This section summarizes the student’s data-gathering process and key findings from survey, interview, or other inquiry methods.
For my data collection effort I sat down with individual students and a few groups to find out how people are feeling on campus. What I found is that nearly everyone has had a difficult time this semester. Some of that difficulty is from the changing. It is getting dark earlier and earlier, leading to seasonal depression and general fatigue. One student spoke about how chronic illness symptoms get worse as it gets colder, the barometric pressure lowers, and more illness is going around. The weather impacts everyone, but most UVU students are also trying to balance their education with work or family. Nearly everyone I spoke to was overwhelmed by all of their responsibilities, but only about half thought that it was common to feel that way.
People are also feeling the consequences of social and political divides. It is difficult to trust people. One student said, “I know that some of the people I pass in the halls want me to lose my rights,” and even more signaled the isolation they feel due to the current political climate. When asked about organizing and activism, some students said they would be interested, but don’t know how to do it themselves. One student was disheartened due to the lack of action, saying that more people should be protesting but they just don’t care enough. Based on the conversation that I had, it is common for students to feel overwhelmed and isolated in part because they perceive other people as apathetic.
Fear for the future was also a common theme. Multiple students are concerned about future career prospects, especially within academia. One student had plans to apply for graduate school in the future, “but I just don’t know if that is a good choice anymore.” Working through college, graduation, and getting a job don’t seem as easy as they used to. Despite all of this, school is still a “lifeline” for some students. It gives them a sense of purpose and community. “It is a place where people come and go. You need that for community. New people to meet mean more perspectives.
Community Partner Discussion
This section shares insights from a community partner interview, connecting their perspective to the Pathway theme.
Rather than work with an established community partner this month, I decided to highlight a new unofficial student group on campus. I wanted to respond to the isolation that some students are feeling by highlighting one example of people on campus who are trying to make positive change in their community. Organizing can be intimidating, in part because there aren’t very many examples of organizations getting started. This group started in November. They have yet to have any public events, but are currently referring to themselves as a “discourse group” and have been working to come up with events that will help students gain empathy and find a sense of belonging. I sat down with McLain and Alaina, two philosophy students who founded the group.
The group draws on lived experience and first hand experience of how education and compassionate conversation can help people to change for the better. It started with ideas that McLain was working on in his philosophy papers, but this semester he felt like it was time to put those ideas into action. He has been working with the tension between wanting to help people become more open minded and the resistance to “tolerating intolerance” in spaces that could help educate people. The solution: creating a space for that tension to exist with some kind of safe guard in place for people who could potentially be harmed. “” He also acknowledged the fact that not everyone can do this work,
Alaina was on board with the project from the beginning. In part because they have the same concerns about the nature of discourse, but also because they wanted to support their friend. Alaina said, “it feels like a practice of relationships.” It seems that all of the members are involved for similar reasons. They have been talking for years about the problems with how we discuss things, and a strong social network arose with that. They have looked to smaller communities within the philosophy department to find interest. “Something about different values and projects” They both recognized that a lot of their strength comes from the diversity of opinions and ideas on how this project will look.
For first time organizers, there are always growing pains. Learning to run a meeting was one hurdle for McLain. “About the notes.” Alaina suggested the idea of shared agenda that everyone can contribute to. It has also been difficult to work around peoples schedules and deal with the end of semester burnout. Things didn’t go exactly how the group had imagined. Both the scale of the project and the speed have changed since its inception. “It wasn’t as fast as we thought, but really that is a good thing,” McLain said. He emphasized the importance of letting things play out differently than you imagined. Both McLain and Alaina are learning a lot of new skills, and also finding that they already have a lot of the skill they needed. “It’s like a job,” Alaina said, but more fulfilling. In the words of a true philosophy student: “it is labor, but it isn’t alienated. That’s nice.”
This section summarizes readings and research related to a relevant topic within the student’s Pathway and connects them to larger patterns or themes.
