With Justice For All
My project-
Project Reflection-
To start out with this project, Ashley and our humanities class wanted to change up the topic and issue that Ashley usually does for this project. We researched issues of injustice happening in Durango organizations. Our class discussed and delegated through many seminars and class discussions to form what we think would make the biggest difference in our community. So, we chose homelessness. We began by studying Dr. King’s idea of civil disobedience and his definitions for what makes a just and unjust law, and the difference that is between the two. With that information, we then studied the political and moral philosophies that have an influence on systems of the law and explored the systems of Deontology, Utilitarianism, Libertarianism and John Rawls’ philosophies. We all put those philosophies into our project and began designing what each of us all wanted to do and what we wanted our end product to look like. We wanted to educate ourselves more on homelessness so we did tons of research from mental health, addiction, feminine hygiene and overall health issues. We heard from multiple community organizations such as Ed Aber, who took us on a field trip to Test Tracks, Mari from Food Not Bombs, Axis and the Veterans Homestead Project. Getting those different perspectives and educating ourselves more on homelessness set us up for our project and how we wanted to tackle it.
For our event, we held an exhibition at the La Plata County Fairgrounds from 5:30 to 8:00. We invited community organizations, city council members (who could not attend), county commissioners, and people experiencing homelessness, as well as our parents and people of the community. For our event, we wanted it to be educational as well as welcoming. We had keynote speakers, such as Julie Westendorff who is apart of County Commissioner and Jennifer Turner who works with La Plata Youth Services to give a little more insight as to what the issue is and bring more awareness. After the keynote speakers were done talking, everyone was allowed to walk around and observe our work that varied from videos, art pieces, writing pieces and models. We also had booths set up for more information and other community organizations helping with homelessness such as Donna Mae, Chrissy from the Homeless Shelter, Mari with Food Not Bombs, La Plata Youth Services, Axis and the Community Compassion Outreach Program. Then, we had a dinner where everyone could eat and discuss. It was really cool to see everyone get involved and just watching more and more people come in and really engage themselves with our projects and the community organizations. I think our class did a really good job with bringing more compassion and awareness to the homeless community, which was our goal. Something interesting that I learned was that for females that are experiencing homelessness, sometimes for feminine products, they will have to use a sock and washout and reuse it when it is that time of the month. It was interesting because I never thought about what females do in that situation when they don’t have anything for it, and because those types of things are expensive.
I would say I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone by going out and volunteering for Food Not Bombs and going to Manna alone. For a topic that is so controversial and where many things can happen, is very nerve racking. For Food Not Bombs, I showed up to Mari’s house and cooked vegan food, which was really interesting because I am not a vegan so I didn’t know if I was supposed to prepare the food differently or whatnot. I was pushed out of my comfort zone more by being out into the homeless community and getting to talk to them. It was uncomfortable and awkward for me because I did not want to offend or say something wrong to them, and it’s a hard line to walk when you don’t know what is offensive for them and what isn’t, and I wanted them to feel as welcomed as possible. When I volunteered for Manna, I had the mindset of being less awkward and ready to talk to them, but that had quickly changed as soon as I walked in the doors. Every single person turned and looked at me, and was watching my every move. I felt so uncomfortable and didn’t know what to do with myself, so I walked out. I took a short walk around the building, and decided to go back inside to give it another go. But the same thing happened. I didn’t want to go over to a group of people because they were talking, and I got the vibe that they didn’t really want me to go over there anyways. It was frustrating because even the staff at Manna acted like I was invisible and didn’t even help me, so I walked out. I think in that sense, I took the easy way out.
Overall, I would say this project influenced me as a human to have more compassion. Not just for the homeless, but for people in general. I tend to forget that all of us have our own things going on in our lives, and that can impact how we act on a day to day basis. We never know what is going on in all of our lives, and we shouldn’t act like we know what’s going on and everything about them. I knew that before, but I think it became more present throughout this project with the more experiences I had and from the guest speakers talking about their experiences and such. As well as the meeting that I had attended with the City Council. They talked about the homeless “issue” that is present in our community and how they noticed that a lot of people treat the homeless as scum, and I even heard “if I go downtown and I see one more panhandler, I am not going back”. I think people with that mindset need to think about what that person is going through, and not assume that they chose that life, or that they are alcoholics and druggies.
For our event, we held an exhibition at the La Plata County Fairgrounds from 5:30 to 8:00. We invited community organizations, city council members (who could not attend), county commissioners, and people experiencing homelessness, as well as our parents and people of the community. For our event, we wanted it to be educational as well as welcoming. We had keynote speakers, such as Julie Westendorff who is apart of County Commissioner and Jennifer Turner who works with La Plata Youth Services to give a little more insight as to what the issue is and bring more awareness. After the keynote speakers were done talking, everyone was allowed to walk around and observe our work that varied from videos, art pieces, writing pieces and models. We also had booths set up for more information and other community organizations helping with homelessness such as Donna Mae, Chrissy from the Homeless Shelter, Mari with Food Not Bombs, La Plata Youth Services, Axis and the Community Compassion Outreach Program. Then, we had a dinner where everyone could eat and discuss. It was really cool to see everyone get involved and just watching more and more people come in and really engage themselves with our projects and the community organizations. I think our class did a really good job with bringing more compassion and awareness to the homeless community, which was our goal. Something interesting that I learned was that for females that are experiencing homelessness, sometimes for feminine products, they will have to use a sock and washout and reuse it when it is that time of the month. It was interesting because I never thought about what females do in that situation when they don’t have anything for it, and because those types of things are expensive.
I would say I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone by going out and volunteering for Food Not Bombs and going to Manna alone. For a topic that is so controversial and where many things can happen, is very nerve racking. For Food Not Bombs, I showed up to Mari’s house and cooked vegan food, which was really interesting because I am not a vegan so I didn’t know if I was supposed to prepare the food differently or whatnot. I was pushed out of my comfort zone more by being out into the homeless community and getting to talk to them. It was uncomfortable and awkward for me because I did not want to offend or say something wrong to them, and it’s a hard line to walk when you don’t know what is offensive for them and what isn’t, and I wanted them to feel as welcomed as possible. When I volunteered for Manna, I had the mindset of being less awkward and ready to talk to them, but that had quickly changed as soon as I walked in the doors. Every single person turned and looked at me, and was watching my every move. I felt so uncomfortable and didn’t know what to do with myself, so I walked out. I took a short walk around the building, and decided to go back inside to give it another go. But the same thing happened. I didn’t want to go over to a group of people because they were talking, and I got the vibe that they didn’t really want me to go over there anyways. It was frustrating because even the staff at Manna acted like I was invisible and didn’t even help me, so I walked out. I think in that sense, I took the easy way out.
Overall, I would say this project influenced me as a human to have more compassion. Not just for the homeless, but for people in general. I tend to forget that all of us have our own things going on in our lives, and that can impact how we act on a day to day basis. We never know what is going on in all of our lives, and we shouldn’t act like we know what’s going on and everything about them. I knew that before, but I think it became more present throughout this project with the more experiences I had and from the guest speakers talking about their experiences and such. As well as the meeting that I had attended with the City Council. They talked about the homeless “issue” that is present in our community and how they noticed that a lot of people treat the homeless as scum, and I even heard “if I go downtown and I see one more panhandler, I am not going back”. I think people with that mindset need to think about what that person is going through, and not assume that they chose that life, or that they are alcoholics and druggies.