By: Caitlyn Richtman

Editor-In-Chief

On a chilly November day, a young child skipped down Pulaski Street in Athens, his pudgy hand clutching his mother’s. He broke away from his mom when he spotted a small, red and white wooden box shingled with roof tiles standing tall in a Pulaski resident’s front yard. The child ran up to the box, opened it with a creak and snatched a children’s book out of it before shutting the box again and hurrying to catch up with his mother who had stopped to wait for him a few paces ahead. The boy grabbed his mother’s hand again while looking down at the prize the box had just given him and he continued to skip down the street towards downtown Athens.

The box that the little boy ran up to is one of Athens’ Little Free Libraries which are structures that have been built by the community to encourage Athens residents to read. Little Free Libraries are wooden boxes that are filled with books which anyone can freely take. There are over a dozen of these libraries scattered throughout the Athens area.

The book distribution points are part of a national trend. The Little Free Library project was started by Todd Bol in 2009 when he built a wooden box filled with books to put outside of his home in Wisconsin. Bol wanted to give his community access to free books 24 hours a day. The Little Free Libraries run on the hope that everyone who takes a book will one day come back and replace the book with a new one.

A major portion of the Little Free Libraries in Athens were built by the 2013 LEAD class, a year-long leadership program of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce. The 2013 LEAD class, mainly referred to as READ Athens after choosing to focus on literacy in Athens, built five libraries for the Athens community.

“It was a self-sustaining project, and the community really did adopt them,” Sarah Freeman, a member of READ Athens, told Ampersand Magazine in 2016.

Books Coming to Schools

The Athens community goes above and beyond to promote reading in Athens, mainly for children. Organizations such as Books for Keeps strive to promote reading and prevent “summer slide” for Athens children. Summer slide is when children leave school for summer vacation and they lose their reading skills because they don’t have access to books. Summer slide is more prevalent in low-income communities such as Athens-Clarke County, according to a study done at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2015, 41.6 percent of children living in Athens-Clarke County were living in poverty.

Books for Keeps was started in 2009 by Athens resident, Melaney Smith, after she heard about a second-grade student not looking forward to summer vacation because she had no books at home. After finding research that linked third grade reading levels to high school graduation rates, Books for Keeps was officially launched as a nonprofit in Athens in 2011.

“When students don’t have books to read during the summer, they’re at risk for falling behind,” said Leslie Hale, the executive director for Books for Keeps. “It’s really a big contributor to the achievement gap, driving a wedge between students who have access and students who don’t have access.”

According to Hale, Books for Keeps serves 15 elementary schools and 6,000 students. For this summer, 72,000 books that have been gathered throughout the school year will be given out over the course of one month. Each child gets 12 books to hold them over throughout the summer months.

“Once we start to give away the books in the schools in late April, I will be in the schools almost every single day,” Hale said.

Hale, the rest of the Books for Keeps staff and volunteers will work tirelessly during the giveaway month to ensure every child gets their books. According to Hale, there are “innumerable” improvements to children’s lives through books.

“If children can change the notion of reading from something they have to do into something they want to do,” Hale said. “When they’re assigned something later that they have to read, they are going to approach it with more of a sense of possibility than as a burden.”

Books Hit The Road 

Cameron Brooks is about to wrap up his 10th year as a third-grade teacher at Chase Street Elementary School, a Title I school in Athens. Brooks is no stranger to summer slide and calls it a “perennial problem.”

After reading “That Book Woman” by Heather Henson and “Richard Wright and the Library Card” by William Miller to his class over the years, two books that depict people who have difficulty procuring literature, an idea popped into Brooks’ head.

In response to the “guilt” he felt for holding hundreds of books hostage in his classroom that his students could be reading over the summer, Brooks came up with the idea for what he calls the “Bibliobike.” The Bibliobike is a bike that has a trailer filled with books attached to the back of it which Brooks can ride around to students’ houses during the summer- a sort of mobile library.

On March 4, Brooks started a GoFundMe page to raise the almost $6,000 he would need to complete this project. After posting a video explaining the Bibliobike to the page, Brooks raised the $6,000 in 24 hours.

Brooks recognizes that the Bibliobike could not happen without the “extraordinarily supportive” Athens community who have been there in many different aspects of his teaching not just this specific project.

Brooks started to teach for the “greater good,” and he believes that giving children books over the summer with the Bibliobike can be a part of the good that he is trying to put into the world.

