Hallowed Journeys: Reflections on Going to College and Living Abroad

Abstract

BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 78, NO. 2 | 29 78 No.2 Karina Avila is the battalion commander of the ROTC Huskie Battalion at Northern Illinois University (NIU). As a scholar at NIU who is majoring in Rehabilitation Services, Cadet Avila is very active RQFDPSXV6KHLVDPHPEHURI'HDI3ULGHDQGKROGVDKRPHKHDOWKFHUWL¿FDWHLQDVVLVWDQWQXUVLQJ Additionally, she has been the recipient of several awards, including the Cadet Scholar Award, Silver Medal Athlete Award, Bronze Medal Athlete Award, Scholastic Excellence Award, and American Legion $ZDUG,QWKHVXPPHURIVKHVHUYHGDVDFXOWXUDOXQGHUVWDQGLQJDQGODQJXDJHSUR¿FLHQF\FDGHW who participated on a task force OSO Beyond the Horizons service mission in Guatemala. Maria Colompos serves in a leadership role in the ROTC Huskie Battalion at Northern Illinois University (NIU). She is also an NIU scholar who is double majoring in history and sociology and minoring in Military Science and Latino/Latina American Studies. Cadet Colompos is the treasurer of the Pre-law Honors Society, a member of Alpha Kappa Delta International Sociology Honors Society, and a volunteer tutor for foreign exchange students. During the summer of 2014, she was a translator and public affairs RI¿FHUIRUDKXPDQLWDULDQPLVVLRQLQ*XDWHPDOD6KHKDVUHFHLYHGWKH%H\RQGWKH+RUL]RQV([FHOOHQFH Award for her outstanding translation and cultural awareness. Additionally, she has earned several scholarships and awards, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars Award, Cadet of the Month, Cadet Command Federal Scholarship, and Scholastic Excellence Award. Shanell Walter serves in a leadership role in the ROTC Huskie Battalion at Northern Illinois University (NIU). Cadet Walter is majoring in sociology with a Military Science minor. She is also a member of the John Henry Clarke Honor Society, the Chi Alpha Epsilon Honor Society, the Northern Illinois University Law Society, and Deaf Pride. She has been the recipient of several awards, including the Superior Cadet Decoration Award, First-Year Scholar Award, President Barack Obama Award, Two-Time Dean’s List Award, Two-Time Honors Award, National Sojourners Award, Bronze Athletic Award, Mae Thomas Award for Excellence in First-Year Composition, and National Leader Award. Her current academic leadership positions include president of Mortar Board Honor Society at NIU. HALLOWED JOURNEYS: REFLECTIONS ON GOING TO COLLEGE AND LIVING ABROAD By Cornelius Gilbert and Robert Schalkoff Introduction Metaphors are often used in everyday communication. For example, a group of employees are frequently referred to as “members of a team.” The United States is commonly described as a “melting pot” of diverse cultural heritages. American VRFLHW\KDVDOVREHHQLGHQWL¿HGDVDERZORI³PL[HGVDODG´,QDPL[HGVDODGYDULRXVHOHPHQWVDUHHDVLO\UHFRJQL]DEOH6RWRR DUHSHRSOHLQ$PHULFDQVRFLHW\ZKHQVXESRSXODWLRQVPDLQWDLQWKHLUXQLTXHFXOWXUDOUDFLDODQGHWKQLFLGHQWL¿HUVLQFOXGLQJ cultural dress, cuisines, and expressions. A metaphor has been described as “a way of understanding one abstract domain in terms of another more easily understood concrete domain,”1 or as Schalkoff stated, “metaphors structure thought.”2 Lakoff and Johnson argued that metaphors make “capable . . . new understanding of our experience . . . [providing us with] new meaning to our pasts, to our daily activity, and to what we know and believe.”3 Metaphors can be clear and powerful interpretive tools, particularly for educational purposes. Drawing upon the power of metaphors to create new understandings and connections to our pasts, this paper explores 30 | BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 78, NO. 2 78 No.2 metaphors associated with the unique personal histories of the authors and a period in African American history known as the Great Migration. This refers to the period in which millions of African Americans moved from southern states to northern and western states. We use these metaphors to illuminate the experiences of today’s African American college students as they matriculate, or migrate, into institutions of higher education in search of their own versions of the American Dream. This migration that takes place as part of African American college students’ search for their own version of the American Dream is also framed as a “hallowed journey” metaphorically. Hallowed has been used as an adjective to describe a person, site...