Author: Dayna Sterner

Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild is a love story like no other, the partnership of Gan and T’Gatoi is quite unique. Gan is set out to become a host for T’Gatoi’s children but having witnessed a terrible birth of another Terran it has left him in fear. Gan holding a rifle and ready to pass his duty off to his sister has brought us to the point where Gan says “If we’re not your animals, if these adult things, accept the risk. There is risk Gatoi, in dealing with a partner” (Butler 26). The conversation led to a decision of both risk and compromise. Rifles are considered to be illegal therefore Gan should not be in possession of one, but in this case, he would like to compromise with T’Gatoi. Asking for her trust in allowing him to keep the loaded rifle in exchange for him to host her eggs is a very hard decision to have been put on T’Gatoi. She must decide whether to allow Gan to keep his rifle going against the law while also understanding the risks and harm it could cause, but in exchange he will trust her and carry her eggs. Or take his rifle away and destroying the trust he has in her already. In the end Bloodchild is all about the risks and trust within a partnership. T’Gatoi must trust Gan to keep his rifle while also accepting the risks behind that decision, while Gan must trust in T’Gatoi and accept the risks of being the host understanding it could result in his death. Gan accepted the risks and had grown trust within his partnership with T’Gatoi. T’Gatoi had the difficult task of accepting the risk of allowing Gan to keep his loaded rifle while knowing that he could at any point use it killing her or her family line but was able to gain the trust that he won’t use it to kill her and move forward.

The story line within Bloodchild goes way beyond the pages or words written by Octavia Butler and can be represented within the risk’s students have to decide from as well as the rewards that will follow. While T’Gatoi has to decipher the risks and rewards of Gan keeping his rifle, students have the risk of taking a course and failing or taking the course and succeeding. Within many courses there is a need for partnership and as with Bloodchild these partnerships come with a need of trust and also have a trail of risks that may be following along. In Professor Beth McCoy’s INTD-105 writing seminar course the students are in partnership with her as well as with themselves. The course was set up to be a self-assess course meaning students are responsible for staying on top of their work. By participating in all work, the students will have the opportunity to learn and grow with the help of their peers and the help of themselves for completing the work and gaining the opportunity for feedback. With the outline of the course being self-assess there is a risk for each and every student to not take this seriously and not provide a writing to receive feedback or give their peers feedback. T’Gatoi had the ability to accept the risk and gain trust within Gan, “I won’t leave you as Lomas was left—alone, N’Tlic. I’ll take care of you” (Butler 29). While T’Gatoi was able to accept the risk and be able to take care of Gan, the students also can accept the risk and know that if they put in the right amount of work, they will be able to protect themselves.

Within Bloodchild it is clear to see the risks between the partnership of T’Gatoi and Gan. Their relationship is easy to relate to the relationship students have with themselves. Although Gan is the one risking his life for the lives of T’Gatois offspring, T’Gatoi has some pretty hard decisions to make. T’Gatoi had to decide whether to allow Gan to keep his rifle despite the law or take it away from him because they are illegal. While making her decision “It was clearly hard for her to let go of the rifle” (Butler 26), she was aware of the damage it could do. It could take the life of herself, Gan or her offspring and she understood that by allowing him to keep his rifle this would be the risk she was undertaking. She needed a few seconds to gather her thoughts and make the decision knowing the risks and outcomes. She was truly relying on the trust she had within Gan.

Throughout the conversations and layout of this course it was easy to see the similarity between the students and T’Gatoi. Daily students have decisions to make regarding their academic success, knowing that whatever their decision may be there will always be a risk. There is always that one in a million chance that the decision made can have a disaster within. This meaning that not everything pans out as it is expected to. Students could choose to take the time to do their work and make it perfect but could still end up failing the majority of their assignments and end up failing the course. While there is always a risk, some risks are a lot more safe or easier to handle than others. Taking the time to complete an assignment and then receiving a low grade is a risk, but it is not something that a student cannot handle. They will have more assignments to complete that can help to determine a better grade, as long as hard work is put in. T’Gatoi needed to think through her decisions and think about whether or not the risk can be handled or not. This is something students do daily with their school assignments. 

Throughout Bloodchild there were a lot of decisions that had to be made, all involved thinking of the final outcome of whether it will become a reward or a risk in the end. T’Gatoi was basing her decision on the knowledge she had picked up over the years as well as Gan’s word, students have the opportunity to be guided into an understanding of how their work ethics can help them.  With the help of this course and a few others it has been made clear that students have the option to fail or to succeed, it comes with their decision as to if they would like to work or be lazy. Sometimes a lack of work is not a matter of laziness due to everyone’s idea of completion, being different with no set finish line. The amount of work put in is equal to the feedback or effort given back. Students understand that if they choose to do all work and even extra work, they will more than succeed. But they also understand that if zero effort or work is put in that they will fail. Students understand the risks and rewards that can happen to them regarding their decisions. Connecting the students trust and risks that they have with themselves with T’Gatois trust in Gan was made very clear throughout the discussions that were had.

