By Abbi

When this project was first assigned, I was somewhat hesitant to jump right in. The idea of having dinner with a bunch of strangers was somewhat daunting to me because it usually takes me a little while to warm up to people before I’m comfortable enough to have a more serious conversation with them. However, this project was not nearly as awful as I thought it would be.

My Kentucky Kitchen Table group consisted of me (Abbi), Scott, Wil, Ellery, and Nancy.

A little bit about our group:

• I am an Accounting major from Lexington. I am the second oldest of four children, and I am a member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority here at WKU.
• Ellery is a Biology major from Danville. She has an older sister and a younger brother, and grew up surrounded by her family and neighbors. She is also a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.
• Scott is a Biology major from Louisville. Scott is from a more rural area in Louisville, where he grew up with his younger brother, and enjoys activities such as hunting, working out, and spending time with friends. He belongs to the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
• Wil is a Biology major from Bowling Green. He has a younger sister and a younger brother, and he is a member of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) here at WKU.
• Nancy is a Biology professor here at WKU. Nancy has two children and lives here in Bowling Green, where she also grew up and attended college as an undergraduate. Nancy was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi when she attended WKU. She has a Ph.D. and attended medical school in both Tennessee and Missouri (I don’t remember exactly), where she met her husband.

Obviously, our group was a little bit skewed in terms of majors, but we were diverse in other ways. For example, except for Nancy, and Wil, we are not from Bowling Green and are still not very familiar with the area. Also, Ellery and Scott grew up in more rural areas as well. Although everyone in the group participates in Greek life, no one belongs to the same organization. It was very interesting to see how our similarities and differences both contributed to our conversation.

The original plan was for our group to meet at Nancy’s house and have dinner with her and her family, however there were a few scheduling and logistical conflicts, so we adjusted our plan. We ended up meeting in DaVinci’s on the first floor of Snell Hall here on campus, and we all enjoyed our choice of pizza from the restaurant. At first the conversation was a little bit awkward and just a lot of small-talk, but after we got into it, things started to flow more smoothly.

We started off with the required question: “Beyond voting, paying taxes, and following laws, what does citizenship mean to you?” Nancy explained that to her, citizenship requires personal responsibility from everyone. Everyone really just has to do their part in contributing to the overall good and benefit of the community. This requires a lot of understanding and communication, which are topics we have been learning a great deal about in our class this semester.

We also talked about what we thought were the best aspects of our world today. Nancy said that technology has been very beneficial in terms of communication and having access to a multitude of information from around the world. Again, this benefits the way people collaborate and communicate with each other, and I think that technological advances will only increase in the future. However, we also discussed the downsides of technology, such as how everything is becoming the same in terms of language and format, which lessens diversity in communities.

A third topic that we discussed is the concept of neighbors. Ellery, Wil, and I mentioned that we all grew up being very close to our neighbors, and it has always been a very prevalent aspect of our lives. Scott added that he does not have much experience with neighbors because he is from a more rural area in Louisville and did not live in a neighborhood. Nancy told us that her family does have neighbors where they live in downtown Bowling Green, and that the kids are similar in age, however they don’t always hang out together.

Acting in a neighborly way with consideration for others is a significant part of being a good citizen. For example, Nancy mentioned that her family decided to install a fence in their backyard because her family has chickens, but they were somewhat of a nuisance to her neighbors. Because Nancy and her family valued their relationship with their neighbors more than letting the chickens roam free, they put up a fence to keep things peaceful.

We then got to talking about what kind of people we want to be and we want our children to be, and through this, there was a heavy focus on service. Nancy’s parents raised her in a way that emphasized service to others and to the community, and this is what she is teaching her children now. My parents instilled the same values in me and I had many opportunities in high school to serve my community. I also have the same opportunities to work in my community in college through my sorority, and I know Ellery, Scott, and Wil have similar opportunities as well.

