This week's speaker was Dr. Georgia Dunston, a scientist specializing in genomes. She started her lecture by defining a genome as something that every living organism has. A genome contains information needed to create the blueprint for that organism. In short, a genome is information that is carried through our bodies from previous generations, and continues on to future generations. This relates to us in so many different ways. In the literal sense, genomes pass on our physical traits and characteristics: things such as height, hair color, face shape, skin color, etc. But on a pyschological level, Dr. Dunston was trying to convey that genomes represent things from our past that are preserved through many years and generations. An example of this is education. Our ancestors created education. They were eager to discover the mysteries of the world around them through mathematics, writing, astronomy and many other means of education. That thirst for knowledge that the ancient Egyptians had is still with us today. We, as students of Howard University, live out that genome every day by proving that we still have a passion for the acquisition of knowledge. This also reminds me of something that Dr. Carr said in his lecture a week ago. He said that it was no coincidence that black people often respond to each other by saying "word". Although it is easy to brush this off as meaningless slang, it actually holds a deep cultural significance. Our African ancestors created language and writing, and everytime we use the phrase "word" we are reminding ourselves of our history. Dr. Dunston used a biological term to relate to our world on a more insightful level.
Erika Meijer
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