Service Learning Activism Log #1.

1) Activism: This past week, I went to the Viva la Causa movie screening, and as a whole, our class took the big trip to Fellsmere for our community garden project! It was very productive. In terms of community partner contact, we were all divided into cars with at least one YAYA core member, so we were able to form more meaningful, intentional bonds between the class and YAYA. I also attended the YAYA meeting and we debriefed on our successes and failures. Personally, I think we can always engage with the communities we are associating with more, but that was collectively considered a success more than other aspects of the trip. We all agreed class members could have respected the space a bit better, especially with regard to cell phone usage and constant, mindful engagement with those around us. This week, though the coalition building aspect of our project was conducted relatively without incident, we did have to branch out beyond what has become the safe bubble of our class sphere, and that requires engaging with people who we don't know and may not even be able to communicate with without translators. These kinds of social discomfort are no doubt routine in the scheme of global activism. In general, we are still struggling with finding the women in our project, though we were all very inspired by Yolanda and the work she does, along with the several other strong women who make the community garden possible. Regardless, this project is in no way losing steam just because its largest component is over. We're looking forward to the Woman 2 Woman Conference and establishing those connections with a greater degree of clarity.
2) Reflection: Our community garden helped me put into perspective the impact of what we've discussed about fair food. Daniel's discussion about working to learn how to tend the garden through trial and error was fascinating, but also very inspiring. As we have discussed before, one way to offset the incredible toll that farm work takes on the laborer, especially in their sense of morale when enduring terrible working conditions, is through "produc[ing] food for local consumption" (Desai 24). Being a part of that, being able to clear a huge plot of land and then see what a garden looks like when it's done, which is how the plot we cleared will look with any luck, was a really great feeling. The community garden perfectly incapsulates the localization movement that has been a response to globalization, and it was a very personally rewarding thing to be involved in.

3) Reciprocity: I learned that radishes grow in twenty-two days! Listening to Daniel talk about gardening was so interesting and I honestly could have stayed much longer, had it not started raining. Beyond that, being in YAYA has allowed me to build relationships with my classmates and my community, and I see it building my leadership potential in new and exciting ways for the future. At the YAYA meeting on Sunday, Nena, Sara, Cole, and I volunteered to plan a benefit show for the grant YAYA is trying to learn, and not only will that allow me to interact with many of my friends from the music and social community in Orlando, but it will also build my event planning skills for future fundraising and nonprofit work.

Works Cited

Desai, Manisha. Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics. 

By Nancy A. Naples and Manisha Desai. New York: Routledge, 2002. Print.