By Lauryn Jelsema, Culture Editor
The series, hosted in the Moose, was a collaboration among JHIWGSC, Campus Ministry, the Sociology Dept., SAO, CDIE and the Political Science Dept. The talks had an informal, informative atmosphere, and attendees often brought their lunch.
Esperanza Garcia gives a presentation on community and action – Photo by Lauryn Jelsema
The latest session aimed to be more interactive than earlier ones. Esperanza Garcia, Student Engagement Coordinator for the CDIE, opened with a short presentation introducing the central questions: “What is community?” and “How do we interact within our community?”
In response to the first (“What is community?”), Garcia stated that the answer was living in harmony with one another, recognizing individual differences, and putting community first.
“In America, we often put individual needs over the needs of others,” Garcia commented. She encouraged the audience to look outside their own needs and recognize what is best for their communities.
For the second question (“How do we interact within our community?”), the answer lies in letting go of an isolationist type mentality and having a willingness to learn about those other than oneself.
The slideshow ended with giving the audience a chance for reflection and to envision their own ideal community: “What do I want my community to look like?” Participants were given canvases at the beginning of the talk, and after the presentation, were encouraged to come up to the stage and pick from an array of brushes and colorful paints.
Participant’s painting of their ideal community – Photo by Lauryn Jelsema
Painters had 40 minutes to complete their vision of the perfect community, both inside and outside of Aquinas’s campus. Possible ideas were a word collage, a realistic portrayal, or an abstract work.
After finishing, the audience was prompted to share their works with those sitting next to them to learn how to coexist with differing opinions on community.
As this collaborative series comes to a close, the audience’s participation in the final talk allowed for reflection on what it truly means to maintain a strong community under the threat of authoritarianism.
The Saint 