Community Reflection Paper

I learned some important things from this course that I will allow to stick with me no matter my profession. Diversity is something I will always have to deal with regardless if it is race, gender, or gender orientation. Importantly this course has allowed me to grow as an individual and has shown me that it is okay to learn about other races and their background. Not only has it allowed me to be acceptable of everyone in fact, it has allowed me to be less judgmental amongst others.

This course has not been anything remotely close to what I imagined it would be. I pictured a class where we discussed voting, civil service, and the community. One which involved little to no reflection or inner thought. However, I have found myself reflecting and digging deeply. This class has put many of the major issues facing America’s communities in the forefront. We have traded lectures on paying taxes for discussions on privilege. Through the assigned readings and classroom content, I have found myself more knowledgeable on the topics at hand, and more established in my own beliefs.

While I was able to apply almost every concept from the course to some aspect of my own life, I believe that the most important thing was learning to recognize just how much privilege I have experienced. At the very beginning of the quarter, Professor Roy used the example of the fish not being aware that it lives in water. I think that translates perfectly to my experience – as it should for many of us taking this class. While I recognized the privilege of having basic needs like food and shelter taken care of, other things like my race, gender and education really hadn’t resonated with me until I took this course.

LGBTQA Student Services faculty and student activist leaders informed the 160 student attendees about the

This past two week were most dedicated to the final project, but we also had a guest speaker from the biomedical engineering. We get feedback for our design decision matrix and for our second project report.

Bridging the gap between LGBT communities and HBCUs was something that I didn’t think needed to be done because wouldn’t a system of universities and colleges that promote diversity be mindful of those that it is letting down. By creating areas in which LGBT communities can be open and themselves in college could be helpful not only for the students, but also for the faculty and staff that may also want to help that community or are a part of that community but cant. This article gave me ideas on how to give a safe space and incorporate openness to the LGBT community among adult learners and educators. By learning of the solutions that the authorss given, the studies and findings from other reports I’ve come to learn so many different methods on connecting with LGBT students without ostracizing them for being who they are. The article was written well with the intent of the article, the framework, and findings of the study clear and understandable to the reader and those who could use this article for their own research on the topic. It is organized to give you the information on the past relationship of HBCUs and the LGBT community, how the study came to be, the methods that they used for the study and finally the results and conclusion of the study. The authors has given us details on how solutions have benefitted the LGBT communities that are at HBCUs, the HBCUs that have made the changes for their LGBT student base and the methods that will improve the college experience for

However, there were so many things throughout this course that I had little to no knowledge about. A lack of knowledge leads to a lack of empathy and understanding in my eyes. I truly do believe that discrimination is taught, so as a society if we were to continue to educate individuals about queerness and its relation to so many things in our everyday lives, government, and even ourselves, we are that much closer to ending discrimination. I know I might be optimistic, but I believe that people are inherently good, and if those of us who are given a louder voice and bigger platform to speak on in society, used it to call attention to injustices and work together towards solutions, I truly believe we have a chance of making queer apart of the

Thinking about what to do for my senior project was difficult. At first I was thinking of skateboarding and at first I thought maybe that could work then, I remembered a good friend of mine did a senior project and introduced me to Arlington Street. People's Assistance Network (A-SPAN). A-SPAN is a organization that’s mission is to provide life-sustaining services for Arlington’s most vulnerable individuals through outreaching and building relationships built on trust and respect.

For four long years I felt as if my high school was in a different world in of itself. I had spent that time interacting with an extensive amount of groups, or “cliques”, and getting to know what they do. Through my experiences, I had begun to realize what made this “subculture” high school of sorts run like it did. High school is an incredibly dynamic time for people, and I had changed as a person dramatically from my freshman to senior year. Like many, my freshman year was quite awkward, as remnants of my middle school self remained with me. As time went on, how, I talked to more people and grew out of my passive and shy personality. This did not just randomly happen without reason though. I began to learn and realize who I was and whom I enjoyed talking to in school, which explained why I spent so much time socializing with multiple kinds and groups of people. Everyone’s concept of “normal” was different, and high school was where I learned that lesson and will never forget.

