What's Care Got to Do With It?

All my life all I know is to stay productive. I currently work 3 jobs, I do not come from a family with money. My parents came from the Dominican Republic before I was born. My mother worked as a janitor in the National Grid building on Elmwood Ave and my dad worked at a bodega. They barely made enough to pay rent or own a house. They lived at a family friend's house, in a crammed basement. After my parents had me, they had my twin brothers. A family of 3 turned into a family of 5 in a one-bedroom space. My mom began cleaning homes on the side and my dad worked over hours in the bodega. They worked hard until they could afford a house in Cranston. My dad eventually saved enough to own his own business. My parents continue to work to this day because that is what they know and are taught. They came to the United States for a better life, they did not realize they were going to learn about capitalism. 

I followed in their footsteps. I started working in my freshman year of high school. My life consists of school and work. The first time I received care was in my undergrad. I worked at a retail store in Natick Massachusetts, my travel consisted of two hours plus an 8-hour work shift. I barely had time to socialize with friends. My coworkers became my friends. I overworked myself to pay off school and debt because of COVID.  My store manager gave me the day off and drove me to a surprise spa day. That was the first time I ever received care. This was the first time I felt rested, free, and light. 

I listened to the No More Grind: How to Finally Rest with Tricia Hersey podcast, I found it fascinating plantations on some facts that Tricia Hersey mentioned. Capitalism was created on plantations, and the idea of grind culture has a similar ideology. I currently have three jobs, I am president of my works association, I teach and lead a dance cultural group, and go to school full-time. I have inhabited this idea of productivity. I continue to keep myself full-time busy because I don't want to feel like I am lazy or not doing enough. However, through all this, I do give myself some grace and provide myself with self-care. 

 Healing Work Through Understanding Our True History: In Community With Dr. Cory Greene

The Carma Chronicles Podcast focuses on healing. The guest speaker on the podcast, Dr. Corey Greene is the co-founder, co-director, and organizer of  How Our Lives Linked All Together ( HOLLA) organization. This non-profit developed work in political strategizing, the people who serve sentences in the New York State Correctional facilities. Dr. Corey Greene shares his healing journey, story, and the organization he co-founded. 

Before listening to this podcast, I read the word "healing" in the title, and my assumption led straight to mental health healing. This podcast goes deeper than that. Healing can look different in many ways. In this case, we look at healing through a social justice lens. The focus of this podcast; healing justice, transformative justice, and restorative justice. Being able to join an organization, and speaking about the history of Indigenous and black folks is the process of healing justice. Using the knowledge of our ancestors and their experiences can help create a space where folks can begin healing justice and advocacy. 

I was intrigued by the topic of healing justice. This is the first time I have heard of this term. Dr. Corey Greene states that three program components are focused on the 5 Rs of resurrection. These three programs are the foundation of healing justice. Teaching black history, sharing stories, studying, and being connected with our ancestors can keep the healing justice going. 

Ginwright and Cammarota share, how critical consciousness fits into social justice youth development. They state Critical consciousness can be described as an awareness of how institutional, historical, and systematic forces limit and promote the life of opportunities for particular groups.” (Ginwright and Cammarota, 2002) Healing justice opens the opportunity to have critical consciousness in youth spaces. Creating social and political challenges can construct advocacy in youth work.

 IDENTITY: POWER, PRIVILEGE + INTERSECTIONALITY

            Whiteness and white supremacy culture impact my students and the educational space in which I work in several ways. The school I work in is an evolution of diversity, several years ago the student population was white. However, over the years, diversity has been integrated into the population. Even though the culture of the student population has been changing, the teacher population has stayed the same, white teachers. I have worked at the school for 3 years and there have been instances that I have witnessed whiteness. As a first-generation, Latina college advisor my students are more compelled to express their feelings about how they are perceived by their teachers and guidance counselor. My students of color do not believe they can get into a college or a job because of their family background. Their teachers have told them they will end up either like their parents or siblings, meaning living in the projects, getting into gangs, drug addicts, alcoholics, and/or pregnant. I hear teachers making comments about students based on their appearance and the color of their skin. The other day I overheard the teachers talking amongst themselves sharing their positive and privileged high school experience, most of the teachers who work at the school attended Burivillle, Lincoln, and Cumberland High School. Some even still reside in these towns, and they share their wealth stories and pictures of their personal life with the students. These towns are known to be predominantly white communities and are normally greatly funded for activities and events.

