Writings by A.

Twelve more days till I’m finally home. First year of college is coming to an end right around the corner and I couldn’t be anymore excited about this. This past year has probably been the most stressful year of my life so far. From deciding where I wanted to go to college, officially leaving NYC for school, saying goodbye to family and friends, and meeting new people in a new place. In retrospect, this past year wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be. 

I’m extremely grateful for the new friends that I’ve made since I came to college, friends from back home who are closer to me than ever before, and this overall new experience. On the plane ride to Buffalo State, all I can think about was why I was even going to school? Buffalo State wasn’t my first choice nor my second or third. I got accepted into Hofstra University which has been my dream school since I was in middle school. I was really bummed out when I had to decline their offer which resulted in me having to choose the last school I even considered going to. Though my friend from back home was also going to Buffalo State, I wasn’t as excited as I thought I’d be if I went to college without knowing anyone and sort of being able to find myself along the way with meeting new people. 

I’m thrilled that I came to Buffalo knowing someone from back home, because I was beyond scared when I first got here and felt a little out of place; having a familiar face sort of made it easier and comforting. Rooming with my friend had it’s ups and downs but one thing for sure that I’ll always be glad for rooming with her is the stories we’ll tell to our friends from back home about the amount of third roommate changes we have had in the course of our FIRST year at college, new friends, new experiences, everything.

This semester has also been very stressful and this next week is going to be even more stressful than last semester in the sense that I have WAY more work to do, presentations to finish, and loads of studying for my finals (which is also stressing me out)

For my Women in Literature class we are working on projects based on a book we are currently reading for the course called ‘Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic’ by Alison Bechdel. Throughout the course of a about two to three weeks we have to submit our reading responses for our weekly readings based on the chapters that was assigned by our professor. After everyone has finished reading the book, two groups (which were already assigned during the beginning of the semester), have to make a presentation relating it to a several different topics and in the end we have to make discussion questions about the book for the class to answer.

The sort of skills that I find students need to have to be successful in this particular class is to actually be engaged and up to date with the readings during class discussions, so that the class can not only run smoothly but so that every student knows what everyone is talking or debating about. To get a point across in this classroom, reading the books or novels assigned for the course is very essential because we have to have them present when we’re taking our exams in class. Citing and making reference to a line or particular phrase in the book, is what we do throughout class; so to be actively engaged, as a student to be successful throughout this course you may need to have read the chapters prior to the beginning of class so that if you do want to be a part of the discussion you may join in and say what page number you made a reference to and so on.

My mom once told me truth is like our skin, a beautiful protective covering, things people say or think are like clothes that can easily changed. As I close my eyes I get my camera ready and shoot her sitting on the bench wearing all black, trees behind her as she looks up to the sky with so much life her in her breathing should be an option. I clicked and smiled. As I open them, the women is gone. Reality check, she's dead, she has been for the past 6 years. Truth.. If it really is our skin, why is it so hard to live by?

I feel myself wanting to cry a little but quickly regain my composure as the train starts to move again. I crane my neck to see what stop had just passed and I realize I'm going to be late for my meeting with the gallery owner. I look around to see as many faces as I can, wishing I could take their pictures, try to capture the feeling in their eyes. I glance at a homeless man, huddled in the corner to himself, drinking what I hope is to be juice of some kind. I take out my camera and shoot, capturing that composition but then he growls at me and I leap backwards making my way out of the train as my stop approaches...

-This is a monologue I've been working on for awhile that I've been trying to turn into a short story. I've made it my goal this year to write at least one short story each month, with each story being vaguely different from the last. Growing up, art and writing was always something that I spent my time on when I was alone.

For this weeks blog post I will talk about my experience with Alternative Break this weekend. Alternative Break is an organization on campus, which helps raise awareness and reaches out to students to volunteer on social causes. This year social cause for Alternative Break was Homelessness and Homeless Veterans around the Buffalo community.

Going into it, I didn't know what to expect but I wanted to learn more, to sort of open my eyes. Being from the city, whenever I see a homeless person, people usually put their headphones in or they try to move as far away as possible, which makes me really uncomfortable so I do the same and smile at the homeless person. 

On Friday, we drove to the Salvation Army building where we were going to be sleeping for 2 days on cots they've provided for us. That night we met some local veterans (also my site leaders father was also a veteran!) who told us about their experience from what rank they served and where they served and we did arts and craft with some of the kids at the Salvation Army shelter. The veterans were super nice and were open to many questions. 

The following day we went to Grace Point, a place run by a few people who seek out homeless people around the area and give them what they need, from food, clothing, to toiletries. I was stationed in the toiletries section and I bagged things like a razor, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, rag towel, toilet paper, deodorant, and if it was a toiletry bag for a female we put one kotex or tampon in it. We then drove to the Bus Transit Station and we were to look for homeless people and gather them around the truck to give them clothe, hot cocoa, sandwiches we made and toiletries. 

The most difficult part about this specific task was that in the bus station, the people looked like you're average person waiting for the bus to arrive. That's what they wanted us to get from this, they wanted us to break that stereotype of people judging homeless person by their stench or their ripped clothe. Being homeless can mean someone living in horrible poverty, a runaway, or someone who chooses not live in a home due to personal tragic reasons; all in all they're people too whether they have homes or not and thats what some people fail to understand when they treat them like worthless animals. So for us trying to find the 'homeless' people, I honestly did feel like a jerk because I didn't have the courage to walk up to some people and just let them know what we have to offer, whether they're homeless or not.

When we went to the library later on that day, I was handing out snacks to a group of homeless people that made their way to the truck, and I felt good about myself, I was having heartbreaking conversations with some of them, and I just enjoyed myself because they were so happy that we were doing this for THEM. This one guy told his homeless friends we're doing for school credit, and his friend asked if we were doing this for credits and my fellow members and I quickly told them that we get no credits out of doing this, we're just volunteering for the community, the smile that quickly spread across his face was truly something I'll always remember. 

And earlier today, we cleaned the Naval & Military Park and went back to the Salvation Army building to have our last reflection session as a group. The kids we met in the Shelter even came back and said goodbye to us- this part really made me appreciate the things that I have because we might be the reason those kids smiled that day or we might've made their day just a slightly bit better by noticing and cherishing them. 

For this weeks blogpost being about educating each other on a topic of significance I've chosen to write about a nonprofit organization that I've been honored to be a part of, as a teen member for the past 2 years. LitWorld is a nonprofit organization which helps young children around the world have their voice heard through the power of story telling; it focuses on literacy (also female empowerment in education) through productive and creative workshops for young kids and teens in their communities.

"Two thirds of the world’s illiterate people are women and girls. Therefore, two thirds of LitWorld’s programming is focused on women and girls to right this imbalance." (LitWorld, n.d.)  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toYukJwDbq8#t=118

The video link above shows an inspirational insight of what LitWorld is about, through different languages and different countries, the power that sharing stories holds is truly inspiring and moving. 

Before joining LitWorld I was never aware of the amount of people that were illiterate around the world, adults and children combined. From being in LitWorld's Girls Club and from mentoring the younger LitWorld girls this past summer, I've learned the power and the unity you can form when there's a positive outlook/team working together to fix a bigger cause.

Education is such a beautiful thing in life that should never be taken for granted, as others around the world struggle at a young age to even go to school, females often are urged to leave school to be the take carers of their communities.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2014/05/02/exp-illiteracy-impact-economy-campaign-spreading.cnn&video_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F