A Reflection by Julie Sze

I became an ARCista because the program offered what is all-to-rare at the university, a chance

to reflect with colleagues on issues and topics of mutual concern, as well as an opportunity to

engage with an ongoing project so our conversations were not so abstract as to be meaningless.

I also joined the group because the ideas behind ARC (Art of Regional Change) were connected to another humanities based exhibition project that I am involved with, supporting a photo exhibit/ online curriculum focused on women environmental justice leaders in the Central Valley. That project, like the Calaveras project, is centered in communities and with populations that are generally culturally and politically disenfranchised. Thus, I was interested in the challenges and opportunities in working in such a community. As an ARCista, I met with the group monthly, blogged for the first time (with mixed results) and absorbed many of the lessons from the Calaveras project. the experience benefited me greatly, it put many of the concerns I'm interested in, both through my individual research, and my work on campus/community collaboration in a broader conversation. I also learned and was so impressed by the youth at the final public event. Their poise, humor, and self-reflection was so mature, that it reinvigorated for me the importance of this kind of work.