dianasuncmu

[dianasuncmu]

3/20/17

Identifying assets we need and what exactly will be in our space.

Illustrations

Photography

Use of artifacts (3D, 2D)

Table

Chairs

Lighting

Make kitchen islands

Kim’s artifacts specific relating to the story (get from her)

Frames

Menus

Content (Copy/voice/tone)

Media Interactive Displays

Change recipe cards to be not interactive. Recipe cards have aspirations, and the boxes have the “success” recipes for how the people reached their goals. These are able to be switched out for new community champions periodically. We can ask them if they would be willing to be contacted for those who are interested in similar aspirations.

[dianasuncmu]

3/08/17

We presented the artifacts to the community & got feedback

[dianasuncmu]

3/06/17 To find out more about Kim’s story (because it’s central to the kitchen team), we are going to Fat Rai’s kitchen to cook with her while asking her questions.

Can you tell us about how you decided to start Fat Rai’s

Can you tell us about how your interactions with Rai inspired you to open up this restaurant?

Why this restaurant in particular?

Process of setting up restaurant

Who helped her?

[dianasuncmu]

3/01/17 Showed Center of Life the mockups

[dianasuncmu]

2/27/17

Bedroom = more personal, & where you usually reflect Can’t find and commemorate everyone, but can provide a place for them to come back to and find meaning

[dianasuncmu]

Special Artifact

[dianasuncmu]

Reorganizing Teams

2/20/17 Everyone presented their ideas from the 4 different groups, and the overall feedback we received was that the ideas were over-designed and lost the heart of each concept. The different exhibits didn’t really relate to one another, and there was a lack of understanding of what other groups were covering, so that we wouldn’t overlap in message & content. The lack of communication and cohesiveness also made each group assume another group was covering xyz, and no one really made the exhibit feel personal. The ideas were reduced to the lowest common denominator to be viewed by both Hazelwood members and outsiders. The “Theme Team” met on 2/21/17 to create a new way for everyone to organize their ideas.

2/22/17 The “Theme Team” presented the thesis & “home” team

[dianasuncmu]

Refinement of Ideas

2/19/17 Creating “New Steel Mill” --> back then we needed steel, but what else do we need in the future? Put a sticker near the skills you have (feels empowering), under the fields / careers that the community members envision. Prompt: “Help make it happen! You need ___ stickers to move the shop/card onto the “future 2nd ave”.

Headspace: Mirror with career hats above it, where people can see themselves in these roles.

[dianasuncmu]

Theme-based Ideation

2/15/17 We used the group thesis to discuss and create new ideas.

Wishing Well - people put their wishes/aspirations in a bucket on the balcony, & drop it below, where people can match these aspirations to resources, & the community as a whole can see other people’s aspirations

Interactive Pachinko - people drop a coin (or something with their name on it) down a pachinko, where the bottom is a list of goals discovered in the community. Each row of pegs are a decision or resource, & you move through these to get to a goal. While there is chance involved, you can move the pegs (or pull a string / some interaction) and you can choose to block / change your route to get to the goal you want.

Timeline of Opportunity - show the “careers” through the history of Hazelwood, and people can choose how the future will look

(Giving Voice) Conversational Storytelling - more informative & authentic than typical 1-on-1 interviews. People can select 2 blocks (each with a community member on it) & place it somewhere that initiates audio that plays of the conversation between those 2 people. You can mix / match to hear different pairs’ stories.

(Memorial) Constructive Grieving - while everyone mourns in a different way, we can show community members how they might deal with death by showing how others do it. If someone deals with death by journaling, for example, there could be a recreation of a desk / journal space where others can do the activity there.

[dianasuncmu]

Theme Thesis Development

2/13/17

The “successful” ideas from last class were grouped into 4 different categories.

“Relationships & Connections”

“Legacy & Aspirations” (I chose to be in this group)

“Giving a Voice”

“Memorial”

Within our team, we used Lucy Kimbell’s Problem Proposition Template to develop a solid paragraph about our theme. We talked about the issues we’re dealing with, what shapes these issues, what the issues are evidence of, why it all matters, and how we can frame them as opportunities. Our final thesis is below: LEGACY & ASPIRATIONS We are addressing the issue of the emerging narrative of Hazelwood’s future which are shaped by economic hardship that make dreams a second priority and limited exposure to aspirational culture. This matters because aspirations shape the future of a community. We are framing this as an opportunity to expose and actualize the immense power of Hazelwood’s people. 

