Friday, February 17, 2017

Finally, Pictures of the Center!

I have been trying to post pictures of the Youth Center ever since this blog was created, 
but for some reason the pictures weren't compatible with the HTTPS thingy 
(and I'm not knowledgeable enough in that area to fix it). But now they work! 
All pictures posted with permission of the Youth Center staff.
This is the center from across the street! And no, I don't know why it has the strange
windows. And yes, there is a parking lot under there. Rainbow stairs lead up to the center.
This is a view of the group area. Now there are piles of donated
food by the One N Ten logo, as well as boxes of plastic bags so that youth can carry the
food home. The far-right wall with the two paintings has also been updated with 
black-and-white pictures of people that I assume are youths (I haven't met the people
in the pictures, though). What you can't see in the picture is the other half
of the room, which includes a window into the kitchen, a gender-neutral bathroom,
a crafts cupboard, a sitting area (which has a music thing? where you put a cord in?
like a stereo but the music comes from the ceiling? I don't know what it's called?), 
and four computers. 

A hallway connects this room to Q High, which I will talk about in my post next week! 
There's also the Fishbowl off the hallway, which is a quiet room. 
I was told that music isn't allowed in there, but also there's a drum set, so I think
the Fishbowl doubles as The Place to Put the Drummers Because They Are Loud.
(does one capitalize "because"? Mr. Wells, I know you know English but
please don't take points off (or however you grade this stuff))
(do I get a grade for this? or do I just get to graduate? which is pretty great, don't get me wrong)  
Image result for talking too much gif
Anyways, the Fishbowl also serves as an area where youth can talk privately
to a staff member. One of the Safe Space guidelines is to "Save the
Drama for Your Mama," but the staff and volunteers make sure to 
stress that if anyone needs to talk, then counselling will be provided.

Every Thursday the Phoenix Children's Hospital Crews'n Healthmobile is available at 
the Youth Center, offering services such as STD screenings, exams, and
even minor surgical procedures. No one shies away from this opportunity, although
some people are a little scared of the STD tests.    
One N Ten also offers Camp OUTdoors! which is the largest LGBTQ camp program 
in the country and was featured in National Geographic's documentary Gender Revolution. 
The youth and volunteers, who come from all over Arizona, and even some from 
out-of-state, engage in team-building activities in Prescott. 
You can learn more about Camp OUTdoors! here.
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I have finished Middlesex! I even wrote a review on it! And posted it! Woot!
I am now reading Giovanni's Room, a book by the renowned novelist, playwright, 
essayist, and social critic James Baldwin (1924-1987), who often wrote on racial
tension and taboos such as homosexuality and interracial relationships. Baldwin himself was homosexual (or bisexual, there is some confusion, but then again, sexuality is confusing),
and his works frequently involved some sort of autobiographical nature.
His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, was in part written to hep him
through his relationship with his step-father, a preacher, as well as a discussion 
on the church's role in the lives of African-Americans.

Giovanni's Room Baldwin's second novel. Centered around the main character's struggle with his relationship with an Italian bartender, the novel tells the story of a man
afraid to love. This is an interesting interview with Baldwin on his sexuality and
need to write Giovanni's Room. I am almost done with the book (although I will definitely
reread it before I write up a review), and it is so much more engaging and raw 
than Middlesex. I am enjoying it, although I'm not sure "enjoying" is the right word.
One really feels the characters' pain.

I'll see you guys next week! 

26 comments:

  1. What an insightful post! I love learning about where you are spending your days. I'd love to see the pictures of your site, but can't do so from my computer. Is this maybe a browser-related issue? (Admittedly, I'm not too tech savvy!)

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    1. Oh no! Just when I get pictures :(. I'll try to figure out the problem!

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  2. Hey Stirling! This was such a cute post :) I'm so happy that you got around to finishing the book, and can now read a different one (maybe a less verbose one?). What new things have you been doing on-site? It honestly sounds like so much fun, and such a wonderful place. Can't wait to read next week's post :D

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    1. Hi Saleena! On Monday we were supposed to play Jeopardy, but one of the staff had suffered a stroke recently so instead we decided to just have a quiet conversation as a group. We talked about police, what to do if an officer is rude to you, and to always report hate crimes. Gina, the staff member who had the stroke, told us a couple stories of when she was young and had to deal with police harassing her and her girlfriend at gay bars.

