I will have the pleasure of interacting with some amazing young refugee kids in the UK just as I have here through the Center for New North Carolinians. Ask yourself, if this is worth supporting? I think so, do you? When I return from studying abroad I will host a forum in order to reflect on m…
Help me get to London!
Dear Friends, Family, and Community members,
I am writing to ask for your support as I prepare to study for the fall semester at St. Clare’s University at Oxford. I will focus during my time in the program on the intersections between Restorative Justice and education within the refugee/ immigrant community.
I hope to take this experience to graduate school with me as I begin to investigate systems of healing for people. How can the educational system support young people who have early experiences rooted in oppression and are looking for opportunities? I hope to explore methods that through addressing the lived experiences of the young people involved allow them to determine the best responses to their situations in a way that addresses the wrong and provides the most healing.
The study abroad experience will allow me to grow both personally and academically. My biggest obstacle at this point is the $6,000 that represents the cost of the experience. The journey has already begun as I’ve submitted my application for the program and have been accepted. Can you make a contribution to help me get there? I am currently looking for summer employment and odd jobs in order to pay for immediate expenses such as my visa and passport renewal.
Your support will be acknowledged on my website dedicated to the trip and upon my return I will host a community forum to share the experience and next steps. The budget for the trip is below and a contribution of any size will be greatly appreciated. If you are unable to give at this time, sharing this letter with your friends and networks would also mean a lot to me.
Sincerely,
Jodie Geddes
Blog link:http://allaboard31.wordpress.com/
http://www.gofundme.com/2yrvnw
The PayPal account link is also located on the web page. If you feel more comfortable giving me cash or a check that would also be an okay option.
I wish that I had something new to share but for new check this piece out from January of this year.
I have loved you since the day our eyes locked tightly
It is my strong belief that I will keep loving you until the blood in my body lets go of all the oxygen inside
I pray constantly that you feel this way
If you decide (or have decided) to move on I have no choice but to store you in my soul just encase there is an unexpected return
For now I vow to myself to be open and truthful with love and the delicacy of my own heart
I raise my hands open to you like a catholic school girl looking for that beam of light in the alter
Head held high with a lose jaw waiting for words to escape like lightning shattering particles of sand
This is only the rising of a beautiful boardwalk
The palm trees are still just roots extending into the soil and the hinges of this walkway have yet to be made
The sun still shines
And when we need some sheltering there are leaves and flowers opening into beautiful blossoms to photosynthesize the bundles we carry on our sleeves
Lay with me just for a moment and bask in this
Though the moment may ignite the fire that burns within us
let us not forget that the bridge was once burned
There are still some arsonist trying to leave us drowning in the pond
Celebrate the beauty of the sunset but do not forget that pollution has led it towards our pupils
Commemorate because we deserve rose petals and podiums built for the kings and queens that we have always been
We started from the top and we will always be here
Reconcile with the rust under this bridge
Let us all walk this path together despite the way of hair lays itself down
The way our reflections look in that old and cracked mirror
The lived bodies we were born into
Do not forget that there are spaces in between your finders with a structure like mines to build these hinges
Beer is like that old piece of minty gum that begins to get thin
Sticking under your chipped front tooth
Old and rotten to the point where you have to lick your wrist and wait 10 seconds
You anticipate the breath test as you bounce in the club with a crop top and a skirt disproportionate to your long tanned legs
It is that old lover you hate in silence but smile and say hi when he passes by
Sleepless nights with the sound of sitcom characters in a muffle of laughter putting you to sleep
Multitasking at 3am when the next days work is already done
Some things feel better in the sight of those we call company
Like the taste of beer breaking layers of your throat
All those adolescent demons waiting to escape through those deep and heavy breaths you try and hold in
The party stops when we become angry and emotional drunks
Bar scenes too close to reality
Some things are easier to swallow when you don’t have to be responsible for your own actions
I hate the taste
It fills my soul
