Reflection of Sunday

Sunday July 25th, 2010

"Look, I can make figure eights with my elbow!" -Martha

Alright, so today was even better than yesterday. We had a total of 4 workshops, a few activities, then peer groups. Our first workshop was titled "Listening for Empowerment" and it was ran by Jenny. It basically was to teach us how to be better listeners and she related it to her line of work, counseling victimized people. She gave us some great tips, such as how to be better engaged and how to approach helping someone without telling them what they should do. Although they were great, I also can't help but think that this could even help us cheat in listening to someone, but knowing those who took the class I don't think it'd ever be used in that way. I took about 2 1/2 pages of notes on just that workshop. (BTW if anyone ever wants those notes, feel free to comment me and ask or get in touch with me somehow. I'd be more than happy to send any of them.)

After this we went to Ivy's workshop on challenging bias. Oh. My. God.
That was the best workshop ever, and I think when I say that it was the highlight of the day, I'd have nearly every one's vote. She started with listing all these racial slurs, and it really stunned us, or well, at least it did to me. Sure, we were familiar with a few of them, but the forward approach of the topic just shocked us and grabbed our attention right away. From there she told us of her childhood as an African-American child Birmingham, Alabama during the civil rights movement. Every single detail painted a better picture of what I'd learned a little about, and almost every fact was unreal. I'd learned about the subject before but having heard her really tell it as her story, as her experience made it come to life for me. Just hearing from someone who really lived through it made us understand even more what out country's history entails. Her speech was very moving, and at the end she opened the floor for those who wanted to share. This I am thankful for. Although I chose to sit back and watch, which now I am almost regretful of, in a sense this activity brought us as a group closer. I found all of those who went up there very brave, and I gained a new respect for them. For example, (and I apologize for mentioning this is you'd rather not have it said) Malaika was so personal to the point where I began crying with her. I respect her for saying what I didn't have the courage to say.

To unofficially end that workshop after Ivy had ended it, we took part in Martha's activity called "Stand Up for Diversity," which was anonymously filling out a sheet then swapping, and if there was a check in front of the phrase. Here's what the sheet I got looked like:

So, the exercise's purpose is to show that everyone here has dealt with bad situations and that no one has to go through it alone. Even though it was completely anonymous it still brought us together. At the same time, it depressed me because some of the larger numbers that stood for certain topics. I realized that I have been so privileged for not having experienced many of those topics, but I also felt so terrible for those who had. My sadness and relief was also mixed with awe. This is stereotypical, but those who I had seen pre-camp who had gone through with some of these always let it drown their happiness, where as these girls who had experienced these amazed me. I didn't know who had checked them off, and honestly, there was no way to truly tell. They were all so unbelievably happy... how could something tragic have happened to them? It brought a mixture of emotions to the tent.

(And here in my notebook it goes on about how happy I was that it had rained... Of course I would be the one to write a page on rain.)

And here's the dl on the Valkill tour: It was AMAZING. Like always, of course, and it was cool because I got to re-meet the woman who actually introduced me to GLW. The tour was nice, and rehearing the history was a pleasant reminder as well.

After, we had a history on Eleanor. As interesting as it was it was a wee bit dry, but like I said, it was pleasant. We then worked on case studies and those were very interesting. We debated in a sense over 6 topics. If only I could remember the specifics... Anyways, our group ended with more questions than answers and it really could've continued for hours. Anyways, after that, which I once again took far too many notes on, we watched a badminton game between Kris and Annett. So get this; Annett is, or as she says was, the best badminton player in all of Uganda, and then 4th best in the continent of Africa. She creamed Kris, but Kris never gave up! That's all that matters anyways, right? It was a pretty entertaining match, and I got some pretty sweet pictures of her diving for the birdie.

Once we returned to Vassar, we were introduced to 2 GLW alum who told us about our social justice projects. From brainstorming I came up with 2 ideas. (1 of which was the finished product, and I won't go on about it right now since in the following posts you'll be able to read about it in detail, but the one I chose to use as my final project is called eARTh club. It's basically a music and art club that raises money for an eviromentally conscious charity. In my notes it goes on to say that I'll most likely choose eARTh as my final product.)

To finish off: peer groups. Martha's my group leader and my group consists of Colette, Chloe, Monica, Mari, Alley, and I. Martha kind of reminds me of Rachel McAdams in a way, but she carries herself in a certain way that I can't put words to. Nobly perhaps? I'm not truly sure.

Most counselors have tattoos, and I kind of love it. Martha's is "create" on her foot, and Krisy has a strawberry tat on her back. Everyone here is so nice and sweet and also just so welcoming. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be just as great if not better.

With Love,

Becca