Throughout the first semester of Humanities our class discussed in learned a variety of things. The year begin with discussions of unjust and just laws that followed Dr. Kinds idea of Civil disobedience. This lead into the 4 political and moral philosophies Libertarianism, Utilitarianism, John Rawls’, and Deontology. These philosophies were used to justify actions, as well as studied for influence in the legal system today. When the opportunity for a project arrived, as a class we decided to choose a social injustice in Durango and research it as well as try to make some kind of difference. Guest speakers from different professions came in to discuss environmental issues, as well as immigration, homelessness, and even more were listed and talked about in student seminars. After a class vote we chose to dive in deeper on homelessness in subtopics to gain background knowledge for our projects. Many community organizations came in throughout our work including food not bombs, the veterans homestead project, Ed Aber and Donna mae. We also went on a tour though the test tracks where many people that are homeless in La PLata county sleep and camp.Defining a concrete WHY for this project was important to our class, in other words a concrete reason why we choose this and care about it. My why, which resists with man of my classmates, was that I love my community of Durango and fro as long as I can remember it has been close knit and united. The homeless epidemic creates a rift in the town that lacked understanding of one another. Without why we could make a problems statement which is more of a what or how that meets our goal. Our goal was to create an event that exhibits student work to create more understanding and compassion throughout the community on the issue of homelessness. Every stepped up to the challenge and in the end we completed our goal and successfully brought many community members to think deeper and bevine educated in the epidemic of homelessness.
Throughout the first semester of Humanities our class discussed and learned a variety of things. The year began with discussions of unjust and just laws that followed Dr. Kinds idea of Civil disobedience. This lead into the 4 political and moral philosophies Libertarianism, Utilitarianism, John Rawls’, and Deontology. These philosophies were used to justify actions, as well as studied for influence in the legal system today. When the opportunity for a project arrived, as a class we decided to choose a social injustice in Durango and research it, to try to make a difference. Guest speakers from different professions came in to discuss environmental issues, as well as immigration, homelessness, and more. After a class vote we chose to dive in deeper on homelessness in subtopics to gain background knowledge for our projects. Many community organizations came in and supported our work including food not bombs, the veterans homestead project, Ed Aber and Donna mae. We also went on a tour though the test tracks where many people that are homeless in La PLata county sleep and camp. Defining a concrete WHY for this project was important to our class. In other words a concrete reason why we choose this and care about it. My why, which resists with many of my classmates, was that I love my community of Durango and for as long as I can remember it has been close knit and united. The homeless epidemic creates a rift in the town that lacked understanding of one another. We created a problems statement which is more of a what or how that meets our goal. Our goal was to create an event that exhibits student work to create more understanding and compassion throughout the community on the issue of homelessness. Everyone stepped up to the challenge and in the end we completed our goal and successfully brought many community members to think deeper and bevine educated in the epidemic of homelessness.
The event on December 12th that my 11th grade humanities class put together included community booths of information, 2 keynote speakers, student art, student films, writing pieces, a student speaker and a community meal. The work was presented to community members, parents and people experiencing homelessness. During the event I invited a family of kids that I knew could use some of the services provided. It warmed my heart to see how many people donated clothes to the free box, feminine hygiene products to the designated bins and even canned food. My most memorable interaction was either with a community member or parent in which during the meal we were talking about women experiencing homelessness and how important it is to have clean underwear and hygiene products. I told him how I had never thought of this before the project because I don't have to think about it on my own life due to so much access to everything I need. He conquered and told me how he had never thought about it either but now he could only imagine how hard it must be. This interaction proved to me that this exhibition has successfully gotten people to think about thing they may not have ever thought about. The more thoughts like these, the more understanding could be created.
During this project I was apart of the event planning committee on the marketing subcommittee. I pushed myself to reach out to community members while advertising the event as well as during the event. The networking skills I gained while creating this event improved by every email or phonecall. I successfully got our event in the papers, but after not getting emailed by Durango TV I gave up and somewhat took the easy way out in that aspect. In my group, my partner did a majority of the photoshopping and creating of marketing material. My goal was to spread the word so I contributed my part by getting us a social media presence on instagram and facebook, as well as an event calendar. I also reached out to the telegraph and lastly strategically hung porters down town before a large event in town. My contributions also went to peers in my class and the other class through peer critiques and helping by being prototyped on. I think I was constructive in helping my classmate and my partner as well as communicated with relevant people when I reached out to in the community.
I am very pleased with the way this project turned out and I think I grew not only as a student, but also as a person. One specific thing that resonated with me was as the Veterans Homestead project was talking to us he said “ you never know their story unless you ask”. It's true, and I think I have a habit of writing people off before I know them or their story. I've been a compassionate person in the past, but this project got me thinking about things I normally wouldn't and now I can show compassion without knowing people’s stories. It also got me to think deeper, for example I had never thought about homeless women and feminine hygiene products before. This not only got me to think deeper about what they experience, but there is also less tension when I see a person experiencing homelessness, because as this project taught me people are people no matter where they live or what they are labeled. I have learned networking skills as well in this process, and how to be professional when presenting myself to the community. From calling and emailing many organizations, I found things that work and things that don’t when asking for something or wanting to get a message out. In the end I believe we still do not have the solution to homelessness, but that's just it, there is not only one solution and it takes the whole community to make a difference.