I believe my students are halfway aware of their world. All of them are true college freshmen. All of them came right from high school, and for many this is a first time away from home. They are just now beginning to look in any other direction besides right in front of them.

A good portion of them have a feel for the political climate on campus. They seem to be sensing the liberal vibes on Western. Most importantly, they are beginning to filter their world through their own lens, and not the lens (whether positive or negative) of their household environment. I believe they are experiencing a new awareness that comes from being transplanted into a new environment. Just how Inoue speaks of environments as being in a state of becoming, my students are in a state of realizing that they are in a world that is more than their small hometown community and school—and HOLY SHIT —they are active parts  of that larger environment.

Each of my classes begin with what I call a “Death Minute”. Basically, I take time at the start of class to warm up my students’ brains with tricky questions, sometimes about death or the meaning of life, sometimes not. My aim is to get them thinking of life as more than what’s right in front of their faces. I want them to question their surroundings, or if they don’t question their surroundings on their own, to pose questions that force them to question their surroundings. If they are questioning their environment, then they are aware of it. I see their “states of becoming aware” when I recall their answers to early Death Minutes compared to how they have answered Death Minutes this week. Most of them are coming up with more complex answers, or asking for more time to think before they answer to the group.

Now, if I were to ask my students questions about the political news of the week, I am more doubtful that most of them would be able to answer as in depth as they would Death Minute, but that is not the point I am trying to get at with my Death Minutes. I want them to be aware. Period. To not be blind social media zombees, or turtles with their heads stuck in the sand. To  be conscious of the space in which they exist, and how they move within that space is a powerful awareness. They are not all fully actualized beings (who really is?), but they are at least existing with their heads up, and using peripheral vision.