you off track. After breaking down the epigraph I feel that it properly provides a throughline for the conversations that took place within this course.

The epigraph paints many pictures as to how this course unfolded through this semester for those who may not have been a part of it.However I feel that it is justified to say that it forms a throughline for the conversations that were held in this course. INTD 105 is, as stated beforehand,  a course about the risks and rewards of academic partnership. This course is all about partnership, and that is what the epigraph puts in motion. It really drives home the name of this course (Risk and reward). So if I was to share the throughline that the epigraph provides, it would be:

In the beginning of the semester new students were the “animals” as they came from an educational setting where they were strictly guided down their paths. In INTD however students are not strictly guided, they’re loosely guided so they can find answers on their own.  As the semester continued students were pushed to try and form their own answers, all while checking through their partnerships with their peers, their instructor, and their courses’ foundational documents.

The reason I believe that the Epigraph forms a throughline  for this course is because it is taken from the work “BloodChild” by Octavia E. Butler. The Epigraph itself is a quote from the story. We have analyzed this piece of work since day one. So it’s only natural that Butler’s piece of work promotes the risks and rewards or academic partnership, otherwise we would not have referred to it so many times within our course. Butler promotes the idea through two important characters within her story, Gan and T’Gatoi. The two are kind of like a couple as Gan is the host for T’Gatoi’s eggs that need a host in order to hatch. However the birthing process is dangerous and Gan feels that just because he was selected to have T’Gatoi’s eggs before his birth, doesn’t mean he has to do it. Once T’Gatoi realizes that Gan is thinking about escaping the preserve that protects his people, she has a conversation with Gan. From this conversation we learn of the risks and rewards of academic partnership. In the case of Gan and T’Gatoi the risks are that Gan leaves and doesn’t allow T’Gatoi to see her children grow, or he could suffer a gruesome death due to the birthing process. The rewards are that Gan and T’Gatoi are able to have the children, and they’re able to live a happy life within the preserve. In our case Gan and T’Gatoi’s risks could be seen as a partner not pulling their own weight or not even participating. Our rewards, on the other hand, could be something along the lines of completed work, or even a bond that can turn into a friendship.

Throughout this course the idea of “academic partnership” has always been mentioned. Obviously because that’s the focus of this course, to teach the risks and rewards of academic partnership. This course did very well to keep this as the focus for students. In our very first “To the Forums!” we were asked to introduce ourselves to each other. While it was not explicitly said, it was a chance for us to begin to form partnerships with our peers. We were always told to help each other within these “To the Forums!” conversations, and it is definitely something that can help form a bond which can then be turned into a partnership later on. We were also able to form a natural partnership with our instructor Professor McCoy who was always within reach via email or scheduled meeting. Our instructor’s role within this course in my opinion was one of guidance, the professor’s comments on our conversations got us thinkING and made it possible for us to better understand the focus of this course. Our instructor was our first partner within our course as it started within the syllabus for INTD 105. In our syllabus,  it is mentioned that we may come across works that can be triggering to some. However this is where our instructor takes on the role of our first partner as she states in the syllabus “I can collaborate with you to figure out strategies for navigating texts, contexts, and subject matters” (McCoy, Beth). Collaboration is something that is within partnership and that’s why I feel our instructor is a partner more than an actual instructor.

I believe this all matters given GLOBE’s insistence that Geneseo students should gain practice in the ability to reflect upon changes in learning and outlook over time. This Epigraph gave us a Throughline for this course. A course in which we have learned exactly what GLOBE has insisted on. Through trying to understand the risks and rewards of academic partnership, we have reflected upon changes in learning by looking to our institutions code of conduct and seeing the outdated rules that may seem silly or in need of updating. We reflected upon changes on outlook by talking about change in our country and ourselves through discussions on implicit bias, reparations for Black Americans, and Chimamanda Adichie’s “Danger of a single story”. During this course, INTD 105 The Risks and Rewards of Academic Partnership, we learned many things that were not the focus of this course and that is why the Epigraph matters. We accepted the risk and we were rewarded.

Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild” is a story about the risks and rewards of decisions made within a “Preserve,” a space wherein power both makes choices possible and sets limits on them. A college course may be understood as one such “preserve,” and this course on the risks and rewards of academic partnership reads as no exception. In the courses foundational documents it states that students are graded by themselves. Students grade themselves based on their personal care for their course accountability, their growth, and their peer’s growth. This is how the course gives its students the power to make decisions but also set limits on them. The course creates a situation where students are given the opportunity to make choices that will affect their grade but also set a limit on them through accountability, honesty, and obviously the guidance of the course’s professor. This is where a connection to Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild” can be formed. In the story humans live on a planet in a protected community previously mentioned as a “Preserve”. In the preserve the humans are protected by an alien race called the Tlic. In exchange for protection within the preserve humans have the eggs of the Tlic as they are ideal hosts. The group of humans provide one male of each family to be a host for the Tlic’s eggs. Through this relationship between beings, humans have the ability to make decisions that have risks and rewards but ultimately are limited by the Tlics. The goal within this relationship is the same for both Humans and Tlics, they want to survive. This could relate to INTD 105 because students and the course have the same common goal, to introduce, create, and sustain good academic writing.