T’Gatoi faced many risks throughout the story, the biggest risk was allowing Gan to keep his weapon even while understanding the damage it could cause. Students face many risks within school, the biggest risk is themselves. Students have the risk of choosing the wrong decision and then the only one to blame is themselves. T’Gatoi has to have trust within herself just as students need to have trust within themselves. It’s all about taking the risk and learning to grow in trust with oneself.  Throughout this semester there has been a lot of growth within my work. By doing all my work it not only helped to benefit my growth but also benefited my peers’ growth. It took trust within myself to complete all my work to the best of my ability in order to have the ability to grow. Submitting “To the Forums” weekly allowed for me to get feedback as well as provide feedback for my feedback. Doing so allowed for growth for everyone. Reading Bloodchild and learning about T’Gatoi and her trust within herself helped me to realize how similar it is for students and how they also need to have trust within themselves and understand that there is always a possibility for risks.

Transitioning from High School to College is tough and it does not help when Covid-19 is in the mix. For all of us our spring semesters were cut short and brought online, with that came the feeling of uncertainty and laziness. Now fast forward to today we are all back to our new normal which can come with some shock. There is also a huge difference between High School classes and College courses. High School is a steppingstone, high school was there to teach you the necessary materials to pass the year. Everything was geared towards the final exam at the end of the year, although they were in the process of transitioning us to be successful in college. College is where it all matters, it is where a person grows and learns to become that person they want to be. Dr. Beth McCoy’s writing seminar Risks and Rewards for Academic Partnership will aid in the growth of care for accountability, personal growth, and peers’ growth. After reading Octavia Butler’s “Bloodchild” I have recognized the similarities between the risks and rewards her characters face in their planet and the risk and rewards I am facing within this course. Gan walks through life managing his risks and rewards with the decisions he makes after reading through the courses syllabus I have recognized that I too have decisions to make than can either lead to a risk or a reward.

A huge factor this course plays with growth mindset is the ability that we will be learning to assess our own works. Dr. McCoy will assist by offering feedback, but we will be assessing our works using care for accountability, personal growth, and peers’ growth. This is an amazing growth opportunity because it comes with learning that it depends “on trust, transparency, accountability, care, and acknowledging the possibility of harm” (Dr. McCoy). All of these are important characteristics to learn when learning about the care of accountability. The care of accountability is an important lesson to learn and comes with many benefits. Accountability comes with a lot of trust, you are in control of your actions, if something is not done then it is on you. A benefit to learning this skill now is that we are learning to value our work as well as building confidence, which will be beneficial throughout the duration of college as well as life. You are learning the ability to go over your work and seek out the priorities. This is a privilege that will teach so many life skills, but if not gone about properly could risk a lack of trust. You will be affecting yourself, but also your peers. If you cannot properly determine your grade it could lead to the loss of trust from your Professor and your peers.

How you go about this course is on you, but your choices and actions reflect on everyone. This course comes with its opportunities, “You have the opportunity to care for the course, for yourself, and for others” (McCoy). If there is no care for the course, then the energy you put in will not help. Caring for the course will provide you with the right motivation that will help you to succeed. You have the ability to determine your grade, but that does not mean that you give yourself a grade you do not deserve. The chance to look into your work and thoroughly go through and determine how well you did on that assignment is a great lesson to learn. With grading your own work, you have the risk of failing yourself. It is a lot easier to fail ourselves because we are our own enemy. We are so tough on ourselves that we will critique our work to a higher degree than needed. Dr. McCoy will be there to help guide us in the right direction with her very helpful notes, in fact in the syllabus she states “Meaningfully, thoughtfully, and honestly assess their own coursework based on feedback they receive from instructors and from peers” (McCoy). As much as this course is about you learning new skills, it is also about working as a team. We can help and learn from each other.

This course offers so many opportunities to receive rewards, even if that means learning from the risks. Whatever you put into this course you will get out of it. For me I am excited to learn how to grade myself with just the right amount of criticism. I am my own enemy; I am so harsh on myself when it comes to reviewing my work, so I am ready to learn how to accept criticism from others and from myself. Something I have been working towards is having a growth mindset and with this course I will be able to make that dream a reality. This course has the potential to help every student learn new skills and reach their goals. By learning about risks and rewards I have learned that everything has a consequence, it is just whether it is good or bad. But the good thing is that the risks in this course will lead to more knowledge. With this course you set your goals and limits, and then it’s up to you to achieve them. Practicing “How to perform meaningful, good-faith, principled self-assessment and accountability is an important professional and personal skill” (McCoy). In other words, the class for The Risks and Rewards of Academic Partnership will help you grow both in a professional mannerism and within your own skill set. The main character Gan in “Bloodchild” had to weigh the risks and rewards of being a host of his Tlic T’Gatoi’s larvae. Gan had originally looked at this as a great opportunity, until he had witnessed the labor of another male. The delivery process had scared Gan and left him thinking about the risks and rewards of his decision to either go through with being a host or not. Gan’s example of balancing the risks and rewards of being a host or not is very similar to the risks and rewards I have to balance during this course.

