"Blurred Lines" Diversity Retreat

photo: "Blurred Lines" facilitators, Sasha, Derek, Susanna, Sasha, Ameera and Chrissie

Susanna Bergin came to UCCP in Fall 2008, to do a practicum for her social justice education course at Bryn Mawr college. After completing her semester, she decided to stay with UCCP and create a Diversity Retreat as a final project for her college coursework. Planned in collaboration with Temple University students, Temple Youth VOICES Project participants and UCCP staff, "Blurred Lines" will happen Saturday, April 11th at Temple University and for 6.5 hours bring together 40 college and high school students to talk about how race, class, gender, sexuality, religion and ability affect us every day. Below is a description of the retreat and a short interview with Susanna about it.

BLURRED LINES
A Workshop on Cultural Identity

Why is a "nude" band-aid the color of white skin? Who can walk down the street holding their partner's hand? Why does legacy matter when you're applying to college? Why do girls always score lower on the SAT than boys? Share your story, work with students from Bryn Mawr college, Temple University, Community College of Philadelphia and Philadelphia High schools to talk about how race, class, gender, sexuality, religion and ability affect you every day.

Saturday, April 11th, 2009
10:30am to 5:00pm at Temple University

How did you come up with the idea for the retreat?

Susanna: A lot of it came about because of some things that happened in the VOICES classes, comments that participants would make or attitudes I was perceiving and being offended by. I found myself, as a queer white woman in an organization of primarily people of color in a position of both oppression and privilege. I was in a group that spends a lot of time talking about racial disadvantages advocating for my own disadvantages, and trying to figure out what that means.

What is your goal for the retreat participants?

Susanna: I want to do social justice education, so my goal is really to do that. I think before we can make a change, people need to begin by thinking and talking about the issues. So the goal is for everyone involved to think about it more.

What was your approach to selecting the different groups of participants for the retreat?

Susanna: I wanted to have people participating in the retreat to be coming from different experiences, so it's a combination of Bryn Mawr students, Temple and Community College of Philadelphia students and Philly high schoolers. I think just Bryn Mawr and Temple are so radically different, even stepping onto the campus is a whole other world. We're expecting about 40 people from those different groups, and representatives of all the groups will also be facilitating the activities.

For more information or requests to participate in the retreat, please contact Susanna at sbergin@brynmawr.edu