Fun at the Park

Learning how to dance the Hoedown Showdown on a lazy Sunday Afternoon in the park.

Awkward starts turning to friendships...

Life has been pretty good lately. I have recently started hanging out with some kids that live on the same street as me. The first time we hung out we threw my glow in the dark frisbee I got from a friend in High School. Then their grandmother needed help racking up the leaves that were on the driveway at the vacant lot next door to them. We had a good little chat.

Then the next time we hung out I awkwardly knocked on their front door. Then I saw the familiar faces through the window as they screamed, ¨Brittany`s here!¨ We played frisbee again even though we couldn´t see cause it was dark and it ended up getting stuck on the neighbor`s roof so that was the end of that.

Today we went to the neighborhood library and looked at some books. We didn´t have much time there till it closed. Brandon the 6 year old read a book to me. I am hoping I will get a chance to take them to the library again. At times I still feel out of place and wonder if I am in the right place. I have enjoyed awkwardly meeting people on my street and have been surprised at how easy it has been to build trust with them. I hope these relationships grow deeper.

Michael Wise...

Things I learned from, Michael Wise, a 62 year old man I met on my run today:

--You can´t have a thanksgiving meal without chitilins.

-- I am going to marry a man named Richard or James. Then he proceeds to guess names of people in my family.... Howard, James, Susan.... he didn´t guess any name correct.

--Diane should name her baby after me.

I just wanted to remember this conversation for a while. Mainly for my benefit.

Struggle with my race

A couple of months ago I moved into an inner-city neighborhood in downtown Atlanta. It is different from anywhere I have lived in the States. When I ride my bike or walk around the neighborhood it brings back memories of when I lived in Quito, Ecuador. I don`t know if it because of the stares I get, the poverty I see or the random interactions/conversations I have.

I have enjoyed being the minority and having to deal with race and struggle with how growing up white has impacted my life. I am taking a culture class right now and we just finished talking about how race impacts everyones life. Some people have advantages while many have disadvantages. I never really struggled with race much growing up because I was the majority in many of my roles and activities I was involved in.

This link was very interesting for me to look at race in general.

http://www.pbs.org/race/005_MeMyRaceAndI/005_00-home.htm

http://blackpeopleloveus.com/