Serving Ourselves: How the Discourse on Community Engagement Privileges the University over the Community by Kathleen Bortolin

This article was interesting in many ways. I had never before thought that service learning could be a way to glorify the Universities instead of the communities. I think that may be due to the fact that our class in particular has been very much aware that we are here to serve the community of the Robert Weaver neighborhood. The more shocking part of this article though was all of the excerpts from previous articles that prove there are many service learning programs that are truly more about the students and the universities over the communities.
In particular, I thought this quote was ridiculous:

"To increase community partner commitment to projects, local community goals must align with the goal of the initiative (Poindexter, Arnold, & Ostenhout, 2009, p. 65). "

This basically says "We will go out and help communities only if they need the kind of help we want to give." This is completely not the point of service. Serving someone means letting them tell you what they need and how you can help and going it no matter what. Being a servant doesn't mean you do something for someone if its convenient and you want to do it.

Overall I thought it was an interesting article and I agree that it is important to call attention to this issue in Service learning. We must be able to hold each other accountable to the true meaning of service.

Project Update

Rebecca and I have contacted both Lori and Amory Baril regarding our historical timeline of east Austin project. I'm not sure if we have heard back from Lori but Amory has put us in contact with the officers of The Project and we are now waiting to hear back from them on the best way to make sure all the volunteers for The Project are able to see our informational slideshow. Rebecca and I are meeting tomorrow to work on the actual slideshow/Prezi.

Blog Post #4

After reviewing the material about gentrification listed in Blackboard-Course Documents, discuss an example of gentrification in your own home town, or another city or state in US or in another country. 

• I am from San Angelo, a town in west Texas. The topic of gentrification is an interesting one when it comes to San Angelo because it isn't a large city like Austin or San Francisco. What's different about San angelo is that many neighborhoods actually want gentrification to occur. many of the neighborhoods don't have any small businesses or restaurants and the communities believe they need gentrification to have true success in revitalizing their neighborhoods. The only area I can think of in San Angelo where gentrification is becoming negative is in the neighborhood of Santa Rita. Santa Rita was at one time a predominantly low income, mostly Latino area. Now, many wealthy families are renovating the spanish style homes and moving in the area, causing the property values to rocket upward. When driving through the neighborhood it's amazing how different the houses can be. You'll see a house barely being held together with cardboard for windows, then a few houses down there is a two story newly renovated expensive home with a wealthy family living inside. The good thing about SanAngelo though is that if these low income families are pushed out out the Santa Rita neighborhood, they only have to move a mile or two in any direction to find affordable housing. 

How is gentrification affecting cities around the world?  

• The articles we read about San Francisco, South Africa, and London were honestly really sad. Gentrification seems to be having a similar effect around the world. Families are being evicted from their homes and neighborhoods without a care from the wealthier people taking over the area. the culture is forgotten and replaced like those lives and that history never mattered.

Is Austin's gentrification unique in some ways?  Yes or No, explain.

• I believe Austin's gentrification is unique because it seems like even with the hurricane of gentrification happening, there are a lot of people who do care about preserving the culture and the histories of the areas. I think the idea of conscious gentrification isn't often seen and it's pretty cool that there are still people in Austin who want to try to preserve the East Austin communities as much as possible while still allowing gentrification to happen. 

What did you learn about gentrification during the East Austin van tour that is informing your view on gentrification?

• For me, the tour of East austin was less about what I learned and more about the emotional impact it had on me. It was eye opening to see first hand how these communities are being dramatically changed. The mix of modest little homes and three story luxury homes was crazy. Knowing that those two and three story homes stand on a lot that used to belong to a member of the community was really sad to think about. Overall, the tour really opened up my eyes to the effect gentrification really has on urban communities. 

Blog Post #3

The most surprising information from the two articles for me were the dramatic statistical differences between East Austin and the Austin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The poverty rate,  racial/ethnic differences, median household income, single parent households, and adults without a high school diploma are just some of the extremely different statistics between the two areas that shocked me. When you look at the statistics, it seems to support what peoples views of East Austin already are. They believe it is low income, run-down, and impoverished. However I don't believe East Austin can be accurately judged based solely on statistics. The article written by Sharon Hill was awesome because it gives you detailed history of the people and the lives that made East Austin what it was before urban renewal took place. It created an appreciation in me that statistics cannot take away, and I think more people would care about the fate of East Austin if they only knew more about it's unique history.

Cultural Assessment

My first object is a picture of me and my dad in his Air Force uniform. Being a military child has shaped my life in many ways, from being very close with my family to respecting others, behaving myself, appreciating and having pride my country, and many others.

My second object is a picture of my family. My family means the world to me and because of the way they raised me and loved me, I am a very family-oriented person. I am very fortunate to have two parents who are still married and extended family who I could turn to for anything in the world.

