Calista Lopez, Marquette University
From the interviews with Sherman Park residents, it is clear that care is a powerful force that draws individuals and families into the neighborhood. This page is dedicated to finding the connections between hope, actions, and values through care tactics expressed from resident interviews. Overall, I had found that people expressed care as having a ripple-effect on people and places. It was also apparent that care facilitates networks of relationships. Joan Tronto, a professor of political science and women’s studies, suggests that those care relationships are part of what makes us human as we are always inexplicably intertwined with one another. My analysis pays close attention to resilience, conflict and change, and relationships through acts of care as told by people on the ground, in the community.
Many of the interviews shared themes of imagining care as visible forms of action. Care acts effects chain reactions of collective action. Acts of caring includes the physical and emotional labor, and involvement around community gardens or block clean-ups. The community gardens most referenced were The Peace Gardens, Victory Gardens, and Alice’s Garden which supplements supplies for the Tricklebee Café on North Milwaukee Ave. Camille Mays describes the spark of collective action through being present at one meeting, just one. According to Mays care and concern for their neighborhood convinces people to reach out for the change they want to see. These include safety concerns to beautification work. The care moves from beyond yourself to other people and to projects that bridge across generations and organizations. Mays had also shared that the collective work in turn makes the labor easier and more meaningful for those involved. People leave with enriching experiences and affective stories.
Many of the interviews shared themes of imagining care as visible forms of action. Care acts effects chain reactions of collective action. Acts of caring includes the physical and emotional labor, and involvement around community gardens or block clean-ups. The community gardens most referenced were The Peace Gardens, Victory Gardens, and Alice’s Garden which supplements supplies for the Tricklebee Café on North Milwaukee Ave. Camille Mays describes the spark of collective action through being present at one meeting, just one. According to Mays care and concern for their neighborhood convinces people to reach out for the change they want to see. These include safety concerns to beautification work. The care moves from beyond yourself to other people and to projects that bridge across generations and organizations. Mays had also shared that the collective work in turn makes the labor easier and more meaningful for those involved. People leave with enriching experiences and affective stories.
Another space we are able to see the ripple-effect of care is through maintaining lawns and block clean-ups. These are not always organized through community outreach programs. Acts of caring also occur on an interpersonal level on a day to day basis. A couple of residents mentioned pride for their home as to why they put in the work to care for their lawns and blocks. Although there were some tensions between landlords and homeowners, about who keeps their homes clean and tended, the ripple-effect of nurturing one’s home was clear. Diane Tharpe and others expressed how renters seemed to nurture their homes once they noticed how other neighbors were beautifying their private spaces. In these examples, acts of caring can move people to action especially after they experience the transformative power of such acts.
Care strengthens social networks when neighbors look out for one another. Relationship building is crucial for practices of care outside of the self. These care acts reveal the values individuals hold dear and demonstrates effective solutions that may resolve conflicts. Community events such as Mrs. Cynthia’s Back-to-School Bash or block parties are occasions designed to bring together neighbors, families, and friends. The Back-to School Bash is a wonderful event where students get their school supplies and can meet other kids in the neighborhood. Responding to issues of lack of school funding and supplies, this bash engages the entire community to care for each other in meaningful ways. Relationships of support fill in the gaps of institutional neglect for neighborhoods under the burden of social stigma and disenfranchisement. Again, intergenerational exchanges such as these community events and programs with Boys and Girls Club reinforce resiliency and teaching youth the power of mutual care. Networks of support are the building blocks of coexistence. For residents that have lived in Sherman Park for a while, block group-texting has become another way for neighbors to keep an eye out for each other, share news, recent events, and check in for safety. This group-texting allows neighbors to maintain contact with each other using technology. Even though some interviewees wistfully pointed out that less people sit out on the porch nowadays, or that neighbors have become less friendly, there remains hope for the future. There is hope for the future underpinning all of these care acts, or else, why would community residents put forth so much effort to care for each other and the neighborhood at all? Care begins within the body, as hope, and extends beyond the individual, conflating the personal and political for a better future. Laura Perez, professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, describes how the interdependent relationships we have are “care for self and others...as a socially and politically significant practice of love that is creative of authentic self and, in so doing, simultaneously world-making". Both Perez and Tronto stress the importance of caring about, for, and with our communities. Even now, my own analysis kept leading back to care as relational for Sherman Park residents. The commitment to one another, as evidenced by the interviews, is inspirational and will undoubtedly empower more communities to do the same.
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Listen to Camille Mays on chain reactions:
Listen to Christie Melby Gibbons on Alice's Garden:
Click below to hear Cheri Fuqua on the Back-to-School Bash:
Click below to hear Debra Ford Lewis on block relationships:
Click below to listen to Christie Gibbons on block clean-ups:
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Acknowledgement
Over the course of my semester, I have transcribed and analyzed 9 interviews from Shante Hullum, Diane Tharpe, Tremerell Robinson, Debra Ford Lewis, Dioncio Hernandez, Cheri Fuqua, Camille Mays, Christie Melby Gibbons, Arthur and Brenda Ward. A huge thanks to these community members for allowing this research to happen and contribute to a growing archive of Milwaukee communities on the BLC websites.
Over the course of my semester, I have transcribed and analyzed 9 interviews from Shante Hullum, Diane Tharpe, Tremerell Robinson, Debra Ford Lewis, Dioncio Hernandez, Cheri Fuqua, Camille Mays, Christie Melby Gibbons, Arthur and Brenda Ward. A huge thanks to these community members for allowing this research to happen and contribute to a growing archive of Milwaukee communities on the BLC websites.