well I hate the blog, let's try this again...

Okay, if the computer had actually posted my blog this is what it would have said...or as much of it as I can remember...

I was commenting on Rebekah's presentation last week about the mobile homes. I thought it was really interesting how she asked the class if we had any biases towards these homes. I didn't raise my hand because I needed to stop and think about it for a second. Each time I am confronted with a question about prejudices and biases, I try to stop and really think to see if I have one. In this case, I'm not sure.
As I said in class, I worked one summer at a trailer park at a summer camp for the community. It's very hard to describe the situation that these kids are in. The park was situated about two blocks away from the beach and yet a number of the children had never been before. We organized activities and field trips for the kids to go to the beach, the IMAX and the Chesapeake Bay (more places they had never been). It was interesting to see the kids and how they interacted with us, each other and their parents during this week. For example, one of the kids' parents was arrested and put in jail but apart from reporting this information to me, the campers didn't seem to think this out of the ordinary. During the week, the kids dressed in hand me downs taken from the Salvation Army and older siblings. Their shoes were worn down with no tread and they rode around on bikes with no seats, yet they boasted of new video games and big screen t.v.'s in their homes. None of them seemed to be sad except when they spoke of how they were treated in school. It was really interesting to interact with my campers older siblings who were about my age. Although I did not go to school with them, a number of the people working the camp with me went to their high school which provided an awkward situation at first. All of the people we hung out with that week were the ones who were laughed at for not wearing the latest surfer clothing or shoes (a must for the Virginia Beach area). They didn't surf, didn't have trust funds and weren't on any athletic teams. For this, they were shunned by the greater community. This transcended through the generations living in Trailer City, everyone felt this shame except when they were in their community. Looking back on it now, I perpetuated some of this shame simply by having "cool" shoes and clothes.
I look back on this week and wonder if I helped to take away a bias or to keep one going. I don't know. I know that I do not have a prejudice against mobile homes themselves, but they do remind me of the people who live there. I don't even think that I am prejudiced against the people, but I do feel sad when I think about them. I don't feel pity or shame or confusion; just sadness and I don't know what that means.

*the first time I wrote this it seemed a little more clear, sorry for any confusion but I can't quite figure out how I worded it before.