‘US/Mexico Border’
Creating Change – Shakiya Canty
Mar. 30, 2016—The National Conference for LGBT Equality: Creating Change is an annual event. It’s truly a one-of-a-king organizing and skills-building event for the LGBTQ community and allies. The 28th annual Creating Change conference was held in Chicago, Illinois, this year. Vanderbilt Divinity School student delegates Shakiya Canty, Levi Dillard, Sarah Jordan, and Marty B. Tracy attended...
The Braided Man – VDS Maymester Course part 5
Jul. 30, 2014—The Braided Man by Sarah Jennings, MDiv3 In May I was given a wonderful opportunity to participate in an immersion trip to the US/Mexico Border. Over the previous spring break, I had taken a group of undergraduates to Florida to learn about immigration policy and reform, but this was my first time to see the...
The Patron Saint of Lost Causes; Maymester course part 4
Jul. 23, 2014—The Patron Saint of Lost Causes by Kate A. Fields, MDiv2 The painted desert, the Sonoran, home of lumbering Pipe Cacti, coyote, sidewinders, rattlesnakes, mice, owls, eagles, desert primrose, hawks, roadrunners, sunsets that wrap the day up with a bang and towering mountains of the Santa Catalina range. The fragile ecosystem of the Sonoran is disrupted...
“Borders are invisible until they’re not.” VDS Maymester course Part 3
Jul. 16, 2014—“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.” Robert Frost Borders are invisible until they’re not. The wall the US built, closing off Mexicans along with other Southern and Central Americans from family and jobs, is as imposing and harsh as the policies that inform its existence. People come and go through checkpoints and pass...
VDS Maymester course, Traversing Our National Wound Part 2
Jul. 9, 2014—This past May, twenty Vanderbilt Divinity students and I travelled to Tucson, Arizona, as a delegation under the care of the organization BorderLinks. Vanderbilt Divinity School has partnered with BorderLinks for its last seven delegations, bringing groups of students every other year to Arizona for a week of engagement. Our trip was part of a...
Toward a Celebration of the Fourth of July
Jul. 2, 2014—By Amy E. Steele, MDiv (2000) PhD (2012) “The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence. May he not hope that high lessons of...
Friday Photo 5.30.14
May. 30, 2014—This week, Julia Nusbaum shares landscapes from the Vanderbilt Divinity School Border Trip. Our students spent a week of learning and reflection along the US/Mexico Border in mid May.