Here are student summaries of fall 2024 MCJD dialogical surveys with the Street Roots community. Click on any title for details, then return to see all titles.
Meeting Ricky and Robert
Event: Street RootsInterviewer: Gannon
Whom did you interview?
I met with two unhoused vendors named Ricky and Robert. They had both been unhoused for a long time and had come from different areas. Robert was from the Bay Area, and Ricky had been all over the country. They were both enthusiastic environmentalists who cared deeply about global issues.
How did your EcoTypes and SDG priorities compare?I have the ecotype of Earth Action. Interestingly, both Ricky and Robert have the ecotype of social justice. All three of us agreed on the majority of our ecotype axes, and most of our themes were at least similar, if not the same. Where we differed the most was our prioritization of SDGs. Ricky had different priorities than Robert, who had different priorities than me. When I asked them why they picked their priorities, they gave the same reason that would’ve given. Ricky, Robert, and I all wanted humanity to adopt a more eco-friendly lifestyle while prioritizing the needs of people.
What larger MCJD lessons did you learn?While it is clear that many care differently, I was surprised by how similar Ricky, Robert, and I cared about the environment. I think this illustrates that while many care differently, there are often vast misunderstandings about how each of us cares differently. I naively expected the street roots vendors to look at environmentalism completely differently than me because their life experiences are so vastly different. This, however, was not the case, and I learned that our shared cultural values outweighed any experiences that would make us think differently about the environment. Talking with Ricky and Robert made me realize not just how different we all are, but also how similar we are when we talk to each other face to face.