[dianasuncmu]

Hazelwood Library Visit

2/11/17

We wanted the kids to shape the vision of Hazelwood because they’ll be the ones living in that future. I visited the library and tried to understand how/where friendships form between kids, how/where they build relationships with trusted adults, what they are interested in, and what they wish was in Hazelwood.

 [More notes & analysis coming soon]

Keelan got jumped right next to the library (he’s only 11), since he had to cross the bridge to go home

He wants to ride his bike but there are no bike repair shops or anything around, so he plays video games in the library (or his friends’ house) or xbox at home

He wishes art store was here (it is hard to get art supplies near Hazelwood without a car, & his sister wants to paint)

He wants to be a computer game engineer!

Madeline, 13, (she’s white) has 3 dogs, is one of Keelan’s best friends, and met him through school (they ride the same bus)

Likes volleyball

Clothing stores - there are some but not many. (Normally goes to Target, Walmart to buy clothes)

Riteaid for snacks

Kyra (or kara?) likes doing art and wants to become a chef.

A lot of kids do homework in the library after school.

She misses old school and she likes the old school better than the current school

A lot of younger kids tend to spend time in library

[dianasuncmu]

Groups Present 3 Ideas

2/8/17 Charlie’s Notes:

Much of curating is pulling away/ taking out, not pulling in

How to quantify the impact on the viewers

Discover something, through doing this, they discover info we want them to understand a message

*I loved the mailbox idea, & projection idea, & phone booth

Our Group’s Presented Top 3 Ideas

1. Celebrating Life - too often the community or the family comes together to celebrate someone when they’re gone, but to do it while they’re alive is positive, and can build relationships. Have an exhibit where we display community champions, and allow viewers to show their appreciation by adding notes / stickers about how that champion has helped them or impacted their life.

2. Moving Forward - Commemorating the kids who’ve passed by showing their activities & interests, and connecting them to the activities & interests of current kids. We can also provide resources to help sustain or actualize these current interests. This way, we hope to empower moms to move forward, and that even though their child has passed, there are parts of them that still live in other kids. As a “strong mom” you can still help these other kids fulfill their dreams with the resources about how to do it.

3. Visualizing Community - showing the network of Hazelwood around the lost young men. ie. Jay’s teacher was so&so, who also was the father of so&so. This makes the community connection seem strong, while showing that these lost kids still live on through the memories of others.

We originally focused a bit too much on “design solutions” and less about the exhibit itself, but through talking with other groups, we directed our original ideas more towards “telling a narrative”.

After all the groups presented their top 3 ideas, we each put stickers on the ones we thought were good, and then talked about why each of these were successful. After this class, we wanted to further develop our idea that others thought was better (showing passed kids & their activities connected to current kids’ interests). Over the weekend I went to the Hazelwood library and spoke to some elementary school kids to get a feel for their aspirations & interests.

[dianasuncmu]

Focusing Our Group’s Ideas

2/7/17

After individually thinking of possible “exhibit” ideas, we each shared and discussed possible themes. The top row are the ideas we thought had the most feet. We were supposed to come up with 5, and then narrow it down to 3, but ended up listing 13, before boiling them down to 3. 

Our goals are to:

Remember the children lost

Investigate and communicate how the kids and teens in the community today feel (because it’s probably different from how the adults feel)

Communicate and showcase how kids are developing in their own talent and interest to the community

[dianasuncmu]

