In Professor Turner's interview something I found very admirable was his approach to teaching, the use of pedagogy and dynamic mindfulness. Its brilliant to structure the class in a way everyone is a teacher and everyone learns from one another and how each class starts off with something like yoga so everyone is starting the class very introspectively. In this way there are multiple learning sources and people are not just learning from an article or a textbook but from other people's actual experiences. This also facilitates a creative learning environment which I think tends to be an issue we have today when it comes to learning. Being a stem major, my classes are always very structured and formatted in a way where I am learning something I like in a way that is almost unbearable. Taking notes on hour long lectures with the occasional quiz with no interactive elements can be dull and make it more difficult to learn so when I see a professor go out of their way to try and make the learning process more enjoyable or try a different approach I always feel thankful.
I feel like I learned a lot from his discussion of hip-hop and I related heavily to when he discussed forming a positive sense his blackness and developing a pro black identity through hip-hop. When I was young I moved from a very diverse community, Brooklyn to a primarily white neighborhood and it had a big impact in my identity. I was no longer surrounded by the variety and different cultures that I was used to and I found myself struggling with my own blackness. I found that hip-hop and roots reggae were things I turned to that help me for a closer relationship with the blackness in me.
I think this also speaks to the labels that have been put on black music like hip-hop. Growing up I would see the media criminalize and categorize hip-hop in negative light and it would affect the way I saw my blackness. Proffessor discusses the actual purpose and how these genres of music came about and to see that these genres of music are not only platforms for inciting change but carry cultural significance in them.