Realizations

Today I realized that this trip has instilled a feeling of hope and optimism that is very new for me. I feel really content with where I am in my life and what I am doing with it. I was definitely not feeling this way before going to San Francisco. I read all these articles about all the budget cuts people are proposing or passing that will affect the poor and the working class and I feel angry still, but I also feel like I am doing something to help now. Or that I have helped and I have officially begun my journey and my passion for service. I don't know if any of this really makes sense, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, I feel so much more aware of the world after this trip, but yet, optimistic, which is so refreshing and exactly what I needed.

--Cal

On being back from San Fran...

I left my hearts in San Francisco.
On the corner of Larkin and Ellis,
in the space between broken promises
and broken bottles.

Sitting cross-legged in the penthouse
of a building that kissed the edges of the sky
and I left them in a puddle of smiles
the size of a mountain
laced with young women that dance and
men who blow bubbles as you walk by.

And with survivors whose stories
are now apart of my own.

I left them among ink and blisters
and people who work for pennies
but are the richest I've ever met,
Queens more royal than blue.

I left them with a man with a
story
that shakes tears out of
the driest eyes
San Francisco, I left them with you.

But don't you worry,
cuz I'll be back
to get them.



--Salisa



"Liberties are never given, they are always taken." --Beth Pickens

Reflections, Musings and Conclusions

Being home the past two days has been a difficult adjustment. I can’t explain how much I miss being in San Francisco with all of my new friends, serving and learning and growing.

Everyone asks: “How was your trip?” and I don’t ever know what to say or where to begin. I try to tell them about all the service we did and the people we talked to but its impossible to convey the way that I feel and the way I’ve changed because of this trip, and more importantly—because of the people I was surrounded by on this trip. The relationships I made in San Francisco are so important to me, and it’s really hard to explain that to people back at school. I have a whole new group of people who I know support me and create a safe space for me, and that’s exactly what I needed at this point in my life. I’m getting all emotional again just thinking about them. I sincerely hope that we all keep in touch for a very very long time.

Besides all of the fantastic relationships I made, it also felt really good to serve and spend my time helping people who are less privileged than I am. I learned a lot about homelessness and the way it traps people. Before the trip someone was telling me that they didn’t think people should be on government assistance or food stamps for more than about two years. I honestly don’t remember who it was but I’m pretty sure it was one of my white, male, college-aged, middle class friends. The thing is, its easy to say things like that when you’ve never seen someone sleeping on the street, in a doorway while its raining, or peeing on the sidewalk because no businesses will let them use a bathroom, or looking for half-smoked cigarettes on the sidewalk to curb their hunger, or hauling ALL of their belongings around in a shopping cart, or begging people on the street to buy them just one bag of chips. And it could be me; it could be my family on the street, going to churches and food shelves to survive. Anyways, this person I was talking with said something like, “I could go out and get a job right now if I really needed to.” Which is probably true, but he isn’t homeless, he can take a shower when he needs to, and he can buy new clothes when he needs to. If you’ve been sleeping on the streets for a week and its been rainy, and you have no access to a shower, and your clothes are a bit ragged, not too many people are going to hire you. Homeless people are still people, LGBTQIA people are still people, people are people but there are stigmas attached to all different types of people, cultures and communities and we forget that we are all human beings.

Another community I learned a lot about is the trans women community. I had no idea that they were so marginalized, even in comparison to trans men. There are a lot of complex issues that I still need to learn more about, but the Girl Talk show provided a platform for me to jump off of and really dig deep to learn more about this community. One thing that I was confused about at Girl Talk was the concept of trans misogyny. I don’t want to talk about it too much because I really don’t know how to navigate through all of these issues and terms and language and what not but it’s something to think about. Girl Talk made me question a lot of things about the way our society constructs gender and sexual orientation, which I think is a good thing. As an ally I have lots more to learn, but now I’m really excited and eager to learn after this trip.

