Last week during class, we debriefed on our experiences at the LGBTQ Center and had another group share their findings for their readings. We had the last hour to work on our HAP poster, where John and I combined our separate posters into one. One main concern that I have for our poster is that we gave out a survey to one of the staff at Seasons, Cathy, who is our main point of contact when we visit the center. Last Sunday, Cathy told us that she wanted to take her time on the surveys because she appreciated what we did greatly and wanted to really show that through her comments. We appreciated her actions, but the problem was that Cathy is only there on the weekends and we won’t be able to get the survey before the poster is due. John and I expressed our concerns to Professor Bussell, and this past weekend we were able to figure out what to do. We asked Cathy to email us her survey, but we did not have her email in the first place in order to remind her. So, we emailed Barrett twice asking for Cathy’s email or phone number, but instead of giving it to us he just told us to call Seasons and ask for Cathy. Stephanie called Cathy, and she was unable to email the survey to us, so instead we asked her to fax it to a number provided by John. I am unsure if John received the surveys yet, but I’m glad it worked out.
Today we went to the LGBTQ Center in Hillcrest. Initially, I felt a bit shy because there were so many seniors compared to the number of us students, but the seniors there were so open, welcoming, and thoughtful. I mainly spoke to Alan and a senior who was from Italy (I’m not typing out his name since I don’t want to butcher the spelling). The two of them had strong opinions on what they wanted to see in an age friendly community based on what they have seen in past experience. Alan wanted a community center that would facilitate ways to make the elderly useful by holding classes or consultations so that seniors could share their knowledge with the rest of the community. He said that when you are old, you have nothing to do anymore, so you want to feel useful. Using community centers in this way would be helpful for all ages. The senior from Italy said that in Italy, some houses build an extra unit for an older family member to live in. He said that he liked having the three levels of generations: grandparents, parents, and children, and that it is beneficial for everyone. He also said that intergenerational housing is a good idea only if it is with family or with people with shared interests. I had a fun time at the center and listening to the elders talk and also learning about how they embrace their culture. The two men I was speaking two were also a part of FOG (Fellowship of Older Gays) and it was really inspiring to see how involved they were even at an old age. They take pride in their identity and they also volunteer with kids regularly. They both constantly keep themselves busy with many different activities and it was really nice to see how happy they are with their lives.
This week in class, we watched a presentation on how to format our posters for our HAP’s. It was interesting to see how information can be presented in so many different ways and little changes can determine if a viewer will stay to read your poster or not. During the discussion for the readings, we digressed from the main subject and began to talk about the DEI requirement for the university. Though this requirement has good intentions, many students try to find easy ways to fulfill this requirement, which contradicts its purpose. We are supposed to take classes that teach us the diversity of our world and how to be inclusive of others, but because people try to take the easy way out, they end up learning nothing. For my DEI requirement, I took DOC, which is Marshall’s writing sequence, and an EDS class which also counted for DEI. Both those classes were very eye opening as to what the real world is like towards differing races and perspectives. Yet because the EDS class required me to go to elementary classrooms and gain hands-on experience rather than just reading about it in a textbook, the impact the class had on me was far greater than any class I had ever taken. I feel that they should change the DEI requirement to be something requiring out of classroom experiences so that people can truly learn and understand what diversity and no diversity looks like outside of our school. Also, many EDS classes need more students to enroll so that they can provide mentors for the children, and making it a requirement for students will result in a huge increase in the number of college mentors for younger children.
This past week, we visited Bayside for a second time and did Zumba with the seniors there. Just like last time, it was a lot of fun and I felt that many of us were more comfortable as opposed to last time since we knew what to expect now. When we worked on our ideal intergenerational community, the elders that I was sitting with expressed their concerns about the countdown of the crosswalks in the street, having hilly land, and having a space like the Bayside community center to be able to interact with both the young and old. When it came to the crosswalk issues, one of the seniors said that many elderly people with walkers are only halfway through the crosswalk by the time the timer runs out. The problem with extending the time however is that the cars would have to wait longer, and in a busy city like San Diego it might cause problems for other people. For most people in general, not just the elderly, walking on hills is tedious and troublesome. For our ideal community, we wanted flat roads and sidewalks so that walking to places would be easy and accessible. The elders were also explaining how they really liked living in Linda VIsta. They loved its diversity and all the amenities it provided for them, and also liked how everything is easily walkable. Based on what they liked about Linda Vista, we translated those onto our ideal community. I really enjoyed the visit on Wednesday and I’m glad we get to talk to elders about issues that not many people think about. It puts a good impression on the elders and I can tell that they feel happy that we are trying to help them out.
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Micah BanawisArchives
June 2018
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