Fireside Chat

The belief I chose to share with the class in my fireside chat is that defining a family supersedes just blood relations. I chose to share this belief because it’s something I have believed for a long time, and for the personal reason of me and all my siblings being adopted.  I know that my family is a forever family because we have been sealed together in the temple.  But even families that are put together, and aren’t sealed, I believe will find a way to be together forever.

                One potential problem with this belief is the issue of homosexual couples. Personally I believe that constitutionally they have the right to get married and create whatever family they can together. There is a television show on ABC Family right now called The Fosters. This show exemplifies my belief very accurately I believe.  It’s about a lesbian couple, and the different children they’ve had, adopted, and hope to adopt. In my fireside chat I wanted to get across the message that some families can be chosen, and that even without blood tying them together, they can be as strong a unit as any other. I believe that this applies to homosexual couples.  It’s easy to get attached to people, and two people raising a family together, are of course going to feel love and care for each other. They’re going to love the children they are raising, even if there ways of attaining them are unconventional.  They are a family.  The only problem with this is that I still believe marriages and families should be created between a man and a woman, and on the other side there will only be families headed by a man and woman.  It’s almost crass to say statements like that in modern times, but it is what I believe. But I still believe that there isn’t one way to define a family, and families headed by homosexual couples are as much a family as the Walton’s are.  Unfortunately, I might have to leave you hanging. I don’t have a solution for the dilemma I perceive.  Just thought I’d share my thoughts. 

My family is so precious to me, and even with all the things that aren’t perfect about it, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  When I was younger, this was a different story.  I was always bummed that I didn’t belong to a family who didn’t make me unload the dishwasher and clean my room.  Upon further examination though, I’m pretty sure they don’t exist. I think of the life I could have had with a young single mom, compared to the life I have with a loving mother and father, who have a secure way to provide for their family, and I feel so blessed.  I’m not one of those people that believe in fate.  I don’t believe everything happens for a reason, and that everyone in my life is meant to be there. I don’t think you can live like that, because then you’re always asking why, and sometimes there isn’t an answer. But in relation to my family, I know that they are where I’m meant to be.  I was supposed to go to the parents that I did, and be in the family that I am.  Why? I don’t know why.  That question might have already been answered with my life, or maybe it’ll be answered in the future.  All I know is that my Mom, Dad, Brother, and Sister were planned before any of us came down to this earth.

Concerned Citizen

Concerned Citizen Film

Shaunelle Holyoak was the person of interest in Brittany and I’s concerned citizen documentary.  She works as a night manager at the Provo women’s shelter, interacting with homeless women and children.  In addition to that, she just recently got accepted into UVU’s social work program.  She honestly cares about people and their well-being.  Not only the women and children that she works with, but her friends and family, roommates, ward members, basically anyone she comes in contact with.  Because of the caring characteristics she exemplifies through her life, often putting others before herself, I figured she would be a wise choice for the Concerned Citizen project. 

            Unfortunately for us, as budding documentary filmmakers, Shaunelle is unable to disclose the location of the shelter to anyone.  Let alone allow people to film her while she’s there.  So we were addressed with the problem of having to find some other way to visually fill the time then just with her interview, since we couldn’t show her in the work environment she was talking about.  We decided to focus a little more on the social work program that she was doing at school, and what        she had learned from working in a social work setting. This was so that we could show her doing school work and have it make sense with what was being addressed through the dialogue.  I think ultimately this helped us focus the documentary on her, and her beliefs.  If we had been able to show her at work, I know I would have been tempted to include all her dialogue about her duties and jobs as the night manager, and left out the stuff that makes her story unique.

            Arlene Goldbar, author of Human Rights and Culture: From Datastan to Storyland says,”Culture is key to creating the conditions that enable human rights and therefore security rooted in caring rather than correction.” The women that Shaunelle works with, who sometimes identify strongly with a culture, don’t have the means to express it.  This is because they are working to just to satisfy their basic human needs of shelter and food.  Their kids sometimes, don’t even have all the materials they need to do well in school, and find it hard to participate there as well. Shaunelle’s work tries to give these women a leg up, so that they can get a footing in the work force, or at least be able to provide for their kids. Once these women have their most basic needs fulfilled, they can share their experiences and culture with others.