I also learned a ton about HIV/AIDS from volunteering Project Open Hand and listening to Jason Villalobos speak. I had no idea that the AIDS epidemic was so huge or that the government didn’t even acknowledge it until years after it began. San Francisco was the only part of the country with a strong, powerful movement to fight the epidemic. Now we are kind of falling back into a phase of complacency, which is scary to think about. That’s why the work that Jason does is so important.

The most important thing I learned, in regards to my allyship, is that I need to be more conscious of my privilege on a daily basis. I’ve never been teased, bullied, or harassed because of my sexual orientation, and I will never fully understand exactly how that feels. I’ve grown up in an upper-middle class household in the suburbs. I’ve been really lucky and I have advantages that many other people don’t have. Now, what I’ve realized is that I want to use these advantages to help other people, I have extra time and money that others don’t, so why shouldn’t I spend it serving and supporting them? Soon I will be starting regular volunteer work and outreach for Sexual Offense Services of Ramsey County and that will be my first real taste of structured, regular, involved volunteer work. I’m nervous that I am not ready or stable enough to support rape/sexual assault victims, but after this trip I’m also extremely excited because I know how good it feels to be helping people and giving back. I’m really passionate about women’s issues and might be interested in having a career for a non-profit organization, especially after talking with Laura from the GSA offices.

This trip has also been an extension of my passion for feminism. To me feminism is about equality for all types of people, not just women. People think that feminism is anti- things: anti-men, anti-femininity, etc. It’s not. For me, it is a movement that is trying to change the system and fight the patriarchy that affects us ALL. Not everyone understands this or agrees but that is what my feminism means to me. It’s who I am and I am dedicated to it. Women’s rights are human rights, LGBTQIA rights are human rights, people of color are still marginalized in our society, trans and intersex issues and identities are hardly ever discussed or recognized. I want to help change this in my lifetime. This trip was a start, a jumping off point.

But ultimately, the thing I value most from this trip really is the relationships that I’ve built with everyone. We truly are a support system for each other and that’s something that I’m extremely thankful for and lucky to have gotten from this trip. Every single person on this trip has been so kind and caring towards me, and towards each other in general. That’s hard to find in a large group. We work so well together though, everyone is so loving. We all opened up and shared a lot about ourselves and I think that really helped develop this support system. I can honestly say that I believe every person on this trip--Simone, Grady, Shawyn, Justin, Salisa, Steve, Hannah, Alissa, Trung, Alicia and Peter, are some of the best and most beautiful people I’ve ever met and I am genuinely grateful to know all of them.

--Cal

Reflection - Justin

Today was the first day back at school after the trip. And yesterday was my first day home. Over the last 2 days I've found the hardest part is explaining this trip and the impact it had on me.. The last week has had a profound impact on me and the way I look at my life, the way I look at the queer community, as well as other aspects of my life. One of those is striking while things are hot in the realm of volunteering. The trip sparked a new outlook on giving my time to help others, and the way to do that is volunteering, so today I spent some time looking at places to volunteer that focus on youth and homelessness as well as the queer community. I want to make sure I set out time to dedicate to helping an organization and not loose sight of the the perspective I gained the last week.

I also found new insight into my identity especially as a gay man within the queer community. This trip really provided me the opportunities to reflect (pun intended) on my identity and how my life works with it, and how I navigate it. Because even though I've been out for some time, I still have a lot of growth and comfort to gain with it, and that will be something I continually process for the rest of my life. However, San Francisco gave me a glimpse of life where I can be completely comfortable with my identity and it's okay, which is something I strive for.

Another piece of important insight I gained in the role of allies within the queer community. We were very fortunate to have 3 people on this trip who are allies to the queer community, and they are 3 very special people for me. It's because of people like them, that people like me are here today. They provided and continually provide an astonishing amount support, kindness and compassion, and I'm so thankful to be able to call them my friends. I have really created a bond with people from this trip, and like my last entry, that's something that will stay with me forever.

Being back in Minnesota is hard, and it's an adjustment period, and it'll take time to integrate what we gained in San Francisco to our lives back home, and I'm excited, frustrated, and nervous about figuring all that out. A friend of mine shared a quote with me from a similar experience she had and I want to leave you with that -

"Exemplify patience when going home. Experiences shape us- people back home won't understand your perspective here and how it changed. You may be the first poke of something different back home."

