#empowerment

Throughout this semester my thoughts about power have truly developed. I just thought of power as a strong force that many people take for granted or use to manipulate others. Now I understand that power is something that everyone can possess in one form or another. There is not just basic power that Lukes discusses as one dimensional, power is also a form of capital and everyone has some type of capital. That was made obvious when researching 'Downtown Abbey' for the Powerful Drama exercise. Then there were the simulations that put us into situations of having power (or not having power) and they gave us a first hand experience of how power relations play out. Finally, the narrative from the future exercise and learning about rhetoric helped me to realize how I can use my power to encourage others to alleviate the problem we face at home. I appreciated this class, because I am able to understand power and how it plays out in different scenarios as well as there is more power within all of us than we typically realize.