It is hard to believe that I am already concluding my blog. It seems like only last week I timidly walked into the Multi Cultural Center to start my weekly service. Now I feel like a regular since the kids know me and the other volunteers know me too. The experiences I have had at the center have opened my eyes on the issue of racism and how apparent it is in our society. I wrote in one blog about how I am the minority when I go to the MFC and how the children there are aware of racism around them. I continued to think about racism throughout the semester because it came up all the time. The presidential election, reading Invisible Man, and volunteering regularly always exposed to some context of racism. I also wrote that I always knew racism was existent but I never knew to what extent; this experience opened my eyes to how apparent racism really is. Now I don’t want to sit back and just let racism happen, but I want to stand up to my friends and family who do make racist comments. This is going to be very tough for me because many of my good friends from home are racist and I know if I do stand up there will be lots of controversy which could possibly hurt relationships. But yet I feel that I must stand up for the kids at the center because no child deserves to be discriminated against.
This service semester has also taught me a lot about how much I have changed in the last four years. I think my liberal arts education has had a huge impact on the way I think and analyze the world. I also think that service was the perfect way to really use and challenge my liberal arts education. There were many times throughout my service that I had to use an open mind to respond to a child. One such time was when a child called me “whitey” and I had to politely tell him that was not my name and explain why it was not my name. Now I am confident when I leave Loras that I will be able to make decisions with an open mind so that the best decision can be made. I am not saying that I am good at making these decisions but having this education will definitely help. It will take lots of experience and time before I will become that wise old timer with all the right answers.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Community Change
In order to change something for the better in a community, people are going to have to work hard, and many people are going to have to step outside of their comfort zone. This is extremely scary for many people in society, and they would rather not go through all the work and just live with their problem. With the issue of racism, I believe that a lot of people know that racism occurs but they don’t do anything about it because it would be difficult. It seems difficult because they don’t know where to begin. That’s the way I always use to feel and in some ways I still feel like that. I think we must realize that it is hard for people to step outside their comfort zone to accept change, and it is also difficult for people to give up on their traditional style of thinking they learned from their parents. I have learned that the best way to change a community is education about the issue. Again looking at racism, if everybody spent time with someone of a different race or spent time where they were the minority then maybe stereotypes could be broken and racism could end. Since I have spent significant time with people of a different race, I can see that racism is very evident and now, more than ever, I want to do something to change that. But, yet, I still don’t know exactly how to go about this. I guess this is evidence that change within a community is very difficult.
In the novel Invisible Man, Ellison makes it seem impossible for an “invisible man” to promote change. He makes it seem impossible because none of the narrator’s followers had the same idea of change that the narrator did. They did not see his idea of change, and therefore, they did not see him. It is very tough for anyone to promote change and the only way an “invisible man” can promote change is by making his change visible to everyone else. He must find people who desire the same change and organize and educate these people about the change so that progress can be made. The only way to succeed at change is with numbers, and the only way to get numbers is to have a common goal. If a man is invisible to everyone else, than his message is not going to get across and his idea of change will not be promoted.
In the novel Invisible Man, Ellison makes it seem impossible for an “invisible man” to promote change. He makes it seem impossible because none of the narrator’s followers had the same idea of change that the narrator did. They did not see his idea of change, and therefore, they did not see him. It is very tough for anyone to promote change and the only way an “invisible man” can promote change is by making his change visible to everyone else. He must find people who desire the same change and organize and educate these people about the change so that progress can be made. The only way to succeed at change is with numbers, and the only way to get numbers is to have a common goal. If a man is invisible to everyone else, than his message is not going to get across and his idea of change will not be promoted.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Everyone has a Story
It is true that everybody in the world has a story to tell and many of those stories have the power to teach or change others. I believe the stories that include hardship, struggle, and pain have the most power to teach because they often include how that individual overcame their problems. Although it hurts me to say and think about this, but many kids from the Multi-Cultural Center do fight a lot of hardships. Everyone needs to hear the family and racial hardships these kids face as well as the potential and intelligence they have in spite of these hardships. Even the stories from young kids can teach everyone how to deal with major problems in one’s life or what problems actually exist in society. It might even inspire some people to reject stereotypes or to go out a try to make a difference via volunteering or donating money.
