5 responses to “Connections among strangers”

1. 

   Claudia Horning

   Feb 1

   My

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2. 

   Claudia Horning

   Feb 1

   My response to our group activity was very rooted in what I discovered about myself in the leadership and listening activities the week before. I noticed I was actively trying to listen to my teammates and not take over the activity, especially since I knew our actions were being watched. I think this all helped in the overall success of my team in the challenge, but I am interested to know how I would have acted without this context.

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3. 

   lmc477

   Feb 2

   “I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party” reminded me of when I was younger and invited friends from school to my house.  It was then that I was always most critical of my home.  Their presence made me feel almost self-conscious as I imagined them judging the furniture or yard or cleanliness.  There were never any comments, so it’s fair to assume that it was all in my head, but I vividly remember it as a child.  I’m, of course, not proud of it, but as a kid I worried a lot more about the opinion of others and often imagined my life through their eyes.  I now know that this worry was more of a reflection of me and my insecurity rather than on them being judgmental. 

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4. 

   Tianna

   Feb 3

   “I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party” made me think about the effort minorities/queer people put in to be accepted, and how that effort is often not reflected back. I appreciated the narrator’s personal story about his boyfriend Paul and the ways that Paul’s “conversations” with the narrator’s parents (a conversation about physics and a waltz) were well-met and understood better than anything he could have done to make himself/the situation more palatable.

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5. 

   Austin

   Feb 8

   A space is now a place

   I walk

   with the uneven sidewalk

   grey and sometimes slate

   slanted at 45 degrees

   A street in which I know well

   when the sweet smell of jasmine will waft into my nose

   and the pitch of the songs that seem to be coming from

   the heavens

   But please forgive sometimes I often mistake the treetops and bushes and skies for the heavens

   Always contemplative

   wondering if this space, might someday transform into a place

   Yes, maybe I don’t have children

   And I still don’t know if I plan to

   And yes

   Sometimes I dance until

   The lights are minutes aways from flickering awake

   in my neighbor’s homes

   But as I walked

   My familiar walk down my street towards

   what could take me elsewhere, the elsewhere that I imagine or long for

   or towards the familiar embrace of arms and conversations

   or could have me seated

   sipping on a warm beverage intended to awaken me from my dreaming

   the brass handle, cold, but inviting

   the pungent smell of ground coffee, mixed with the thick, sweet smell of batter

   Moving through a line

   My lips curling at the edges towards those that I often

   pass

   Sharp to my ears I hear a voice

   I see you around a lot she says.

   My name is Emily

   Care to tell me yours?

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