Just too briefly discuss my experiences at Sampson Park; I’d say it was a real “eye-opener.” To assist in promoting nonviolence was a privilege but our community has work to do. I observed children depreciate their area and there was no one telling them otherwise. The level of disrespect is high. Our role in the Super Bowl event on this past Saturday was to offer peace education through the arts. So AFSC set up an area where we would first explain to the youth what both peace and conflict were. Following the discussion, we helped them to express what peace meant to them through painting t-shirts. A lot of the kids were in competition, telling one another that their shirts weren’t as good as theirs. This discouragement caused conflict. I also witnessed some of the youth write the names of their “hoods” on the backs of their t-shirts. Instant segregation. As AFSC Interns, I’d say, me and the other interns tried our very best to create a environment for everyone to come and express themselves.

I remember one young girl asking if she could make a shirt for her mother because there was another girl next to her making a t-shirt with help from her mother. Unfortunately, we were unable to give her another shirt because we were backed up with other youth who still needed shirts. But before we could express that to her, one of the girls she came with said “I don’t know why you making her one cause it’s not like she coming out here to get it and if you bring it home it’s not like she’s gonna wear it.” The look on this young girls face struck me. I could only imagine the feeling of watching someone else’s great relationship with their parents and not having developed one with my own. Support from the parents, I believe, would have made all the difference on Saturday.

-B. Kennedy

A day at Sampson Park

I left our day at the park feeling like I made a difference. Since this was my first event with AFSC, I wasn’t sure what to expect from not only the 9^th Ward, but the kids we were supposed to be reaching out to. I had never been to that part of New Orleans, so I was shocked to see how deserted the area still was although Katrina passed years ago. It pained me to find out that broken glass, trash, and bullet casings around the park were what the kids were used to. I was a little intimidated by my lack of “street experience” and wasn’t sure what I could possible teach them. Once things started, I was reminded that no matter how chaotic their surroundings were, they were still kids. I didn’t know how natural talking to them was going to be until halfway through the workshop. They were more attentive than I expected and it felt good to see them listening to our list of peaceful tactics to deal with their anger. I enjoyed helping them make their Peace T-Shirts and look forward to the next event

Asia-Vinae Palmer

My experience at Samson Park was typical. I deal with many events where the environment is the way it was there. I originally thought the turnout would be bad. I’m glad a lot of  kids showed up but I feel that the message wasn’t getting across to them. They were more focused on other things and starting conflict amongst themselves. Most of the kids there were positive and had a good attitude, others not so much. The next time we do an event such as this one I know we’ll have better ways of pushing the point of us coming. 

Austin Smith              

Pictures from the glorious day

Introducing Our Spring 2013 Interns

Asia-Vinae Palmer

Asia-Vinae is a Junior at the University of New Orleans and majors in English. She plans to take over the art world by mastering one art form at a time. Continuously growing as a visual artist, writer and spoken word artist, she knows she has a long way to go and is open to learning new skills and gaining more experience. Art is more than her craft or hobby, it is her passion and she wants to use it to change the world.

Breial Kennedy

My name is Breial M. Kennedy. I am the senior class president at McDonogh 35 Senior High School. If nothing else, through AFSC I would like to expand my ability to communicate alternatives to violence. Something interesting about me is that I like to use theatre when reaching out to younger groups of children because its’ education through entertainment.

Briana O’Neal

My name is Briana T. O’Neal. I’m 23 years old. I have been a community organizer for almost seven years now.  I have a history with Peace by Piece as an intern. This year I want to build more friendships, learn more about how to deal with the violence affecting my city as a whole, and work more in schools.

 I plan to teach upcoming leaders how to be great leaders. I want to do this by sharing my skit writing skills and my ability to be a storyteller in the community. My love for kids and my passion for this city will never die so when all else is said and done I wish to exemplify my favorite quote: “Be the change you want to see!!”

Austin Smith

My name is Austin Smith. I am 16 years old. I attend McDonogh 35 College Preparatory High School. I want to be more involved in all the programs that The American Friends Service Committee is affiliated with. I also want to learn how to be more of a team player and become more comfortable working with others. One thing that I find interesting is drawing. Drawing is the art form that I use to express myself.

Isaiah Jones

Hello hello everybody,

My name is Isaiah and I am back in action for another semester as a Peace and Justice Intern with AFSC. The seasons have changed and the year is new and thus so to am I, renewed with inspiration and energy to make good things happen. Communication is key so I will continue in my pursuit of bettering my abilities in that arena, along with striving for a 4.0 in life, being more open and more artistically involved in projects that are physical and visual instead of just word based. 

Final Reflections From AFSC's Fall 2012 Interns

 Reflections From Erick Dillard

Over the whole process of being an intern, I have had my progressive days and I have also had my days when I have digressed. What I've learned on these days in which I have digressed was to be aware of my mistakes, fix them, and apply them to my life. At American Friends Service Committee, I have come into contact with many different ethnicities, ages, organizations, and have heard different stories. One common thing with everyone I have encountered is the belief in helping the communities in New Orleans. I've even seen this in kids. I feel that AFSC has pushed me to my growing edge. The reason I feel this way is because if I wasn't able to go into these communities, I would be a part of the majority dictating how these communities need to be ran without being informed.

