Over the past several weeks, community has kept me driven to continue doing my organizing work both within the classroom and outside of it. Planning the Love, Care, Connect event reminded me of the value and importance of communication, mindfulness, and intersectionality when we organize for our communities. Working with my boutique team was nothing short of a breeze. Everyone was so enthusiastic, flexible, and we had great transparent and clear communication throughout the whole process. When it came to outreach to get clothing donations, we were already very much blessed by Christine and other folks in our class who came through with bins of clothing the day of. We worked together to delegate tasks, create efficient systems of set up and take down, and maintained an open mind when any hiccups came about. It is through experiences like these that inspire me to continue to organize my own mutual aid events for folks in the greater San Diego community. What makes events like this so inspiring and impactful is that we are being mindful and reflective of our own roles in society, we are aware of our positionalities, our privileges and we leverage them in a way that is most instrumental to bridging gaps in equity when it comes to having our basic needs met. Being mindful about what folks actually need versus what we think they need is an important distinction to make because it puts us in the position of being the student. It puts us in a non-hierarchical structure of trust, commitment, and love. Caring for our communities is an extension of the love we have towards ourselves. It is a new form of love language that I continue to adopt today.
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Mira GuptaMira is a Global Health Major and a Healthcare and Social Issues minor. She is from New York City, and her interests and passions include singing, dancing, being in nature, writing and research on social justice and health, writing poetry, community organizing, and fashion! She has also recently been picking up new hobbies such as hiking, bouldering, and collaging! ArchivesCategories |