“All subjects build upon a foundation of literacy,” Brooks said. “But more importantly, literature provides a scaffold for skills that are more difficult to quantify than reading, writing or math. Soft skills such as empathy, critical thinking and social emotional learning often begin with a book.”

Books Changing Lives

According to the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, 93 million adults in America read at or below the basic level needed to successfully contribute to society.

For University of Georgia English major, Ginny Morris, reading was an important part of growing into the person she is today.

According to Morris, giving children the opportunity to read and instilling a love of of reading at a young age is an important step to producing literate adults.

“It started out with my mom pushing me towards books. I don’t quite think she realized what she was doing. In high school, I realized how powerful and moving reading can be. My English teacher in high school taught me that books can teach us what it means to be human,” Morris said.

Morris remembers her summers being filled with books and enjoying investing more of her time in the world of books.

“Reading has advanced my ability to critically think,” Morris said.

Books Finding New Homes

In a world muddled with technology which preaches it is the most convenient way to consume books, Avid Bookshop, a local Athens favorite, is here to convince you otherwise.

“Print is not dead. I get personally offended when people say that. I’m tired of that narrative and it’s bullsh*t,” Rachel Watkins said, the events director at Avid Bookshop.

At least in Athens, print is very much not dead thanks to Avid. A hallmark of Prince Avenue since 2011, Avid opened a second location at Five Points in November 2016.

According to Rachel Kaplan, the events assistant at Avid Bookshop, bookstores will always be around because nothing beats “reading a book in the flesh.”

Along with providing a location for Athens residents to buy books, Avid also hosts author events, book clubs, children story times, culinary events and poetry events to name a few.

Avid strives to support the community that supports them which includes planning events for children in Athens.

“If you’re a reader in your childhood, you’re going to be a reader as an adult. That’s how we ensure we’ll have business in 20 years,” Watkins laughed.

Avid hosts book fairs, brings authors to schools, and has a weekly story time for children in shop. They even have a full-time school engagement specialist.

“We don’t want to be seen as a one dimensional place,” Kaplan stated. “We want to be able to provide programming for all ages, people from various walks of life. We want to serve the community as a whole.”

Watkins describes Avid as a “third place.” A place where the whole community can come to when they need to.

“Reading helps you feel known,” Watkins said. “It provides an outlet for you to discover emotional support. It can make your world bigger even when you’re trapped by finances, economics, your station in life, and how old you are.”

 

 

by Kalah Mingo

Forget all the stereotypes of mental illness. It has no face. It has no particular victim. Mental illness can affect any individual from any background and the black community is no exception. African Americans sometimes experience even more severe forms of mental health conditions because of unmet needs and barriers to treatment. According to the Office of Minority Health, African Americans are 20 percent more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population. That’s why UGA fourth year Majenneh Sengbe is taking action as the co-founder of her upcoming organization Black Minds Daily.

 

“Black Minds Daily started in honor of a late friend of mine that committed suicide… so I created this [organization] in honor of her to continue her legacy in some way and to bring awareness to mental health within black communities,” Sengbe says.

Black Minds Daily is an independent organization that focuses on ending the negative stigma of mental illnesses within the black community and creating a safe space for African Americans to discuss mental health. Sengbe’s ultimate goal for the organization is to become a nonprofit in order to help people seek treatment in its various forms and eventually provide treatment to those who can’t afford it. For now, the organization is taking steps toward that goal by spreading awareness with their events, collaboration with UGA organizations and with their website and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

“I personally suffer from mental illness myself. I suffer from anxiety and I’ve experienced depression here and there… it’s something that affects me personally and it affects people around me…” Sengbe says.

When Sengbe first came to her father with the idea, he questioned why the organization catered only to black people rather than all people. Sengbe feels that when it comes to mental health, the black community is a vulnerable group that needs recognition because the effects of mental illness are oftentimes hidden.

“Mental health awareness itself is very known. A lot of people talk about it all the time, but it’s never really addressed within the black community and that’s mainly where it needs to be addressed because you have increasing incarceration rates; you have increasing suicide rates of black children yet nobody is talking about it. No one is doing anything,” Sengbe says.

The U.S. Census Bureau found that though blacks only make up 13 percent of the United States population, they account for 40 percent of the U.S. incarcerated population. Additionally, an Urban Institute report found that more than half of all inmates in jails and state prisons have a mental illness of some kind. Since the 1990s, suicide rates among black children have nearly doubled.  

