Post by kivy on Sept 15, 2017 23:37:53 GMT
I have had several great experiences that shaped my thinking before I even knew about shaping. As a young child I lived in a deeply diverse neighborhood in a less affluent part of Pasadena CA. (Much of Pasadena was very wealthy, but I did not know that at the time.) My school had children from all over the world, which being young, and also young for my grade in school, I just thought was normal. It was a wonderful first three years of school. A picture of my group of friends from that time shows children from many different races ... Asian, African American, and Middle Eastern. Many of their families were living in the States for the first time (my mother told me later when I was an adult.) My very best friend was from Israel. My teacher in 1st grade set me next to a girl from Holland who only spoke Dutch. She told me that I could talk to her as much as I wanted and explain what the class was doing. It was so much fun.
Then we moved to Colorado where there was very little diversity in my school or neighborhood.
The second great experience I had occurred in high school. My school was the first in the state to become "integrated". Suddenly we had all kinds of diversity in my school and I loved it. We had more interesting interactions and submissions in our magazine and newspaper, we had peaceful protests and marches together, we had long and passionate discussions together. It was from 1969 to 1973, and I loved it. My best friend of the time (who is still a close friend all these years later) and I would have long conversations on comparative religion, feminism, equality, and other emerging topics of the day. (We still do.)
In my adult life I tried to put my principles into practice in how I treated others and how I lived my life. I got married, had two daughters, and was divorced. Over some time, as I was a single mother of two and worked to put myself through college to get a BA, I discovered that I had quite a few disabilities. Then I focused my study for a Masters on how to make classrooms accessible for students who have invisible disabilities. I wanted to put my experience to work to support others who were facing similar challenges.
Since 1994 I have worked as an Accommodation and Advocacy Specialist in the Office of Resources for Disabled Students at Colorado State University. Our office is included in the cluster of Student Diversity Programs and Services. Therefore I have had the opportunity to listen to many perspectives during my professional life. We meet as a cluster at least once a month, attend each other's events, and do an number of other campus activities together.
In spite of this, I feel that I know almost nothing about CRT. (You know nothing Jon Snow ... that is me.) I am looking forward to learning. There is a lot to learn.