This week I attended the West Center spa day HAP. I also took Giselle with me and her favorite section was the art table. It was such a great set up, they had so many different sections. It was great! I think a lot of the people there really enjoyed the face masks and nail tables, based on the fact that those two sections stayed full the entire time I was there. I had a great conversation with one of the ladies at the art table. She was really sharing some deep and personal stories that made me really sad for her. Some people truly go through the most tough times and I just can’t imagine what I would do if I had gone through similar situations. One story in particular that broke my heart was that she gave up her daughter for adoption when she was 8 years old because she was in an abusive relationship. It made it worse having my daughter there with me. I just cannot imagine the pain of having to give up a child and then that pain that the child will feel because she was already old enough to understand, she was eight. I would never judge someone based off their personal decisions because no one truly knows what others are going through. It just made me hug and love on my daughter extra more – even more than I already do. It’s such an unexplainable love that one has for their children. I wish there were more resources that could help women in these types of situations. Family should always be together, especially mothers with their children.
This week was the LGBTQ leg part of the course that I wasn’t able to attend due to my other class at Miramar. So many wonderful stories written from my peers in their reflection blogs. Someone wrote about speaking with 2 elderly men and one of them explaining how they waitlisted at the north park apartment complex that we visited last quarter because the list was about 500 applicants long! That is so insane and makes me feel so sad because during that time that they are waitlisted where do they go? They do not have a home and have to make do with whatever they can. Another interesting conversation that I read was that a lot of gay men were, “going back in the closet,” and hiding who they really are when they began living in senior community centers because of fears of being judged or not feeling safe. This is truly hard to hear; it breaks my heart to know that individuals do not feel safe or comfortable enough that they have to resort to hiding again – especially at an older age.
There are still so much that needs to change in terms of the type of support and acceptance that the lgbqt community receives. One of my peers wrote how in the Hispanic community there are still some judgment and intolerance within that community towards gay individuals. Even though we have come a long way there is still so much more that needs to be done. Speaking up in situations or environments where comments are being said or actions are being conducted that are not okay is a huge way in being allies and supporting the community. Especially a movement that needs to be heard. My group discussed the second part of the book today. It was mainly focused on 6 elders and how they maneuvered through their life given each individual circumstance. It is so easy to lose sight of the important things in life. We get so caught up with the small things that don’t take a moment to truly take in all of our blessings. Of course, it is easier said than done and always when we look back in hindsight we can always learn and grow from our past.
In the second part of class professor Bussell explained the logistics of the poster designs for our HAPs. I have done one research poster in the past and while it can be an exciting process it is also tedious and stressful. So many little aspects that we need to be aware of to complete a successful and well thought out poster. I can’t wait to see our final project; I think that the interactive elements that we have included will really make out project stand out. The only difficult part has been gathering the oral history projects. There was minimal amount of oral histories on the blog and the ones from our course haven’t been sent out to us. Also, I wish the sculpture stands weren’t so expensive so we could use them for the actual physical oral history projects. Unfortunately, this was another off site I had to miss due to my lecture during this course time. It was so neat reading over some of my peers’ experiences. I read about all the different dishes that some of the members of the west center recalled. It is so amazing how a certain dish or a certain flavor can spark a nice memory in our minds. I can absolutely relate to the perspective of food being the center of interpersonal connections. Being a huge foodie myself and coming from a culture where we are always gathering around food, it is an essential part of our life. Others created a deep personal connection within a few hours with some of the elders. How interesting is it that we often feel more comfortable expressing ourselves to individuals we barley even know versus people we are very familiar with. Maybe it is fear of judgment or what have you, but in all I think it is amazing and pretty courageous to expose vulnerability of oneself to a stranger and especially a known individual. No one ever really knows what battles someone might be fighting through. We should always carry an open heart and express kindness and empathy towards one another.
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Bianca NavarroWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2019
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