Presentations and Recipe

All the final presentations were very interesting and exciting to see and listen to. Everyone seemed to enjoy their service learning as well as gain something from their volunteer experiences.

I really enjoyed the different demonstrations that were presented today. Interaction with the audience members was a good way to grab the audiences attention and a good way in which to show that they really can relate to these situations and are part of these issues throughout society. I learned a lot from all of the presentations and from all the different volunteer agencies. I was really intrigued by Jovanda's service learning and how it was a place within lower income housing. I liked the idea of that particular agency and how they went to those in need because often times those in need can't get to those agencies that can help them.

Another volunteer experience that grabbed my attention was Katy's in downtown Seattle. I am from north Seattle and in the past members from my church, my family, and I have made sandwiches over the holidays and gone downtown to pass them out. I had no idea that there were agencies that did the same thing. The number of meals that that specific site passes out a day is amazing.

I plan to continue my volunteering at Trinity Lutheran Church on Fridays through Spring, but I hope I will be able to have time to experience other shelters or food banks, especially one that supplies for an enormous amount of people, such as those in the heart of downtown Seattle.

The potluck was delicious! Some of you asked me to post the recipe of the cake batter cookies:

-1 box of confetti cake mix
-1 egg
-1 stick of butter
-1 tsp. of vanilla (optional)

bake at 350 degrees for 8-10mins. and ENJOY!!

Discussion on Class

Yesterday's discussion on class was very interesting and got the wheels turning in my head. The discussion did take a little bit of a turn in that we started talking about college and our finanical situations.

I was one of those students that did raise their hand when asked if we knew all along that we were going to go to college. My mom attended PLU and became a nurse and still is to this day at UW hospital. Her parents and family were very supportive of her and she knew all along that she would be attending college when she graduated high school. Her parents paid for her education whereas my dad on the other hand had to pay his way through college. His parents were divorced during his high school years and he was left in the dark to take care of his siblings and raise money to continue on in school. He paid for two years of college and no longer could work and study at the same time. He owns his own construction business now, yet if someone in this day and age were to try and start their own business without an education outside of high school it would be very hard.

While growing up all of my friends were planning on going to college and my family would always ask were I was thinking of attending. I never thought twice of not continuing my education no matter if it was at a community college or four year college. But for a few of my friends they looked down upon community college and I could never understand why. I have taken two courses at community colleges and to be honest they are just as hard or harder than classes here at PLU.

My brother is a senior in high school and I noticed over the summer and winter break when I have been home I would ask his friends were they were thinking of going next year. For some of his friends college I found out was not going to be an option, at least not at this point in time. I realized that type of question could be hurtful or put someone down if they weren't planning on going to college. It made it an awkward situations and I noticed that a lot of them would try and defend their decision. After those couple encounters I have decided to change my question around, "what do you plan on doing next year?" Some are working and saving money to hopefully go to college or go into the army.

The whole converstation brought back memories of high school as well as the ideas of what our society expects and assumes.

Last day of Volunteering

Even though yesterday was my last day volunteering at the Trinity Lutheran Church Food Pantry for our class, I have decided to continue spending time at TLC on Fridays during Spring semester.

Since the clients at the food pantry can only come in once a month and it was getting closer to the end of the month, we had more customers than we have had in the pervious weeks we've volunteered. We had a variety of families come in, from different sizes, new customers, different races, homeless or not. Along with each bag we had a lot of fresh produce yesterday and it went fairly fast. Many members of the church and the community have helped to donate homemade items such as: chili, bread, brownies, fruit dessert bars, and so forth. Other ideas that were given to clients yesterday were: apples, Thomas Kemper rootbeer, eggs, butter, soymilk, apple juice, fruit bars and so forth. As each client came in we invited them to the next community meal that will be coming up in Febuary. The TLC recieved over 80 guests last Friday for the January community meal, which they were very thrilled about.

Every Tuesday and Friday when the pantry is open there is a freshly brewed pot of coffee for the clients to help themselves to. Due to the cold weather the food pantry has decided to not only pass out coffee next week, but freshly made soup. They plan to set up a nice little seating area for the customers to relax and talk to fellow community members.

All in all I truly enjoyed this experience at TLC and I can't wait for my experiences to grow and learn more throughout Spring semester.