Much love,

Justin

Reflections

How can I even begin to describe how incredible this trip was? In just a week, I learned so much about the world around me and myself. Before I went on this trip, I had kind of lost sight of the path to LGBTIQ equality. I think in going to a school like Hamline, it can be easy to feel contained inside this little bubble where it is okay to be queer and be true to yourself. At Hamline, we focus so much on the importance of diversity and loving people for who they are, rather than judging them for the label society places on them. I was brought back to a harsh reality in San Francisco when I realized that this is not how the rest of the world is. We spoke with some of the most passionate and inspirational queer rights activists who fight everyday for the rights of their community. One of the people we spoke to was Jason, an incredibly strong man living with HIV who campaigns for HIV prevention and speaks to communities about his experiences. His story reminded me of the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s. I think our generation has forgotten how serious this epidemic was, and how devastating it was for the queer community. This disease nearly wiped out an entire generation of gay men. It got to a point where people were throwing out phone books full of people who died. It is difficult to imagine that if we had been born ten years sooner, we could have seen all of our friends and loved ones dying of this disease. Our generation has kind of forgotten about how hard that generation worked just to be recognized by the government and mainstream American society. The government was not doing anything because it was labeled as a “gay disease”. We, as the queer community, need to remember the struggles of the generation before us. That being said, we also need to keep in mind what they would want for us. They would not want us to sit around in our own tiny bubbles thinking, “this is as good as it’s going to get.” They would want us to continue to fight for our basic human rights as a queer community.

To whoever is reading this, whatever your sexual orientation, race, gender may be, please do not give up. Continue to fight for your rights because you are worth. You have a voice and you owe it to the world to use it.

We got a lot of work to do.

This is by no means a final word on this trip. In more ways than one, I still need to collect my own thoughts.

Our group has seen a lot since last Saturday. I tell people that I feel older since we came here, and I'm serious.

In somewhat of a response to the frustration Trung expressed last night, I want to admit that I'm leaving this beautiful city with a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. Don't get me wrong! We've done some amazing work in San Francisco, and I'm so grateful to all the groups—but especially the individuals—who made this trip amazing for us.

The personal narratives from those that we've met are what I will take back with me to Saint Paul and I will do my best to apply what I've learned to my character as I continue to explore, with a new-found sense of appreciation, issues relating to the LGBT community, homelessness, and food justice.

But none of us can solve every problem at once—it's been a struggle for me to accept that I can't. And now, instead of doing nothing, I'm asking myself and everyone reading this just to do one thing today. Donate the clothes that you'll never wear anyway to GoodWill. Volunteer at a soup kitchen; volunteer in your campus, in your neighborhood, anywhere you see room for improvement.

Because if I've learned one thing from San Francisco, it's that kindness is contagious. If someone sees you doing something virtuous, they will follow your lead.

Maybe not immediately.

Maybe not for a month.

But it will happen.

And for heaven's sake—ask for help! Tell your friends! Make it an event!

We can't do this work alone, and we shouldn't have to. We might have a lot of work to do, but we'll get it done a hell of a lot faster if we do it together.

in love,

Grady

Communities within, around, and beyond... well, Communities

This trip has been one of the most empowering, impacting, and eye-opening experiences of my entire college experience. Today's Girl Talk poetry reading and spoken word performance moved me, in heart and in mind, toward unexplored intersections of identity and social expectation. Props to the beautiful women who told their stories, sharing with us their limitless joys and their deepest of sorrows; it was an unforgettable evening. 

Among the more sobering lessons I will take away from tonight, though, is rooted in my penchant for self-criticism, for myself as an individual and the communities within which I identify. Over the past couple of days, we served at Glide, a soup kitchen that practices radical inclusion, and Project Open Hand. Both aim to serve those of the absolute lowest economic standing that could be found in the city by providing nutritious meals, and both are heavily mobilized by the community itself. I got to see how people in a community, regardless of any real experiential connection with each other aside from proximity, take what little they have, and collectively work to provide for each other. It's a beautiful thing. 

