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My walkabout

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During the pandemic, I tried my best to really find joy in the every day mundane moments with my family. Especially given the isolation from other family and friends we were experiencing. Community health can be both positive and negative at the same time. Does that make sense?

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Mask at the ready...  The new "normal" for me to ensure my family remains safe and healthy.

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Day 1 Walking with a friend & a little one

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Day 1 Walking with a friend & a little one

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De-familiarizing the Familiar together - we came together to do our walk about in the neighborhood. This was during the height of COVID so we were asked even while outdoors as we did not have vaccines to offer any sort of minimal safety.

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Living in the town of Holyoke, Massachusetts, there has been a great divide between the old immigrants (of Irish descent) and the new migrants (primarily Puerto Ricans and other Latinx). So to see a shamrock, an Irish flag and a BLM sign all together in one house was significant showing how we can come together as one healthy community to support each other.

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Walking and talking with Raul was a great start to this adventure.  We pointed out things to each other - me as a newcomer since we were exploring his neighborhood and him because he knew it inside out.

3 Main themes - *Americana/Patriotism

*For Sale signs

*Contrast between our neighborhoods - his area has more money than mine and because of that we see larger houses, less diversity of people, more green spaces, larger cars or more of them, and lots of fences around their larger yards.

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Through the eyes of a child. My 2.5 year old believed that the paint on the grass were flowers while I knew that this was paint. Having to explain to her not to "touch the flowers" was challenging as she just wanted to touch the beauty.

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Stay strong & Thank you. During the height of COVID, health in my community meant isolation and limitation. Unity and separation marked COVID time a lot. In this instance, I chose to see and focus on the kindness on people's windows and doors to signify hope and health.

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Flag as central to existence; coming from a military family, I understand the narrative of American patriotism. That said, it was interesting to think about the symbolic role this plays in defining health of a community and health of a nation.

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Exploring my neighborhood with my 2.5 year old - everything is new and special again. Painted grass becomes flowers, Large Pine trees are Christmas trees that need lights and the birds are always chirping hello. While I would have liked to do some of this more on my own to push myself to make these types of observations, my little one helped me create short cuts (which I needed this week).

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A house in a street of no signs and/or Americana

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Hidden and yet visible

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My being Boricua, an older mom and being in academia have all impacted my definition of community. My being empathic and community centered has meant that I sometimes place myself last. I have realized that I need to move myself up to the front of my focus to ensure that my nena and my community thrive. I use cultural humility as a foundation for how I walk in the world with a focus on self reflection, mutually beneficial partnerships, mitigating power imbalances and institutional accountability.

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It was this pandemic, the time with my child and my insanely unhealthy amounts of work that I took on to keep my family afloat (my husband lost his job), that has pushed me to redefine health for myself. Especially since January of 2022, I have been working with a health coach and saying NO more. I have been finding my joy for myself. Not just the joy I have with my kiddo. Health for me is about community but my community is more than where I live. It is my family near by and the ones that are far away, the friends that live close and far, the people I help everyday, the organizations I care about, and so much more. To be healthy is a journey.

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Being my daughter's main playmate for months now, I have done what I can to put on my child eyes and this experience has expanded that! I see health in a new way. I see everything a little bit differently. Now, I hope that this continues even when the pandemic ends.