Recently, awareness of mental health in the black community has been a topic of conversation with celebrities like Chance the Rapper opening up about his anxiety, Oprah Winfrey addressing her mental illness, Kid Cudi’s post on Facebook about his battle with depression and suicidal urges and news about Kanye West’s hospitalization for his mental well-being. Still, Sengbe believes awareness of mental health in the black community remains stagnant.

“Even with those people trying to draw awareness it’s still not moving forward…They’re not as publicized as they could be,” Sengbe says.

“I feel like having these celebrities talking about [mental illness] is a step in the right direction, but it’s not making that huge of an impact.”

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness there’s not a lot of difference in the prevalence of mental illness across races, however, African Americans in particular face several barriers when it comes to treating their mental illness. The Pew Research Center found that poverty among blacks has fallen over the years, but still disproportionately affects the black community, decreasing their access to affordable health care. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2015, 11.1 percent of African Americans had no form of health insurance.

Religion also plays a big role in why many blacks don’t seek treatment. Many African Americans turn to religion rather than professional help for their mental illness.

“Like anything else, if you’re not putting in effort to heal you’re not going to heal.” Sengbe says.

“Simply praying doesn’t solve the problem and I think that’s where a lot of people find frustrations when dealing with mental illnesses because you’re being told if you pray to God and rely on your faith, then that is enough to solve any problem, mental illnesses included…”

It’s barriers such as these that motivates Sengbe to continue her work with Black Minds Daily and become an official nonprofit.

“…we’re hoping to spread this information and hopefully reach someone, anyone and get them thinking about their mental health or thinking about pursuing treatment…” Sengbe says.

Mental illness can come with stigma in any case, deterring people from seeking help. However, through education and awareness, stigma can be reduced, allowing individuals to openly embrace their mental health.

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Graphics by Kalah Mingo

by Kemani Miles

In the past, the University of Georgia has had four previous TEDxUGA events with many more to come. The talks span from different perspectives to talk about issues that need to come to light and could help push society forward. This year, TEDxUGA decided to look at their fifth event from a different angle.

TEDxUGA took their talk in a whole new direction and used the idea of a “spectrum” to tackle different issues coming from 15 different speakers. The whole purpose of the this talk was to  make the the audience talk about different ideas and to cause them to think, which TEDxUGA succeed.

TEDxUGA was also the event for one of the first comedians to ever take the stage. Shaunak Godhinki, a fifth-year in Communication studies, does comedy shows five days a week in Athens and Atlanta.

Godhinki said that he decided to pursue comedy because he thought this was something exciting to do and he genuinely wanted to try it out.

“I’ve always thought that it was the coolest thing in the world but I didn’t know to get started in the field.” Godhinki said. “I don’t know if there was just a special calling, I just liked it alot and I have the most fun doing it.”

During Godhinki’s show he talked about his father, his girlfriend and even some funny moments here at UGA. He said that his first comedy show was held at a restaurant for a New Year’s party for his father’s job.

“My first show was at my dad’s New Years party. They asked another comic to do it but dropped out a week ahead. My dad was like, ‘my son will do it’.”

Godhinki will be graduating this May and has found a balance between school and comedy that fit perfectly for him, all because he really wanted to pursue his dream of comedy.

Professor W. Keith Campbell, the head of the department for psychology, also took the stage at TEDxUGA to talk about the narcissism. Starting in graduate school, he has spent 20 years researching narcissism and the different forms, like grandiose and vulnerable.

“I started studying for a few reasons, narcissism is really easy to see, so it’s kind of fun.” Campbell said. “Partly, I wanted to study the ‘non-self’ from a Buddhist perspective, I couldn’t figure out how to do that so I studied the opposite. Then part of it, it’s like a guy out there studying the Zika virus, you keep studying something and it works and then you can’t get off the carnival ride.”

Usually, people tend to think of narcissism as something that is negative but Campbell says that it could be used as something positive, like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge where people would video themselves being drenched in ice water.

“It can be used could be used for positive ends.” Campbell said. “I try to look at narcissism as a trade-off, there’s positive aspects and negative aspects. All of things are good in moderate doses but too much is a real problem.”

TEDxUGA was also the event for the performance of Asura, a fusion dance team. Jun Kim, one of the members of Asura, said that he joined Asura because he likes the mixture of the culture that Asura.

“I like to mix the cultures of my friends.” Kim said. “I just like to be in a mixture of different identities.”

Asura prides themselves on being very disciplined and very driven. They have competed at the national level and they continue to push themselves forward with more practice.

Kim went on to say that what helps keep the team successful is self-discipline.

