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Welcome to the Community Health Interest Group, where our mission is to identify and address underpinning health and wellbeing compromising practices that adversely impact communities.

If you have found yourself here, it is because you have a shared interest in combating social injustices and creating positive outcomes for disadvantaged communities.

This welcome page is more of a social space for members to get to know each other and connect on a more personal level, gaining a wider understanding of the context that we all come from, where we currently are, and where we are going.

So introduce yourself with a meaningful song/book/food/place/hobby that is meaningful to you and possibly shaped who you are in some way. If there is also a connection with that and your interest in SCRA/CHIG feel free to include that too.

-- Feel free to post more than one entry! --

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Harvy - Introducing myself and my favorite song

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Harvy - Introducing myself and my favorite song

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Hello! My name is Harvy, and as someone who is obsessed with music, I am going to share a song that means a lot to me.

While I have always had an eclectic music taste and frequently listen to many different genres of music, hip hop music is the most meaningful to me personally, and I have been listening to it since the age of around 8 years old.

While the genre itself is very diverse, I have always been drawn to the artists and songs that are rich in terms of storytelling, substance, lyrical and rhythmic dexterity, cultural and historical insights, social and political consciousness, while being built on unfiltered and uncompromising artistic expression.

Hip hop music has broadened my cultural consciousness by providing insight into places, eras and cultures that would otherwise be unreachable and unfathomable, as well as introducing me to many literary and philosophical topics and concepts. Songs can range from detailing hardships of ghetto lifestyles and injustices across the world, the history of humankind and how the world continues to change, introspection and understanding of the self, identity and purpose, and everything in between and beyond these topics.

The lyrical intricacies in songs that I have heard from a young age also instilled a great appreciation for language and linguistics. When asked during my Linguistics MA by a professor where our interest in the subject came from, I cited hip hop - along with The Hobbit - as the most prominent factors of my appreciation for the power of the written and spoken word and my love of language.

The song I am sharing today is titled ‘93 Til Infinity by the group Souls of Mischief from the Bay Area of Oakland, California. The lyrical content of the song concerns more positive aspects of life even in such environments where survival is a daily struggle. The sound of the music itself is something almost ethereal and very optimistic (very cleverly done by using a sample of a song and speeding it up to achieve a wholly different effect than the original sound of Billy Cobham's song 'Heather').

When hearing this song, I have never been able to adequately explain or describe how it makes me feel. Any attempts always fall short. But it made me think, surely everyone has their own "93 Til Infinity", a song that is like medicine to them.

By just being more aware of the feelings this song elicits in me, the thought of any song making anyone else feel a similar way made me feel compelled to encourage people to share our stories and explore in more depth our relationships with music. Simply talking about the music we like feels immensely cathartic, and when reflecting on our own music taste, habits and experiences, people always get animated and energized, and usually they can't help but smile. Something about music undeniably brings people together too.

I believe we can learn to use music as a tool to help us understand ourselves and others, while encouraging connectedness and openness to others in the process.

This song inspired me to research the profound impact music can have on us, and what our relationship with music is, beyond just listening to sounds. Amazingly, this lead me to interviewing members of the group for a project we had presented at the 2021 Biennial SCRA conference.

I strongly believe that by implementing music based strategies, communities all around the world can be positively affected in so many aspects of both physical and mental well being. This is something that, with the interest and help of others with the same view, I hope to explore and implement through SCRA/CHIG, and would love to extend a 'branch of the CHIG tree' so to speak, dedicated to music and wellness.

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Souls Of Mischief - 93 'Til Infinity (Official Video)

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I was raised by my grandparents while my mom worked and subsequently worked - a lot. Family means a lot to me. My grandparents migrated to Chicago, IL from Mississippi (The American South) during the 2nd wave of the Black Migration in 1957. He was inspired to leave the South after hearing the events of what happened to Emmitt Till in a neighboring town and the only work available to him (with a 9th grade education) was sharecropping. He and My Grandmother were childhood friends. When he left to fight in the Korean War, she went to college, aspiring to be a classical pianist.

By the early 1960's they were living Chicago and unhappy. My grandfather was optimistic by my grandmother wanted to go home. She slowly slid into mental illness. Her mental illness was always like a cloud that hovered over home, throughout my childhood.

By the time I was growing up in the 1980's, it was extremely normalized for me. I had grown accustomed to the idea that my grandmother would speak to a television that wasn't on and sometimes ask her about the things her mind suggested to her. She would indulge my curiosity because it seemed genuine and without judgment. Even at a very young age, it was explained and I understood what mental illness was as it had a lived experience with it. Perhaps [over-advised] without context by a dictionary and my mother's college textbooks, I attempted to understand her by reading about the theories of Freud by the age of 7.