Individual Idea Generation

2/7/17 Want more community, to remember the kids who died, god, love, 

1. Have an interconnected enclosed space you walk into, where the lives of those who have passed are connected. Like “in the afterlife” they are still a part of a community, because of all the people who influenced their lives 2. Ask people whom in the community they feel supported by, and put a star next to their name? (what if someone gets no stars, what if someone isn’t listed) Motivate people to make change in their community like these champions?  3. Show some champions we talk to, & they provide a sense of protection for the community. & how other moms can do the same 4. Dead person’s picture, next to objects that represented them (activities) & how Hazelwood provided that for them (ie. basketball - hazelwood courts) 5. Get moms to say what they wish they had for their sons - and how other moms / the community can help provide those things 6. Opposite of death = birth? Community birthday celebrations (collect info about bdays, and say what they would wish for), & how in the upcoming yr they’d use their life to better the community. Or in this year, the people who have helped me are... 7. Something like Temple’s basketball idea (ask what would be useful/wanted) - community TEAM, something people can watch, do, and bring people together, for no money. 8. Campus ad/info system - bringing money into the community. Telling the stories in an on-campus display, and ask things like “who’s the kim in YOUR community/friend group” to build gap between people (less you vs me, or bad rep of Hazelwood) 9. Music & food bring people together. Provide ingredients, & have everyone share a recipe they can make with these ingredients (a “taste” of people’s lives). Or “create a community grocery store”, based on foods people like to eat here. Give people the groceries based on each mom’s recipe. 10. Dead people - ask everyone for memories they had about that person to create a living memory (the person is NOT rly dead, they live on through other people) 11. A wall where you leave your secrets (dark room), & other people walk in & leave a reply, and leave a secret. (providing support for one another in a safe way)

[dianasuncmu]

IDEO Activity Notes

2/6/17

We discussed the stories we heard from Carol, Barbara, & Tim and put up the specifics of their stories to begin thinking about how to tell them.

Both Carol and Barbara seemed to miss their old days. They recalled as kids that they used to know each other and hang out together. They all went to the same school, and spend their whole youth together. They see that kids and their families today are more isolated and want to find a way to bring kids back together.

In addition to the fond memories they recalled there were places that they were “not allowed” to go due to the racial tension between communities. The “neighborhood across the tracks” was too dangerous for African-Americans. They recalled stories of violence and abuse between the communities. (Tension between properties is still existing due to different issues)

The mothers expressed their distress with the access kids have to guns. They expressed some concern for their own safety, and were careful not to talk specifically about who might have shot their children.

Kristin’s Recommended Resources

http://hcz.org/our-programs/the-baby-college/

Cruz Navajo

lauren g mclaughlin

https://storycorps.org/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1268204/

show their beauty, gave them inclusive new skill

https://italy.visahq.com/requirements/China/resident-United_States/

https://italy.visahq.com/embassy/united-states/

[dianasuncmu]

Activity Debrief

2/5/17 After our online research over the past couple weeks and the two visits to Hazelwood, something that came up repeatedly was how there used to be a lot of businesses within the community. A “we had everything” message. These businesses employed neighborhood folk, and gave people (adults and children) places to go and spend time together. In our memory mapping activity, we hoped to see what used to be here, and what parts of Hazelwood helped shape their memory of the place. What memories help define Hazelwood? We expected there to be 2 - 3 people per group, and thought it’d be interesting to see the overlapping and interconnectedness of everyone’s memories. In the activity itself, we only managed to talk to 2 women, but the map helped us identify what people considered to be “Hazelwood”, and learned about different landmarks. Through the card activity, we hoped to get our participants to open up, and if they seemed hesitant, we ourselves would share stories too.

Activity Day We started off with the “Talk with Me” card exercise given to us during class, & then moved onto a mapping of landmarks and memories.

Carol

Doesn’t like the “Death” card. “There’s too much of it these days. We used to fight, and 2 days later you’re friends again. Somebody might be missing a tooth or have a black eye, or every once in a while you would hear someone got cut (but not to the death). Now, you just bam bam.”

Shooters / victims often take the fight to their families. As revenge, they might “shoot up their families”. Carol’s grandson (& nephews) isn’t allowed to come up to Hazelwood where Carol lives because it’s territorial, and the fight is generational, making it unsafe for him.

Carol is friends with (& went to school with) the father of the man that allegedly shot her son. They still talk, but don’t talk about the death

Pointed at Elizabeth street, referred to as“Across the Tracks”, where she said they were told as children to not cross that bridge (Italians lived on the other side) no matter what.

