Zachary’s Kentucky Kitchen Table

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By Zachary

Our dinner consisted of myself, Abigail, and Cate at Nate’s house.  I arrived first and Nate began telling me about the different jobs he’d had throughout his life before he settled on teaching.  The transition he made that I thought was most interesting was how he went from working in a restaurant to being a food salesman.  He just changed who he was selling to food to.  Abigail and Cate arrived shortly after and we sat down and began chatting before we began to eat.  We all went around and briefly shared our major and where we are from.  I don’t recall Abigail and Cate’s majors but I know they were both in the sciences.  Abigail is a freshman who went to GSP before her senior year of high school and is from Kentucky.  Right now she is on a club cheer team in Bowling Green.  Cate is also from Kentucky and played volleyball in high school.  Next Nate began sharing with us.  He told us about his son and grandchildren and pointed out photos of them on his fridge.  He then proceeded to tell us about how he met his wife.  The story was very funny.  He was almost hit by someone driving a car and proceeded to flip them off.  The driver stopped and rolled down the window and he realized that he knew her.  From then on they hit it off pretty well and eventually he followed her to another school where they realized they had feeling for each other and began dating before eventually getting married.

Nate shared a lot of stories of us.  One that was particularly interesting was why he does not swim in the ocean anymore.  On him and his wife’s anniversary one year they were able to go snorkeling one day.  They began and he told us it was beautiful because of the amount of fish and how blue the water was.  But he was not able to stay in the water long.  Soon all the fish began swimming to him and nibbling on his body.  He told us how he immediately got swam up from there, got back in the boat, and did not got back in the ocean for the rest of their trip.  We began talking about this story after we talked about how Cate lived near a lake which prompted Nate telling us about why he can’t swim in the lake.  Another interesting story he told us was about how he helped teach a student in Germany about finding the volume of a cucumber by unconventional means.  He gave him a few ways to do it but the most interesting was dropping it into a body if water and then using the resulting displacement to find the volume of the cucumber.  He then took this way of learning and had his own high school class do it in class to make the whole experience more interesting and fulfilling for his students.

Around this point we began eating the dinner that Nate made for us.  It consisted of fried Italian style chicken, spaghetti with red sauce, corn, green beans, some rolls, and salad.  The food was delicious and was a great supplement to the conversation.  The conversation slowed a little bit as we began eating.  He told us that he has always enjoyed cooking and before his wife passed away.  He told us about some other meals he had prepared when he had friends over to play bridge.  He took particular pride in the Bourbon balls he had made for them.

As we finished our meal we began to have a more pointed conversation as Abigail began asking some questions from our guide.  This led to our most interesting conversation of the night.  Nate began telling us about his worldview, where it came from, how it informed the way he treated others, and how it informed his outlook on America.  He told us how he truly believes the most important thing that exists in how we interact is having respect and kindness for everyone, especially those we disagree with.  He said this worldview came partially from his faith but was informed largely from his time as a teacher.  He told us about seeing how LGBTQ kids were treated in his school and how he reached out to them to help them feel safe and wanted.  He opened up his room for lunch and they often came and ate in his room.  Because of this he is supports LGBTQ individuals but also understands how important it is to treat everyone with kindness.  The conversation moved towards deliberation and he told us how he went about talking to those he disagrees with on issues.  He emphasized how important having a base position of common ground was to having a civil conversation.  When a conversation began to become more hostile than he preferred he would bring them back to why they were friends in the first place.  This way of discussion leads to conversations that are productive and insightful instead of conversations that are just two people yelling their opinions at each other.

Without knowing it Nate had begun sharing his view on what I feel is the most important aspect of our class: how to have civil and productive conversations with those that stand opposite of us on issues.  While I feel we have learned a lot about deliberation during class, talking about outside of the class setting gave me an understanding of how important it is that is hard to gain in an academic setting.  Treating people that we think our wrong with the same respect we would want for our self only has positive outcomes.  The informal way he spoke of this was a perfect supplement to the formal way of learning we have in class.  Using deliberation while talking about abstract things in class is helpful to use, but talking about it in relation to “that guy on Facebook” gave it a realism that is hard to gain in a classroom setting.  As the conversation closed I was very glad to have had the chance to meet Nate and hear his stories and opinions.  He was able to put to words a lot of things I had felt about the election without being positive or negative toward either candidate.  The entire experience was a very positive one that I hope many students will get to experience in the future.

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My Kentucky Kitchen Table Experience

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By Tyler

I never really thought that I’d find myself at a stranger’s house for dinner, nor did it sound very appealing, but 10/10 would recommend. I’m more of an introvert and having conversations with people I don’t know makes me nervous. So I’m glad I was kind of forced to break out of my shell because I would never have done this on my own.

Kaylin, Amy, and I began our little journey using Google Maps to try and find where we were supposed to go. After a few wrong turns we finally made it only to realize there were two doors and we had no idea which to go in. After circling the house, we finally decided on a door because we could see people cooking through the window. When we walked in we were greeted by Alison’s dog, Hazel, and then Alison and Leila. Alison, our host, teaches in the English department at WKU. Leila was a guest also eating with us who teaches Citizen and Self at WKU. I guess I should also give a brief description about me and my classmates. I’m from a small town in Kentucky, Kaylin is from an even smaller town in Kentucky, and Amy grew up in a bigger town in Tennessee that neighbored an army base.