When I was about eight years old, I traveled back to Vietnam with my family. I lived there for a month, and my parents made sure I got a chance to see the beauty of our native homeland along with all the poverty and misfortune that coursed through the social fabric of the country.  I'll never forget the Sunday morning my parents took me to a big stone church for mass on top of a hill. To get into the church, we had to walk up a pathway alongside the hill leading up to the church. The dusty yellow pathway was lined with rows of starving homeless people, mostly elderly, with their tired, weather-worn, sun-parched arms outstretched, begging for money or for food from passing parishioners. My parents had told me that I should grow up to be a leader, and in Eastern cultures the understanding of leadership revolves around influence; "Be as the wind, for when the wind blows, the grass bends." I was eight years old, and that thought terrified me because I could see, as I walked past the rows of worn, leathery arms, those tired arms swayed toward me wherever I stepped, like a field of parched, yellow grass bending in the wind.

I knew my life was better and that I was fortunate, but I was naive enough to believe that couldn't be true here. That poverty, that homelessness, that state of placeless helplessness was something that happened over there, on the other side of the world... not here. Right?

That couldn't be more wrong. Walking the streets of the Tenderloin, there were people sleeping on doorsteps, in entrances of business centers, with their entire lives tucked under blankets in shopping carts. Poverty is a reality everywhere, and we're so happily and comfortably blind to the suffering of those nameless, faceless people who sleep on the streets down which we don't even care to travel.

Volunteering at Glide and Project Open Hand was uplifting because I felt as though I knew exactly who I was aiming to help. I could see them in the streets. I could picture them being fed.

I then noted that I was slightly uncomfortable with volunteering at the LGBT Center in San Francisco, especially after being in soup kitchens. They were preparing for an auction with an extensive guest list peppered with local celebrities and affluent community members. The entrance fee was upwards of $90, and the auction within it would have been well out the reach of my college-kid pocketbook, not to mention the food and the drinks. I felt an unease because, for the past two days, I'd been helping to feed people who suffered from AIDS, who were economically disenfranchised, or who lived in the streets. This afternoon, I stuffed name tags for a group of people who own homes, who could blow hundreds of dollars on a fabulous evening out on the town, and who would probably never even dream of having to live from paycheck to paycheck or struggle to feed their children or themselves from day to day.

I had to really challenge myself to accept that sometimes you had to work within the system to affect social change. The Center was a lofty operation, and it is sustained by events like those. The events are catered to the wealthy and the affluent so as to earn their support, their capital, to maintain that space. And the LGBT community needs that space. And that works. And as much as I hate to admit it, the effort was probably worth the trouble. 

And yet, somewhere, in my heart of hearts, I can't help but feel that every name tag I was stuffing was one meal I was not serving. To walk out of the beautiful LGBT center and back over to streets littered with sleeping bags and shopping carts remains highly unsettling. 

Hannah, Alissa, and Trung: Reflections!

Sorry about the weird buzzing noise! My old Macbook is temperamental.

- Trungles

Girl Talk

Tonight our Catalyst group went to an event called Girl Talk. It is a show that provides community and a platform for the voices of trans women. Some of the women performed poetry, some shared stories and others just talked about what they were doing and who they were. It was amazing. It was beyond amazing. My mind was blown after seeing what these women have to say. After the show Justin, Shawyn and I had a great conversation that I think helped us sort out everything we had heard, at least a little bit. I thought I had a basic understanding of trans issues before the show, but after I realized that I know almost nothing. It made me question a lot of things, but ultimately I have learned that identities are deeply personal and that no two people identify in the same way, even if they use the same terms, definitions or labels. I also learned that I have A TON of work to do as an ally to educate myself and figure out what I can do in an ally role. It was a great experience and I feel really lucky to be on this trip and to have the opportunity to see things like this and experience this culture. Its almost beyond words, what I have written here really doesn’t do it justice but I know that this trip is an experience that I will never ever forget.

-- Cal

A few late-night thoughts...

