Personal Narrative-Allowing My Community

I have recently found my voice. It seems ironic to claim that I have known about my voice prior to discovering it, so let me be clear and say that I do not mean I have found a voice or the voice, but rather I found my voice, the voice of authenticity, one that expresses my individuality in a way that is uniquely my own. I have always known about this voice, but dominant narratives stemming from the metaphorical closet dictated what my voice should resemble, which both silenced and misconstrued it. Indeed, finding my voice has been a fundamentally transformative experience, one that allowed me to break free from the metaphorical closet and pursue an authentic life as an openly gay man, and more importantly, myself.

The first discourse community I belong to is Facebook. Facebook is a social media website in which I can communicate with relatives and friends. The first step to become a member of Facebook, one must create an account by entering his or her basic information such as name, date of birth, gender, and email address. After the account is created, one must verify his or her account by clicking on verification link in the email account provided during the sign up process. Then, one can start to add people on his or her friend’s list either through searching or syncing their phone contacts. Once this step is done, he or she can post pictures, statuses, share links, and comments on his or her walls or their friend’s wall page. Other things you can do on Facebook is, tagging friends on pictures,

It was the beginning of my freshman year and I did not know how to help prepare for my future. When I found out about this assignment we had to do for our Learning Community class I know I needed to start attending events on campus to just get this paper over with. I heard about the Business Tri-Rush and I thought it would be a good event to go to and write about. The talk about Tri-Rush was insane. I heard people talking about it from almost everywhere in Copeland. There were always people in Copeland sitting behind tables advertising the event and there was even a geo-filter on snap chat of this. My best friend is also in a Business Fraternity here and only has good things to talk about.

When my mother asked me to read a book a few months ago, I was hesitant to agree. A stressful school year was approaching, and seeing my friends on a Saturday night seemed much more appealing. When I was younger, curling up with a good book was a typical pastime. Then came high school, and reading was replaced with countless hours of studying, cheer practice, and trying to figure out when I could catch up on some much needed rest.

It is a somewhat unspoken agreement that people all have, and breaking this agreement is frowned upon. The bathroom is a very unsocial place. You go do your business and then leave, it is very simple. The social norm that I broke was talking to someone in the stall next to me, and continuing to have a conversation even when it was clear they did not want to have one.

I am a PhD student at the Dalla Lana School for Public Health at the University of Toronto. I work as a research coordinator under the supervision of your former colleague Dr. Julia Woodhall-Melnik. Dr. Woodhall-Melnik has recommended the Communications and Dissemination Research Assistant position on "The Community Ideas Factory Project" to me as she knows I am interested in continuing my work in this area. I have two years of experience in knowledge creation and dissemination from institutions such as St. Michael’s Hospital, and I can use the skills I have built to help you on this project.

One aspect of my identity that has shaped my life experience and the way I see the world is my race. I am an African- American who has Nigerian descent from both parents. Growing up African American is hard for many of us, but we always come together to help each other out. We get judged for our skin color, religion, sexuality, and economic status. When I was younger, I always thought about what other people would say about me and how I looked. Even though it was hard seeing how other races portrayed my race, I have learned to embrace my skin color and not let anybody judge me. The society believes that African Americans are lazy, uneducated, and violent. Things people say about me and my race only make me want to prove myself to them that I am proud of my race and would never change myself for anybody.

One tip from the book that I would very much like to implement into my own life is "create time together." While I believe all of the lessons and tips from the book are very interesting and have a lot of validity, this lesson made sense to me right away. There are many other tips in the book that I believe go along with this one, such as 'make a date,' 'identify your inner circle,' 'get closer,' and many others. Humans are social beings, and throughout the book we are told repeatedly how much of an impact having a close group of friends, a close family, and an overall close community is beneficial. The idea that creating a feeling of belonging impacts your lifespan in such a way makes sense to me, as it certainly can be a way of creating emotional and mental well being.

My community involvement started my Freshman year of High School when I began helping with the Miller Keystone blood drive. I was too young to donate but I did my part by helping sign others up. During my sophomore year it became more of a club and they trained us more so we could be a bigger help. I worked at the canteen, this continued up to this year. I have donated twice so far and plan to donate once more in May.

Community has a very strong positive connotation attached to it. A community bonds together when one falls. The true reliance an individual has with their own community runs deeper than any explanation can explain. It is because so many people often forget this connection, that I have taken the most drastic measures to immerse myself with my whole faction. The easiest yet most beneficial involvement that I have had with my community is through tutoring. Teaching a child, or even an adult, makes each individual in the population a stronger contributor to society. As one who struggles with family finances, I cannot put a price on knowledge.The payment of my tutoring is in the brightening faces of those individuals that see the connection.

I was born and raised in a very diverse community in the central parts of New Jersey. Growing up in a diverse area allowed me to learn and interact with individuals of different upbringings than that of my own. My Community consisted people from the West Indies, South America, India, Haiti, Russia, Pakistan, and United States, and more. As I began to enter into adulthood, I can say the Indian culture was very unlike anything that I've ever known. Religion is a big part of the Indian culture which includes Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. I have always found Buddhism to be a fascinating religion. "In general, Buddhism is a way of finding peace within oneself. It is a religion that helps us find the happiness and contentment we seek. Buddhists

In the beginning, I went to the center to take the blue teams flag. I decided to change my team to the red side. I made sure the blue side wouldn't win. I saw a guy named 05Ninja05.

Growing up in an impoverished neighborhood led to my mother's decision of placing me in a charter school so that I would be able to receive the best education that I possibly could, regardless of the neighborhood that I inevitably grew up in. Although grateful to have received this opportunity that many others in my neighborhood did not, the lengthy 10 hour school day made it difficult for me to be involved in community activities as I would have wanted to be. Incidentally, I managed to become involved in my community to the best of my abilities, but would have wanted to be able to contribute much more. Also, over the last two years I have been dealing with severe depression and anxiety. If I weren't to verbally tell anyone, many would not

I would change my community so that we waste less food. Currently, many food sellers have strict rules in place which result in perfectly edible food being thrown out. I have frequently seen cafeteria workers at my school take away hot meals from students with insufficient funds, resulting in hungry students and fuller landfills. On a visit to Walmart recently, I watched customer service workers refund a consumer for returned, unopened food, and then promptly mark the goods as waste. After closing, restaurants will dispose of their unsold daily goods in garbage. I believe our community needs to stop feeding maggots and landfills and start feeding the

One of my friends from camp is gender fluid. One day, they call me on the phone, crying, furiously thanking me. Their brother has finally agreed to start using their pronouns, claiming I had a conversation with him about gender fluidity. I have no memory of this specific conversation, but it still had a huge effect on one of my friend’s sanity and happiness. Even if your not consciously aware of it, your actions can make change. Improving a community isn’t solely done in giant leaps and bounds, but with smaller actions. Creating safe spaces for people, complementing people, providing representation, even picking up trash everyday can make a huge difference.