Touring affordable housing was a very valuable experience. It was interesting to see the increase in community, size, and comfort as we toured each new home. Everyone we met was so kind and lovely. At Sir Francis, one of the people living there, James, described the lack of seeing people outside of his room. His room was lived in and he seemed content to be where he was at, but was looking forward to transferring into a permanent home. At Potiker, Leon’s room had a sense of place. He had antiques on his walls from his previous travels and was excited to show us and talk about his room. At Potiker there was also a community garden which I thought was really cool. I really enjoyed our lunch at the lgbtq+ housing. At our table we discussed how the lgbtq+ folks don’t mind living with cisgendered, straight folks, but they are happy that the house is lgbtq+ affirming. We talked a lot about how power is disguised. For instance the binary of gender and sexuality has been utilized for power. We continued to discuss the things in our lives that presents itself as power in disguise. The people who live there refuse to give into other powers and a lot of them are activists. They described to us how they have chased people off the property who were demanding to take their pets away. I thought it was absolutely wonderful and we laughed about it. Our lunch exceeded my expectations and I was so happy to learn from our discussion.
On another note, we presented our memoirs in class the other day. It was so beautiful seeing everyone’s presentations. It was a very emotional experience to hear everyone be vulnerable about their families. I was amazed with what everyone created. Lily made a replica of her grandma’s home, Christine made lanterns with writing and pictures on it, Desiree made a beautiful video, and so many more wonderful memoirs. Throughout all of our presentations I could see how resilient our extraordinary people are. I could also see that despite many hardships, they continue to foster so much joy in their daily lives.
On Saturday, 2/11, we put on the Love, Care, and Connect event. We had a bunch of stations including baked goods, a boutique, painting, games, etc. My group led the conversation table. We had cards with questions prompts on them and we asked people to have a conversation with us. Many were resistant to stopping by our table, however we managed to listen to some amazing stories and have fascinating conversations. One woman came up to the table and I asked her to share a story about herself. However instead of sharing, she asked me to share a story about myself. I didn’t know where to begin, so we started with where we were born and raised. Mariano was from Japan. She was so kind and carried so much comfortability towards answering the conversation prompts. Even though our table did not attract many, it was so worthwhile for the few who did.
On another note, we presented our memoirs in class the other day. It was so beautiful seeing everyone’s presentations. It was a very emotional experience to hear everyone be vulnerable about their families. I was amazed with what everyone created. Lily made a replica of her grandma’s home, Christine made lanterns with writing and pictures on it, Desiree made a beautiful video, and so many more wonderful memoirs. Throughout all of our presentations I could see how resilient our extraordinary people are. I could also see that despite many hardships, they continue to foster so much joy in their daily lives.
On Saturday, 2/11, we put on the Love, Care, and Connect event. We had a bunch of stations including baked goods, a boutique, painting, games, etc. My group led the conversation table. We had cards with questions prompts on them and we asked people to have a conversation with us. Many were resistant to stopping by our table, however we managed to listen to some amazing stories and have fascinating conversations. One woman came up to the table and I asked her to share a story about herself. However instead of sharing, she asked me to share a story about myself. I didn’t know where to begin, so we started with where we were born and raised. Mariano was from Japan. She was so kind and carried so much comfortability towards answering the conversation prompts. Even though our table did not attract many, it was so worthwhile for the few who did.