Recently I was invited to participate in a local art project called Unlabel Me. This project addresses the stigmas and labels that are used to dehumanize us, and break through them. I am planning to speak for their showcase event on June 13 for 2-4 minutes. I was given a prompt with several open ended reflection questions. This is my response:
I am actively putting this website together to address and answer many of these questions. On this page, I will answer the prompt questions, but I will also hyperlink other pieces on here that I think are helpful and interesting to someone looking to get to know me better.
What is your calling / work?
In my life, there was a ten year period of instability (around 2010 to 2020) and change that I refer to as the 'rabbit hole'. In this time I experienced extreme health issues, a full university education, homelessness, losing everything, bearing witness to extreme violence, greyhounding between 33 different states, and walking across 14 states. Since reentering housing I have gone back to school and learned how to code and a lot about how computers work. Many times when I experienced very difficult things, I would have something in mind of tools that don't exist, but could, which would have prevented those adversities. I have lots of data from that time in my life, which I meticulously journaled. I'm planning to put more and more of that information on this site, as well as create many of those tools.
One of these tools, which I want to focus in on this year, is called Heartwarmers and it is meant to be an interactive platform for both mapping free and low cost resources to the at-risk public, facilitating local wish list connections (for both at risk persons and groups doing street distribution), and to let buskers and panhandlers set up a profile page that people can visit and donate electronically, as well as learn more about who they are and what their story is. This is meant to be a collectively volunteer driven not for profit online project and I am looking for minions to help this launch this upcoming cold season.
What do you wish for?
I wish for my story and brain to be publicly available to anyone who can benefit from it. I've been leaning into some of the artificial intelligence tools coming out, not because I think they are some magic breakthrough that changes everything, but because they are here, and they help turn my work that would take decades, into something I can do in a year.
How do you think / feel about the community at 12 Baskets and what would you like people to know about this community?
There really isn't anything special about it. That isn't a sleight and I mean it in the most uplifting way possible. You can replicate every aspect of the Café elsewhere. Having a 'third-space' alone will draw people in who both need the material benefits it offers, and the social aspects as well. As long as there is food waste present you can find ways to redirect it and share it. It takes time, people, energy, and some resources. It will probably look different in different places. Don't get attached to the details.
Metaphor for life in this place and time?
What do you know about yourself/life/the world that others might not know?
Schools, such as colleges and universities right now are struggling to maintain and grow enrollment since the pandemic. A lot of their funding comes from federal funding and grants that are dependent on maintaining and growing tuition numbers. This may change with the new administration and the sweeping cannibalistic cuts and power grabs to higher education. However, as a whole, schools are desperate for new student enrollment. If you ever wanted to go to, or go back to school, now is a great time. If you are a person with adverse experiences, or belong to a marginalized group, there may be opportunities present to pay for school completely.
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