Recently, I witnessed a teacher telling a student that Spanish people come from the same island and are all the same. She also mentioned that Spanish-speaking students should perfect their English because they will struggle to navigate life. All these situations have made me feel uncomfortable and my students feel like they are not able to be successful after high school. This brings me sadness about how our educators do not believe in their students. After hearing that comment I decided to write an email to the principal about the professionalism in the work space. I reported the teachers and I hope they will be spoken to and be apprehended.

    Milary's Educational Journey Map

My educational journey map begins at the elementary school level. My elementary school made an imprint of who I am today. I attended the Garden City Elementary School, where the population of the teachers and students were white. I believe that one or two students, including myself, were part of the minority percentage. Throughout my elementary education, I was silenced by my educators from using my first language. I repeated the first grade because my English did not meet their expectations. Due to being held back, I was bullied for being the oldest in the classroom and physically not fitting in with the rest of the female classmates. This led me to sign up for cheerleading to build self-confidence and create new friendships.

Throughout Kindergarten and fifth grade, I was pulled out of class for extra English reading and math support. I was constantly being tested on my reading skills and my English-speaking abilities my parents would come in for meetings about how I needed to work on my English at home and my parents needed to learn English. This resulted in my parents hiring a tutor after school where I would practice my language and work on homework. 

Moving forward to the middle school years, my English was up to par for the Cranston Public education. I was put into regular education classrooms and was not being tested. I used less of my first language and more of my second language. I began to hide my identity and began to feel ashamed of being Latina and Dominican. However, in my classes, I was the teacher's pet. I always organized the classroom and followed the rules. I became more vocal in asking for help on assignments. I stayed after school for extra support. I was molded into a great student and graduated middle school with honors and academic awards.

During my middle school years, I was the captain of the cheerleading team and participated in All-star competitive cheerleading. Outside of school, I engaged in Latin folklore dance for Quisqueya in Action. These were the years I began to deal with my identity crisis. 

During my high school years, my passion for education began to spark. I was not a full A and B student, I struggled at the beginning of my high school years. I failed physics twice, was accused of plagiarism, and was put into low-reading-level classes. The upside of my high school journey was that I joined the  Career and Technical Program Child Development.  This program allowed me to work with preschool students, create lesson plans, and intern at a preschool center. My interest in having a teaching career blossomed. 

I participated in beauty pageants at, the Hispanic United Development Organization (HUDO). I received the title of Princess HUDO, which opened the doors to new opportunities. One of the opportunities was community service in the city of Providence. I taught the youth of HUDO Latin dance and modeling. I volunteered for community events and participated in fundraisers one of my biggest accomplishments while being Princess HUDO was creating a lot and a dance program for an afterschool program known as Providence After School Alliance (PASA) at two middle schools Roger Williams and Gilbert Stuart. I competed in another pageant, Miss Dominican Republic of Rhode Island. During my duties I worked a lot with the youth, I taught Latin dance, donated toys, clothing drives, and hosted special events. This was the moment where I realized I wanted more than just sit in a classroom but my passion was teaching.

My senior year, I graduated with a GPA of 2.5. I did not have a great support system during my college advising, my guidance counselor did not help me with applying to college. She believed that I did not have the grades and confidence to apply to college. I was fortunate enough to have my bestfriend help me with the process. I applied to Rhode Island College two weeks before graduating high school and received my acceptance letter. 

Everything was going great not until 2016 through 2017 everything turned cloudy. I lost my job, my car, dropped out of college, my mom ended up loosing her vision and was battling depression, on top of it all my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimers. I honestly realized that I can’t just stay still I need to move forward. So, 2018 I believe a lot happened within that year. Positive things were happening, I decided to take a class to become a teacher assistant, applied for a teacher assistant position in the Providence Public School Department. Started paying back school and got my life back on track. In the spring of 2018 my friend invited me to her YDev pinning ceremony. I heard these amazing speeches and how the program changed their lives. The next day I emailed Corinne.

After graduating with my Bachelors degree, I wanted to continue to grow. I graduated with the Rose Butler Browne Award and a scholarship. I decided to use that money to put it towards getting my immigration law certificate and my career coach certificate. I then expanded to applying to College Leadership of Rhode Island, where I graduated with leadership skills and networking opportunities. After my graduation, I decided to apply for my master's in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at  Rhode Island College. I also applied for a Graduate assistantship, Allied. While being in the program I began to lose my passion of youth work. I knew I wanted to work with students who were underrepresented in the school system, I also wanted to advocate for bilingual students. As time went on while I was in the program, I knew this was not for me. After I graduated with this, I applied for the development masters in this program I hope to find my why again.