Breial M. Kennedy Reflections
Reflecting back on the Cultural Organizing Training, I’d say it was a real eye opener. I had an opportunity to be a youth representative on the panel and I feel pretty good about it. I feel that I’ve at least scratched the surface on what it truly means to be a relevant cultural organizer in 2013. Something I think will stick with me is the relationship between the different organizations and importance of acceptance and understanding.
Austin Smith Reflections
I will
appreciate the experience I gained attending the Cultural Organizing Workshop
last week. It gave me a sense of what each organizations focus was on bringing
change within the community. Being at the workshop makes you feel welcomed to
help out and follow the beliefs of one of the organizations. I personally
enjoyed the open conversations that were had between each person explaining the
organization they represented. Everyone has their opinion and it is important
that each one is valued. Speaking from a youth’s perspective, I feel we play a
key part in the expansion of these organizations. These issues start at home
and within those homes are parents and children. They are the people that these
organizations should be more socially orientated with. Over all it was a great
opportunity and I’m glad I was part of it.
Briana O'Neal Reflections
Day 1:
Friday night 2-22-13. We started downstairs at the Golden Feather with a meet
and greet while people were still signing in for the workshop. We had a delicious
dinner of salad, fried chicken, rice, & sweet tea. Next we moved upstairs
where everyone sat in a circle and Ms. Wendi O’Neal started to sing a song to
signal that we were starting the workshop. We went around the circle
introducing ourselves. After that, we used the story circle process to talk
about what cultural organizing was to us. I love the fact that there was
representation from the older generation and the younger generation in the same
room and there wasn’t conflict.
We spent the
rest of our time that night talking about the way that our organizations used
cultural organizing in our work and explaining the work that have we done so
far. I felt there were a lot of stories that came up to show that there were
many ways to use cultural organizing. We have so many different cultures just in
New Orleans alone.
I liked how
Breial and Austin, two AFSC interns, spoke on the cultural organizing
discussion panel. I was also happy to
see that the oldest lady in the room not only listened to them but she also took
notes because she felt like she could learn from what a young person had to
say. I don’t know where else but in these types of settings could you see an
older person willing to learn from today’s youth. I only wish more people
outside of these organizations, from the general public, would attend these
workshops because I think it would decrease some of the problems we have in the
city.
Day 2:
Saturday 2-23-13. The day got off to a slow start. Once again we started with a
song to bring everyone together so that we could start. We went around our
group circle and introduced ourselves because there were some new people in the
room. We were asked to answer the question. Why
are you here? I replied “while I greatly appreciate and respect history, we
can’t be afraid of change and we have to find new ways to create cultural organizing
in the community so that we can bridge the gap between history and the future.”
Next we did
an activity where a list of questions were read to the group and we had to move
to the right if we strongly agreed, to the left if we strongly disagreed and to
the middle if we were undecided. This activity really helped me to see the
values of the people in the room with me.
After lunch
we went to the smaller workshops we had chosen earlier that day. I picked The Urban Bush Women Workshop which used
dance and movement as a cultural organizing tool. I learned how to use my body
and eyes to communicate with others. I also learned how to build off of each
other’s work to make something much bigger and better than before. We closed
out the day with a report back of things we had done in the smaller workshops
to the bigger group and more singing.
Asia-Vinae Palmer Reflections
Asia-Vinae Palmer Reflections
Culture: The arts and other manifestations of human
intellectual achievement regarded collectively.
On February 21, 2013 I wasn’t sure
what culture meant. Of course I had this general idea or understanding that it
was something to be proud of…soul food…salsa dancing. But I never attempted to
define it. I never thought of it from day to day as if it were a part of my
daily life or something that affects the way I act. I didn’t realize that
culture is everything from the food my parents cook to my neighbor’s language
to my daily swag. Culture is everything around us and “us” varies from one
group of people to the next according to race, gender, neighborhood, etc. The
Cultural Organizing Workshop on February 22nd made me think about
the kind of difference I’m making and if I am doing all I can. Until the
workshop, I hadn’t taken the time to sit back and reflect on everything I’ve
been doing for the community and then critically analyze myself. The workshop
administrators had us all do interactive exercises to get our brains thinking.
One exercise I enjoyed was when we all had to stand up and answer questions by
moving from one side of the room which was strongly agree to the other which
was strongly disagree, and middle being neutral. We were then asked questions
on how much we involve culture with our work or daily lives. I was surprised to
find myself on the strongly agree for most of the questions. As an artist,
poet, and all around creative person, I unconsciously have already been using
cultural organizing in my work. I felt proud to be able to stand next to men
and women who’ve been doing the same work for so many years and be able to say
that I too have been making a difference. It was very humbling, and made me
want to try even harder. Throughout the two days I was learning how to embrace
culture and then use it to make a difference. And this time, I can do it and
know what I was doing. For a moment during the workshop I had a few mixed
feelings toward my observations of other people’s answers to questions. It
occurred to me that although people were all saying ways to change the
community, no one mentioned children or how to get them involved. I always have
the idea that children are the future in the back of my head and believe that
the only way to ensure true change is to educate our youth of our plans so that
once they are capable of taking over they won’t have to start from the bottom.
But then I just sat back and observed the room full of the different
organizations that all offered something different and then back at my own
organization, and I understood the point. We are all here to get closer and
closer to a better community and then a better world. It was okay that everyone
didn’t work with children because we did. If everyone focused on the same field
then it would be like if ten people were looking for something in one room
versus spreading out throughout the entire house. Someone is focused on
changing the education system, someone is fixing the neighborhood the school is
in, and someone is working on the mentality of the youth, and together we can
make a mass move. When the workshop came to a close I had a totally different
outlook on the world around me and I felt ready to take on whatever challenge
would jump out soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment