Today in the five-minute article presentations, I learned so many new things and we discussed about topics that were so informative. One article brought up the discussion on housing privilege and privileges in general. We discussed how many white privileged people have such great outcomes in their careers and life, but we shouldn’t ignore the fact that they put in a lot of hard work into their careers. However, how do we know that other people aren’t working hard as well (maybe harder), but don’t get the same outcome as them? I began to ponder within myself on this question too. This question is so awakening because I see in many people all the hard work they have put into their studies, but don’t get to be in their top choice university, in the top program, or in the top position at their job. It amazes me how different people are based on their background or race. Everyone works hard and others don’t, but it really depends on the starting point of people. We discussed in class that people have a much greater head start in life, making opportunities and privileges so abundant to them and almost handed while other people may not have that head start like in my case: I am a first generation student, so I didn’t get the head start as other peers of mine who had parents that went to high school, thus I had to struggle to be where I am today. Or another case of mine, I have to work 16+ hours a week for my tuition because my parents can’t fully help me pay my schooling, while others don’t have to work/worry because their parents can afford tuition. It is all about the head start of people and that is why people may not have such luxuries in life, especially housing. Connecting to this, in another article we also discussed how housing is not seen as a human right rather a privilege in this country. I was amazed by this because I myself did not see it this way until I took this course. I always knew in my heart that I always wanted for people to have a roof over their head, but I didn’t strongly feel about it until now. Housing deserves to be a human right for the sake of our fellow human beings. People shouldn’t be burdened with worry of where to sleep because of inequity. There are so many circumstances and unpredictable life changes that people can go through that shouldn’t be seen as privileges. We shouldn’t be so prejudice, but instead have compassion for everyone and create change to the housing situation we have now. Housing can provide so much health and stability for people that it deserves to be a human right. I can see this because of the tours we have gone and encountering people along the course of this program. this program has impacted my perspective on my community.
Today was the first day of sharing our Extraordinary Person project. I was the first person to share today because I was excited to talk about my dad, my EP. This project made such an impact in my relationship with my dad. By having the opportunity to open up to each other. Since the beginning, he was so excited when I asked him to be my EP and was more open with me. We started to text and call each other more, and we were more comfortable in each other’s presence. Thus, when I presented about him, I began to choke up from all the emotions I had. Moreover, everyone’s presentation on their EP was so genuine and heartwarming because you can see their own unveiling of their EP’s past and emotions. Everyone discovered so many things they didn’t know and grew a stronger bond with their EP because of it. One of the most inspiring EPs was Lesley’s grandma, for she always fought for her education and implemented high importance of it in her children. This just reminded me of the saying “you reap what you sow.” She reaped persistence and hard work in her children and that is what she sowed in her own children and grandchildren. It was such a motivation for me to be the best version of myself, not just for myself, but for the people around me. Our elders are such great examples to learn from and gain invaluable lessons for life.
Today in class we had a reflection on casa de manana and then had three groups of students present to us on topics they researched. Someone mentioned that a lot of people were younger than they looked, but it could be because of the stress they did not go through in life and how it is due to the privileges they have. And it is so true everyone has their own privileges and in life and they all come in different ways or forms, but for the residents in Casa it seems to be more privileged than residents we saw in the other residence like Sara. So, the aging of the residents in Casa were probably less worrisome and stressful evident from the graduate and undergraduate degree statistics, but it could also come because of different events in life. I am always fascinated how all these aspects in life are connected to one another and all holistically affect a person: such as transportation, community, family, financial stability, housing, nutrition, health, basic needs, and so many more components in life! They all coexist with one another and it’s time to stop seeing them in different components but rather all under one umbrella and accept they all can have the same affect to one another. After, our classmates shared their articles. The first group talked about vehicular transportation and raised the question of how old is it too old to still be driving? My firsts thoughts were there is no absolute age because every single one of us is uniquely different and I cannot be someone to judge on that. It is true we need to be able to evaluate when a person should stop driving, but not by age but rather by ability and if they are physically and mentally suitable to be able to drive. Maybe having an evaluation test every five years at the DMV or somewhere to ensure the safety of drivers like Jayson suggested. Another group presented on people with memory loss and how we can incorporate them in having a community and also caregivers. There was a big discussion on this but what was really eye opening for me was the role of a caregiver. Someone shared how they were a caregiver for their mom with cancer and she was just a high school student. It broke my heart hearing she was a caregiver at that age, but also made me respect her A BILLION times more because it is such a heavy responsibility and I respect her for giving her time for her mom. Though I may not know the role first hand I have seen it been played by my mom and cousins and I’ve seen the hardships they went through- it’s physically and mentally rough. I guess the reason it was a shocker to me that someone that age can be a caregiver was because I always imagined a caregiver as a nurse or hired person, but it totally passed through my head that a caregiver is much broader than a nurse, there is a whole spectrum on caregiving and now I understand more on caregiving. I do believe there should be more help for caregivers like mental health services, a stipend for their time, and nutrition help. The other discussion was on how can an ageing community feel less lonely in their ageing process in their community either urban or rural? I always had an idea that it can be lonely at that age because they can miss their family and friends, but I didn’t think of ways how they cannot feel lonely. I thought this was a great discussion on ways we can incorporate more ways to help them age in place and live a greater life and feel more connected to their community and different age groups. My first thought was having like little field trips to places around their area to explore just like casa de manana offered. They can have fun exploring and making friends while on the way. I also like a classmate’s idea of us, a younger generation, having conversation with them during walks so they can feel connected to other generations.
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MARICELA CANOWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2019
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