Its December 25th, and I am in my office putting final touches on our preparation for India.
This is an exciting trip: we will be taking students to the capital city of Chennai to visit a university, an NGO, and do teleconferencing with folks in Riverside, CA. We will also continue our photography curriculum with the students, as well as initiate the new piece of the program in which we will deliver the 40 packages from students in the USA to their new pen pals abroad. I am excited to see how the students will react-- what they will have questions about, what they will assume to be true or untrue.
A student placed a VOGUE magazine in one of their packages. I was initially struck by this-- a little frustrated, as I feel I've been trying to show a different side of America that is not based in media, but in real lives of the people living here. But I guess VOGUE has a place in that-- it operates in our daily life. It operates in the way in makes people feel, dress, act, or think-- about life, themselves, or our world. One student wrote about how much they love education in the USA, although our curriculum will discuss obstacles to higher education faced by the communities who made the packages. There was candy. There were family photos. Sunglasses. A recorder. A camera. Books. College pamphlets. CD's. All of these are America, I am also learning this. VOGUE still functions strongly in my life-- it makes me act in a way that actively tries to reject something I feel VOGUE communicates. That action, that rejection and resistance, is also America.
This also provides a new curriculum opportunity: what is "high" media in India? I found a 50-pack of "Bollywood" Postcards at Cost Plus World Market and purchased them to do an activity... I don't know the activity yet, but I could see one like a bright aura around those cards. They will also be useful for the students to articulate their own ideas about media and photography and how it communicates "Indian-ness" to the rest of the world. They can use the postcards to write to their new pen pals. It was a good investment.
We also had a great blessing this week. To pay for another set of 20 cameras, we did a last-minute money drive via internet to get enough donations for our students. In 3 days, CLP supporters donated $250 to our camera-cause, which is MORE than enough to buy cameras and pay for developing. I feel so grateful to these individuals and their kindness-- I feel encouraged and supported.
But the blessings continue: the UU Church of Riverside has donated $1,000 to CLP. We were presented the check at their Christmas Eve Service/Fellowship with a great applause and wonderful show of energy and support from the congregation. They will be sponsoring a teleconference on January 5th, and the students and my team will speak the the community from their sanctuary in an international display of community.
I am frantically packing, and I'm hoping I'll be able to solidify things in India once I arrive. I am concerned about our ability to arrange all the meetings with the Universities on time, and we are certainly engaging in some last-minute space arrangements. I will keep you updated on how this unfolds, particularly because we have received such support from our Riverside community.
One meeting is for sure! We will be collaborating on a social justice component with RIDE (www.rideindia.org).
Happy holidays-- and happy New Year!
Samantha
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