After introducing ourselves, Alison put us to work right away chopping vegetables and setting the table. I’m glad she gave us something to do to make the meal seem more like a team effort. We made small talk while doing so and once everything was ready, we took our plates and sat down to eat. I was starving and was super glad that we were having chicken tacos instead of some weird vegetarian food that Kaylin, Amy and I had joked about on our way there. We first talked about our majors and different little things about ourselves. Then Alison really got my attention when she told us about her college experience. She had originally gone to college with the goal of becoming a lawyer but then she got a random opportunity to go teach English in Japan. Since she had never gotten to study abroad, she took up this opportunity and ended up falling in love with it. She stayed for two years in Japan and went on to teach other countries as well. She dropped the idea of becoming a lawyer and became a teacher instead. Her advice to us was just try everything and jump at the random opportunities. This made me think of the Jane Addams reading for our class “Snare of Preparation.” We have to just throw ourselves into the world and not really think about it. We just have to actually do it.

As we were eating, Leila and Alison were guessing spices that were in each other’s dish. They both seemed to really like to cook and it wasn’t your normal everyday country cookin’. They knew a lot about different ethnic foods and seemed to have tried it all. Alison says she learned a lot of it from her experience in Japan. They gave us some suggestions for the best places to get sushi and told us to visit the salt cave in Bowling Green if we ever needed to clear up our sinuses.

We then decided we should probably ask the question of the day, “What does citizenship mean to you?” Leila laughed a little saying that she should have a good answer to it since she teaches the class and then Alison said that she thinks it means recognizing that everyone is dealing with something. I immediately started to wonder if she had sat in on one of our classes because those exact words have come up many times in our discussions about empathy and how to live better together. I was not expecting her to say something so dead on to what we have been discussing all semester. Honestly, I was expecting Leila to say something about it since she teaches the class, but she just agreed with Alison and added that we should always think about why a person is acting the way they are, maybe they’ve had a bad day, or maybe they weren’t brought up the same way we were. We had a small discussion about citizenship, much like ours in class, about putting ourselves in another person’s shoes.

We then got on the topic of dress codes at our high schools. We talked about how Amy and I had teachers that would sit at the door as we walked in to look at how we were dressed and make sure it was appropriate. We mentioned how guys were allowed to wear shorter clothes than us and then Leila made a comment about imagining if all of this time was spent teaching men about consent instead. This conversation eventually led into the talk about feminism. Amy mentioned how surprised she was by how few people stepped forward when asked if they were a feminist in the game we played in class. I have to be honest, I didn’t step forward in class because I thought that it meant that I got super offended when guys made jokes about women or got mad if a guy held a door open for me or something. I didn’t know that it actually just meant that you believe women should be equal to men. Someone mentioned that people just don’t know how to express themselves and Kaylin went on to tell a story about her boyfriend’s mom talking about how she didn’t believe in interracial marriage but eventually went on to say that she just didn’t want it for herself but she didn’t look down upon others who do it. Sometimes when people say things, they don’t actually mean what it sounds like. Sometimes things are definitely worth deliberating on.

We moved onto dessert, which consisted of cookies, Nutella, and goat caramel. After Alison said it tasted “goaty” I decided I would pass on that part of the dessert. However, everyone else seemed to really enjoy it. Alison offered us tea with rice in it and I decided that I should probably pass on that as well. As you can tell, I’m not very adventurous with the foods that I try. We wrapped up our conversations and said our goodbyes. Instead of the dreaded dinner that I had imagined, it ended up being my favorite part of this class. It’s not too often that you actually sit down at a dinner table and have a home-cooked meal filled with meaningful conversations, especially in college.

My Kentucky Kitchen Table

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By Katie

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The lovely people seated at the table are a few of my great friends and some of their friends. We are religiously similar but culturally, politically, and geographically diverse. Starting at the bottom, there is Savannah, she is my spunky friend who does not really care about political conversations, which was interesting to have her there and hear her input. To her left is Mary Margaret, she is blunt yet loving. Then there is me. To my left is Lee, he is also very blunt and conservative and an all around goofball. To his left is Nick, Nick is also conservative but mostly keeps to himself. The girl next to him is Ellie, she did not eat with us but wanted to join the picture. The male in the back is Jonathan, he is currently in training to be in the US Army. Next to him is Spencer, a firefighter. Then the male with the glasses is Connor, he is shy but speaks up when he finds something important. He came with Jonathan to our dinner. The male in the red sweatshirt is Ty. He is also very conservative and follows conservative beliefs when it comes to politics. Harrison is the last person in the bottom right corner with the grey and red Patagonia pullover. He is very opinionated and not very open minded when it comes to political topics.

At this dinner we discussed many different topics including sports, religion, the presidential election, what it means to be a citizen, our jobs and their purposes, our ideal futures, the status of our world today, and many other topics that could be considered irrelevant to this topic.

When I asked my friends what citizenship meant to them beyond voting and taxes, one of them said “Citizenship gives you a sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself. It gives you the rights and responsibilities that come with living in the greatest democracy in the world. It gives you the ability to be and do anything you want to do.” Just from reading that, one could gather that my friends are proud to be Americans. We also discussed the privileges American citizens have that other countries such as China do not have, especially privacy. We deliberated for a couple of minutes about the privacy in America. Although our government does not listen to what we say on the streets out in public through bugging traffic lights and things on the street, our government can view our computers and that was disturbing to us. Some brought up the notion that the government filters our technology to keep us safe from potential terrorists and people that can harm us.

The presidential election was also a hot topic at our dinner. A great number of people at the table sided with Trump on a few of his issues, especially with abortion. However, some of the girls were frightened by the idea of not being able to have control over their own bodies, but were conflicted with the idea of abortion because of their religious views on the right of life and who should be in control of such things. The boys brought up how Hillary was guilty and should be held accountable for the Benghazi deaths and that she cannot be trusted with our lives.

