Retelling History: Black LGBTQ Community

Retelling History
I am retelling history by speaking about Black history through the perspective of a queer person. In my Equality class, I've interviewed two of my classmates about LGBTQ culture in the African community. Below, I wrote my own history chapter, highlighting important queer events throughout history. I've also studied the ways feminism has evolved throughout history, which inspired me to write about the ways gay culture has evolved within the black community. I enjoyed this project because I felt like I could connect with my history and learn something new about my roots.

Cave paintings of the San people near Guruve in Zimbabwe of evidence suggesting same sex sexual relations dating back to the time of Bushmen. [Source: Diura, T. (2017). 13 Reasons why homosexuality is not un-African. African Curators: History, November 2. Retrieved September 18, 2019, from http://africancurators.com/2017/11/02/13-reasons-why-homosexuality-is-not-un-african/].

MY ESSAY:
https://issuu.com/asterling-ccscfiles/docs/ap_report

Citations:

Harlem World Magazine, and Harlem World Magazine. “The Rockland Palace Dance Hall, Harlem NY 1920.” Harlem World Magazine, 27 Oct. 2015, www.harlemworldmagazine.com/the-rockland-palace-dance-hall-harlem-ny-1920/.

Reid-Smith, Tris. “This Prehistoric Rock Art Celebrates Gay Cavemen.” Gay Star News, 2 Oct. 2017, www.gaystarnews.com/article/prehistoric-rock-art-celebrates-gay-cavemen/.

Ryan, Hugh. “In Case You Haven't Heard, Ancient Egypt Was Totally Queer.” Them., Them., 22 Feb. 2018, www.them.us/story/themstory-ancient-egypt. 

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

Harlem World Magazine, and Harlem World Magazine. “The Rockland Palace Dance Hall, Harlem NY 1920.” Harlem World Magazine, 27 Oct. 2015, www.harlemworldmagazine.com/the-rockland-palace-dance-hall-harlem-ny-1920/.

Reid-Smith, Tris. “This Prehistoric Rock Art Celebrates Gay Cavemen.” Gay Star News, 2 Oct. 2017, www.gaystarnews.com/article/prehistoric-rock-art-celebrates-gay-cavemen/.

Ryan, Hugh. “In Case You Haven't Heard, Ancient Egypt Was Totally Queer.” Them., Them., 22 Feb. 2018, www.them.us/story/themstory-ancient-egypt.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

Harlem World Magazine, and Harlem World Magazine. “The Rockland Palace Dance Hall, Harlem NY 1920.” Harlem World Magazine, 27 Oct. 2015, www.harlemworldmagazine.com/the-rockland-palace-dance-hall-harlem-ny-1920/.

Reid-Smith, Tris. “This Prehistoric Rock Art Celebrates Gay Cavemen.” Gay Star News, 2 Oct. 2017, www.gaystarnews.com/article/prehistoric-rock-art-celebrates-gay-cavemen/.

Ryan, Hugh. “In Case You Haven't Heard, Ancient Egypt Was Totally Queer.” Them., Them., 22 Feb. 2018, www.them.us/story/themstory-ancient-egypt.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

Harlem World Magazine, and Harlem World Magazine. “The Rockland Palace Dance Hall, Harlem NY 1920.” Harlem World Magazine, 27 Oct. 2015, www.harlemworldmagazine.com/the-rockland-palace-dance-hall-harlem-ny-1920/.

Reid-Smith, Tris. “This Prehistoric Rock Art Celebrates Gay Cavemen.” Gay Star News, 2 Oct. 2017, www.gaystarnews.com/article/prehistoric-rock-art-celebrates-gay-cavemen/.

Ryan, Hugh. “In Case You Haven't Heard, Ancient Egypt Was Totally Queer.” Them., Them., 22 Feb. 2018, www.them.us/story/themstory-ancient-egypt.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.Harlem World Magazine, and Harlem World Magazine. “The Rockland Palace Dance Hall, Harlem NY 1920.” Harlem World Magazine, 27 Oct. 2015, www.harlemworldmagazine.com/the-rockland-palace-dance-hall-harlem-ny-1920/.

Reid-Smith, Tris. “This Prehistoric Rock Art Celebrates Gay Cavemen.” Gay Star News, 2 Oct. 2017, www.gaystarnews.com/article/prehistoric-rock-art-celebrates-gay-cavemen/.

Ryan, Hugh. “In Case You Haven't Heard, Ancient Egypt Was Totally Queer.” Them., Them., 22 Feb. 2018, www.them.us/story/themstory-ancient-egypt.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

Harlem World Magazine, and Harlem World Magazine. “The Rockland Palace Dance Hall, Harlem NY 1920.” Harlem World Magazine, 27 Oct. 2015, www.harlemworldmagazine.com/the-rockland-palace-dance-hall-harlem-ny-1920/.

Reid-Smith, Tris. “This Prehistoric Rock Art Celebrates Gay Cavemen.” Gay Star News, 2 Oct. 2017, www.gaystarnews.com/article/prehistoric-rock-art-celebrates-gay-cavemen/.

Ryan, Hugh. “In Case You Haven't Heard, Ancient Egypt Was Totally Queer.” Them., Them., 22 Feb. 2018, www.them.us/story/themstory-ancient-egypt.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

Villarosa, Linda. “The Gay Harlem Renaissance.” The Root, The Root, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theroot.com/the-gay-harlem-renaissance-1790864926.

