{"id":6039,"date":"2018-09-17T20:17:28","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T00:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=6039"},"modified":"2019-03-17T10:00:30","modified_gmt":"2019-03-17T14:00:30","slug":"understanding-the-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=6039","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the &#8216;Other&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Danya Wellmon shared a brief history of WTB\u2019s founding after 9\/11 and introduced the theme \u201cUnderstanding the Other\u201d at our Sept. 17, 2018 program at the CNY Rise Center. A one-to-one connection, sharing of who we are, helps dissolve barriers and fear between us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Danya and Sue Savion invited the women to share personal stories and thoughts around three key questions. <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1) WHO DO YOU PERCEIVE TO BE \u201cTHE OTHER\u201d? Some responses included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cEverybody is the other and I am the other\u201d; diversity is good, we are all special<\/li><li>People who are too quick to make judgments seem \u201cthe other\u201d to me<\/li><li>Homosexual individuals are seen to be \u201cthe other\u201d in some churches<\/li><li>Priests who have abused children in Catholicism and other faiths <\/li><li>In the 1950s, \u201cthe other\u201d was men: whatever they did was seen as \u201cpermissible\u201d<\/li><li>Intolerance for \u201cwhat <strong><em>I  <\/em><\/strong>perceive to be intolerance\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>2) WHEN HAVE YOU PERCEIVED YOURSELF TO BE \u201cTHE OTHER\u201d? This led to some very interesting stories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Going back to graduate school as a 40-year-old female student<\/li><li>Celebrating Jewish holidays not automatically acknowledged in this country\u2019s workplaces<\/li><li>Switching between Catholic and public schools<\/li><li>Moving to a community that is close knit <\/li><li>Moving to a different geographical section of the county \u2013 especially moving to the South<\/li><li>Discovering segregation \u2013 separate black\/white facilities \u2013 in 1952, in Washington DC<\/li><li>Being a White teacher in a Black school in Alabama, during integration<\/li><li>Wearing distinctive religious dress such as hijab, burka<\/li><li>Practicing an unfamiliar or misunderstood religion, such as being a witch (Pagan)<\/li><li><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>3) WHAT COULD YOU SEE YOURSELF DOING SO THAT \u201cTHE OTHER\u201d IS NO LONGER \u201cTHE OTHER\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Reach out even to strangers \u2013 ask people about themselves<\/li><li>Break down barriers so \u201cthe other\u201d seems more like a friend \u2013 Bene Brown talks a lot about this in her books\/TED talks<\/li><li>Mothers Against Gun Violence \u2013 Helen Hudson\u2019s organization; working with them could be a way to form relationships with African American women<\/li><li>Photo Walks in different areas of the city; a chance to connect with people around taking their pictures, new environment<\/li><li>Get the Lead Out Initiative \u2013 on the South side; diverse community members coming together to confront a real health problem<\/li><li>Homelessness: Sandwich Saturdays at the corner of Oak and Lodi Streets; many faith traditions participate<\/li><li>Art Rage has a current exhibit entitled \u201cThe Invisibles\u201d with panel discussions scheduled<\/li><li>Go to the festivals of different faith and cultural traditions; Terra Harmatuk would be willing to introduce us to Wiccan rituals<\/li><li>Reaching out to people around grief\/dying: parents who have lost children to violence or illness; making blankets, perhaps; the best way to reach out to people experiencing illness or loss is to treat them normally and just be present; a lot of interest was expressed in doing a WTB meeting on this topic<\/li><li>Witness to Injustice \u2013 history of Native Americans; interest was expressed in doing this for November meeting; participating with Native Americans in a Thanksgiving Circle on Thanksgiving Day at Onondaga Lake<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We considered 3 questions: who do you perceive to be &#8220;the other&#8221;? When have you perceived yourself to be &#8220;the other?&#8221; and &#8220;What could you see yourself doing so that &#8220;the other&#8221; is no longer &#8220;the other&#8221;?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-6039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programs","tag-dialogue",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6039"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9386,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6039\/revisions\/9386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}