Since the major thing we all have in common is religion we also discussed how we should treat others based on our religious views. One of the main points brought up is that the changes in society are making Christians look hateful and ignorant. This really bothered us. We discussed homosexuality and the House Bill 2 in North Carolina. Since we are Christians, the Bible tells us to love one another and treat each other with respect, grace, and kindness. It also says that homosexuality is a sin and is wrong. Someone at the table said that if we (the government) condones people to use the bathrooms that they most identify with, it would almost be promoting homosexuality, bisexuality, etcetera. It is conflicting because we are called to love and not judge, but it is confusing on who is to draw the line because none of us here on earth are God, the ultimate judge.

We also discussed our experiences growing up in different families with different lifestyles. When I asked about family meals and eating at home, this is what one of my friends said, “I had meals with my family growing up but it wasn’t every night because we had really busy schedules. I really liked it and it made time together special.” One of my friends is a dancer and an athlete with three other siblings. She said her family rarely gets to eat dinner at home around their table and that their dinners mostly consist of drive through meals on the weekdays. Another friend of mine was only involved in the marching band at his school and ate dinner at home with his family almost every night. He enjoys the time spent together and the conversations but also wishes that his family would go out more often.

Being young adults, we of course discussed our jobs and the purpose behind them. One of my female friends that works in an office said this, “I see my job as serving a higher purpose. When I go to work I am earning money that is not just for myself. My money goes to support businesses, charities, and to support myself and my future family.” On the other hand, one of my friends has a rather wealthy family and has not had to work a steady part-time job other than working at a dress shop once a week. Since she has most of her needs taken care of by her parents, she does not feel the need to work. Unlike her, one of my male friends that is also wealthy has a strong work drive and works for things he wants and is already saving for his future. He plans to work in real estate, so he works for his father who is a real estate agent and builder, and for other builders in the community so he can get career related experience.

Another topic discussed was our plans for the future and future home life. Some of us want to live in neighborhoods where our children can play with their friends in the neighborhood while some of my friends want to live out in the middle of nowhere, where no one can bother them. I asked if any of them know or knew their neighbors growing up and one of my friends responded with this, “I also don’t really know my neighbors. I know their names and say hi to them when I see them, but we’ve lived by them my whole life but never really gotten to know them. I think it’s because life is so hectic and I don’t live in a neighborhood with a community atmosphere. And my neighbor may or may not deal drugs, that is also a factor.”

Through this assignment, I learned a lot about my friends that I would not have learned otherwise. I was somewhat concerned with how some of them are so closed minded when it comes to political issues and ways to deal with issues in our democracy. Our discussion at our meal related to the three questions of the class: How do we live together? How do we solve problems? How can people have more say over what their lives look like? Over all of those three questions, the one discussed the most was how we live together.

I think this assignment was very unique and interesting. I got to meet people and also meet my friends I already had on a deeper level. We discussed many things that would not usually be discussed in a normal gathering. Some of the topics made people feel uncomfortable, but it was good because people were able to form opinions and learn how to express themselves.

Debating with class

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By Kaitlyn

Brooke and I held our Kentucky Kitchen Table project at a house here in Bowling Green, Kentucky. A sorority sister of Brooke’s opened her home to us and her mother agreed as long as everyone supplied a dish for the meal. I contributed by making the macaroni and cheese that can be seen to the right of the picture. Brooke made the shredded steak and banana pepper mix. Three of my sorority sisters (Alpha Omicron Pi’s) brought a vegetable and cheese plate and three of Brooke’s sorority sisters (Kappa Delta’s) brought rolls and cheese slices. The mother of the home also chipped in by making pumpkin cheesecake brownies that we were able to enjoy after dinner. You can see all of the food and most of the people in the photos below (the brownies were still baking).

Brooke and I both (as noted above) had invited three women from each of our sororities to the dinner. Along with our sorority sisters, the mom of the house and her youngest daughter were in accompaniment as well, Kelli and Allison. Kelli is the mom of Brooke’s sorority sister, Caroline. She is a middle-aged woman and is a pharmacist here in Bowling Green. Kelli is an alumna of WKU. Through speaking with Kelli we learned that she is a Christian woman and doesn’t claim a particular denomination. Kelli is a registered Democrat and grew up in Harlan County. In further discussion about Harlan, we learned that it’s a poor area in Eastern Kentucky and growing up in this area she was from a family with little means. Kelli was a first generation college student. Kelli’s youngest daughter Allison is currently a junior in High School. She has grown up in a middle class family in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We questioned Allison about her political views, but she is too young to register and hasn’t quite made up her mind yet on which political party she sides more with. When discussing her faith, she explained that she is still discovering her faith and wishes to explore different denominations once she comes to college. Allison is undecided on what major she will choose when coming to college and has yet to decide where she would like to attend. Having a younger perspective, especially one from a very unbiased party was a nice addition to the conversation and at times helped us all see the issues we were discussing from a, sort of, birds eye view.

The three sorority women I invited were a few of my sorority sisters that Brooke hadn’t met before, Brittany, Sarah, and Haleigh. Brittany is a senior here at WKU and is from Versailles, Kentucky and is majoring in social work. Brittany says that she would describe her socioeconomic status as upper class. When asked she said that she identifies with the Republican Party and is Southern Baptist.

Sarah is a junior at WKU and is from Franklin, Kentucky. Sarah is majoring in elementary education and describes her socioeconomic status as lower-middle class. She identifies as a member of the Democratic Party and is a nondenominational Christian.

Haleigh is a senior at WKU and is from Glasgow, Kentucky. Haleigh states that her family is upper class. Haleigh is in the process of applying to law schools. She identifies with the Republican Party and is a member of the Church of Christ.