Nussbaum argues that literature and stories have an essential role in teaching students. But she also says that people can interpret literature in totally different ways. For example, an article from a child who had to steal bread in order to eat might bring up two different opinions: the child is a delinquent, or the child is in need of help. No matter how one views the story, Nussbaum believes these tragic stories should be told because they do have the power to change someone’s opinion or view. Even if they don’t break down stereotypes at least the reader would get an inside look at how the child felt and the hardships he or she is facing.
Nussbaum argues that literature and stories have an essential role in teaching students. But she also says that people can interpret literature in totally different ways. For example, an article from a child who had to steal bread in order to eat might bring up two different opinions: the child is a delinquent, or the child is in need of help. No matter how one views the story, Nussbaum believes these tragic stories should be told because they do have the power to change someone’s opinion or view. Even if they don’t break down stereotypes at least the reader would get an inside look at how the child felt and the hardships he or she is facing.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Service Update
My service site has been going very well fortunately. Working with kids down at the Multi-Cultural Center is very rewarding, but yet challenging in so many ways. It is rewarding because I have made bonds with the kids and they recognize me and get excited when I walk through the door. I am known as the “tall” one, and some of them always want me to pick them up so they can touch the ceiling. To save my back I tell them they only get one ‘pick-up’ a day which led to one little girl trying to bribe me with a piece of candy to pick her up twice. I must admit that at the beginning I felt stressed about having to go volunteer. I felt stressed because I thought of all the things that I have to get done and that I just don’t have time for this. Now, I look at my time spent volunteering as stress relief. It doesn’t matter how much I have to do or what’s on my mind about next year and grad school etc.; as soon as I enter the MFC, I forget about all that and I am there to have fun with the kids. This does not mean that the kids get a little rowdy sometimes, which can be stressful, but that is a different kind of stress. I think this means that I am getting a lot out of my service in ways that are often surprising and unexpected.
I don’t think that all of my service is stress relief though; a large portion of it is challenging on many levels. Since I am working with mostly inner city African American children, I am challenged with racism, which I have talked about in previous blogs. I am definitely not ready to answer those questions that have troubled me before, and I don’t know if I ever will, but I do think about them a lot, and not just when I am volunteering. The impact of this service has far extended the Multi-Cultural Center in the way I view the social world. Now I am constantly aware of how people treat people of a different race or social background, and especially how I treat them. I’ve always believed that not all people start out on the same level in life, some started lower than others because of factors such as race, socio-economic class, etc. However, I didn’t understand the full implications of this injustice in society until I was able to work with the kids at the MFC. It’s almost impossible to say that a child is the cause of their own suffering so it brings up questions about why they are treated differently when they are just like any other innocent kid. The only difference between these kids and my childhood is 1. My family had more money and 2. I am white. These two factors automatically judge how people would look at me as a child and how they would look at a child from the MFC. I believe that the kids at the MFC have just as much potential as I did, and, sadly, they have to work twice as hard for society to see that potential.
I don’t think that all of my service is stress relief though; a large portion of it is challenging on many levels. Since I am working with mostly inner city African American children, I am challenged with racism, which I have talked about in previous blogs. I am definitely not ready to answer those questions that have troubled me before, and I don’t know if I ever will, but I do think about them a lot, and not just when I am volunteering. The impact of this service has far extended the Multi-Cultural Center in the way I view the social world. Now I am constantly aware of how people treat people of a different race or social background, and especially how I treat them. I’ve always believed that not all people start out on the same level in life, some started lower than others because of factors such as race, socio-economic class, etc. However, I didn’t understand the full implications of this injustice in society until I was able to work with the kids at the MFC. It’s almost impossible to say that a child is the cause of their own suffering so it brings up questions about why they are treated differently when they are just like any other innocent kid. The only difference between these kids and my childhood is 1. My family had more money and 2. I am white. These two factors automatically judge how people would look at me as a child and how they would look at a child from the MFC. I believe that the kids at the MFC have just as much potential as I did, and, sadly, they have to work twice as hard for society to see that potential.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Dorothy Day and College Catholic Education
Since I come from a small, very conservative Catholic town, one thing I have learned about Catholicism at Loras is that there are other people in this world who don’t agree with everything the Catholic Church teaches. In high school, we were always taught to believe, accept, practice, teach, etc. exactly what the Catholic Church said. I was incredibly turned off by this because I had a lot of disagreements with the church, and I thought in order to be considered Catholic I had to believe everything I was taught. It was not until I came to Loras, and I met some people with similar morals as myself, that I realized I do not have to believe in every little thing of the Catholic Church in order to consider myself Catholic. In addition, I took classes such as Priest, Minister, and Rabbi that actually pointed out some “holes” in the church and made me think about my religion on a more critical and analytical level, that I had been yearning to do in high school. In general, a Catholic college education bestows the religion onto all of the students while still trying to keep an open mind about their own religion, and other religions as well. These experiences have taught me a great deal about my faith and how to be a ‘cafeteria Catholic’, i.e. someone who picks and chooses what to believe and follow from the Catholic teaching.