Part of the marching Dynamics - a jitterbug drill team! She learned to dance at the different rec centers available at that time.

Hung out at the YMCA, partied at St. Stevens in their halls, got ice cream from Isaly’s after Easter, watched shows at Theaters on 2nd Ave, did arts & crafts after school, there was a bowling alley, and loved going to school at Gladstone. She watched a lot of her boyfriend’s basketball games, and went with him all over Hazelwood for those games.

Mrs. Barbara

Loss = my 2 childen that were killed, Love = god, Fear = children today with the guns, Family = when my mom died, the (15) kids weren’t as together. When someone dies, we come back together but it’s not connected like before.

Back then there was no access to guns. These days, a car drives around with guns in the back, & if you have enough money you can buy. “Beware of people in high places” - The government / police KNOW about the drugs & guns but they don’t do anything because they get money. (bribes) Back then, the police knew everybody’s families, & walked around. But now they just drive around in their cars & assume you have a weapon

“The bible says seek, and god is love, which will teach you how to love yourself, and then you can love other people”

Back then, everyone worked in the mills, but now everyone is going separate ways (even adults are not bonding like before)

There’s nothing for the kids to do, they closed “the y”, the swimming pool they turned into a shire for the little kids, we need a pool for kids to go after school

Mrs. Barbara goes to senior centers (on 2nd ave in Glenwood, & in Glenhazel) everyday to get out of the house. She plays games, has bingo night, on Wednesdays goes out to lunch with other seniors, etc

Insights

Children being bused to different school districts separates groups of kids and creates fractures where rivalries can form.

Barbra suggests community centers (or other gathering spaces) could help bring the kids back (they can go hang out there), & tell parents the benefits of sending kids to these places

Helping to rebuild the bond between law enforcement and community members can help women in the community feel more emboldened to act on what’s right (mutual trust)

We can help make it easier for women in the community to talk about the issues (anonymously, or in a safe way) and foster an openness. (ie. sheila didn’t open up about needing someone, carol doesn’t like talking about the killings) We think pointing the finger might make the women feel unsafe, causing revenge

Next Steps

Mrs. Barbara mentioned that she wants to bring out more women from the senior centers. She feels that more community members would be engaged if they knew what the conversation was about.

Talk to current mothers to understand their experiences raising children in Hazlewood (compared to the perception of the older women we interviewed, 

Get insight into how younger women feel about the situation (they grew up in the new Hazelwood)

Understand how schools are teaching / talking about this problem in Hazelwood. 

Talk to kids directly to understand what they want / their needs / their perceptions (changing times reflect changing needs)

[dianasuncmu]

Memory Mapping at Hazelwood

2/1/17 NOTES & QUOTES

Carol

Lived here most of my life... i’d leave and come back many times

My family is basically here, raised here, down in Glenwood & I knew everyone in the 3 neighborhoods back then

Talk with Me exercise:

I don’t like this word: Death - you’re gone, never to be seen again. There’s too much death in the world right now, especially the black young men in this neighborhood. We used to fight, and 2 days later you’re friends again. Somebody might be missing a tooth or have a black eye, or every once in a while someone would get cut (but not to death). Now, you just bam bam.

Life to them is “here today gone tomorrow”, they don’t care.

The person who shot someone & the person who got shot... they might take it to their families. A grandmother, sister, family member might be shot from revenge.

I’ve always been afraid of dead people, but until I had to bury my son, you know, that’s what made me face it. (my son was 24) This happened 20 years ago. Jan 30th 1997 is when I buried him.

2 to 3 times, or every 2 weeks they’re burying someone

It hurts both sides of the family (shooter & victim) but they don’t think about that. 9/10 times the shooter’s and victim’s families probably grew up together. Everything is so territorial. I don’t know who shot my son, but the supposed shooter’s dad is friends with me. We talk and we’re friends, but we don’t talk about the shooting.

I can’t do anything other than pray.