Brooke’s guests were some of her sorority sisters that I had never met before, the Kelli’s oldest daughter, Caroline, along with Christa, and Madison. Caroline is a junior at WKU. Caroline is working on a double major in biology and psychology with a pre-physician’s assistant concentration. Caroline is a member of the Honors college here at WKU. When asked, Caroline explained that she identifies as having independent political beliefs. She said that she has liberal social beliefs, but conservative beliefs regarding government policies. She grew up in the same family as Allison, a middle class family in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Caroline identifies as a Christian and seems to fit in best with the Presbyterian denomination.

Christa is a freshman and is also in the Honors college at WKU. Christa is working on a major in biology and is from Louisville, Kentucky. When asked Christa describes her family as upper class and says she is a devout Catholic as well as very conservative. She is a registered Republican.

Madison is a sophomore and a member of the Honors college at WKU as well. Madison is majoring in finance as well as accounting. Madison grew up in Northern Kentucky and describes her family as lower class. Her residual check from the university is the means she uses in order to pay for her sorority dues. Madison identifies with the Democratic Party and describes herself as spiritual rather than religious.

Overall, there was a decent amount of diversity at our table. As you can see from above, the political parties were split about half and half between the Republican party and the Democratic party. Plus, we had the generational diversity which gave us a nice range from the host, someone who had been around and seen different things then the college students at the table did, as well as having a younger viewpoint with the host’s daughter. I truly enjoyed having the different generations represented at dinner because the generation diversity gave a different take on every aspect of the conversation. In regards to diversity of religion, most of our group were Christians, however there was diversity in the denominations that everyone associated themselves with which allowed for some diversity in conversation.

The dinner went very smoothly for the most part. I think this was in large part due to the way Brooke and I approached the dinner. Brooke and I began the dinner by explaining the purpose of the project and set the tone for the dinner by laying out some guidelines. There were three guidelines: 1. We would all remain respectful of others’ opinions and beliefs, 2. No one would be required to share if they felt in any way uncomfortable doing so, and 3. Brooke and I reserved the right to change the topic of conversation if we felt that the conversation was deteriorating and was no longer productive. Throughout the dinner the guidelines never had to be referenced, however I think they set the tone for the dinner and helped all of us stay on track with our discussions.

Our opening question for the dinner was, “Beyond voting, paying taxes, and following laws, what does citizenship mean to you?” After a few minutes of thinking discussion began. The participants at the table were all in agreement that a good citizen is one who goes through their everyday duties, but always goes that one step further. A good citizen is the one who truly takes an interest in their neighbors as people and plays a role in helping them and the community however they can. I then asked the question, why do we all think that this is how a good citizen should act? It seemed unanimous that the women in the room were stemming their answers from their Christian roots. They were all thinking in the aspect of living for Christ. From there, Brooke questioned the group about the extension of the radius of support they were discussing in regards to the good citizen. Who in the group seemed to view it more locally and who viewed it more globally? The women who lived in cities, Christa and Allison, seemed to think of themselves as more global citizens and when asked couldn’t tell us much about their neighbors, however, Madison and Haleigh who were from more rural areas knew a lot about their neighbors and had developed those personal connections and saw themselves as more local citizens. Sarah, was the outlier, being from Franklin we would have assumed she may see herself as more of a local citizen, but when asked she described herself as a global citizen and said she attributed this to her mission work that she had done in Haiti. Spending time in Haiti changed Sarah’s viewpoints on citizenship and she thinks that we should help where we can whenever we can. Sarah brought a different aspect to the table with her experience abroad and I think everyone enjoyed hearing her perspective.

The next hot topic of our discussion was the presidential election. Our dinner was hosted the week prior to elections and it seemed that everyone was slightly more edgy about this topic. We had a multitude of varying viewpoints in the room which gave us an in-depth debate, however, Brooke and I steered the conversation towards what each person in the room wanted America to be and who of the candidates in the running could achieve those desires. Caroline began this discussion and explained that she saw an America that had expanded rights for all citizens, no matter the race, sexual orientation, etc. Christa took her turn after Caroline and described her America as extremely conservative. After discussing for a bit it was clear that we were not going to be able to come to an agreement about which candidate could give America what it needed nor could we agree on what exactly it was we thought America should look like. Many questions were then posed such as, how can we make America better when a better America looks different for each of us? If this is how divided a group of ten of us are, imagine how divided this country is. Is our country ever going to be united? Is the division of our country going to get worse every year? How will that effect coming elections? Kelli shared her experience over the years and explained that there had been awful elections in the past and yet, we were still standing. This made us all feel a little better and then sent us into a topic of discussion about the media and how this election may just seem worse than others due to the medias involvement. One conversation led to another and soon enough I realized we had been discussing different topics for almost two hours and we all decided it was about time to head home.

Through this project I learned how important it is to be open-minded and to not judge a book by its cover, or even its overview. The women in this house looked similar to me, and had similar religious beliefs, and most went to the same school and were also in sororities, however, not one of these women had the exact same viewpoints as me. We all varied in ideals and what we thought was best, but we all listened and respected one another’s opinions. We all practiced being open-minded. This dinner and these conversations gave me an insight on what deliberation can achieve when done right. In the atmosphere we all created, everyone’s voice could be heard and was honestly considered. In Melville’s, “How We Talk Matters,” a reading for our class, he states, “Talk is the essential ingredient of politics. It not only shapes decisions, it shapes us – our thinking, and our understanding of ourselves and others, our way of dealing with conflict and differences.” What Melville is saying here is exactly what we put into practice at this dinner. Talking is a way of understanding one another and a way of figuring out our differences. I think that if our country was able to talk the way Melville describes talking, then maybe, just maybe America could get on the right track. This project was very enjoyable and I truly learned so much about myself and the new friends I made at our dinner. I hope that I can continue my life practicing the art of talking and actively listening that was shown to me during our discussions at our Kentucky Kitchen Table and within this class.

