Honors 394: Learning About Love

This quarter, I took Honors 394A: Lovework: An Unfinished Syllabus. This class was really different from any class I've ever taken. It was based on indigenous pedagogy and ideas about humans and the world around us. We talked about what love is, how to love truly, and the way love is portrayed and treated in our modern society. In the class, we read True Love by Thich Naht Hahn, All About Love by bell hooks, and The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer, as well as a choice book club book (mine was Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley). All of these books provided super interesting and fresh ideas about how we are taught to love and how we should love. This class also included a lot of discussions with others about ideas about love and activities like drawing and sound baths, which were refreshing and relaxing. It was really cool to hear everyone's ideas about love, since we all have unique backgrounds that shape our different perceptions of love. The professor, Dr. Jeanette Bushnell, had a lot of really interesting ideas and wisdom, and I really enjoyed just listening to her discuss her thoughts on different concepts of love.

One of the most interesting things we talked about was the way love is treated in our modern society and country. Love is shunned and decentered in our capitalist and individualistic society. We treat love as if it is not a necessity and not always present, yet love is vital and omnipresent in our lives, even if it's not centered in our infrastructures and systems. Additionally, the oppressive systems that have governed our country for a long time, like white supremacy and patriarchy, are decidedly unloving systems, and living under them makes it difficult to live with a love ethic. In the class, we talked about small ways one can live with a love ethic, like growing a garden or engaging in a community organization. These are examples of love at a higher scale, different from the personal expressions we are taught are typical "love". I really enjoy the idea that doing good for our communities and environment is actually love. For our final project, we decided to compile a recipe book of recipes that represent love for each of us, which I thought was a really fun project and I enjoyed seeing everyone's recipes (see below).

Overall, I really enjoyed this class. It invited me to look at the way I love and the way our society treats love critically. It also taught me some new ways to express love and practice a love ethic, which I'm trying to implement in my life now.

Here is the recipe book we compiled:

lovework recipes.zip

Download ZIP • 48.21MB

My page from the recipe book!