      Tuesday was Queer Support Group Day. It was also Valentine's Day, so the speaker had us create The Card We Had Always Wanted. While others went to town drawing heart-themed masterpieces, I took the instructions to mean "something I needed to hear." I wrote a very simple paragraph basically telling myself to calm down and stop stressing. At the end, the speaker surprised us by having us give our cards away. It was hard to people to give away their cards, but I traded with another youth and made a friend! Yay!

      One Wednesday we watched a documentary on soulfood and its connections to Southern history. It was very interesting, but also made us very hungry. Thankfully, one of the volunteers made us some soulfood to eat while watching it (although that was a little strange, since the documentary also warned viewers about the health detriments of eating soulfood). Afterwards, we discussed food's role in our culture and how to stay healthy while still eating food we like. We got some gardening tips as well, but really the way to stay healthy is just exercise and eat in moderation.

      Thursday was Storytelling, but I think we got off track. Miss Millie, the speaker, was a transgender woman who had transitioned back in the 70's, and she spoke a lot on what it was like to be trans 40-50 years ago. Then some transgender youth spoke about what it's like to be trans today, but we kind of got into politics (and by we I mean one person who was very opinionated and while I'm sure we all agreed it did become ranty and Gina stopped the discussion quickly. One N Ten is a Safe Space, not a ranting place).

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  3. Hey Stirling! One n Ten looks like a great place to be! Nice building too :). I like the rainbow stairs the best. How does reading those books make you feel? It seems like they are both emotional and difficult books to read. I'm assuming you will find one that is less emotional and more happy eventually (unless you like reading the ones you already are reading which is cool too!). Also, have you been making a lot of friends? Looking forward to reading your next post! See you next week!

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    1. I'm excited to say that I have conversed with quite a few people at One N Ten! I've gotten to know some youth and volunteers pretty well. Everyone has really interesting lives. One is half Japanese and half Hungarian, one loves Japanese culture, one really likes motorcycles, to give a brief summary of our conversations. And of course we all bond over food.

      Middlesex didn't make me feel anything. Nicole wrote a very insightful comment on my review; but unfortunately Eugenides' writing was so convoluted that his point gets lost. Baldwin's book, while I haven't finished it, hits pretty hard. Not only is David, the main character, afraid of loving Giovanni, but he's afraid of loving anyone, which is really sad, because he can't accept that he will be happy. At least, that's what I'm getting from it right now.

      If anyone has any recommendations for happier LGBTQ books, please let me know!

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  4. Hi Stirling!

    I really enjoyed reading through this blog post! This was a great description of the site and everything they offer to the youth to make them feel comfortable. I was just wondering what you did this week? And have you figured out whether changing your status from being a volunteer to being a part of the youth will change the way you conduct your research? Looking forward to your next post!

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    1. Hi Anjalee! My entire reply to Saleena (the huge block of text up there) describes what we did this week. It was fun!

      I haven't figured out all the details, but I don't think my research will suffer from my being a youth and not a volunteer. I think it might actually be enhanced, since this way I will more clearly understand the impact of the activities and attitudes on youth.

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  5. Hey Stirling! I really reading this post! Based on the descriptions and the pictures you provided, One n Ten looks like a great, open, and comfortable place to be! I was just wondering were you able to meet any new people this week? And were you able to get a certain daily routine there or do you experience new things each day? Also I was wondering, how is your research coming along? Were there any notable changes? Again, great post, and can't wait to read more!

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    1. Wow, tons of questions. Awesome! In my reply to Grace (right below this) I explained who I'm been talking to and what we've been talking about. In regards to the routine, the general schedule is that the center opens at 4, Group starts at 5:30, Group ends at 7:00, cleaning starts at 7:30, center closes at 8. But we do different things at Group each day. My reply to Saleena's comment covered what we did this week, which was vastly different from what we did in Week 1. My research is going well!