My grandson is 22 (& nephews) but he can’t come here in this area (they may shoot him). It’s territorial, generation after generation

I’d like to know who came in here & started it all

A lot of them knew my mother (who taught them in pre-school in Gladstone)

My son was bused here to Gladstone, later on, I gave my kids the option to go to public school, & they did, because they couldn’t do any of the afterschool activities (in the other schools??) because no busing

Would have wanted to send them to Allderdice or Mifflin, better schools

Memory Mapping activity:

On daylarge (st?) I was young

Not allowed on Elizabeth st. where Uber is “Across the Tracks”, there was a bridge... us black folks were not allowed over there. White people live over the bridge, and would shoot at black folks who went over there. There was one man who got beat up so bad he almost died, but he’s still alive. He was walking up to the bridge, & the white boys ran over the bridge & beat him.

Broadhead manor is now considered sq hill, but I think it should be considered Green Field

The YMCA was where we’d hang out

We partied at St. Stevens in their halls

Marching Dynamics - jitterbug drill team I was on

Isaly’s was a treat for us after Easter

We had shows at Theaters, a bowling alley on 2nd ave

I loved going to school at Gladstone. I went to Bergwyn Elementary, and Gladstone High School.

After school I’d go all over the place, we had basketball, dances, (i watched my bf’s basketball games), all 3 of the rec centers, arts & crafts

I only had 3 friends back then

Mrs. Barbara

Loss - my 2 childen that were killed

Love - god

Fear - children today with the guns

Family - when the mom died, the kids weren’t as together. When someone died, people come back together but it’s not connected like before.

Childhood - born and raised in the Glenhazel area

Age - Antique, 76

Back then, we had gardens, we were a big family. Everyone cared about each other’s kids. Now if you mention it, pow pow

Back then, there was no access to guns. Only older people that had them.

These days, there are cars that come around with guns in the back, and if you have enough money, you can buy. There’s a gun dealing business. “Beware of those in high places” - they make way for people underneath to get these guns. You know kids 12 or 13 should not have a gun, but if they’re dealing or whatever, people in high places know about the guns. The government or whatever, they know about the drugs but they don’t do anything because they get money. 

The love of money is the root of all evil

The bible says seek, and god is love, which will teach you how to love yourself, and then you can love other people. People get all caught up in color, but that skin can’t talk to you.

The children of today are super intelligent, my great-great-granddaughter is 12

Today with the law, you can’t hit your child, if you pop em, they’ll say call 911

They don’t fight now, they just shoot and run

In this community we need to bring the kids back, instead of busing them here and there.

There are access to guns, greed...

We need to come together, and love one another.

Back then, everyone worked in the mills, but now everyone is going separate ways (even adults are not bonding like before)

“If I have a new car, & you don’t, you’re garbage.”

We have to go to sq hill for groceries, or i’ll try to get someone to take me

There’s nothing for the kids to do, they closed “the y”, the swimming pool they turned into a shire for the little kids, we need a pool for kids to go after school

Getting the playground together

I go to senior centers (on 2nd ave in Glenwood, there’s one in Glenhazel) everyday to get out of the house. We play games, bingo night, on Wednesdays we go out to lunch, maybe to Maples... 

There used to be 40 - 50 ppl, but now there are 12, 13 people. There are some guys who don’t live here in Hazelwood, their wives are dead, they go to the senior centers to have a free lunch, and then drive home

The police used to walk around and knew everyone & their families (community policing), now they think everyone has a gun, and they’ll just shoot first. They ride around in their cars now, and there’s not communicating. They allowed the guns and cars to come into the community, because they’re getting money.

There are girls out here prostituting out here, and the cops let them go for a “hit”

There was a Jewish guy at the bar whose daughter I knew (michelle roth), and he came back with 4 shopping bags worth of groceries & said “take these home to your 3 kids”. For 13 yrs, the love he had for her, he gave it to me. He got me a car, all new furniture... When I hugged him, his skin moved, but I just played the part for 13 yrs (then he had a heart attack & he died). Since then, it’s been 34 yrs and I’ve never been with another man since I have a relationship with God.

I’ve lived in my house for 34 years, my church is on Johnson and Glenwood Ave

Community centers could help bring the kids back (they can go hang out there), or tell parents the benefits of sending kids to these places