Lexi’s Kentucky Kitchen Table

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When we first got assigned this project, I was immediately stressed out! I rarely go home because it is such a long distance, but I decided this project would make for a good excuse to travel the distance and plus I would get to meet up with old friends and make new ones. I texted my mom and told her we had to host a dinner for my friends for a class project. She was ecstatic; she lives for opportunities to host my friends (and listen to all the gossip). I invited friends who lived nearby and went to the University of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky University and told them each to bring a friend they had made in college. The table would consist of seven college students, which doesn’t necessarily sound diverse, but after having mature conversations it turned out to be.

img_4932Sarah, Lacey, Lauren, and Meredith all grew up with me and were who I considered my best friends. Before we left for college my friends and I were all fairly similar: white, middle class, Republican. We all grew up in the same area: Fort Thomas, Kentucky (a suburb of Cincinnati), and attended the top rated achieving public high school, Highlands High School. Our parents all supported us in everything we did; they came to our sporting events, volunteered at school, and supported us financially.  As we went off to college we all grew somewhat distant of each other and came back home with completely different perspectives on all sorts of things.

Mia, a friend of Sarah’s who attended the University of Cincinnati, had grown up in a small town outside of Columbus, Ohio. She was very Christian and had ambitious goals of becoming a missionary. She brought such diversity to the table by sharing her experiences of when she traveled to Haiti and Ecuador to help educate young kids in third world countries. I personally had never really believed in missionary work and had a viewpoint similar to Ivan Illich in his essay we read in class “To Hell with Good Intentions.” I had never sought out stories of missionaries to change my mind, but hearing her story did change my perspective. It was truly incredible to see pictures of her in these places and inspiring to know that one person can make such a big impact where it is really needed.

Brooke, a friend of Lauren’s who attended Northern Kentucky University, was very shy! She grew up in Florence, Kentucky with not a lot of money, divorced parents, and four other siblings. She was surprised at how nice the dining room table was set and all the effort that was put into this dinner because growing up, she did not eat around a table with her family. It was always fending for yourself at her household. With having so many siblings and divorced parents, she talked about it being hard to find time to spend with her parents.

I knew for this project to be successful, the conversation needed to be more than surface level drama. With Trump just being elected President, I asked everyone how they felt about it. Just by this one question I learned a lot about everyone at the table and the things they believed in and stood for. Sarah, who used to have mostly Republican views, had suddenly very Democratic views. Lacey, who used to not stand for LGBT rights, had become surprisingly accepting. Lauren was very fond of Trump because of the way he prioritized jobs as she was looking further into her future. Meredith was kind of lost in the whole conversation as she does not like to affiliate with any sort of politics. Mia spoke very strongly on behalf of Hilary Clinton because of the opportunistic ideas she had about spreading democracy and helping third world countries. And Brooke had always had a very Democratic stance on things since her family was on public assistance while she was growing up and her view on government was very thankful for the opportunities it provided her family. It was crazy to see how everyone’s viewpoints were changing as we moved off on our own and did not just follow what our parents told us. Lacey even mentioned that she went to college and felt like she had been living in full ignorance inside the “Fort Thomas Bubble” and it wasn’t until she experienced everyday life on her own that she was able to learn what she believed in.

When I asked the question “beyond voting, paying taxes, and following laws, what does citizenship mean to you?” everyone had something to say, but the one that stuck out the most was Mia’s when she said “citizenship means that you are a part of something bigger than yourself. Its knowing that you are doing your duty to do what’s best for your country and in return, hopefully, the government will do the same for us.” I thought this was the strongest answer because a lot of what we learned in Honors 251 can be tied into this definition. In order for us to be productive citizens we have a duty to share our knowledge throughout government. In order to make changes to things we do not like, we have the responsibility to make it better and speak up for what we believe in. Really, being a productive citizen, we can begin to answer the three main problems this class brings to fruition: How do we live better together? How do we solve problems? How can people have more say over their lives? This class has been so helpful in making me realize that it is up to me to make a difference.

It’s fascinating to me to see all of us growing up. I’m really glad I got to meet new people in the process, too. They brought a whole different perspective to the dining room table and talked about things the rest of us had never been exposed to. They will be people that I definitely see myself hanging out with again when I come home. It was also refreshing to hear stories that were encouraging. What I thought would be a miserable project was actually one of my best memories with my friends.

Kentucky’s Kitchen Table- Learning to be Inclusive

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By Katie

Citizenship means different things to all people depending on their background and upbringing. For this Kentucky Kitchen Table project, my friend Kenoa and I were able to have dinner around a kitchen table which held people from all different walks of life. The hosts were Dick and Cindy, an older couple, in their eighties, that attend that same church as Kenoa and me. Dick and Cindy are American but spent most of their lives serving Christ overseas, Dick in Pakistan and Cindy in different countries in Africa. They now live in Bowling Green serving international populations here. Also at the table was Jessie, one of Dick and Cindy’s neighbors. Joel, Jessie’s husband is currently in Turkey at a conference. Joel and Jessie are preparing to move to Turkey to do missions. Because of this and because of Dick and Cindy’s extensive overseas experience, they had the idea to have Turkish breakfast for our dinner. Since most of us had no knowledge of authentic Turkish food, Dick and Cindy told us a list of things we could bring (bread, eggs, butter, olives, feta cheese, etc.) and we all chose something from the list and brought it.