My grandmother would also over-indulge all of my creative interests. Her coffee table easily became a stage for singing and tap dance performances with her piano accompaniment. She supplied me with pounds of flour, sugar and butter in my early cooking attempts. She even made excuses on my behalf in an attempt to prevent any physical reprimands.

Because of the relationship I had with my grandmother, I have a great appreciate of music. It is her lasting impression on me. I play piano, guitar and violin. When I got married and had a son, I made sure to instill some of the same supportive, creative values that she instilled in me. My son, Ethan, also plays many instruments attending a fine arts academy from Kindergarten through 8th Grade.

Today, I am studying psychology with the goal to work in research of the Clinical scope of Social / Community Psychology. My son is studying to become a therapist to School Age Children.

The song that most reminds me of her is one of my favorites: Nina Simone "Strange Fruit" https://youtu.be/BnuEMdUUrZQ?si=hv3OcU75cyvd5hbx

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I'm Alicia, on the US east coast in Baltimore Maryland. I've been involved in SCRA since to greater or lesser extents since the 1990s when I was in grad school (in a hybrid clinical-community program). I work as a researcher re community mental health, recovery and rehab regarding disabling mental health conditions, stigma around mental illness and other areas... part of my work is in our Veterans Health system as well. I'm also very involved in my/various communities as a volunteer and activist -- including my own disinvested and high crime neighborhood, peacekeeping outside women's health clinics being hassled by anti-choice protestors, a great musical empowerment group www.instrumentsofhealing.org and other things. And I built an 8ft puppet that one wears! I would love to connect with others interested in any of these ideas/topics and to learn about others' work (paid and unpaid). Take good care of yourself, and each other. aluckste@som.umaryland.edu

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Hello everyone! Like Harvey, I also consider myself as having an eclectic music taste with hip hop and electronic music being the styles I have connected with for most of my life. I echo Harvey's statements on the important cultural impacts of hip hop 100%!

Since high school, I have been especially interested in indie and experimental styles of hip hop and found artists through sites like 8tracks, Soundcloud, and now Spotify who mix genres and electronic sounds. Through these sites, I have found music with powerful messages from artists of sexual and gender minorities, who are often marginalized in the industry.

The song I am sharing is titled Brujas (meaning witches in Spanish), by the artist Princess Nokia. Princess Nokia is a bisexual afro-indigenous nuyorican who exemplifies the experimental genre, having produced music spanning from emo, rap, soul, and house music. This song is from Nokia's second studio alumn 1992, an expanded version of her 2016 mixtape which included songs telling stories of her multiple, intersecting identities.

Genius.com perfectly describes this song with the following description: "Princess Nokia gives a shoutout to her Puerto Rican and Yoruban ancestry, saying her grandmas were brujas, strong women who demanded respect and mystified others. In this song the stereotype of the voodoo witch doctor is addressed, saying that African witchcraft is so much more than what European people have portrayed it as."

As someone who shares some of her identities, I see Princess Nokia as a role model for connecting with one's indigenous roots and cultural traditions that have been shamed and/or erased through colonization. This song also has a strong message of gender empowerment and portrays women as badass leaders who possess power.

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harvysb36

2yr

Thanks so much for sharing Mariajosé. I really like what you said about addressing certain misconceptions about groups, cultures, traditions etc, and using music as a vehicle to voice and express their perspectives.

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I feel ‘music’ is an entity of its own, which has an indescribable power. Some artists / bands can really channel this power / vibe / energy, call it what you will, to reach their listeners’ souls / their core being.

For me, I feel I was born a decade late, as I missed the ‘mania’ that lay the foundations for many of the musical compositions we appreciate today.  Yes, you’ve guessed it, I’m talking about the Beatles. However, as much as adore their collective compositions, I was always fascinated by the work of George Harrison.  He is one of my favourite artists. The song ‘My Sweet Lord’, is definitely in my top 10 favourite songs of all-time list.  I don’t consider myself religious, but it’s something about that particular composition, that seems to transcend something very moving, mystical, I can’t quite put my finger on it. I think this particular clip sums up the power of music and the souls / beings of those that transcend that power for humanity. Note this event happened in the days without the internet.

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Hello,

I am new to this interest group and would like to learn more about the group and how I can participate.

I am a Floridian and I am a community health advocate, worker and leader. I am interested in community health promotion, prevention, and advancing health equity in my community and would like to eventually work on a larger scale someday.

I am currently a graduate student in public health with a background in psychology and alternative medicine.

I look forward to participating.