Overall, the Kentucky Kitchen Table experience was very enriching and not at all awful. I realized that even though I could see obvious differences among our group, the conversation revealed many similarities that connected us in ways that we wouldn’t ordinarily realize. Although we may have different backgrounds and beliefs, the members of my group we able to find common ground and agreed on many simple ideas about community. I think that this realization is a key part of living in a community and acting as a good citizen towards others. This project has emphasized the class themes of how we can live better together and what it means to be a good citizen in today’s world. We can do this by taking responsibility and contributing to the overall good of society through acts of service, consideration for others, and communication and understanding.

by Scott

One thing I looked for in a group for this project was diversity.  Our table consisted of five people representing Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, and Danville.  Present at the table was Abbi, Ellery, Nancy, Scott, and Wil.  Abbi is an accounting major, that’s very goal oriented.  She is an extrovert and loves to volunteer in the community.  Ellery is a biology major and identifies as a Republican.  She is an extrovert, who spends most of her free time reading.  She loves politics and would do anything for her community.  Nancy has a PhD and is currently teaching Biology at Western.  She identifies as a Democrat and devotes all of her free time to serving the needs of Bowling Green.  I, Scott, am majoring in Biology as well with the hopes of becoming a doctor one day.  I identify as a Republican and spend most of my free time at the Preston Center.  Wil is majoring in Biology, and is a very studious person.  He is more of an introvert and identifies as a Republican.

We focused on what citizenship meant outside of voting, paying taxes, and following laws.  Nancy was quick to point out that this was a loaded question but provided a clear cut answer.  She said that the most important thing one can do as a citizen is to serve his/her community.  Nancy believes that a community is only as strong as its weakest link which requires unified communication.  She said that it can be very difficult to communicate with others who are much different at times but it’s a great skill in life to have.  She also said that things don’t always go as planned so you must be flexible.  For example, some neighbors might promise to help with a neighborhood improvement project and then not show up.  When I was listening to her talk, I was making connections to our class.  For example, just by deliberating in class this semester I have come to embrace how different people think.  You can pick things up and learn to value different perspectives by talking to others who are different than you.

We asked Nancy the question, “What advice would you give to people running for office in our country?”  She was quite hesitant to answer at first because politics is such a hot topic.  She eventually offered up the idea that we should treat one another as we would want to be treated.  While that may sound elementary, it’s the biggest weakness our country currently possesses.  During the presidential debates, the candidates focused more on insulting one another rather than their policies they would like to implement.  This caused the citizens to get nasty with each other and the country has become split.  John Dickinson once said, “united we stand, divided we fall.”  This semester I have learned that productive deliberation is a good thing, but once a decision has been reached, the group should come together to support it.  We are not always going to get what we want which is why it’s important to learn how to make the best out of every situation.

 

We then asked Nancy the question, “how do you think your job relates to your role as a citizen?”  She laughed, and went on to say if we had told her she was going to be teaching college kids one day she would have laughed in our faces.  She went to medical school and received her PhD but felt that she could make a stronger impact teaching the upcoming generation.  Nancy also said she wanted to make a difference in research.  She wanted me to emphasize one thing when sharing our project with the class and that was don’t pick a job based on money.  She could be making double what she is now but she feels as if this is her calling and will benefit her community more than anything.  I could relate this to the class because we have talked about sacrificing ourselves sometimes for the greater good.  Nancy is a perfect example of this and she isn’t struggling by any means.  We asked Nancy if she had ever had a conversation with someone from a really different background.  She stated that she hadn’t until she attended Western Kentucky University.  Nancy told us not to take the diversity on this campus for granted because you can learn so much from others that you never would have gotten the opportunity to have before.  Western truly does have international reach and the opportunity to understand what other’s lives are like in places other than the United States is quite unique.  We take things for granted in our everyday lives that are major concerns in other countries.  Sometimes we need to be brought back down to earth.

We asked Nancy, “What kind of person do you want to be?” She responded, “The person I am today.” When asked to clarify, she offered up examples of what her family does during the holiday season every year.  Nancy’s family delivers food to families in the Bowling Green community for Thanksgiving as well as buy presents for children whose families can’t afford them.  For one of her kids birthdays, they celebrated by doing a service project as a family.  This says a lot because I don’t know too many kids who would choose to serve others on their birthday.  Nancy’s giving attitude has rubbed off on others making Bowling Green a better place.

In conclusion, this project made me realize a lot about myself.  I now realize that I could be donating more of my time and talent to the community instead of being selfish.  I also see how the Bowling Green Community is much different than the Louisville Community.  While the people in these cities may be two hours apart, they’re still Americans that should be coming together for the common good.  After talking to Nancy, I got to see how we (citizens) can sometimes struggle working together to solve problems in the community.  Nancy showed that with enough work, progress can be made.  I will carry the lessons I’ve learned in this class for the rest of my life and will try to crack the codes to the wicked problems we have discussed. 