I learned from my data collection that people are struggling to deal with difficult times. A look into the current conversations in the organizing space reveal that similar questions are on all of our minds right now. adrienne marree brown was a recent guest on the “Vibe Check” podcast to talk about how we deal with the dark times that are, in part, brought on by the ending of the year. She gave and interesting perspective on darkness, emphasizing the importance of recognizing that some darkness is full of potential. She made a distinction between “black hole” and “ dark matter” darkness. Unlike black hole darkness, dark matter isn’t a lack. She urges us to pay attention to dark matter which, “We can’t see or perceive, but is chock full” (). adrienne marree brown has always called for a praxis (the implementation of theory or how we actually practice organizing) that utilizes our attention. “One of the biggest things that I keep telling people is to take agency over your attention because if you are giving your attention to that black hole energy it is going to overwhelm you”. This isn’t a call to ignore the things that are going wrong, but rather to focus on the communities and relationships that get us through difficult times, and also to the parts of ourselves that will help our communities. Instead of feeling helpless because we can not stop all of the bad in the world, “manifest in your own life the vision of the future you want to see.”
On a more concrete side of things, we can see how organizers use their attention to sustain action. Earlier this year, a grassroots news organization interviewed a rapid response organizer from New York who said, “Solidarity is the most powerful tool for our community to not just survive during this moment, but to thrive and make history” (). My definition of solidarity is the unity that is felt among people who have the same interests, goals, and plights. When we look for and create solidarity, it allows us to shift our attention to all of the people who are on our side and who need the same things that we do. It is easy to feel isolated when we only pay attention to those black holes that take our energy from us, but we can focus on community to find the energy we need to change things. The same organizer said:
I get hope from community. Immigrant communities and communities of color have a culture of tight knit community that takes care of each other, community that heals together and is not individualistic. This is really what organizing is. It’s coming together and supporting one another and standing as allies in solidarity of whatever community gets attacked.
Building strong communities is a matter of paying attention to those bonds that brought us together in the first place, and strong communities lead to sustainable and important activism work.
Community Resources
This section highlights helpful tools or guides that support real-world application of the Pathway.
Attention has been a huge conversation in the activism and organizing world lately, and definitely a theme I have been working a lot with this month. The Struther School of Radical Attention has this “Attention Activism Toolkit” that explains what attention activism is and how to create an “attention sanctuary” event.
You can find people in your communities doing amazing work if you know where to look. A coworker at the center asked me to highlight this TEDX called “Hello Mother Lake”, a performance in Salt Lake City raising awareness for The Great Salt Lake and the danger that it is in. Upon watching the talk I realized that I had bumped shoulders with one of the performers at UVU. Take a look at what our community members are doing to save the lake.
I will always take time to plug adrienne marree brown. Their work centers me when I lose my focus and comforts me when the world feels crueler than it is. Her book, Emergent Strategy, outlines a radical organizing strategy. One principle from this book is “what you pay attention to grows,” has guided the work of many of the organizers that I admire the most. I recommend treating this book like an album: pick it up at your learner, replay the hits, and share it with the people you love.
For students who want to make change, I want to refer you to this guide on student organizing and movements. It walks you through all of the steps and what to consider when organizing on campus. From interpersonal and technical considerations to how to integrate your academic work with your activism and organizing work.
This section offers closing reflections and invites readers to consider how they can apply the insights in their own lives and communities.
One of the most important skill organizing and activism work is learning where to focus your attention. It is easy to think that no one is doing anything. It is easy to think that everyone around you is just floating through life not seeing the things that you see and not doing anything to change it, but if you like for the people trying to change things you will have to look in the nooks and crannies where the light isn’t always hitting. Our attention is our greatest tool, and we live in a world that implicitly recognizes that. Social media, the news cycle, and advertising all understand the power of our attention, so why not reclaim it for ourselves. Ask yourself, are you giving your attention over to things that harm you? It takes effort and cultivation, but we can reclaim our attention. Pay attention to the good going on in your communities. Find the people who inspire you and let them know. Work together and don’t be afraid to get started.
