Over the course of this first semester of senior year, we have studied justice. How it interferes with our everyday lives, what it is to other people (the law, philosophers, and many others), and what it truly means to us as individuals. I found that one of the most important parts of this project was trying to figure out and define what justice is to ourselves, which is much harder to do than one might think. One philosophy we learned about was from a man named John Rawls. He believed that the number one thing we should think about and consider in every situation was fairness, and ensure that it be "distributed" equally in every situation without biases. Something I find interesting he talks about is the idea of the "Veil of Ignorance", which is a thought experiment. He used it to force us to look at fairness in society, and if it was really there or not. He tried to see how people would want to live if the were an unborn child, explaining that when fairness is perfectly reached, people will not care where or how they live. We also learned about Utilitarianism, which states, "Better 1 person should die so 3 can survive." It states that it is ok to violate individual freedoms for the safety of the collective community. For example, by law we must wear seat belts while driving in a car. Although you might not want to, it ensures your safety. The main points I took away from Utilitarianism were that we should make decisions based on the greater good, we should find ways to agree on common grounds of value, and that it is very harsh on individual rights. We then dove into environmental ethics and how they play roles in our lives. We looked at the effects of wearing vs. not wearing masks, things we believe all people should have access to (food, water, shelter, etc.), sexual health and religious freedom, justice as fairness, how we should deal with stolen land, and environmental racism. In this we had a debate about Bears Ears National Monument. For this we read articles and took notes on both sides of the argument (anti-monument vs. pro-monument) because we didn't know where we would be assigned. I found that this most connected to the environment ethics part of this project because we had to figure out and defend whether or not what we are doing to Bears Ears is just or not, and why we believe so. We then watched the films True Justice and Beyond Standing Rock. These movies brought tears to my eyes, showing us what the media usually won't. In True Justice they interview a man who spent 30 years in prison for he crime (they later found out) he hadn't committed. He pleaded not guilty for 30 years, and lost the biggest part of his life in a cell. However, when he got out he said that he did not want to hold a grudge against the system, because it had already happened, and instead he would try to enjoy the rest of his life and do what he loves. After learning about different philosophies of justice and environmental justice, we wrote our own Justice Monologues, explaining what we thought justice and environmental justice are. At the beginning of this project I had no idea what my personal philosophy of justice was, but after seeing different ideas and thought processes I've found that I believe justice is achieved by looking beyond the action of the wrongdoer, seeing the bigger picture, and from there figuring out an open-minded and compassionate way to act upon the action of the wrongdoer. (Both monologues are at the bottom.) After I had figured out what my justice philosophies were, I realized what I wanted my project to be on: creating and maintaining equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community. I am included in this community, and I realized it's something I want to be more involved in than I currently am. A couple friends and I decided to work on the project together, deciding we wanted to make shirts! I was very excited to get the word out in our community about what it was we were doing, including that it was a school project, and just making the community more aware of what is happening in a community they may or may not be a part of. However, the project did not go as we had planned. We came up with few sketches and made a game plan for slogans and pictures we wanted to include on some shirts, but, due to Covid, we were never actually able to make the shirts. Some of the members in my group weren't as motivated or as interested as I was, which kind of disappointed me. I'm sad we didn't reach our goal, and I'm honestly pretty disappointed in myself for not stepping up and making sure we had gotten everything, that we said we would do, done. I would still like to spread awareness to the community and make the shirts, so I think I'm going to continue the project and make the shirts myself. A few of my biggest inspirations for this project were the clothing companies Chnge and Tht Sounds Gay, and I wanted to spread awareness like them (obviously on a smaller scale). I believe that making shirts is the most just way to spread awareness about this subject because it is doing so in a peaceful, non-violent, simple way. People read and look at prints on shirts all the time, that's why they are there: to be noticed! So I thought, "Why not put something on there that'll subconsciously get people thinking about something they might not be very involved in?" As I said before, I believe justice can only truly be achieved with compassion and forgiveness, so we need to educate and include the community of Durango in the LGBTQ+ community in a way that does not undermine or overpower someone else's beliefs, but instead allow them to see where we are coming from, and hopefully people will see and understand that. Overall, I do not feel that I completely "showed up" for this project. I could have gone a lot farther with the work I did, and the work I didn't do. As I said, I'm disappointed that I didn't make shirts, but I still want to. I'm going to do some more research on the best printing companies, local or not, and make them. I want to feel accomplished, and right now I don't. I want to feel like I'm making a good change in the community and have an impact on the youth. Since the project has ended, I'm going to post the shirts on social media because that's where people are these days, especially now that we have Covid. Obviously the youth are social media bound, so I feel the work will be seen most on Instagram or Snapchat, and hopefully I can send some to friends I have that live around the country, so the work I make will be wildly seen. If I can do this, I will finally feel accomplished. A key lesson I learned from this project is that if I want to get something done that isn't going to be easy, I have to apply myself to the work. If I want something to turn out the way I want it to, I have to take the steps needed in order for it to get done. I'm not exactly sure what I want to make for my senior project just yet, but I think I want to make something that in seen by many people. It doesn't have to be very big, but I want it to be impactful. And in order to do that I'm going to have to apply myself more than I feel I have been thus far in my senior year. Another key lesson I learned over the course of this project is that I should work on projects like this alone. I do love working and collaborating with other people, and being able to hear new ideas and see others' imaginations, but I've found that in situations like this, I work best alone. Lucky for me, senior projects are individual projects! I know that it might be hard for me to find the inspiration and motivation to start the project, but I will work on this, because I love the feelings of accomplishment and success, and that's how I would like to feel after this project.
This is one of the sketches drew up, showing a few shirt ideas we were thinking of making.