Communities are what give each of us as individuals a sense of belonging and a feeling of security in our lives. A community can be so much more than our environmental surroundings. If we look for others with similar interest and beliefs we will find cohesiveness that will help us as individuals become part of a community. As individuals if we are willing to bring our strength and weaknesses and time to the communities we feel we identify with, we in return will feel validated, and accepted for who we are, giving us a sense of security. *This section I would omit all together, the opening sentence makes the same point.
The first thing we think of when we think of community is geographically where we live; this may have been how communities where originally formed, but as time has evolved communities have became so much more than that. * Here I would have opened with my quote then recapped with examples of today’s communities which would have helped move my thesis along. “Throughout human history, most people have lived around some definable place – a tribal ring, an oasis, a river junction, a port, a town square “(Brooks, 184). Today communities can be defined by relationships, were freedom and security for one to be himself or herself is encouraged by others who are doing the same, in this process we feel we are being accepted for who we truly are. “But at the end of the day I can go online and talk to them there, and they know exactly what I am going through and how I feel. And I don’t have to worry about them judging me for how I feel” (Mim Udovitch, 151). In Udovitch’s essay she writes about Claire a teenage girl who struggles with anorexia. Udovitch goes on to explain how there are different viewpoints in which anorexia can be perceived; there are those who believe it is a disorder and those who believe it is a life style choice. Claire believes anorexia is a lifestyle choice and finds comfort and security when she is able to log onto a website that shares in her same beliefs and through the website she is now part of a community where she is not longer being judged and where she can be herself.
Very much similar to Mim Udovitch’s essay is my personal interview with Amy Adams. * In my personal Interview with Amy Adams. Here I would eliminate so much I talk and move the thesis along by talking about how different generations can see what communities are differently. Amy is an older lady who has recently lost her husband; when asked what community means to her she said “it was the town in which she lives” (Adams). I knew that would probably be her response, but I also knew that was far to general of an answer, for community is so much more, and she had probably never thought of community as anything else but where she had lived . I was introduced to Amy through the work I do with Hospice. I knew that since her husband’s passing she has a more personal community, one that can be defined by people sharing their lives, their stories, and their grief. In Amy coming to meetings and sharing with others her story as well as listening and connecting with others who have had similar experiences she has became part of a community that makes her feel secure, and serves a need of allowing her to find cohesiveness in grieving.
In my blog assignemnt I wrote about my own personal community, and that being a community of being a parent. David Berreby in his essay “It Takes a Tribe” wrote “a subconscious clue for perceiving a tribe as real and valuable, then, may be expending sweat, tears, and embarrassment to get in” (122). This quote could not sum up more perfectly what as parents we have gone through to be part of our own community.* The next few sentences are too personal, I derailed the paragraph. I would instead make this more generalized to appeal to speak to everyone not just parents. Being part of the “community of being a parent” gives my life purpose. I find security in that fact there are others I can share experiences with and they in return do the same, for example in being part of this community I have found out that I am not as mean of a mom as my kids say I am, and I have found out that saying “everyone else’s mom lets them do it”, is just not true and must be an old wise tale. Who of us that has kids has not gone to dinner with a couple that does not? *I would omit rhetorical question. Wow, try and keep that conversation going without boring that couple to death with every event in your toddler’s life for the past week. So for me this community serves my needs by giving me support and acceptance.
There is not one true definition of community, yes, it arguable that community can be as simple as it was years ago with where a person lived, and where a person went to church, as defining what community they belonged to. Today communities are defined more on our relationship with others than where we live or go to church. With the internet there are no longer geographic boundaries. Communities today are based on the premise of a shared life or shared emotional connection, and even if there is not an emotional connection a common interest will also bring people to each other. “People need to belong, to feel a part of “us”. Yet a sense of “us” brings with it a sense of “them” (Berreby, 120).
The first thing we think of when we think of community is geographically where we live; this may have been how communities where originally formed, but as time has evolved communities have became so much more than that. * Here I would have opened with my quote then recapped with examples of today’s communities which would have helped move my thesis along. “Throughout human history, most people have lived around some definable place – a tribal ring, an oasis, a river junction, a port, a town square “(Brooks, 184). Today communities can be defined by relationships, were freedom and security for one to be himself or herself is encouraged by others who are doing the same, in this process we feel we are being accepted for who we truly are. “But at the end of the day I can go online and talk to them there, and they know exactly what I am going through and how I feel. And I don’t have to worry about them judging me for how I feel” (Mim Udovitch, 151). In Udovitch’s essay she writes about Claire a teenage girl who struggles with anorexia. Udovitch goes on to explain how there are different viewpoints in which anorexia can be perceived; there are those who believe it is a disorder and those who believe it is a life style choice. Claire believes anorexia is a lifestyle choice and finds comfort and security when she is able to log onto a website that shares in her same beliefs and through the website she is now part of a community where she is not longer being judged and where she can be herself.
Very much similar to Mim Udovitch’s essay is my personal interview with Amy Adams. * In my personal Interview with Amy Adams. Here I would eliminate so much I talk and move the thesis along by talking about how different generations can see what communities are differently. Amy is an older lady who has recently lost her husband; when asked what community means to her she said “it was the town in which she lives” (Adams). I knew that would probably be her response, but I also knew that was far to general of an answer, for community is so much more, and she had probably never thought of community as anything else but where she had lived . I was introduced to Amy through the work I do with Hospice. I knew that since her husband’s passing she has a more personal community, one that can be defined by people sharing their lives, their stories, and their grief. In Amy coming to meetings and sharing with others her story as well as listening and connecting with others who have had similar experiences she has became part of a community that makes her feel secure, and serves a need of allowing her to find cohesiveness in grieving.
In my blog assignemnt I wrote about my own personal community, and that being a community of being a parent. David Berreby in his essay “It Takes a Tribe” wrote “a subconscious clue for perceiving a tribe as real and valuable, then, may be expending sweat, tears, and embarrassment to get in” (122). This quote could not sum up more perfectly what as parents we have gone through to be part of our own community.* The next few sentences are too personal, I derailed the paragraph. I would instead make this more generalized to appeal to speak to everyone not just parents. Being part of the “community of being a parent” gives my life purpose. I find security in that fact there are others I can share experiences with and they in return do the same, for example in being part of this community I have found out that I am not as mean of a mom as my kids say I am, and I have found out that saying “everyone else’s mom lets them do it”, is just not true and must be an old wise tale. Who of us that has kids has not gone to dinner with a couple that does not? *I would omit rhetorical question. Wow, try and keep that conversation going without boring that couple to death with every event in your toddler’s life for the past week. So for me this community serves my needs by giving me support and acceptance.
There is not one true definition of community, yes, it arguable that community can be as simple as it was years ago with where a person lived, and where a person went to church, as defining what community they belonged to. Today communities are defined more on our relationship with others than where we live or go to church. With the internet there are no longer geographic boundaries. Communities today are based on the premise of a shared life or shared emotional connection, and even if there is not an emotional connection a common interest will also bring people to each other. “People need to belong, to feel a part of “us”. Yet a sense of “us” brings with it a sense of “them” (Berreby, 120).
Works Cited
Brooks,David,Essay,“Our Sprawling,SupersizeUtopia”,Remix
Latterell, Catherine G. Bedford / ST. Martins, New York 2010
Udovitch, Mim, Essay, “A secret Society of the Starving”, Remix
Adams, Amy. Personal Interview. 23 April 2011.
David Berreby, Essay, “It Takes a Tribe”, Remix
No comments:
Post a Comment