One thing that is distinctive about a Catholic college education is that the education teaches you every side of the church, the good and the bad. But yet, at times, I feel like they tell me too ignore all of those bad things and just be Catholic anyways. But I don’t want to ignore those things and neither did Dorothy Day. To her, being Catholic was treating everybody equaling and helping the needy. This is something that the church teaches but sometimes has a hard time practicing. Dorothy Day paved her own path and set up the Catholic Worker Houses on the basis of Catholic Social Teaching. I remember when I was a freshman at a bible study group and we were talking about how being Catholic meant that the same Mass was being said all across the world to fellow Catholics. This is admirable but what about the other billions of people out there who are not Catholic? Should we not share something with them every day? Dorothy Day wanted to share something with every human and her way of doing that was by sharing the main thing that all humans have in common, food. She would share her food, house, conversations, etc. with anyone because she saw every human being has having the right to survival. I would have liked to bring this topic up during that bible study and asked, “What are you sharing with the rest of the world today?”
One thing that is distinctive about a Catholic college education is that the education teaches you every side of the church, the good and the bad. But yet, at times, I feel like they tell me too ignore all of those bad things and just be Catholic anyways. But I don’t want to ignore those things and neither did Dorothy Day. To her, being Catholic was treating everybody equaling and helping the needy. This is something that the church teaches but sometimes has a hard time practicing. Dorothy Day paved her own path and set up the Catholic Worker Houses on the basis of Catholic Social Teaching. I remember when I was a freshman at a bible study group and we were talking about how being Catholic meant that the same Mass was being said all across the world to fellow Catholics. This is admirable but what about the other billions of people out there who are not Catholic? Should we not share something with them every day? Dorothy Day wanted to share something with every human and her way of doing that was by sharing the main thing that all humans have in common, food. She would share her food, house, conversations, etc. with anyone because she saw every human being has having the right to survival. I would have liked to bring this topic up during that bible study and asked, “What are you sharing with the rest of the world today?”
Friday, October 17, 2008
The Politics of Societies
Often times I use the word politics not in reference to a governing body but as a reference to a way things are ran and decided without going by a governing set of rules. This happens all the time in today’s world where people make decisions based on race or social class. For example someone might not attend a particular church because its clergy is mostly of a different race or social class. When I look at today’s society I can see and feel a set of governing rules on how where one is suppose to live, go to church, shop, send their kids to school, etc. And these decisions are based entirely on one’s social class. This is definitely visible at my service placement at the Multicultural Family Center. The vast majority of the kids are African American, come from homes with a low income, and live in the Washington neighborhood. There are no wealthy white kids there because the politics of society say that a wealthy white child cannot go to a free afterschool daycare. Why not? How come some parents don’t send their kids to the center and use the money they are saving by not sending them to a daycare to donate to the center? That money could be used by the center to improve the quality of daycare for your child and all the other children there. It is because the politics of society say that this is wrong; that this should not happen. Society has drawn lines between social classes and races and the politics and rules of these lines make it hard to cross them. I even asked myself the question. “Would I send my kids to the center as an after school daycare?” Quite frankly, I don’t know. By what I believe and what I think is right I would say yes. But for some reason society has such a huge impact on my decision that I just don’t know if I could, and I have no good arguments for this. I feel like this is an issue where I am in the middle of the racist spectrum which I talked about last week. I realize what is there and what is happening but I’m just not stepping up to the plate to do anything about it. I think I will have to spend more time at the center in order to answer this question as well.