Another guest at the table was Douda, a student at WKU and the son of two Liberian refugees. He is a friend of Joel and Jessie’s. His experiences with citizenship were enlightening and very different from everyone else’s at the table. He brought to the table very diverse experiences with culture and upbringing. Mary Lou, a WKU faculty member, was also an attendee at the dinner. She works at the International Enrollment Office on campus where she assists our very large number of international students. She has lived in America for almost her entire life but is originally Colombian. Mary Lou and Douda had very interesting cultural experiences. Mary Lou feels that her job really does a lot in serving a greater purpose in the world because she helps international students get involved on campus which is often difficult for them to do. Mary Lou defines citizenship as being involved in a community, and that is exactly what she helps international students do.

Other students who attended include Macy, a student worker in the international enrollment office and Kathleen, a graduate student at WKU studying math. They had very interesting perspectives to bring to the table. Macy spent this past summer volunteering at a refugee camp in Greece. Through this, she gained insight into what life is like for people who don’t have a place they feel they belong. Citizenship and democracy feel very different to someone who spent their whole summer in a place absent of these two concepts. Alex, another resident of Bowling Green and friend of Dick and Cindy’s also attended the dinner. He was born in a small town in Lexington, KY where he was homeschooled before coming to college. This caused him to have an interesting concept of citizenship and inclusion.

Citizenship took on very different meanings to everyone around the table: safety, community, inclusion. Dick and Cindy spoke of their time serving on mission overseas and the way the community was different in the places they served. Cindy expressed that while serving in Africa, she felt like more of a “true citizen” than she does sometimes in America. She believes this is because of the closeness of community in the small villages in which she served. Dick thinks that citizenship represents being there for one another and helping each other out. He stated, sadly, that he feels Americans sometimes forget that as the meaning of citizenship. We focus too much on our responsibilities as citizens instead of what we can do to make each other’s lives better.

Douda and Mary Lou had similar definitions of citizenship, as far as what it’s like coming from a different country or gaining American citizenship. Coming from an oppressed family, Douda equated citizenship with safety. Douda and Mary Lou emphasized the importance of the people in America who reached out to their families and made them feel welcome. They found that reaching out to people and making their transitions easier is a big part of what makes a community. Macy agreed wholeheartedly with what they were saying, especially considering her heart for refugees. She believes it is a gift and a passion of hers to make refugees feel that they are at home in America. To them, this doesn’t necessarily mean just gaining American citizenship and the rights to do things most citizens can, but it means being included by Americans and being shown different American customs and ways of life. Dick and Cindy were those people for Mary Lou and Joel and Jessie were those people for Douda so it was a great experience to be able to see those relationships come full circle.

Coming from a white, middle class family who has been exposed to very little oppression and exclusion, it was a very eye-opening experience to be able to see the way people go through the journey of feeling like a citizen in America. I have only had one experience overseas and that was last December when I went to Haiti. During that week, I experienced more feelings of not belonging than I ever have before and got to understand a little bit of how it feels to know you don’t fit in culturally or racially. Now, hearing Douda and Mary Lou’s stories, I think back on the kids in Haiti yelling “Blanc, blanc!” as we drove by and do not by any means equate those stories because the minimal exclusion I felt is monumentally smaller than anything they and their families have felt. However, I am glad I got the opportunity to hear their stories and hear everyone else describe their experience with citizenship. Because of this experience, I believe I am more educated and aware of ways I can become a better citizen here in Bowling Green. By going out of my way to be inclusive and empathetic toward those around me, I will be bettering the community by creating a more loving environment in which we can all live better together in unity.

My Kentucky Kitchen Table

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kitchen-table

By: KP

I had my Kentucky Kitchen Table on Election Day of November 8, 2016. There were five people including myself. I did not have a partner for this class project. I knew my mom and her best friend Kim but I did not know the other two men before the dinner. In my group was my Mom, who is forty-six, a single mom and her occupation is a barber. She went to technical school after high school. Kim is thirty-nine and has been for three years. She works at a salvage yard. She graduated from high school and is currently divorced. Keith is forty-seven. He works around his family’s farm and other farm jobs for different people. He got through high school. He has three kids and a possible fourth on the way. He has a preference for open relationships. Gibson is fifty-eight and works as a cattle driver. His wife passed away last year. He also completed high school. My mom cooked the pot roast and I made the lemonade. Our kitchen is a bit small, so we held the dinner in the garage on our lunchroom table.

I started off the dinner asking what did citizenship mean to them. My mom replied freedom. Kim said it was freedoms such as freedom of speech. Gibson said citizenship was rights that lessened every day. Keith agreed with Gibson saying citizenship was slavery. Things began to go South here. I asked Keith and Gibson why they felt this way. Gibson said they, as in the government, were taking away the right to own guns. I reminded him the right to bears arms was in the Bill of Rights and could not be fully taken away. My mother chimed in saying the government was limiting the ammunition, which made the guns useless. Keith began to join in saying we should overthrow this new government under Hilary. Keep in mind the election results were still being counted as it was only seven o’clock. I reminded Keith the reason we have government is to protect us and keep order and with that we have to give up some rights because with every exchange there is always an equal and opposite reaction.

Now I am unsure how it happened, but Keith began talking about how the Free Masons controlled the government. Gibson joined in with how the US currency was going to fall in the next 5 years because we are no longer on the gold standard. My mother joined in saying there was no gold at Fort Knox. I looked to Kim for help here, she had been quiet the entire time. I could tell she also wanted to get back to my original intent for the discussion. When the discussion turned to how the government prohibited the use of lead paint because it prevented the government from using mind control on us citizens, courtesy of Keith, I knew it was time for me to step in and turn this around.

