Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Day 3 - March 25th - Painting a Home and a Poetry Slam

Hello!!!

We started our day with choosing a volunteer site and chose to paint a home owned by the Stokes family.  We worked on painting a side of the home as well as others also working on carpentry works and filling holes on the wall.  For the entire time, the breeze was cool and the sun was sending us warm positive vibes.  

The people living in the home were so sweet.  They gave some delish catfish to Ella, Alyssa, and Nate.  After hours of painting, one of the residents walked to see our work and said the home looked brand new.  We are definitely coming to volunteer again to work more on painting the home of the Stokes.  

Towards the end of the day, we went to go listen to a poetry slam hosted in the home of Hamline Alumni Tony Wilson.  He invited various poets in the community of New Orleans.  

We also ate Mexican food cooked by another Hamline Alumni named Cat, which was also delish.

All of the poets emphasized and touched the topic of self-worth and body image.  

One line of poetry from a poet named Hero44 went like this:

The Creator doesn't see our flaws, 

Only WE do...

Whether it's the flaws than we find on our own bodies or that our beings don't exactly fit into narrow categories, we are still flawless.  The poet Hero44 was very adamant about this.

Another line by poet Hero44 was:

We are our scratches, scars, wounds, marks, and past...

Despite so much pain and hardships the community of New Orleans faces, we cannot forget their smiling faces and welcoming hospitality.  We spoke to the poets of how tight knit the communities are around here and that they also welcome us as one of their own.  There was other topics with so  much more poetry and dialogue to absorb and grow from.
  
As a reflection exercise when we left Wilson's home, each of us went over the highs and lows of the day.  After this activity, we prepared for bed to rest for the next day ahead.

More lovely experiences to come! :) 

Wuang 


1 comment:

  1. You have captured and shared your day in such a heart-tugging way. Thank you Wuang.

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