The View From Here

It's rather disconcerting to realize that a person, and in this case a classmate, doesn't like me. Or at least that's my perception of a recent email sent by this classmate who that told me to "Stop emailing me" period (although there was a "please'"). I had no idea why the classmate thought it was a personal email as it was a group email to the class that we're taking. Perplexing. To be honest, it was hard to not take it personally for a moment. I mean, who doesn't like me ? Then I had to mentally take a step back, reflect and recognize that ultimately this wasn't about me. I won't go into my theories as to why I think this classmate doesn't like me but in the end it really doesn't matter. Rather, I'm seeing this an opportunity to practice mindfulness by acknowledging my feelings, taking a deep breath and letting go. I also see it as a metaphor for how I will face clients who won't like me for one reason or anoth...

In one of my summer classes, I was conversing with some of my classmates about something and somehow #BlackLivesMatter came up. As you probably know by now, my posture towards such situations and realities is one of solidarity and compassion. So when I heard the classmate say that African Americans should simply "get over it," I was shocked into silence. The reason being is that this student was in a School Counseling program and I knew that this student would soon be (if perhaps already) working with students for which the majority will be Black and Brown kids. What was problematic was the tone of dismissal and an utter lack of understanding of the African-American and Hispanic experience of oppression and marginalization in the U.S. that continues to THIS DAY. It concerns me that this soon-to-be-graduate's attitude will perceive Black and Brown kids as simply not working hard enough to "get over" the experience of racism that is both personally experienced ...