I then asked the group if we could restart the conversation because I was not here to discuss conspiracies, I was there to discuss citizenship. I told them how I saw citizenship as being part of a certain nation. I asked the group if they believed they should help out their fellow citizens. Surprisingly there was a unanimous answer of yes. I asked why they felt that way. My mom spoke for the group saying because we can and somewhere along the way we have needed help.

Next, I asked the group if they knew their neighbors since neighbors are fellow citizens. Gibson said he has known his neighbors for thirty years where he lives currently and at his home before that he knew everybody because he used to deliver milk. My mom said she had met our neighbors when there was a wreck in front of our houses. I remember this time too because I had made my first 911 call that night. Kim pointed out that that was an act of good citizenship. Kim also said she knew her neighbors because her next door neighbor was her brother. Keith said he did not know his neighbors because he was too busy. Keith asked me if I knew my neighbors at my residence hall. I said yes and told them about my RA who lives right in front of me. I also told them of how one of the girls on my floor even shared the same birthday as me! I was very pleased of how the conversation had greatly approved.

At this point everyone was finishing up their plates and were complimenting my mom on her delicious pot roast. I asked the group if they had home cooked meals often. Gibson said when he was younger, he and his family rarely went out to eat. My mom replied with “when you were home”, referring to me. Kim and Keith said they were too busy to cook at home. The group all said home cooked meals were important. Kim said it helped with communication skills, Mom said it helped with sharing and Keith said it helped prevent him from spilling food on his shirt. The group was confused by this then Keith explained when he got a home cooked meal he usually was not going to end up eating in his recliner, but at a kitchen table. Everyone laughed when they realized what Keith was trying to convey.

The experience was definitely an interesting one. At first I thought this was going to be an awful project, but then things turned around and it was a great time! I learned a lot about the perspectives of other people, especially those older than me. My group was not the most diverse in terms of ethnicity but my group comes from and lives in different situations socially and economically. Although they did have one thing in common. They all loved to piddle with stuff in the garage, something I have never really got into. When I had to leave to return to campus, they had found a project to work on together. I hope to have another dinner with this group to see how their project is turning out and maybe discover some more of their oddball conspiracies. They are all friends now which is cute. I was worried about how my mom would handle life without having to worry about me twenty-four seven but now I know she will be ok. I do not regret doing this project!

Kentucky Kitchen Table

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By Kenoa

When this project was assigned, my immediate thought was that I would complete this assignment in my hometown because I would be more comfortable there. However, after some thought, I realized the potential this project had. Some of my fondest family memories are of all of the many times my big, loud, family has been talking, laughing, and, most importantly, eating around our kitchen table. Bowling Green is going to be my home away from home for the remainder of my college career so I thought getting together with people I know and people I do not it the best way to create lasting memories and meaningful relationships with the people I will be around for a few more years. I got together with my friend Katie and hosted a Kentucky Kitchen Table here in Bowling Green at the home of a couple from my church and invited other members we did not know well and some neighbors of the couple.

Dick and Cindy are an older couple- in their eighties- that attends the same church as Katie and I. Dick spent most of his life living as a missionary in Pakistan and Cindy was a missionary in various countries in Africa. The couple was brought together by their faith and they both see this as the most important thing about them. Now they spend their days getting to know the local international population in Bowling Green and guiding other couples that feel called to move overseas for mission work. After reading this about them, it may come as no surprise that for dinner we had an authentic Turkish meal prepared by Dick and Cindy. It is obvious that their past experiences still hold a major influence on their life and they love to share stories about their time overseas. In some of the pictures, you can see everyone cracking their boiled eggs in the traditional Turkish way.

Jessie, a neighbor of Dick and Cindy, also attended with her new baby Lucy Mae. Her and her husband Joel are a young couple that Dick and Cindy help mentor because they are preparing to move to overseas in the near future.

Douda is the son of refugee parents originally from Liberia that is a friend of Jessie and Joel. It was interesting to have his point- of- view in the conversation because he has had a very different cultural experience than most of the people at the dinner and he has also had a different experience with citizenship in general. He is a student at WKU.

Mary Lou is a faculty member at WKU that attended. She spends her days in the international enrollment office, helping international students on campus. She is originally from Columbia but has lived in America for most of her life. This, once again, offered an interesting point of view to the conversation as Mary Lou has experienced citizenship in two countries as well.

Mary Lou brought along one of her student workers, Macy. Macy is from Louisville and is about to graduate from WKU. She recently studied abroad in Spain and spent a summer in Greece volunteering at a refugee camp and plans to work with refugees in some way after graduation.

Lastly, Alex is a recent graduate of WKU engineering department that currently works for a concrete mixing company in Bowling Green. He comes from a small town outside of Lexington, KY and was homeschooled growing up so the move to Bowling Green was a big transition for him.

The many different backgrounds and stages in life represented around this one table led to some good conversation with different ways of thinking presented. We started the conversation by simply asking everyone what citizenship meant to them. To Douda, citizenship represented safety. When he was a child, the corrupt government in his home country oppressed his family and he said he never felt much like a citizen, but becoming an American citizen gave him the opportunity to feel like he was a part of something bigger. On the other hand, Cindy felt more like a true citizen while she was in Africa. She remembers the importance of community in the small tribal villages she lived in and how this contributed to everyone feeling like a citizen. Dick agreed that, these days, Americans place more emphasis on the duties of citizenship, such as voting, and forget that citizenship includes helping each other out and instilling a sense of community locally as well as on a bigger scale. This stood out to me because this is something that has been so important in this class all semester. In order to create this sense of community we must put into practice things that we have been discussing- empathy for example.

