GraceHurney

Grace Hurney

Civic Engagement

9 March 2009

Reflections: Day Two

The day started out rather splendidly when I woke up at…10:15! I rolled out of bed and looked at the schedule for the day. We were scheduled to go to the Frist Center for Visual Arts, a cool museum in the heart of downtown Nashville.

The exhibit was my favorite moment of the day- it was short, unexpectedly so (I thought there would be more than just a hallway exhibit), but still poignant. There were a series of photographs on the walls taken by participants of the Safe Haven Family Shelter. People of all ages ( two to sixty-five!) were enrolled in a two week photography workshop. The workshop was more than just camera work, however. Also included were lessons about “composition, visual storytelling”. Along with the surprisingly good pictures were poems or captions to the photograph. The pictures were vibrant; not just aesthetically vibrant, but you could see the life and energy radiating from these snapshots in time. I think the most rewarding thing I took away from this exhibit is that it broke down stereotypes about homelessness. The children in the photographs were happy and smiling, not dressed in rags and resembling Oliver Twist. The resilience and life featured prominently reminded me that homelessness doesn’t strike any one certain “type” of person, and that there is always hope to be found, no matter your circumstance.

There really weren’t any frustrating or negative moments to the day. We got to explore Nashville a bit more, so it wasn’t labor intensive or that community-service focused.

My random, fun moment of the day was just seeing downtown Nashville. It is a really interesting city in that so many things that normally wouldn’t “go together” co-exist peacefully within the city limits. Hippie stores next to a Confederate flag. Peace signs and cowboy boots. It kind of reminds of humanity in general. We are all extremely different, yet manage to co-exist; not always peacefully for everyone, but for the most part we live and respect one another.