As Dr. Tom Ball took us to sacred sites for the Klamath Tribes he said:  “All this land is sacred but some places hold power.” It is this strong tie to home that fills a person. For me, home is the people I surround myself with. The labels that describe me on paper – female, Latina, 5’1” – never fully do the job. It gets all the more confusing when those descriptions aren’t easily seen at first glance. I learned this firsthand during my Alternative Break. A couple of my fellow participants are in a fraternity and while I tried and not jump to conclusions it can be hard to not subconsciously fall into stereotype potholes. In the end, I was blessed to spend time with these amazing men as they helped remind me that labeling is entirely unhelpful and counterproductive to learning about someone. Each of the 16 people I spent my Alternative Break with helped me to become a better person and I will always be eternally grateful. Spending time with people is how we get to know them, not reading about their descriptions on paper. We all became a community unto ourselves and these wonderful people helped me to feel at ease and safe and that I belonged.
The definition of community I think of – a group of people living together in one place and/or sharing a religion, race, profession, or other particular characteristic – doesn’t express what I witnessed in southeastern Oregon. The communities I met with were smaller than the University of Oregon student population, never mind all of Eugene, and always looked out for their fellow members. The warmth of the groups I met struck me immediately. Having transferred to the U.O. from Southern Oregon University this year, finding my place in the overwhelming population of Eugene has been a struggle. How do I cultivate the warmth I witnessed at home in a city of 150,000?