The Risks and Rewards of Academic Partnership course offers so many great skills. With this course comes responsibility for it is up to you to grade and assess your own works. This course may prove difficult for some people since they must set forth their own discipline, but for some this may provide them with so much growth. At the end of the day this course will help each student grow and develop into who they want to be if they care for the course. Caring for the course will lead to the eagerness to learn. The good thing about learning new things is always remembering what you have learned so that you can look back onto it one day. This course will give you so much freedom to explore the rights and wrongs of how to self-assess. Gan talks about T’Gatoi and mentions how “The preserve was hers by the time she came back…[as a] reward for her hard work” (Butler). I know that by working towards my goals and being able to set forth a good mindset I will also bask in the rewards just as T’Gatoi had for all her hard work. I am ready to learn and develop a good growth mindset. 

Transitioning from High School to College is tough and it does not help when Covid-19 is in the mix. For all of us our spring semesters were cut short and brought online, with that came the feeling of uncertainty and laziness. Now fast forward to today we are all back to our new normal, which can come with some shock. There is also a huge difference between High School classes and College courses. High School is a steppingstone, high school was there to teach you the necessary materials to pass the year. Everything was geared towards the final exam at the end of the year, although they were in the process of transitioning us to be successful in college. College is where it all matters, it is where a person grows and learns to become that person they want to be. Dr. Beth McCoy’s writing seminar Risks and Rewards for Academic Partnership will aid in the growth of care for accountability, personal growth, and peers’ growth.

A huge factor this course plays with growth mindset is the ability that we will be learning to assess our own works. Dr. McCoy will assist by offering feedback, but we will be assessing our works using care for accountability, personal growth, and peers’ growth. This is an amazing growth opportunity because it comes with learning that it depends “on trust, transparency, accountability, care, and acknowledging the possibility of harm” (Dr. McCoy). All of these are important characteristics to learn when learning about the care of accountability. The care of accountability is an important lesson to learn and comes with many benefits. Accountability comes with a lot of trust, you are in control of your actions, if something is not done then it is on you. A benefit to learning this skill now is that we are learning to value our work as well as building confidence, which will be beneficial throughout the duration of college as well as life. You are learning the ability to go over your work and seek out the priorities. This is a privilege that will teach so many life skills, but if not gone about properly could risk a lack of trust. You will be affecting yourself, but also your peers. If you cannot properly determine your grade it could lead to the lose of trust from your Professor and your peers.

How you go about this course is on you, but your choices and actions reflect on everyone. This course comes with its opportunities, “You have the opportunity to care for the course, for yourself, and for others” (McCoy). If there is no care for the course, then the energy you put in will not help. Caring for the course will provide you with the right motivation that will help you to succeed. You have the ability to determine your grade, that does not mean that you give yourself a grade you do not deserve. The chance to look into your work and thoroughly go through and determine how well you did on that assignment is a really great lesson to learn. With grading your own work, you have the risk of failing yourself. It is a lot easier to fail ourselves because we are our own enemy. We are so tough on ourselves that we will critique our work to a higher degree than needed. Dr. McCoy will be there to help guide us in the right direction with her very helpful notes, in fact in the syllabus she states “Meaningfully, thoughtfully, and honestly assess their own coursework based on feedback they receive from instructors and from peers” (McCoy). As much as this course is about you learning new skills, it is also about working as a team. We can help and learn from each other.

This course offers so many opportunities to receive rewards, even if that means learning from the risks. Whatever you put into this course you will get out of it. For me I am excited to learn how to grade myself with just the right amount of criticism. I am my own enemy; I am so harsh on myself when it comes to reviewing my work, so I am ready to learn how to accept criticism from others and from myself. Something I have been working towards is having a growth mindset and with this course I will be able to make that dream a reality. This course has the potential to help every student learn new skills and reach their goals. By learning about risks and rewards I have learned that everything has a consequence, it is just whether it is good or bad. But the good thing is that the risks in this course will lead to more knowledge. With this course you set your goals and limits, and then its up to you to achieve them. Practicing “How to perform meaningful, good-faith, principled self-assessment and accountability is an important professional and personal skill” (McCoy). In other words, the class for The Risks and Rewards of Academic Partnership will help you grow both in a professional mannerism and within your own skill set.

The Risks and Rewards of Academic Partnership course offers so many great skills. With this course comes responsibility for it is up to you to grade and assess your own works. This course may prove difficult for some people since they must set forth their own discipline, but for some this may provide them with so much growth. At the end of the day this course will help each student grow and develop into who they want to be if they care for the course. Caring for the course will lead to the eagerness to learn. The good thing about learning new things is always remembering what you have learned so that you can look back onto it one day. This course will give you so much freedom to explore the rights and wrongs of how to self-assess. I am ready to learn and develop a good growth mindset.