The author reflects on a week spent in Beaver Dam, WI, their hometown, discussing the concept of belonging. Reconnecting with the community, they participated in a program by AAUW and enjoyed heartfelt interactions with locals, including old friends and neighbors. Despite the loss of parents, the warmth of the community reaffirmed their sense of belonging. Continue reading My hometown
We spent the first part of April in residence at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. It offered a chance to reconnect with students, faculty, and staff who I met last summer when I joined them in Northern Ireland. It gave me the opportunity to work a little closer with Kaitlin, Kate, and Sawyer, who are finishing up their junior year at Willamette and will join … Continue reading Willamette
“When have you felt a sense of belonging?” That’s the question we asked in a small rural town in Minnesota. I’ve worked with the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center in the past. They hosted one of my earliest exhibits there a decade ago. I spent a couple weeks there for an artist residency while I was editing our American Stories book. So, when I … Continue reading Belonging 2.0
I spent a week in Corvallis, Oregon gathering stories of belonging. It was a broad coalition of campus and community organizations that brought us to town and as a result, we were able to include a broad range of voices. It’s important, especially when we talk about belonging, to have a big tent, to include as many different voices as possible. We all tend to … Continue reading Belonging
Over the past six months, I’ve been spending time with San Pablo / St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. It was established in 1888 and for much of its history, served a community of Scandinavian immigrants. But over time, the demographics of the neighborhood shifted and now many of its members have Hispanic and Latin-x roots. The pews are populated with first and second … Continue reading Belonging
Over the past few weeks, I’ve produced a series of remote portraits with Ithaca College and gathered stories around the question, “What does community and belonging look like for you in this time of pandemic and protests?” It’s something I’ve thought of a lot lately, as we all learn new ways of navigating the world. As Karen and I leave our home of 20 years. … Continue reading Ithaca Remote
Amy Cordova sees her work and her life as inseparable. She is a visual artist, writer, and educator based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Amy has been creating art for as long as she can remember and finds the combination of art and nature to be transforming. She sees hope in children and her work calls on adults to wake up to the wonder, beauty, … Continue reading Amy Cordova