I think Ellison is trying to tell us that politics in communities is what divides us. That is what divides our schools, organizations, cities into different social and racial classes. There are walls and barriers between us and if we want to tear them down we must get rid of society politics. There will always be this barriers as long as there are unwritten rules of ‘proper’ conduct between social classes. Ellison shows this in Invisible Man by how the character could not stay at the men’s house any longer for certain reasons. Though I thought it was very unclear to the reader what those reasons were one can still tell that that he was making a point on how divisions between societies are existent.
I think Ellison is trying to tell us that politics in communities is what divides us. That is what divides our schools, organizations, cities into different social and racial classes. There are walls and barriers between us and if we want to tear them down we must get rid of society politics. There will always be this barriers as long as there are unwritten rules of ‘proper’ conduct between social classes. Ellison shows this in Invisible Man by how the character could not stay at the men’s house any longer for certain reasons. Though I thought it was very unclear to the reader what those reasons were one can still tell that that he was making a point on how divisions between societies are existent.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Races in the Mirror
After spending time at the Multicultural Family Center the last couple of weeks, I have noticed how different my life really is/was compared to children who attend the center. The vast majority of them are African American, and one thing I found shocking is that they realize they are black. I thought these children would not realize that we were of a different race. But when one child asked “Whitey, can you read me a story?" I was shocked and stunned. I did not how to react so I just said “My name is not ‘whitey’ it is Dave.” Later on when I stood up one child said “You are tall like my dad. You kinda look like him!” “He can’t look like your dad! He ain’t black!” another child quickly intervened. Again I was shocked and I realized that these kids are no stranger to race. This does not mean that they judged me for being white; they didn't even care. They still wanted me to help them with their homework, read to them, play with them on the computers, but at the same time they still knew I was white and they were black. This past weekend I was reflecting and talking about this experience at dinner and I was met with a very disturbing fact, every time these children look in the mirror they do not see just a kid but a black kid. How does this make them feel? Do they feel different or think they are different? Every time I go to the center I step into a world where I am conscience of my race and these kids live in that world every minute of their lives. I think I need to spend more time at the center in order to answer these questions so I plan on answering these questions in a future blog.
Then I had to ask myself the question do I look at these kids and see that they are black? Or do I look at them and see them as another human being? I have always thought that I saw people of different ethnic backgrounds as just another human being. Whenever I meet someone of a different race, I automatically think what can I do or say to not come across as racist. And I think this makes me racist in a way. When I see another white person I do not think that so why do I think that when I see someone of a different race? After thinking about this for awhile, I have come to the conclusion that a large part of the way one perceives another race is based on your social environment. I did not grow up with any African Americans in my small hometown but I was always taught not to discriminate in school and at home. But for me not discriminating meant just not saying anything demeaning and being friendly when I very rarely encountered someone of a different race. Now I realize there is a spectrum of discrimination. The absolute racist, and the absolute lover of all peoples on the two ends. Then there are the people who don’t make racist comments but don’t do anything to stop racism in the middle. Hopefully I can move towards the ‘lover of all peoples’ end of the spectrum through this service opportunity.
Then I had to ask myself the question do I look at these kids and see that they are black? Or do I look at them and see them as another human being? I have always thought that I saw people of different ethnic backgrounds as just another human being. Whenever I meet someone of a different race, I automatically think what can I do or say to not come across as racist. And I think this makes me racist in a way. When I see another white person I do not think that so why do I think that when I see someone of a different race? After thinking about this for awhile, I have come to the conclusion that a large part of the way one perceives another race is based on your social environment. I did not grow up with any African Americans in my small hometown but I was always taught not to discriminate in school and at home. But for me not discriminating meant just not saying anything demeaning and being friendly when I very rarely encountered someone of a different race. Now I realize there is a spectrum of discrimination. The absolute racist, and the absolute lover of all peoples on the two ends. Then there are the people who don’t make racist comments but don’t do anything to stop racism in the middle. Hopefully I can move towards the ‘lover of all peoples’ end of the spectrum through this service opportunity.
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