Steve was raised in a tiny farming community in northeastern Colorado. From a young age, he knew that he was different, and that his difference set him apart from his community. Steve has been serving as the Director for the LGBTQ Student Resource Center on the Auraria campus for seven years now. The Center serves the campus community in various ways, but Steve feels that its most important function is to provide a space where LGBTQ students can build their own community on campus, a place where they feel they belong.
In our discussion, we disagreed on the meaning of the word “community” and debated whether the word itself has been diluted through overuse.
Resources
- Read what others have said about whether community still has value today. You might start with Kate Bancks’s “The Value of Community” and Joe Ferullo’s “The Value of Community in Today’s ‘Everyone-Is-Special’ America.”
- Learn about Auraria’s LGBTQ Student Resource Center.
- Here is a list of 75 actions citizens can take to build stronger communities.
Questions to continue the discussion:
- If you moved to a city or town where you knew no one, how would you find like-minded individuals?
- Are there communities you have considered yourself a member of in the past that you no longer feel connected to? If so, why?
- Does the word “community” resonate with you? Why or why not?
- How do the groups of people you engage with on a regular basis—perhaps co-workers, neighbors, fans of a particular sports team, etc.—deal with difference in the group?
Please continue the conversation, in real life and/or below!
