Monday, May 4, 2015

History with Some Humanity

This week's work focused once again around a listening assignment.  Our job with these assignments have been to focus reemerging themes in these pieces and capturing the stories of Station North, listening to D. Watkins' interview appropriately led me to focusing on one of the hopes we've had for this project since the beginning: humanity.

The goal of our Community in America course this semester has been capturing the true voices, opinions, beliefs, and experiences of those living, working, and passing through Station North.  It has been about uncovering the history of the spaces that make up the District, but also about learning how the people who live in the neighborhoods and hang out in the businesses feel about what it is to be a community in Station North.

Watkins explains his experience as a writer and how people have before forgotten his own humanity, thinking of him as just a "thing" rather than a person with complex layers and lived experiences.

The idea of listening and collecting the ideas of others is something that has become a reoccurring topic of discussion outside of the classroom.  In all aspects of conversation this week, whether it be at work meetings, talking with peers, or in academic settings, I have been urged to take in the ideas of others without question.  To take into consideration the lived experiences and ideas of those around me. To try and place humanity back into the headlines I've been reading.

I think it was appropriate that my last listening assignment was Watkins' because it reminded me of why we started this project.  During his interview, Watkins says, "I'm trying to preserve history and doing what I can to document culture as I know it."  And in a way, I feel like we're doing the same thing.  We're trying to combine these stories and lived experiences to document the changes and triumphs of Station North, but they won't all be collected once we are done.  New people will move into the area, all with different potentials, and the project will continue.

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