1. List ten things that make you feel human.
- Breathing fresh air and feeling the sun on a summer day
- Long, sincere conversations about life where you make connections with people
- Moments when I question my existence
- Listening to music while driving
- The feeling of happiness and accomplishment after a workout
- Silence. I really appreciate silence because I am sensitive to noise.
- Traveling to new places
- Laughing
- Enjoying an awesome meal
- Being in love
2. Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with the GSIF / LVSIF. Specifically discuss:
I believe that the first step to solving any problem is awareness. People will not care about the world’s issues if they do not know that they exist. People especially will not invest their time or money in solving a problem if they do not understand it well. Being in an age of globalism, the humans alive today know about the problem’s of other people more than ever. One could make a case that we actually know too much about other people’s lives — obsessed with understanding the private lives and pasts of celebrities and politicians. But why is it just the rich and famous that we want to know everything about? It is probably because we envy their lives because they appear to be luxurious and care-free. However, I believe that we can apply that same sense of inquiry to those suffering in our world. I engage because there are so many issues that people do not know are occurring right now, across the globe and in their neighborhoods. As it pertains to my work with LVSIF, communities of color in the Lehigh Valley have been impacted more severely by the covid-19 pandemic, struggling with poverty, illness, and inequality. If I can play a part in informing legislature, health care providers, and the Lehigh Valley about the challenges of communities of color, I will make an impact on the lives of people in my community. More generally, if we as humans took time to explore this conflict-ridden world and learn about the people who lack in any way, I think there would be a lot more sustainable entrepreneurs out there.
I must engage with sincere intentions to improve the lives of others. More importantly, I must make those intentions clear and know that the community I am engaging with may not welcome my help at first. I will learn about the community using indigenous knowledge because it holds cultural traditions that are important to the people. I must engage sustainably so that I am not destroying the ecosystem, environment, or homes of those I am engaging with. My goal must not be to disturb, but to work together as equals with the goal of improving the human condition. I can not engage alone. I need reliable partners who share my values of awareness, respect, and empathy for the world. As more people engage and understand my work with LVSIF, I hope that they will become invested into the project too. Awareness is not the only message I want to stress in my philosophy, because you can tell a million people what you are passionate about, but if you do not have a good idea or plan to fix it, you will lose people’s attention very fast. Therefore, I must engage with a well-designed model and concept of operations. I must be self-determined and willing to collaborate with others.
I must engage with the communities of color in the Lehigh Valley because they are experiencing the greatest effects from the pandemic biologically, economically, and socially. The poverty rate in Allentown is 27.3% and Hispanics make up the majority of that number. I am learning through my research that communities of color feel the effects of economic recession longer and harder than white people. While our lives at Lehigh may be looking up, people are still lacking access to healthcare and the vaccine. People are still feeling the effects of losing their jobs and losing their family members. Children who can not go to school take on more responsibilities at home because their parents are essential workers. It is essential to talk to the community so I can gain insight into their reality. I also must engage with community organizations in the Lehigh Valley such as Hispanic Center of the Lehigh Valley and St. Luke’s University Health Network because they know the problems facing communities of color. Establishing valuable partnerships increase the credibility of our project and will give us a bigger platform to increase awareness and exhibit our work.
The challenges I should care about are the challenges faced by the Lehigh Valley and the challenges that my team and I face while working on the project. We may face challenges in finding people to interview, establishing good connections with community partners, and realizing our end goal. We may find a lot of information and data about communities of color in the Lehigh Valley, but then what? A challenge may be sticking to our goals when we are unmotivated or do not think we are making progress. Opportunities I should care about are any opportunities to interact with the community, which are the people we are engaging with. These opportunities include interviews, initiatives to increase vaccine rollout, and presenting policy memos to local government. Approaches I should care about are ways that community organizations are attempting to address the impact of covid-19 on communities of color. It would be helpful to analyze these and see what ideas I can incorporate or leave out from our project.
My epitaph might read: “Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.” – Jack London