Critical Journal for Class of 6/30/15

            Today in class we talked about what we experienced while riding the Redline for the Redline assignment.  Many people said they were a bit out of their comfort zones throughout their train ride because of the people they saw and the neighborhoods they passed through.  We also talked about the way we were raised by the people that brought us up, and how these people have influenced our perspectives on things such as race, and, for example, how to handle the situation of riding on a train by ourselves through a rough neighborhood.  I feel I have had this experience.  My parents grew up in the dangerous neighborhood of Austin, and my mom’s weary sense always rubs off on me whenever I am confronted with a dangerous situation, such as the one of riding the redline all the way from Fullerton to 47th, and then taking the 51st bus to my volunteering site.  When I told her the neighborhood that my volunteering site was in, her tone automatically changed to concerned, and she told me to be aware of my surroundings, and to not listen to my headphones on the way there.  She works in rough neighborhoods often for her job, as a social worker, and she has tons of experience with urban settings.  I feel like if I didn’t have my mom telling me to be careful in unfamiliar neighborhoods, I wouldn’t have the same perspective on things, although I often wonder what it would be like to have the same experience as my mother, to learn to live in an urban setting, on my own.