Small Groups and True Colors Film

Today's class period was very eye opening and I learning at lot more about myself as well as our society as a whole.

First, I enjoyed the small group discussions, even though it was hard to admit and bring up situations in which I have oppressed someone or a specific group of people. Before learning about oppression, I had no idea there were different kinds of oppression and from this exercise it made me see specific examples that I have committed. It was hard to think in that way and open up and share those experiences, but it made me see how I can change with my actions in everyday life situations. The first step I think is just recognizing and being award of your actions. Once you can start to see your actions then you can start to confront and call out friends, family, co-workers, collegues, and so forth on their actions. If we all help one another out on stopping the oppression we each little by little can minimize racism.

What else I enjoyed with today's class was the film "True Colors". It was very blunt and straight to the point, yet I think it was long over due. This gives us and our society true life experiences that are happening everyday due to ones skin color. It was depressing to see the white man always succeeding no matter what. One interesting part of the movie was the car salesman and how he bumped up the price for the African America. I had no idea that this actually happened and not just once, but enough to notice a huge sum of money was being collected, because of race. It would be great if they could do this research again in today's time (not that I didn't enjoy it, but I don't feel as though people would take it seriously enough) and air it on television.

One final comment to today's class and discussing Wal-Mart. During my sociology 101 class we read a book called "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America." I highly suggest it, it is a quick read. It is about a middle aged women writer decided to drop her life and started living like many Americans do each day, under the poverty line and working at minimum wages. She goes to 3 or 4 different cities to find work and housing and in one city in perticular she finds a job at Wal-Mart. She discusses her experiences of working there as well as other jobs and her living situations.

Day 2 of Experience Learning

Today was my second day of volunteering over at the Trinity Lutheran Church's Food Pantry. When I first arrived I was greeted by Wanda who is one of the main volunteers and organizers for the food pantry. Like I have mentioned before, this specific food pantry only expects a small number of families each time they are open (about 20 to 25 families).

Since it is a smaller food pantry each customer can only come to collect food once a month. It is getting closer and closer to the end of the month and therefore we thought that many more families would be coming to visit today, but unfortunately we only served about 10 families. During the times we weren't helping out customers we separated out fresh produce: oranges, apples, potatoes, and eggplants. We also helped package bags with dry goods. There are two different kinds of bags this food pantry hands out. One type of bag is for clients who have a residence where they can cook. Another is for a person without an established which is called a "homeless bag." One goal the food pantry is trying to do is get away from using the word "homeless." In a place that they are trying to create as a comforting and welcoming place, they really want to steer away from categorizing these people and making them feel like a target.

Once a month the Trinity Lutheran Church puts on a community dinner, which is open to the public. It is free and is just a way to get to know other community members and share stories. Last night was their January dinner, so we helped make decorations and table settings for the event. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the dinner, but I am hoping next month I will be able to go and possibly bring a few of my roommates to join.

Film Presentations and Guest Speakers

I really enjoyed today's class session. The film critques were very interesting and informative. Out of the two movies that were presented today I have only seen Chuck and Larry. When I saw that movie I only took it as a comedy and entertainment. But after critically looking in depth at the movie did I realize exactly what was hidden inside that movie that we may not normally notice. It gave me a new perspective on looking at movies, television, and media in general. As we have been discussing throughout our class periods, children and how the media targets and effects each of them. Just from this one movie it makes me wonder what I will be showing my future children.

Also the guest speakers from the Women's Center had a really good presentations. I thought it was very interesting and I enjoyed the discussion and activity. I thought the four "agree, disagree, unsure" opinionated questions were very thought provoking and interesting to think about. Those topics do come up, but I never thought of whether or not they were acceptable or not acceptable within our society. After thinking about each of those and determining where I stood I really liked discussing and hearing everyone's answers and getting difference opinions. I also like all the stats and myths that were given at the end of each of those opinionated thinking questions. The media clips were prime examples and were very clear on their hidden messages. I am looking forward to watching the super bowl in a few weeks and analysizing or critically looking at all the commercials.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this class period and the discussions that went along with it.

