Hi all! My name is Jordan (he/him) and I am a second-year double major in Environmental Studies, on the Communication and Planning Track, and Interdisciplinary Studies on the Diversity Studies Leadership Track. I have a pretty diverse set of interests and hobbies ranging from social justice organizing to competing in the Pokémon Trading Card game at the international level. As I hope the blog customization has displayed, I am also a huge musical theater fan and will spend hours talking about Sondheim (Intro the Woods, West Side Story, Gypsy) and Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Pocahontas[!!!]).
This is my first proper sociology course, but definitely not the first course I’ve taken which falls under the wide umbrella the field covers. Both my majors, alongside my aim to work in the Environmental Policy and Advocacy field, lends itself directly to sociological imagination. Reflecting on the world around me is why I chose the majors I have chosen — a dream to reinstitute a “people-first” governing strategy.
I particularly love how the topic of Social Stratification can be applied to the Land of Oz… I expect you to join me for One Short Day in the Emerald City, where we can deconstruct the political allegories found within the social standings of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Wicked Witch of the West (who we will come to know as Elphaba), Glinda the Good Witch, and the “Wonderful” Wizard of Oz… By analyzing the source material and its interpretations, we will deconstruct the political allegories found within and discover the humanity behind some of the more purportedly “wicked” individuals and showcase the structural corrosion which rots away beneath the surface of the Emerald City, because absolute power can corrupt absolutely, even in a land as idyllic as Oz.