By Wil

My Kentucky Kitchen Table was not conducted around an actual kitchen table, but at a small table inside of the Davinci’s restaurant in Snell Hall. My group consisted of Scott and Abbi. Scott is a biology major from Louisville. Abbi is an accounting major from Lexington. We invited two people to eat with us. These two people are Ellery and Nancy. Ellery is a biology major from Danville, and Nancy is a professor here at WKU. Nancy and I are both from Bowling Green. The original plan was to eat dinner at Nancy’s house, but that fell through, so we decided to eat at Davinci’s. 

Our conversation was all small talk at first. I actually ended up finding out that Nancy and my mom went to the same high school, but were a few years apart. Another thing that a majority of the group could relate to was living in a neighborhood. This subject came up when we brought up the question of if you know your neighbors. It may seem like a very common thing, but those of us who have lived or currently live in a neighborhood were able to discuss that feeling of community with your neighbors. Another member of my group and I both spent a lot of time with our neighbors similar ages. Nancy’s kids also have friends around their own age in their area that they can go out and play with. Eventually, our discussion became more deep. We started going through more questions in the packet, but in a casual way, so as not to be interrogative. It was clear early on that Nancy had a lot of knowledge, not just from her education, but from her experiences as well.

I don’t recall what exact conversations were sparked by each individual question that was brought up, but I do remember one thing that Nancy brought up. This idea is something that can be applied to multiple questions. She said that one of the most important values in her family has always been serving others. Her parents instilled the value of service in her, and she now does the same for her kids. She told us about how one year, her kids decided to collect money for a charity instead of receiving birthday gifts. I think part of the reason this particular value stuck with me is because it is one of the five values of my fraternity. Our five values are a guideline for us to become better men. Service is one of the values I tend to struggle with the most, because I don’t typically attempt to put any effort or time into serving. Hearing Nancy talk about her experiences with service made me realize that serving others doesn’t have to be a huge, life-altering sacrifice. It actually requires very little effort to serve your fellow man. That was the biggest thing that I learned during my Kentucky Kitchen Table – how to better serve others.

Service directly relates to two out of the three central questions of this class. The first is “How do we live better together?” This relates to service on a very basic level – treat others the way you want to be treated. If you want to be served, then serve others. We live better together when we are serving each other. The idea of serving others in your community leads to the next central question.

The second central question that service relates to is “How do we solve problems?” As we have learned in this class, a wicked problem is one with no clear solution. It is hard to solve because there are many layers. Examples of a wicked problem include homelessness, racial tensions, and healthcare. If everyday citizens got into the mindset of serving others, then we could begin to solve these problems. Let’s think about this with homelessness. More specifically, homelessness in Bowling Green. To solve homelessness, you essentially need two things: a steady income, and shelter. However, those two things are hard for a homeless person to attain on their own. If citizens who are already fortunate enough to have a steady income exhibited altruistic behavior in donating money for this problem, then it could be solved. Even better, those who own their own businesses or living complexes could offer jobs or a roof to live under. I realize that these are lofty expectations, but that is one way that our community could come together to serve those that are less fortunate than some of us are lucky to be. Like I said earlier, one of the big things I learned from my Kentucky Kitchen Table was that service does not always have to be a grand gesture. Service can also help solve smaller problems in our community.

An example of a small problem in Bowling Green is litter. It’s not a big enough problem to where you would be revolted when walking down the street, but it’s still a problem nonetheless. Anyone can solve this problem, and serve their fellow man, by simply picking up trash that you see. This might seem like a silly approach, but think about how many times you’ve seen litter and did not pick it up. That number is probably very high. It is for myself as well. If everyone in Bowling Green would take an extra ten seconds out of their day to pick up litter when they saw it, then we would all live in a much cleaner community.

Despite having some trouble with actually scheduling the meal, I had a good overall experience doing my Kentucky Kitchen Table. Davinci’s never disappoints, and the conversation was enriching as well. To sum up what I learned from my fellow Kentuckians, service is one of the keys to solving some of the major problems in our community. A saying that is used a lot in my fraternity is “service to others is the rent we pay for our space on this earth”. To me, this means that some of us are lucky enough to be able to live a fortunate life, and to serve others is the only true way to be thankful for what we have. If the citizens of Bowling Green thought this way, there would be no limit as to what we could accomplish in our community.