My third object if my UT ID. It represents how fortunate I am with my socioeconomic status. I am able to go to one of the best Universities in the world, I can afford a place to live here in Austin, and I have a car to get me to and from school every day. I take these things for granted all the time but I am lucky to be able to call these things normal parts of my life.

My fourth object is my prayer journal. I'm a Christian and Jesus is everything to me. Being a Christian means trying to live my life like Jesus did. It shapes how I treat others, the decisions I make, and the things in which I put my value.

My fifth object is a Younglives tshirt. Younglives is a Christian ministry for teen moms and I am a mentor to four teen moms in north west Austin. These girls have given me a whole new passion for people who live in underprivileged communities. Becoming a mentor was a culture shock at times, but I'm so thankful for the opportunity to learn about these girls lives and be a part of helping people help themselves. 

Blog Post #2

1. What are some of the similarities and differences in experiences of racism globally? In general, describe the “exploiter and exploited” relationship.  Discuss specific parallels between U.S., France, Brazil and South Africa. 

Throughout history there has been a similar development in racism due to a group of people colonizing on already inhabited land and claiming themselves to be superior to the indigenous people. These people, who are usually people of color have then been forced into this subordinate role of which they did nothing to deserve. France, unlike what we see here in the US, has a higher population of Arabs who suffer the consequences of white racism, debatably more than blacks in France. One thing I found interesting was that South Africa was able to have such a dramatic shift in power going from a white president to a black president with no large scale violent riots. This seems to be different than the violence and hate crimes we see more of in the US and France. 

The "exploiter and exploited" relationship is on where one group (exploiter) uses another group (exploited) unjustly and unethically for selfish gain. Brazil and South Africa both have very large black populations exploited by a smaller white population. In the US, France, and South Africa there are clear distinctions between who is the dominant exploiting group and who is the group being exploited, but in Brazil, the racism occurs on a stealthier level. The white group has chosen to downplay the racism with the belief that they will be able to avoid facing any questions of inequality.   In both the US, Brazil and South Africa, segregation was very much institutionalized by the government. In all cases, The minorities were exploited for their labor all for the gain of the dominant white class.

2. How has racism influenced the history of housing and urban development in the United States?

Racism made it impossible for people of color to have the same options of living as the whites. They were forced to live in lower class neighborhoods if they could even find someone to sell a house to them at all. When when federal assistance was implemented, the help often went to while families. The Fair Housing Act and the Fair Housing Amendments Act helped to enforce more equal opportunity to find housing for people of color. 

3. Tatum’s article discusses three barriers to talking about issues of race and racism with students in a classroom setting.  What are these?

I think I may be confused because I can't find where she specifically states that certain things are barriers in the classroom setting. Here are my guesses:

-People tend to take advantage of being a part of dominant or advantaged social groups and focus more on where they would be considered "other" or disadvantaged.

-Realizing that self identity is often based on who the outside world tells you that you are. 

- Dominant groups do not like to be reminded of the existence of inequality.

4. Finally, following Peggy McIntosh’s format, list a few of your privileges and your overall reaction to this article.

This article hit me pretty hard. It's so true that as a white woman (or man) we are taught that racism is horrible and no one should do anything to push another person deeper into a disadvantaged minority state. But no one ever told me to look at all the advantages I get handed to me, not because I did anything to deserve them, but because I was born white, I'm heterosexual, and I grew part of the middle/upper-middle class. That's insane. There's so many things I never even realized that I got because I'm part of many dominant social groups. This article definitely shook the grounds of how I think about myself. Every one of McIntosh's privileges applied to me as well but here are a few more: 

- I can publicly announce my new relationship without fearing what people will think or how they will react.

-I can join a greek sorority and not worry that my skin color will be how people judge me.

-I've never had to question why Santa isn't the same color as me.

- I can be sure that ever ever I end up in the US, there will be plenty of people of my same religion. 

-I can rest easy knowing that if I go absolutely broke, my parents have enough so support me financially.

I'm Morgan and I am a senior psychology major. I'm interested in global social problems and development in local communities because I believe we should all play a part in helping each other get to a better place. If you have the funds and/or the physical ability, you should always do what you can to help someone less fortunate than yourself better their own life. The world would be a very different place if we spent more time thinking about others and less time thinking about ourselves. 

When I interviewed my roommates about East Austin they all seemed to agree on the belief that East Austin is the "poor" part of town that they wouldn't want to visit any time soon. They know it as being full of crime and poverty. 

East Austin yesterday and today: East Austin developed as a result of segregation. The communities there were very close-knit. As integration became a major political movement, it began to shake things up in East Austin. There is currently a lot of development in that area that is likely to drive many residents out of East Austin and bring in a variety of people from different backgrounds and socioeconomic classes. It will surely lose it's historic East Austin vibe unless something can be done to preserve it's rich history.