Post #8 The Human Library

     I was very glad that our class time was spent at The Human Library last Thursday. During the time that I was there, I spoke to three different people and learned a little about their lives and the experiences that they have had. The first person I talked to was a survivor of a deadly car crash. Her name is Savannah Fielder. I actually went to high school with her and I remember when the car accident occurred. She told of how she was heading to work one day in December of 2013 and her car spun out on the icy road and crashed. Savannah said that she lost a whole month of her life and does not remember anything from the crash other than the ambulance ride where her father gave her his headphones so that she could listen to Taylor Swift the whole way to the hospital. She was in a coma for about a month. The accident happened during her senior year of high school and she spent the last six months of her senior year going through physical therapy and rehabilitation. She did however graduate with her class and is now attending her fifth semester here at Delta. 

     "Forced" isn't quite the word that I would use, but the lady who seemed to be in charge of The Human Library strongly directed me to another person who I probably would not have chosen to sit down and listen to. His name is Ray and he is an English professor here at Delta. He is also a Muslim. The reason why I most likely would not have chosen to talk with him is because I know very little about Muslims and what they do and believe The first thing I learned from him was that Islam is the faith and a Muslim is someone who practices that faith. He explained how he was raised as a Catholic and how he became a Muslim when he was in grad school. I felt a little uncomfortable asking him questions because I was, and still am, quite ignorant about the Islamic faith. I learned from him that there are three mosques in the area and the Muslim community is growing. Overall, I am glad that I talked to him because I learned a bit about something I really knew nothing about. Ray was very open to any questions that we had about him or about Muslims and answered them clearly. He also welcomed us to come see him in his office if we ever had any more questions about being Muslim.

     The last person I talked to was a recovered addict. I did not catch her name but I personally found her story of her experiences to be the most interesting. She was a drug addict for many years and had actually gone to prison. She had battled with her addiction to drugs such as cocaine for several years. She told us that prison is where she got clean. From the way she described prison life, it sounded a lot like the show, Orange Is The New Black, but I didn't have the guts to ask her if she had seen the show or if the show was an accurate representation of what she experienced. We learned that she has an eighteen year-old son as well as twins. She is currently employed and plans on coming back to delta to finish getting her degree.

     I think that The Human Library is a very interesting activity. I really did enjoy taking part in it. It was enjoyable to listen to people tell about their lives and unique experiences that not everyone has. I would most definitely take part in this activity again. I do wish that I had the chance to talk to more people and hear about their experiences, but perhaps I will be able to talk to these people the next time this activity comes around.