There were 3 interns this fall semester. They included: Antoinette Berger, Isaiah Jones and myself. We all came from different backgrounds, but because of our mutual feeling of wanting to help communities and our mission to learn and teach nonviolence it worked out just right. I will not say we have never had debates because we have. However, the positive outcome of these debates is that both parties found out what was in the best interest of one another.

The world is full of different minds, bodies, and souls. So as a people we have to know how to adapt to different environments. This internship makes you think outside the box and question what society wants you to believe. Also, AFSC and its’ staff  will push you higher because my facilitator ,Ahmane' Glover, believes in me and believes in the worth of every person. I feel that my goals have been reached. Now with these goals being met, I want to take it a step further, and now apply them.

Reflections From Antoinette Berger

           This internship has honestly been one of the most amazing things that I have been privileged to experience. I learned the true meaning to networking and the importance of building new relationships. When I applied to work at AFSC, I certainly did not fully expect to get to know my fellow interns as I have. I work with three of the wildest, most sensationally animated, and kindest people I have ever met. When I first started the internship, I always preferred working by myself and then I saw the beauty of collaboration. Team work with the interns was an adjustment at first but shorty after, things began to fall into place seamlessly. All in all, I am definitely going to put the knowledge I have accumulated and the relationships I've built to use.

View my video about this internship: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z879ssh7v8455bd/ANTOINETTE_MASTEPIECE.wlmpReflections

Reflections From Isaiah Jones

Before coming onto this internship I only had the brief experiences of working with the American Friends Service Committee as a shadow or really as a friend of a friend who was helping. Regardless I got swept into the connections and awesome people while back at home in Seattle where I also got moved by organizations like People Of Color Against AIDS Network to get more involved in the community, to be more active towards the idea of being a community organizer/activist. But over the course of this fall with the help of the Peace and Justice internship my dreams shifted and became more focused from where they once were. I decided that I wanted to be a teacher and incorporate the things that I have learned and will continue to learn from my experiences here. The importance of talking it out when things get tough, letting the mind be creatively expressive through sound, sight and action, recognizing the validity of multiple forms of intelligence—I knew all of this on an intellectual level however working here has allowed me to gain first hand real world application of these ideas helping me to solidify their validity inside myself.

In the future, I imagine being in a class room doing the fun, funky, and powerful icebreakers with my students, engaging them with themselves personally and the others across the room as we all try to find our authentic selves. I also imagine pushing them to go out into the communities around them, to connect to the vital energies present but often ignored right next to you in the form of a neighbor or community center or organization working for positive changes. I know that I speak from the standpoint of wondering what it would have been like if I had had more teachers like that along the way. But as I get older and prepare ever more to step out into the bigger world, outside of working for a Bachelors degree, I feel the importance of making manifest within myself the qualities and drives that I wish I had been more exposed to. So I thank you AFSC and the Peace and Justice internship for helping me to find myself that much more and give me fuel for the fire to last longer and burn brighter.

Oppression Fashion Show Reflections: Isaiah

[Text on the left: peace be in the eye that is open.]
[Text in the middle: The fashion of oppression is violence, poverty, poor education.]
[Text on the right: Self awareness is key.]

The sweet tension of waiting for people to arrive combined with the multiple colored lights filling the room, a dream of cold extremities coursing with adrenaline. I, as the door person watching the welcome table, got to say hello to most of the people to the event hopefully making a positive first impression. From my vantage point near the door I’m torn as to what might have been my most memorable experience.  Feel as though personally it might have been leaving the safety of my door post to venture into the spot light to lead my activity “Let’s find a write way” but then again it might have been watching my fellow intern perform an impassioned mime to the song “Encourage yourself”. In general however I found the whole show to be an interesting experience.

            To me oppression is a negative force that holds people down and away from becoming all that they can truly and positively become because of hate and a desire for power. It’s an unnecessary and unfortunate action that many have taken a part in across a spectrum of ideas. In the fashion show aside from manning the door, my job was to conduct an activity that engaged the audience with writing. The first step being to drain the brain of clutter in an unprompted free write in which once could do anything they wanted. Soon followed by the video “Everything is Everything” by Lauryn Hill for musical inspiration before jumping into a prompted free write where the audience was asked to ponder two questions relating to being a brown person living in a reality of poverty, violence and/or poor education and what were strategies they would use to positively make changes in their lives. I chose this activity because I feel that writing is an important way to express oneself and often in this world people are not allowed to do so in a way that is free from judgment, free from restrictions telling them what to think and how to think. Instead this was an attempt to open up the space for introspective reflection using a powerful tool to get the wheels turning in people’s heads individually and collectively.

Vlog: Oppression Fashion Show

Erick Dillard's experience at the 2012-2013 Oppression Fashion Show.