 I like to visualize the humans in “Bloodchild” as the students of INTD 105. We both make decisions that come with risks and rewards. Meanwhile the Tlics represent the limits held on those decisions we make, such as guidelines given within the course like its syllabus and the content given by Professor McCoy. While students are given the freedom to choose how they interpret and respond to content, they are actually steered in a very open direction by the prompts and guidance given by Professor McCoy. This partnership that I share with Professor McCoy, in my opinion, really creates an educational environment that can really have an affect on my growth as a writer. My personal growth is my number one goal not only as a writer, but as a student. The betterment of my thinking of my thinking is why I continued my education. The way I’m able to make a decision on how I would like to view a prompt and then be very slightly guided in a direction to take my thinking really opens my mind to what I’m writing about. The risk is very small as there is not really an incorrect way to take a prompt so there is no wrong answer. However the risk really comes with the understanding of the content. INTD 105 is online so students must teach themselves most of the time apart from Professor McCoy’s guidance. The reward of this course though, comes in Professor McCoy’s feedback and the overall growth in writing skills a student obtains.

While my main goal is relatively simple, to become a better writer. I like to surround myself with little goals that will effectively accomplish my main goal. Starting with a small goal can really help accomplishing a larger one. The first one to start with would be to work on writing better and concise central ideas that are relevant to the topic. Understanding a prompt and what it is asking you to do is important and it is what your writing will be about. While INTD 105 allows its students to interpret the prompt freely, it does give a writer somewhat of a path to go down. Much like the humans in “Bloodchild” understanding their purpose within their Preserve, understanding what to write about leads to better ideas and concepts on the topic. Being able to understand these prompts and knowing what to write about is definitely the first small goal to go for. Completing this goal comes with more practice, the more content I consume in INTD 105 the more I’ll be able to understand. A second goal I have is to better support  statements I make in my writing. This is a key skill to writing as it helps connect ideas and convey a message that I want to leave to my readers. I feel that I can accomplish this goal by providing more efficient evidence that will fully support my statements in my writing. Using these skills would accomplish one of the Learning Outcomes of INTD 105’s syllabus in section C-3 which is “The ability to write clearly, following the conventions of Standard English”.

INTD 105 is about the risks and rewards of academic partnership. I need to make the decisions that will help me achieve my goals whether there’s a limit or not. The Content that comes with this course is used to make writers better. While online education may limit the amount of learning I can achieve, it is up to me to make the decisions that can maximize my learning, It will allow me to grow as much as I can as a writer.

Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild” is a story about the risks and rewards of decisions made within a “Preserve,” a space wherein power both makes choices possible and sets limits on them. A college course may be understood as one such “preserve,” and this course on the risks and rewards of academic partnership reads as no exception. In the courses foundational documents it states that students are graded by themselves. Students grade themselves based on their personal care for their course accountability, their growth, and their peer’s growth. This is how the course gives its students the power to make decisions but also set limits on them. The course creates a situation where students are given the opportunity to make choices that will affect their grade but also set a limit on them through accountability, honesty, and obviously the guidance of the course’s professor. This is where a connection to Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild” can be formed. In the story humans live on a planet in a protected community previously mentioned as a “Preserve”. In the preserve the humans are protected by an alien race called the Tlic. In exchange for protection within the preserve humans have the eggs of the Tlic as they are ideal hosts. The group of humans provide one male of each family to be a host for the Tlic’s eggs. Through this relationship between beings, humans have the ability to make decisions that have risks and rewards but ultimately are limited by the Tlics.

 I like to visualize the humans in “Bloodchild” as the students of INTD 105. We both make decisions that come with risks and rewards. Meanwhile the Tlics represent the limits held on those decisions we make, such as guidelines given within the course like its syllabus and the content given by Professor McCoy. While students are given the freedom to choose how they interpret and respond to content. They are actually steered in a very open direction by the prompts and guidance given by Professor McCoy. This partnership that I share with Professor McCoy, in my opinion, really creates an educational environment that can really have an affect on my growth as a writer. My personal growth is my number one goal not only as a writer, but as a student. The betterment of my thinking of my thinking is why I continued my education. The way I’m able to make a decision on how I would like to view a prompt and then be very slightly guided in a direction to take my thinking really opens my mind to what I’m writing about. The risk is very small as there is not really an incorrect way to take a prompt so there is no wrong answer. However the risk really comes with the understanding of the content. INTD 105 is online so students must teach themselves most of the time apart from Professor McCoy’s guidance. The reward of this course though, comes in Professor McCoy’s feedback and the overall growth in writing skills a student obtains.

While my main goal is relatively simple. I like to surround myself with little goals that will effectively accomplish my main goal. Starting with a small goal can really help accomplishing a larger one. The first one to start with would be to work on writing better and concise central ideas that are relevant to the topic. Understanding a prompt and what it is asking you to do is important and it is what your writing will be about. While INTD 105 allows its students to interpret the prompt freely, it does give a writer somewhat of a path to go down. Being able to understand these prompts and knowing what to write about is definitely the first small goal to go for. Completing this goal comes with more practice, the more content I consume in INTD 105 the more I’ll be able to understand. A second goal I have is to better support  statements I make in my writing. This is a key skill to writing as it helps connect ideas and convey a message that I want to leave to my readers. I feel that I can accomplish this goal by providing more efficient evidence that will fully support my statements in my writing. Using these skills would accomplish one of the Learning Outcomes of INTD 105’s syllabus in section C-3 which is “The ability to write clearly, following the conventions of Standard English”.

INTD 105 is about the risks and rewards of academic partnership. I need to make the decisions that will help me achieve my goals whether there’s a limit or not. The Content that comes with this course is used to make writers better. While online education may limit the amount of learning I can achieve, it is up to me to make the decisions that can maximize my learning, It will allow me to grow as much as I can as a writer.