CESP Blog

The Cedar Riverside tour took us from the U of M campus, around Cedar Ave, to the Riverside Plaza and ending at the River Bluffs. It is amazing to me, how in such a small geographical location you can have some of the states largest institutions (U of M and Fairview), a National Park, and one of the densest housing complexes west of Chicago home to thousands of new immigrants and refugees. Given the diversity of the neighborhood and the often competing interests, is it possible to create one unified identity of Cedar Riverside? Is that important for a neighborhood? What identity have you associated with Cedar Riverside in the past and did the tour and service work change your perspective? How can the diverse communities of Cedar Riverside work together to enhance the quality of life for all residents while simultaneously protecting a unique natural resource like the Mississippi?

To get credit for this RAP Session please make sure you leave us your response in a comment on this entry or shoot Laura an email at damm0032 (at) umn.edu.

If commenting, please put your full name and umn.edu email address so we know who to give credit to!

Posted by reut0076 at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In our Reflective Writing Workshop, we tried out a variety of methods for getting started on a piece of reflective writing. These included: free writes, making lists, time lines, outlines, diagrams, maps, etc. We also explored two different approaches to the content of a reflection: 1) Starting with an experience you'd like to "unpack" and using the "what, so what, now what?" model, and 2) Starting with a meaningful "big question" and brainstorming what you know about that question, what you don't know, and how your community work might fit in to finding out more about the answer to that question. To wrap up this RAP session, do some kind of pre-writing that you might use to write a reflection in the future. This pre-write can take any of the forms that we tried out in the RAP session, or any other that has come to mind since then.

To get credit for this RAP Session please make sure you leave us your response in a comment on this entry or shoot Laura an email at damm0032 (at) umn.edu.

If commenting, please put your full name and umn.edu email address so we know who to give credit to!

Posted by reut0076 at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October is GLBT history month as the video above explains. For this month's reflection idea we want you to think about the contributions GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) people have made to the community work you have done. Are GLBT issues discussed at your community organization? Is harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression challenged? If you are working with young people, is GLBT history discussed? If so, how are GLBT people portrayed? If not, what can be done to incorporate and make visible the contributions of GLBT people?

For more information, visit the GLBT History Month website for more videos and biographies on GLBT historical icons.

If you would like to turn in a reflection on this topic, you can submit it via email to cesp (at) umn.edu or drop it off in our 345 Fraser office.

Posted by reut0076 at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)