StoryHelix

Giselle Peña

StoryHelix, Giselle Peña, Wordcrafters in Eugene, Leah Velez, Intro and Outro Music by Otis McDonald Season 1 Episode 22

Giselle Peña talks about how belonging and not belonging feel.

You can read more about the project, about Wordcrafters in Eugene, about our sponsors and community partners, and send in your own Lane County, Oregon stories at StoryHelix.Wordcrafters.Org.

Thanks for listening!

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 You're listening to StoryHelix, intertwining
 stories past, present and not yet imagined
 
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 in Lane County, Oregon. What's
 up, earthlings? I'm Leah Velez
 
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 and I'll be your host. The stories
 that follow our raw footage. So let's
 
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 open up out your nuggets and give
 these community submitted stories listen.
 
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  I think belonging feels like a warm sense, uh,
 kind of a comforting sense, like you
 
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 aren't being pushed out or pulled in, you're just there. The moment I
 
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 felt I belonged was probably, I
 would say it's it was in this classroom
 
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 and also just kind of because this
 classroom has felt like a safe space so
 
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 far and I really enjoyed like talking
 and having this these type of conversations and
 
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 like the things that we're learning right
 now. I think it are really interesting
 
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 and important. I think the people
 are they're all from different backgrounds, they
 
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 all have interesting stories or interesting things
 to say, and I think I've also
 
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 been pushed out of my comfort zone
 to talk more or to kind of be
 
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 open about my ideas and share them
 as well. But very specific moment when
 
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 I felt that way, and I
 think that was like in 2016, which
 
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 was during like the whole border wall
 dispute, which is still going on.
 
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 I think I felt the most like
 I didn't belong at all, like anywhere,
 
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 because of there were so many things
 on one side and so many things
 
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 and not other side, people supporting
 it, people not supporting it, and
 
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 I've always felt like I was in
 the middle of that conversation because I was
 
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 someone that was born here with parents
 that were born somewhere completely else that I've
 
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 only been to once. So I
 think during that time in school and just
 
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 anywhere, I felt like I felt
 really weird, like I didn't belong,
 
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 like I wasn't allowed to go here
 there or stuff like that, which was
 
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 a very odd feeling to have.
 I think it's not a place that has
 
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 usually, I mean there's people in
 it, but there's nobody like that lives.
 
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 I'm sure there's people that live there, but kind of like going to
 
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 parks and stuff, I felt belonging
 only because it's very calm. It can
 
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 be kind of a reassuring place.
 It also has my favorite things, which
 
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 is like nature and animals and all
 that, and I really enjoy parks.
 
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 I feel very belonged there. I
 think in some cases it still feels I
 
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 don't belong. In some cases I
 will like notice the way people look at
 
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 me or maybe how they perceive me, like with friends. I've had this
 
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 like one the thing happened where I
 felt like I didn't dig into it,
 
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 but it just felt like because me
 and my friends went to a store and
 
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 we were like speaking Spanish a lot
 and then somebody, like a store person,
 
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 was kept kind of watching us and
 looking at us, and I don't
 
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 know if my friend pointed out and
 I was like, I didn't really notice
 
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 that, or you know, it's
 just or incidents. That happened with my
 
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 mom, I think, because her
 her accent is very thick and sometimes like
 
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 she doesn't know English that well or
 doesn't like she talks, but it's hard.
 
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 So I think back on those type
 of things and I'm like, okay,
 
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 yeah, I still feel kind of
 weird about going to places, but
 
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 I think it's it's changed. I
 hope it changes more, you know,
 
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 for the better, of course.
 Thanks for listening. You can find us
 
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 wherever you listen to your podcasts.
 If you've got your own Lane County story
 
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 to tell, we'd love to hear
 it at StoryHelix Dot WordCrafters dot org.
 
  

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