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  6. Hey Stirling! That is incredible that Phoenix Children's Hospital provides testing and other opportunities for the kids. Have you gotten to know more of the kids at the center? I would just really love to hear more insight from the teens. Thanks!

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    1. I have! I have anxiety and am super introverted, so it's taken a little while for me to come out of my shell. But I have conversed! Successfully! With multiple people! Hurrah! Anyways, two of the people I've talked to are really interested in Japan. One is half-Japanese and likes to tell me all about the culture he grew up in (he moved to American from Japan when he was seven), which is awesome since I study karate and would like to know more about Japan. I've discussed books with other people, as well as movies, but we're both super quiet so it's hard to have a continuous conversation.

      It's funny; I'm super quiet and shy, yet most of my research relies on me talking to people. Yikes. But I'm having a good time getting to know more people. Everyone I've talked to is really supportive of my project, also, which I'm really relieved about. I was worried that they'd see me as an intruder.

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    2. Thank you for your reply (I feel you on the anxiety btw). It's wonderfully ironic that you came to this center to help them yet they are helping you (with breaking out of your comfort zone).

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    3. It really is! But that's really telling of the goal of the center. They want to make the youth comfortable enough to be themselves.

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  7. Hi Stirling! The One n Ten center looks like a cool place, and the pictures helped me visualize it. Quick question, how do the people in the center bond and make friends with one another? What do the people there mostly spend time doing ?

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    1. Hi Zain! People bond over glitter, music, books, food, just as everyone does when surrounded by other people. Some people are quieter and read alone or watch videos on the computers, but they are always welcome to join conversations. I haven't seen any evidence of cliques.

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  8. Hi Stirling, the One N Ten facility looks like a wonderful place to be! I looked at the additional information about the Camp OUTdoors program you mentioned and it seemed very interesting. However, it is only during labor day weekend! Do you know of any other similar programs and will you be looking into studying one of these shorter programs? Thanks!

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    1. I don't think I will have time to look into any similar programs, at least not in-depthly. If that's a word. But there are other programs like the Trans Advocacy Group, PONDs, Youth Leadership, and Q High that I will be examining!

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  9. Hi Stirling! I love that you included pictures this time. One N Ten looks like the happiest place on Earth. And it has pretty rainbow-colored things everywhere, which it makes it all the more awesome. Yay colors! I may have just missed this because I forget things, but what exactly is the Safe Space? Is it a room or a set of guidelines for the youth of One N Ten? I'm so excited for the next post! And the next book review ;)

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    1. The "Safe Space" is more of an idea than a physical room. It refers to the fact that no one judges anyone else for anything, and so it is safe to be yourself here. The entire building is a Safe Space, and the Safe Space guidelines are on the far wall of the Group area in the second picture. The guidelines are the little boxes. I'll go over them in my next post!

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  10. Hi Stirling. Your project continues to get more interesting. Thank you for including pictures of the center. Just curious, is there a reason why the Fishbowl is called the Fishbowl? Also, the book of the week sounds fascinating; I'm excited to hear your review.

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    1. Well, the Fishbowl is just a room with more windows than solid walls. I'm really liking the book!

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  11. Thanks for all the pictures of the center, now I can see what One N Ten looks like instead of imagining it. Giovanni's room already seems to be a much better story than Middlesex. Given how many resources it has and how a Children's Hospital Healthmobile comes every week, One N Ten appears to handle a lot of youths. Minor question but, how big is One N Ten compared to other centers?

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    1. One N Ten has six locations in total, although none are as big as the Youth Center. I am trying to find out its size and intake relative to other organizations, and while it's certainly not in the top five, what I've found that's interesting is that One N Ten provides actual resources and a physical space for its youth, as opposed to, say, GLSEN, which does not have a physical space and I believe is primarily focused on advocacy. But that's part of my research!

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  12. Hey Stirling! First off, the youth center looks really great (especially those weird windows and rainbow stairs). It is great to see that One N Ten helps others through counselling and offers other tests and stuff, too. I had one question, though: What exactly is this STD Test? (But other than that, keep up the great work and efforts!)
    -Adarsh

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    1. I don't know how they test for STDs, but STDs are sexually transmitted diseases.

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