Trinity Lutheran Chruch

Today was the first day that I started my service learning experience at Trinity Lutheran Church, just across the street from the PLU library. I arrived at 10am and was able to have the privilege of helping with the food pantry they have on the church premises. The Trinity Lutheran Church Food Pantry is open every Tuesday and Friday and is open to the local residents around the greater Parkland area. There are a few qualifications for families to be eligible. The Food Pantry expects about 20 to 25 different families each time they are open. Even though it is a small number of families, it is still a group that needs an extra helping hand.

There are two women that dedicate their time to running and volunteering at the Food Pantry. They are such caring women and have such big hearts, their goal is to literally feed all that are hungry, no questions asked. Like the Trinity Lutheran Church's mission statement says, "Living out our faith in Jesus Christ through joyous service to others." These two amazing women make sure that when each resident enters the food pantry they feel welcomed, at home, and comfortable. They have many visions and goals for this food pantry and I would be more than willing to help them, not only during J-term, but well into the spring semester and on. I will admit, I never knew the food pantry existed at the Trinity Lutheran Church. One of their goals is to expand the advertisement, in order to reach out to more people in need.

Another fabulous thing Trinity Lutheran Church puts on is community meals one to two times a month. Anyone from the community is welcome to come and enjoy some homemade food cooked by volunteers and meet and enjoy the company of local residents.

During the time I was there I was not only able to help sort canned goods, dried goods, produce, grains, and dairy into different packages, but I was able to help distribute the packages to the locals. As each person arrived we would greet them and ask how their day was going. We would then check in each person and depending on the size of the family they were providing for, we would give them the appropriate amount. The packages may not have much or enough to feed their families for the entire month or week for that matter, but it is a little bit that will help in a big way. The food is donated by the church members, locals, local businesses, PLU dining services, and the PLU garden. I work for PLU catering on campus and before winter break I actually helped organize and package left over food that was not going to be used to donate to local food pantries or food banks. I had no idea that I would get the wonderful opportunity of actually seeing the whole processes of food being donated and then being able to hand in it out to those in need.

As I continue with this service learning experience I hope to be able to become more familiar with the residents whom use the Trinity Lutheran Church Food Pantry. The more and more I volunteer I believe the clients with become more comfortable and hope that they are able to open up and share their stories and life with me. This is a real eye opening experience to just see how just donating a little can help and go a long way. From one day alone it helps me to recognize how much I take my life and growing up years for granted and because of that I want to give back to my community and continue with this volunteer experience, beyond this course’s requirements.

Mickey Mouse movie and reading

The video we watched in class today, Mickey Mouse Monopoly, was thoroughly thought provoking and an eye opener. I will admit, I have grown up watching Disney movies throughout my childhood. As a child, like most children, I did not notice or recognize the stereotypes that were being made on different social groups. While watching these movies I do remember my mom reminding me that these stories weren't real, they were make believe. As I became older I did learn that not everyone's lives have happy endings, unlike Disney. I really enjoyed this video because it gave me a new way of thinking of the Disney Company and how the company is portrayed as innocent and sweet, yet in reality it has subliminal messages that are being sent out to children. It shocks me how many assumptions there are made on different social groups. The video was very well organized and had numerous amounts of evidence that back up the idea of stereotyping other social groups and showing that whites are the more dominate group.
Throughout this video I also learned Disney portrays the female characters in very diminishing ways, by having them be seductress, non-aggressive, always needed a male to help/save her, domestic, and so on. Yet, they never discussed the other side, males as being masculine or the idea of masculinity.

The most interesting chapters of today’s reading I thought were the first article, “Night to His Day” by Judith Lorber and “Masculinity as Homophobia” by Michael Kimmel. I became a lot more aware of “doing gender” and how we act, talk, and appear is what distinguishes us from male or female. We, as a whole society, create what are male and female characteristics and if one does not follow those patterns they are looked down upon and may be considered gay or lesbian. Over time gender roles can change, like the example they give in the book, men caring and nurturing for their children on the public bus in becoming more and more prevalent within our society. After reading these articles it really gets me thinking of how my everyday life is shaped around gender roles. As a small example, my roommate earlier had her boyfriend over and she insisted that he go outside to look at her car’s oil level (she’s been having problems with her car) because it is a “man’s job to get nice and dirty and wet.”