This trip... this city has changed my life. But that's not really news, right?

Tonight all of us volunteered at the LGBT Community Center by making name badges for their upcoming Gala, ate a quick dinner on the go, and made our way back to the center for a spoken word performance named, Girl Talk. This last piece in particular was amazing.

The event was all about trans and cis-gendered women who talked about issues of gender, sexuality, and being beautiful, strong, and successful women. Again, amazing. I know you're jealous. Here are the featured guests: Mira Bellwether, Gina de Vries, Tara Hardy, Tobi Hill-Meyer, Marlene Hoeber, Sadie Lune, Elena Rose (aka little light), and Ray Rubin. These women have made incredible contributions to their community (like the first for/by trans-women porn called "Doing it Ourselves" as well as a zine called, "Fucking Trans-Women") and are definitely worth a google.

As an aspiring ally to the transgender community, I was extremely enlivened and moved to hear these deeply personal narratives about everything from transitioning to sex to simply having safe spaces to discuss trans issues.

This day especially has me thinking about what I want to bring back from this trip: to Hamline, to the Twin Cities, and to the larger community. On the one hand, I feel like I've made major headway in discussing the importance of acceptance in the cis-gender community of the LGB movement. But what about the T? I don't think I've done enough exploring of this one subject which at once seems to encompass far more than the L, G, or B.

I'm still in love with my experience in San Francisco and with my group. It's beyond words how amazing it is to observe the closeness of my group and how that closeness has developed since Saturday. I can't be any more grateful to be where I am right now, right here.

Namaste, folks...
Grady

Steve - Blog 1

In the land of Walgreens and Starbucks

It’s Thursday night, and I’m sitting here with Justin trying to think of things I want to blog about. I could go on about how wonderful the Castro is, and the fact that I have been there three times since we arrived in San Francisco is pretty telling. I could talk about the amazing people here and how everyone is super nice; again this is saying something coming from a stereotypical “Minnesota Nice” person. However, I feel like I should focus on something a little less meaningful and point out little things I have noticed.

First of all, San Francisco has an unhealthy obsession with Walgreens. I swear, I have not seen this many Walgreens, ever, and they are all concentrated in this one city. There are so many that they have become the butt of many jokes on this trip. I thought about documenting this by taking a picture of every one I saw, but since there are so many, it would just be obnoxious. I got to thinking about SanFran’s obsession with putting Walgreens everywhere, and it hit me. Walgreens is able to offer basic needs to the people of San Francisco and with this city having a large homeless and low income population, I feel like these Walgreens are strategically placed to cater to the needs of the people who live are living a rough lifestyle. As funny as the Walgreens situation is, it is interesting to think that they may be there for a higher purpose than observant tourists to chuckle at.

If you read the title, you know where this is going. Starbucks. Being who I am, it would be a crime to not mention coffee at some point in this blog. Now, I am all for coffee and I would not make it through my days if not for that Venti Latte from Starbucks, but really, three within less than two blocks of each other? This is also quite shocking to notice. The city of San Francisco has a very diverse economic community. From one perspective, you see classy people walking out of Starbucks, heading down Market Street, into a designer bag store. And from the other, from the time they leave the coffee shop until the time they enter the designer store they will have passed at least five homeless people. The divide in this city between the upper and lower class is very frightening to me.

Overall, the observations of the awkward obsession with Walgreens and Starbucks in San Francisco are comical, but I feel like it is one of the ways we are able to notice little things and still learn from them.

Justin - Blog 1

Well it’s 10:37 on the 24^th of March, and we are halfway through the trip…what? To say that it has been a blur would be an understatement. However, this has been one of the most amazing experiences I can imagine. It is still unfathomable to me that myself and my cohorts are able to do this together…and I couldn’t ask for a better group to share this with, and for me that has been one of the most meaningful aspects of our time in San Francisco.

Personally, that was a big concern of mine. Coming from a communication studies background at Hamline, I have found myself being more aware of groups and the flow of communication – this knowledge created some apprehension in my mind about how all 12 of us would work out. Once we got into the trip and started, my apprehensions were completely dissolved, and this group now holds a special place in my heart. One of the most rewarding parts of this experience so far is the recognition that I have made friends that will last a long time outside of San Francisco.

