My name is Destiny Bland, and I am a Junior Psychology Pre-med major from Monmouth County, NJ. I hope to pursue a career as a medical psychologist or in psychiatry. I’ve always been an advocate for mental health awareness and the reduction of the stigma surrounding it in the African American community. This XCOR course has been one of the most unique ones I’ve taken so far during my time here at XULA. Learning about dystopias and how connected they are to the real-world has been interesting. Real issues, when ignored can lead to a dystopian society, even those like the high stigmatization of mental health to overpopulation to global warming. This course has revealed to me that the criteria for a dystopia comes in the shape of ill-acts and feelings that are present in today’s society: fascism, oppression in the form of violence, powerlessness, marginalization, imperialism, and exploitation, along with problems that align with the idea of the Hobbesian Jungle. This class has given me a new perspective on dystopian societies and how they could relate to my future profession or the future of the world in general.

My name is Devin Macklin-Jackson; I am a junior chemistry pre-med major from St. Louis, Missouri. I aspire to be a cardiology, anesthesia, or neurology physician. I also have several other hobbies/ interests that keep me busy, such as Photography, stock trading, and music creation. I like to consider myself an open-minded person because I am never shy about trying new things, no matter how daunting they seem. There are a lot of o things that seem nice on the surface, but when you dive deeper into what they are, they aren’t as polished. This course has made me look at society and examine whether things are as they appear or not. This is essential for life because you have to see things for what they are and not just how they appear. It made me look at government systems throughout history and analyze if they are dystopian or not. It also gives the ability to look at them currently and see if they have moved away from a dystopian worldview.

My name is Mya Thompkins. I am a second year Sophomore at Xavier University of Louisiana. I am a Biology major with a minor in Chemistry. I am a very quiet, shy, and introverted person so my interests would include things that do not require me to be in big crowds or around a lot of people in general. I’m into things that usually involve me just being to myself and around calm, relaxing energy. I love listening to music and I have been singing since I was a baby. I do not really have hobbies outside of school but outside of school I love to go to the gym and just hang out with my friends. My overall thoughts on this course would be that it was very informational in numerous ways. I learned more about myself by taking this class than I thought. I was able to break my habit of procrastination and begin setting time aside for all of my classes equally. I also learned the most important thing, that we are currently living in a dystopia. With knowing the five faces of oppression I can relate these more and more to real life. It also has been very informative with providing us with proper knowledge on how to produce a Podcast. This class has been an eye-opener and has allowed me to expand my knowledge on this unique topic. I am glad I was able to take this course even though I had my doubts in the beginning but overall it has been a great semester and I would not change a thing.

Cede Onyango is a senior Biology major from Chicago, Illinois. He enjoys reading about philosophy, anything science and doing math problems. This dystopian course has allowed him to fully explore a subtle interest he’s had about dystopian societies. He plans on pursuing a degree in biostatistics and plans on one day attending medical school.