The Man with the Plan: GCE's AP System

Social Entrepreneurship and You is a sociology class I'm taking this year that's very similar to Economics, except it explores the ways humans behave from a physiological view. This term, we've taken several different personality tests to determine who we really are as people, and how our personalities contribute to the school and its environment. After taking these tests, our teacher asked us to share what our personality type came out to be and allowed our classmates to determine if certain traits were accurate or not. The personality tests were also taken to show how jobs can use them to determine what different traits someone has. These tests can tell your future boss or supervisor how determined you are, motivated, introverted/extroverted, etc. as well as what your work ethic is like, and how you can apply your own life skills to your career.

My personality type is INFP-T (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving. The "T" stand for Turbulent. There are also INFP-A personality types, the "A" standing for assertiveness. So, what does this mean about my role as a student in GCE? How do my strengths and weaknesses impact my class environment at GCE?

85% of turbulent mediators admit to being "lazy people" but the "lazy" doesn't exactly fit in with who turbulent mediators really are. According to 16 Personalities, "The poor self-evaluation of their work ethic is just as likely the result of their negative slant as it is a measurable reality". It's also easier for turbulent mediators to face day to day difficulties, which can steer us back in the right direction when we get too unmotivated. This is my second time taking the 16 Personalities test, and I can personally say that I have such big dreams and goals that it can be easy to get side tracked. But my personality also fits in to the goal of GCE. Global Citizenship Lab School is a hands on learning school that believes in self advocacy, individuality, culture, and using education to truly change the world. I've always been a visual and hands on learner, which made me have a passion for art. At GCE, I was able to actually be myself and dream as big as I wanted to. This motivated me to work hard and push others to work hard so we can take advantage of the opportunities GCE gives us. While I can be lazy sometimes, being at GCE helps me focus on my goals as an artist and gives me a real voice.

In Social Entrepreneurship and You, I learned what a "commons" is, as well as the tragedy of the commons. A commons has pros and cons. The pros are that everyone can share the same resource and land so they're all benefiting from it. A con is that someone can affect the community by taking too much of that resource. These resources don't have to be physical. They can simply be things that are needed like knowledge and time. When you're in school, you're sharing both knowledge and time with your peers, you can easily take away from their learning time, intentional or not. In my short documentary on the AP system in GCE, you can see that it was hard for some students to concentrate because of the way the space and time was structured. Students being offered more free time to work on projects caused many to lose focus on what they had to do. This caused students who were using the time and space productively to be distracted. Ultimately, students who had a different work ethic  found themselves taking away the time and knowledge from other students. The way we work in school, or how we react to things in the commons based on our different personality traits can affect the commons.

I also learned what SWOT is (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and identified my own SWOT goals. These goals included my strengths, weaknesses, and things I have the opportunity to work on. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs also helped me identify specifically what I need to improve on, and how I could grow from the strengths that I have. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a five-tier model of human needs depicted as hierarchal levels in a pyramid.

This is how the AP system at GCE falls into each of the levels on the pyramid.

1. Self Actualization Needs

Action projects allow students to share their voice with the world. Teachers giving students the freedom to express their ideas through any medium gives students an opportunity to talk about their passions. This motivates students to do what they love and to think outside the box and not just stick to a basic outline. Action projects not only challenge students, but allow and push them to grow through new experiences.

2. Esteem Needs

After interviewing different students in GCE, they expressed that the feeling of accomplishment makes them want to work harder, especially when they're working on an AP that is of their interest. Teachers begin to gain respect for student's independence by allowing them to work on their APs during class time. More time in class pushes students to get extra help they need from a teacher which can help them achieve what they need to for their AP.

3. Belongingness and Love needs

Since teachers allow independent work time in class for APs, students also receive more one on one time with teachers which makes them feel listened to and cared for, especially when receiving good feedback for an AP. APs are also a chance to use your voice and show people what you're made of. The fact that teachers give students a safe space to express themselves shows how students feel like they belong at GCE.

4. Safety Needs

Students can face judgment from teachers or peers based on their personal beliefs. If a student is working or prepping for an AP that mentions anything about their identity, personal experiences, beliefs, feelings, etc. then they can do so without feeling like they're in danger.

For example, I've talked about gay rights for an AP and I'm a queer person. I have that privilege of sharing that with my school and not feeling ashamed or being bullied because of who I am.

5. Physiological needs

Students can be offered extra time for APs as well as extra time in class if they have home issues, or feel that they're mental health is getting in the way of their learning.

For example, some students are so stressed out they lose sleep. When I get anxious during AP season I can't sleep or eat because my mind feels occupied. GCE gives students the resources they need for situations like these.

Man with the Plan

My plan to make the AP season less stressful and suitable for all students by connecting with different students I don’t have a close relationship with, or connecting with students who feel it’s hard to advocate for themselves and speak out about things. I can connect with students by reaching out to them if they seem like they need help with academics or are stressed about grades. I find it really helpful when I communicate with others in class. 

In conclusion, I liked that I made an AP about APs because it made me recognize what my own strengths and weaknesses are when I'm doing APs. I wanted to end the video with Erin's interview because she mentions some ways the AP system can be changed or improve. I think it's important to keep in mind that not all students have the same weaknesses and strengths. Some students need extra planning and resources when working on APs, and other students can be independent and work in their own space. This AP really made me aware of what different people can struggle with and how everyone should keep an open mind when people are prepping for Action Projects. AP season is usually a really stressful time and people can have limited time to get things done. I like how open minded GCE continues to be because it makes a lot of students feel supported and cared for.