One incredibly unique thing about this group of people is that we all want to be here, and we all have a passion for the issues that we are seeing this city. The things that we are doing here such as serving dinner to people experiencing low incomes and homelessness, the speakers and organizations we are meeting are all once in a lifetime opportunities, and I cannot be more thankful for them. As a gay man, this is one of the first times I have truly felt proud to be who I am, and to be a part of this beautiful and loving community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and allied people.

With all of this group activity it has not lessened the emotional and mental impact this trip has had. Seeing the state of The Tenderloin, which is the area we are staying in, has been quite eye opening. I have never seen so many people experiencing homeless in any other city. Walking down the street, seeing someone sleeping on the sidewalk, looking for cigarettes on the ground, and begging for money has left a permanent feeling and understanding in my life. This makes me, and many people in the rest of the group when we walk around with fresh coffee in our hand on our way to find our next meal.

Last night we got to meet with an HIV/AIDS activist who has been a prominent force in that community for quite some time now. His story was especially meaningful to me, and a lot of the things that he shared have mirrored certain experiences in my life has been a very special experience and I will forever value what this person had to say, and the work that they did.

Change Me

It just kind of hit me. Today is the fourth day we've been in San Francisco. Everything has been falling together lately, and I had a hard time noticing that it was happening. I guess months of staring at budget spreadsheets made me think it would never happen.

But we're here.

Over the past few days, we've met with some incredible folks who have humbled, inspired, and challenged me. I realize now more than ever that there is so much to be done––so much action to continue. How can I not be honored to be a part of this––my queer legacy?

We met with Beth Pickens on Monday. She's the managing director for RADAR Productions and works very closely with a traveling queer artist group called Sister Spit. This is a group that developed based off the need for some recognition of lesbian art and literature. Over the years, Sister Spit has incorporated queer folk from all backgrounds, and is proud to say that they've welcomed a straight, cisgendered man on the tour for the first time.

Beth is one of those people who you can tell has a wealth of knowledge and it shows. Among the advice I gleaned from our interaction, this is my favorite: (about the queer artist community in San Francisco) "Our artists aren't interested in normalizing anything. They say, 'I don't wanna be normal. I want to celebrate what makes me freaky.' There's a difference between normalization and visibility. We want to increase visibility of our work."

We talked over Proposition 8, HIV awareness, and even the recent 'It Gets Better Project.' When asked what she would have said to a young queer-identified person, she told our group, "Your future is a million times cooler than you can even imagine. YOu just have to ask for it."


Jason Villalobos was the man our group met up with tonight to discuss HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. Jason's the kind of person you hope you meet when you're having an off day. His unrelenting enthusiasm and passion are impossible to overlook, and his story is incredible. To see Jason's story, check out this video. Jason works in San Francisco as an HIV/AIDS activist who works with too many organizations for me to reasonably list here, and says (about his work) "I put myself out there and my work finds me."

He says that San Francisco is a "city of misfits," taking in any and everyone who doesn't fit in anywhere else. Jason believes his life mission "is to eliminate stigma. We all have issues, but we never talk about them. The only way we can confront our issues is to say them out loud."

Something you ought to know about Jason: he's a bit of a local celebrity. You can see his face on a billboard at Castro and 18th currently, and he's even been on Oprah!

Jason's talk to our group deeply moved us all. He shared his inspiring story from rural, central California to bustling San Francisco, his own battle against HIV, and the many ways he's given back to the city that he says saved his life. In regards to the growing spread of AIDS, Jason reflects on the lack of federal support during the '80s.: "We were on our own. San Francisco had to turn inward and take care of its own."

Finally, Jason left us with this: "My one piece of advice to you all is to use your voice as loudly, as often, and as precisely as you can. You can still be powerful and give something back with just your voice."


My heart is simply taking wing tonight.
I have a feeling I'll have trouble sleeping.