“A lot of the success comes from self-discipline” Kim said. “Practice outside of practice, recording yourself through video, sending it into the executive on team, just self-discipline keeps the team successful.”

The TEDxUGA staff were also very helpful to all of the speakers with pushing them forward and helping them through this process. Jun Kim said that this event was something even better than other competitions.

“It was amazing.” Kim said. “We go to these competitions where they’re expecting the dance teams to come but we can honestly say that TEDxUGA was ran better than these competitions. The hospitality, the students, the resources were so helpful.”

Campbell said that he has done speeches before but nothing like TEDxUGA. They really made him think about what he wanted to talk about.

“I was incredibly impressed with the students.” Campbell said. “They really forced me to think about it in a harder way that I think lead to a better talk if left to my own devices.”

Godhinki feels that he had a duty to the NMI and TEDxUGA to do a good job and to do right by them but he was excited about the opportunity of being a part of this event.

“It’s been cool to work with people who really care about this.” Godhinki said. “It’s been cool to work with people who’ve done a lot to put this production on. It’s been a blessing to do this.”

TEDxUGA was something to really experience, with all the great talks spanning from different topics. This event was something that was ran so well and it was very impressive to watch.

by Samantha Ward

Immigration has been at the forefront of political debate for decades now but saw a surge in conversations once President Trump began campaigning. With such widespread debate opens up the possibility of misunderstandings and straight-up lies about immigration spreading like wildfire across the internet. Many nonprofits are working to clear up these misunderstandings as well as help affected undocumented immigrants in the process, and one of them, Immigration Nation, came to Athens the other week as a part of their national tour.

Immigration Nation was created in response to the election of President Trump and his stances and hateful rhetoric against undocumented immigrants. Before the news broke, friends and Immigration Nation co-founders Martina Carrillo and Lauren Burke were about to split ways with Carrillo continuing her education and Burke about to start a consulting agency, but their connection to these issues were too personal not to drop everything and get involved.  

On their Kickstarter page they said, “Given Martina’s personal experience as an undocumented immigrant and Lauren’s work with hundreds of immigrant families. we knew we couldn’t sit idly by as our communities were under attack.  We also wanted to create audio and visual work that would share the real immigration stories of our nation. Thus, immigration nation was born.”

While touring the nation they are providing free, on-demand legal services for immigrants, hosting trainings and know your rights sessions in schools and churches, educating concerned citizens on how to advocate for their immigrant neighbors. They plan to do so for at least the first six months of President Trump’s hold in office.

Some of what they have done in Athens is host three different trainings, one at a local high school and the other two at a church, as well as form an impromptu “Love In” at Taqueria La Parilla after it received hate notes for closing on “A Day Without Immigrants.”

Training sessions covered a variety of topics related to being an ally to undocumented immigrants, one at a church specifically addressing what it means to be a sanctuary city, church, or organization while all of them covered topics such as the most effective way to respond to witnessed hate crime, how to support local government officials in making immigrant-friendly legislation, and facts to debunk common misconceptions about undocumented immigrants.

Two of the most prominent false claims about undocumented immigration is that it is illegal and that there is a clear path to doing it legally. Rather, Burke pointed out during the session that in some ways it would be easier for immigrants if it was illegal to be undocumented because currently they don’t even have the rights of criminals such as the right to a speedy and fair trial and the right against unreasonable seizures and searches. As far as “the path” goes, America was once known for it’s open doors to immigrants and refugees from all nations but currently only grants green cards or citizenship to those whose immediate family are already citizens, have been married for at least 10 years to a citizen, are fleeing for their safety from a horrible situation, are sponsored through work, or are starting a company worth 5 million dollars or more.

At the “Love In” at Taqueria La Parilla, Carillo, Burke, and many Athens residents came together to show their support for the employees who chose to not work on “A Day Without Immigrants” and to send a message that hate will not be tolerated in this community. It was a warm sight with everyone singing “This Little Light of Mine” and giving Valentine’s Day-esque cards with messages such as “Tacos in my Belly, Love in My Heart,” “All Are Welcomed Here” and “Immigration is Beautiful.”

Carrillo and Burke are now continuing their work on the west coast while Burke also takes part in a documentary filming about mental illness. From there, the two will continue their journey to wherever they are needed next. To follow their journey, you can go to immigrationnation.co and find their email newsletter sign up, Kickstarter link, and social media links from there.

by Samantha Ward

Amid everything going on in the political sphere, there are still safe spaces standing strong for the LGBT+ community, and one of them is the annual Connect Conference here in Athens. Hosted by the UGA LGBT Resource Center on January 28, this all-day event gave LGBT+ people and allies the chance to come together at the Tate Grand Ballroom and build community while “exploring the intricacies of intersectionality and issues that affect LGBT individuals.”