Prior to entering class I thought that the class was going to be about homosexuality and gender in the United States. I felt a little intimated walking into class knowing we would be having weekly discussions about sensitive topics. A lot of the students reflections from the first day expressed how I felt: “anxious,” “I like to listen and observe,” and exciting. It did surprise me that the basis of the class was not to bash men, and we stayed true to that foundation. I was very close-minded when I first entered the class. I did not know how to receive the information. Slowly I started entering the class with an open-mind and that facilitated a better learning outcome for me. I was more open to discuss my views; learn about others views without

I have never attended a community meeting or any meeting regarding my community therefore, attending this meeting for the first time was a great first experience. I was able to see how a meeting is ran and how the organization works in order to help make improvements in my community. When I went into the office the meeting was being held, I was offered an agenda and other informational forms regarding the meeting. The agenda provided information of how the organization of the meeting would be and who will be going over what topics. The meeting was a timed meeting where Richard Hernandez and Bill Houtt managed on recording to keep data. The issues that were discussed were citizen’s request for city improvements, a short review of the 2016 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) Accomplishments, which is a grant that helps build homes for low income families and was reviewed by Rhonda Haynes a community developer. Lastly, the Sidewalk at Divisadero and Rinaldi, North Visalia citizen report were also discussed by Bill Houtt a member of the committee, and construction issues in N. Visalia discussed by Lt. Brent Abbott.

On July 18, 2017, I attended the City of Gulfport’s City Council Meeting. The council is made up of elected members of the community whose focus is the city’s goals, major projects and infrastructure improvements. The council makes decisions that range from community growth to land use to finances and strategic planning. Competencies demonstrated during the meeting were Competencies 3 and 5. Competency number 3 focuses on Advanced Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice. The meeting demonstrated knowledge of the ideas and concepts related to the notions of social justice, advocacy, leadership, social change, social support, social networks, and social capital consistent with a MSLC perspective. This competency was demonstrated by addressing community concerns by incorporating ideas of citizens and community leaders. Community leaders such as council members and the mayor provided support and clarification of city policies. The citizens advocated for changes in their community by bringing their issues to the city council for resolutions. Competency 5 focuses on Engaging in Policy Practice. This was demonstrated by advanced skills in social work practice including the ability to link theory, policy-practice, and research/ evaluation, and to employ leadership skills to demonstrate and promote such a linkage. This competency was demonstrated by city council members and the citizens of Gulfport, MS. They worked together to ensure

There has been some improvements made over the years, in a few categories that have heavily impacted LGBTQ+ members. The first category is one many people overlook, legal issues. Second is social change and how society's views and actions have changed. Last but certainly not least is, the progression with homelessness. While examining LGBTQ+ issues it becomes clear that although the ideal societal state has not yet been reached, progress has been made. A comparative assessment of the past and present provides a clear understanding of the ongoing progression for this community of people.

For the service learning project, I teamed up with three of my classmates to volunteer at a lady’s conference at Imani Restoration Centre church (IRCC) on the 16th of September, 2017. IRCC is a non-profit organization which is a Kenyan community founded that focuses on bringing African immigrants together to support and learn the things of God. Samuel Mwangi, the senior pastor of IRCC, said that through the counseling sessions that he holds at the church every Thursday, he discovered that most ladies go through the same challenges. Therefore, he thought it would be great for him to organize a lady’s conference, so that ladies could come together to share and support each other (Personal communication, September, 16, 2017)

Now that the different facets of the multiverse theory have been explained, what about society’s reaction? My hypothesis is that society will freak out and eventually progress into a nihilistic and existential society. Inevitably, there will also be individuals who react differently. I believe society’s reaction will mirror that of what happened when Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution. Because society went haywire when their view of the world was changed, no doubt society will react in a similar way because their view of the entire universe itself would change. A majority of the population sees our universe as a singular entity that exists on its own. Outside of our universe, there is nothing, since everything we know of is contained within the universe. But the multiverse theory claims that other universes exist outside of our own. Those universes contain other versions of ourselves in different contexts, different jobs, different socioeconomic levels, and with different passions.