- Grady

"Every where you look, there's a heart"...or a Walgreens!

It's the end of Day 2 and to describe San Francisco in one word is very difficult but if I had to I would say that so far San Francisco has been vivid.... and righteous, and riveting, and colorful, and simply beautiful in so many ways.

This morning after breakfast, a group of us from Catalyst Q (myself, Justin, Cal, Steve and Simone) began the day with a bit of exploring. With rainbow rain boots and broken umbrellas on guard we survived the morning drizzle and soon the weather showed us mercy. As the sun emerged from the clouds we quickly put away our tired umbrellas and whipped out our cameras. Throughout the morning we found it quite difficult to make it to our destinations because we had sights like these to distract us:










So, we walked around exploring the area and snapping pictures left and right for what felt like days but was actually only a few hours and all too soon we returned to our hostel around lunch time with sore feet, happy hearts, and satisfied San Francisco souls.

This afternoon our destination was the GLBT History Museum that we eventually stumbled upon in the beautiful, lively, and historic Castro neighborhood:





We arrived with the sun still on our sides.
The museum housed a fraction of the actual historic items that the GLBT Historical Society has obtained overtime. From items such as Harvey Milk's own megaphone and clothing to thousands of posters, t-shirts, videos, and audio recordings, the GLBT museum took my breath away and truly made me stop and think.

I realized that I had spent the beginning of the day as simply a tourist, with my brand new camera attached firmly to my hand. Going to the museum reminded me of why I am here. That small space was filled with so many stories and so many pieces of an important history that we are not taught growing up in school. I thought about the people that don't have this opportunity and a mixture of guilt and gratefulness hugged my soul.

As I looked around at my group members I realized just how fortunate we all are to be blessed with this experience. That was by far my favorite part of the day.

As I sit here in this common space in our hostel writing this post, I am surrounded by people of all hues and angles that I do not know. When I close my eyes and listen I hear accents from all around the world, some that are familiar and some that are not. When I look out of the window I see affluence and poverty walking inches apart from each other, I see bright lights and empty streets. I am a twenty year old Hamline University student with a low income background and a heavy heart for poetry. I am a Black woman, a sister and an ally. I sometimes don't know what I know, but right now in this place, I know that I am sitting here, amongst these strangers who smile, and I am living and working for something that I believe in.

And right now, that's more than enough.

San Francisco is a magical place where beauty and heartbreak live right next door to one another.

I love it so far and I'm learning everyday. I can not wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Inspired,





--Salisa

We've Arrived!

Although it is rainy weather, the first day in San Fran has went well!

We had a successful trip from MSP to Denver to SF, and it was a fun adventure riding the train/BART to our hostel. The hostel has a welcoming vibe, which is nice in a new city. As we all settled in, I had a huge sense of happiness of finally being here. I have been looking forward to this trip for quite a while,so it has been great to finally be experiencing it.

We had a wonderful dinner prepared by the Food Justice group, and after that, our group headed out to a Woman's Building. At the building, we had a really great discussion about different pictures, and the emotions/thoughts that came to us through those pictures. It surprised me by how emotionally affected I was by some of the pictures that dealt with the LGBTQIA community... I feel that after tonight, this trip has now grown an even deeper meaning for me, and for why I am here doing this volunteer work.

It goes beyond my own personal desire to learn more about the LGBTQIA community, but for me to be able to teach others about the community I am a part of.

I would love to chat more, but I am SO tired, so I will finish up.

I am looking forward to the rest of this trip, and the experiences I will have with this amazing group of people I am getting to know.

-Alicia

The Hostel!

Tomorrow's the Big Day

Well... technically, today is the big day. I haven't gone to sleep yet... which I feel bad about. I'll be super tired in the morning.

We had our final pre-trip meeting tonight. We went over some logistics for the trip, gender and sexual orientation information, and discussed groceries all over some yummy Chinese food. Many of us couldn't believe that we'd be flying out to San Francisco tomorrow. I still can't believe that we're doing this.

I feel like I need to run laps before I can go to sleep.

That probably won't happen ;-)

Goodnight (morning?!)