Only their third year hosting this event, the LGBT Resource Center reported the following day that over 215 people registered for the event, and you could certainly tell when students, professors, and others from across the state gathered in the Tate Grand Ballroom for the welcome, lunch keynote speaker, and closing.

Despite the large gathering, attendees experienced a more intimate setting for workshops with each ranging from 25 to 50. These workshops covered a wide variety of topics and fell under the four tracks of mind, body, heart, and soul. While some participants chose to stick with one track, everyone was encouraged to mix and match workshops as they saw fit.

Rebekah Hutchins, a post-baccalaureate student with a degree in genetics, referring to the workshop “It Takes More Than Two to Tango,” said, “There was one about non-monogamy and polyamorous relationships. I’m not in a polyamorous relationship, but I got a lot of information about non-monogamous relationships. . . and they talked about different types of relationships, what those look likes, and guidelines that you make for them. It was really interesting.” She also liked the emphasis on communication in any type of relationship.  

Other workshops included “Queering Spirituality: Moving From Acceptance to Celebration,” a talk from Rev. Kim Sorrells about queer theology and themes connecting the two communities, “Making A Mosaic Out of Your Life,” a workshop hosted by the UGA LIFE lab promoting intergenerational consciousness in the LGBTQ community through meaningful connections, and “The Rainbow Hijab,” a talk by Amina Abdul-Jalil about what it means to be a Black, Queer, Muslim women today.  

At midday, Grace Nichols, a “rising performance artist, poet, musician, actor, dancer and activist. They identify as a queer, genderqueer, transracial adoptee living with disabilities,” gave the lunch keynote presentation on their personal experience living with these identities, using art as a means of resistance, and the importance of acknowledging the levels of privilege and oppression within each sector of identity.   

Before ending the day, attendees had the chance to attend one of six caucuses centered around gender identity, sexual orientation, and race which fostered a safe space for open-ended discussions about topics learned that day, shared struggles, personal narratives related to identity, and other subjects.
Some attendees are already looking ahead to next year’s conference. Hutchins said in the future she would like to see “more in-community talk because I know the LGBT community does have their own issues within the community and if we could address those and have discussions centered around those (intersectionality), that would be great,” but regardless, she highly recommends attending to anyone who is interested, members of the LGBT+ community and allies alike, as she says it is always a wonderful event for networking with others and expanding knowledge on various issues and topics within the community.   

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Samantha Ward is a second-year journalism and women’s studies student and an online writer for Infusion Magazine

by Caitlyn Richtman

UGA’s Vietnamese Student Association took over The Classic Center in downtown Athens the night of Saturday Jan. 14 for their annual cultural event, Night in Saigon. Although the event is held every year, this is the first year it was held in The Classic Center.

VSA chose the theme of 13 Gifts of the Past for this year’s event. The theme highlighted the different struggles the VSA second generation students face while also reflecting back on their parents struggles as first generation immigrants and how the two are interconnected.

“It’s nice to showcase our culture to the students in Athens and all the people who come from out of state,” said Jody Dinh, secretary of UGA’s VSA.

Night in Saigon is at its core a charity event with this year’s proceeds going to the Catalyst Foundation. The Catalyst Foundation is an organization that helps to stop human traffic in Vietnam through education, community building, vocational training, food, and healthcare.

The doors of The Classic Center opened at 6 p.m. and guests dined on food donated by sponsors before sitting down to enjoy the four hour long production. The show was centered around a skit which followed the life of three second generation vietnamese americans. The three are shown struggling with pressure from parents, depression, and finding their passion. The skit also flashed back in time to show their parents escaping Vietnam and finding their place in American society.

In between scenes of the skit, the audience enjoyed other entertainment put on by the VSA which included dance routines, songs, magic, a fashion show, and a spoof of The Bachelor.

Students from all over the southeast traveled to see the show. Representatives from VSA’s came from University of Florida, University of South Carolina, and University of Central Florida among others attended the event.

VSA spends all year preparing and fundraising for Night in Saigon with their year revolving around the winter event.

“We have a year to prepare for [Night in Saigon],” Dinh said. “This is our main event and all of fall is basically spent preparing for this and the summer is when we are planning it. This event is completely philanthropic so all of the proceeds go to charity.”

Caitlyn Richtman is the Features Editor for Infusion Magazine.