Macy remembers studying in Spain and feeling like an outsider and believes this is what led her to want to help refugees get accustomed to life in America without feeling alone. Her experiences have shown that most refugees that become citizens participate in things like voting and paying taxes but do not truly feel like an American citizen until they have been included by an American family and have American friends to “show them the ropes.” Douda and Mary Lou both agreed that the Americans who reached out to them are the people who impacted their transition to a new country the most.

This discussion and hearing the stories from the people around the table that were from a different country or had a lot of experience abroad really opened my eyes to ways that I could be a more productive citizen in the community of Bowling Green. I kept thinking of the empathy readings and it reminded me to not just feel sorry for new citizens but to welcome them into this new, scary place and help them understand what it means to be a citizen. At the same time, this can introduce a wicked problem because some families are helped in a way that causes them to not develop a sense of independence. All in all, this Kitchen Table was really eye-opening and I feel like after this project, I am more open to talking about topics that can be seen as difficult with others.

Kentucky Mini-Kitchen Table

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By Jamie

For my Kentucky Kitchen Table, I was paired with Callie. I brought my boyfriend, Isaac, and my friends, Shelby and Thomas, while Callie brought her friend, Carla. Overall, we may not have been the most diverse set of people, but we did have our differences. Carla was of Hispanic descent while the rest of us were caucasian. Additionally, most of us were from small towns in and around Kentucky, while Carla was originally from Los Angeles County in California. Isaac and I were also set apart by the fact that we are on the LGBT+ spectrum, and we don’t really follow any religion like most people in Kentucky who are Christian.

To be more in-depth, I am a senior psychology student from Lawrenceburg, KY. Shelby went to high school with me, and we were also roommates for three years at WKU. She is also a psychology student and a senior. Thomas is her boyfriend, and he used to be roommates with my boyfriend. He is a biology student from Mayfield, KY. Isaac, my boyfriend, is a meteorology student from Aurora, IN. We have all been friends since shortly after we arrived at college in 2013. Callie is from Muhlenberg County, KY, and Carla is a psychology student from Shelbyville, KY.

For dinner, Isaac and I made spaghetti with two kinds of sauces for everyone. Callie and Carla brought garlic bread and cookies, and Shelby made bruschetta (and provided her apartment for us to have dinner in). Even though the apartment and kitchen were small and we didn’t have enough dining chairs, we made it work!

While we did talk about many citizenship issues that were given in the example questions, I think the most fun part of the meal was sharing personal stories with one another. We would start with a question from the guide and end up getting off-topic when we realized what we had in common. Callie and Carla are both underclassmen in the Honors College, while my friends and I are seniors in the Honors College. We all bonded by talking about our days at H-4 and in Minton Hall.

I think one of my favorite questions we talked about was “What social issue is closest to your heart and why?” I really enjoyed hearing each person’s issue and felt like I knew them a lot better afterward. Even with my friends, Thomas and Shelby, I didn’t really know what their answers were going to be before they said them. Shelby answered that she cared the most about gun control, which I knew she cared about but not so much. Thomas answered that he cared the most about vaccinations and education on GMOs. Callie also answered that gun control was most important to her, which I thought was cool; I honestly didn’t think about that issue when I asked everyone the question. While it is an issue I care about, to me, it wasn’t so salient to me at the time.

Carla answered that her most important issue was race, while Isaac and I answered that we cared the most about LGBT+ rights. I think we had an interesting conversation about why those issues were important to us and maybe not as important to the others at the table. For example, I said that race was an important issue to me, but that I didn’t feel it could be my most important since I am caucasian and I have never experienced racism first-hand. In this way, it was interesting to me that Shelby, Thomas, and Callie chose issues that were not exactly related to basic human rights like racism, sexism, or homophobia. Not to say this is a bad thing, of course! It was just cool to see what people really care about the most.

Another one of my favorite questions we asked was “Have you ever had a conversation with someone from a really difference background than yourself?” Most of us were from small towns where most people were white, Christian, Republican, etc. Callie said that as someone from a small homogenous town, she never spoke to anyone with a different background until she went to GSP. Shelby talked about the experience she had staying with an Italian host family on a study-abroad trip to Europe. Isaac and Thomas struggled to think of an example, jokingly citing the single person who is identifiable as a minority on their floor in Minton. I thought this was kind of telling since while WKU may be a diverse place, the diversity decreases once you go into the Honors College. It’s almost 90% white; it can be hard to interact with diverse people when you live with other Honors students, take classes with them, and interact at events with them.

We also talked about how not only WKU but Bowling Green itself was diverse. I used to live here before moving to Lawrenceburg, and when I was here I had friends of three different ethnicities. This diversity was also brought up when we talked about things that we love about our town.

I think a lot of our conversations related to the concept from class of having actual experiences. Experiences with others who are diverse are especially important so that we can all understand each other better. Thomas talked about how he used to be Catholic until he came to college. He also did not personally know any gay people and didn’t have the best feelings toward them before he found out that Isaac was bisexual. After spending time with Isaac, he realized that gay people are just like everyone else, and he learned a lot about those outside of his white, Republican hometown.

Even though Thomas could have probably read about someone like Isaac and “learned” the same thing, it wouldn’t have compared to the experience of living with him for three years. You not only have to practice educational subjects to learn, but I think that you have to practice being around people to really learn about them too. Reading about other cultures is great, but you can never fully learn about them until you experience them first-hand. There are so many personal differences between people in a culture (and similarities to your own culture) that you can’t experience without communicating with others.

Overall, I liked the experience more than I thought! I feel like I learned a lot about others’ points of view, not only from the strangers at the table but even from my friends as well.

Kentucky Kitchen Table

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By Merritt

On November 15th, I did my Kentucky Kitchen table assignment. I was very nervous going into it because I had been paired with a girl who I did not know, nor did I know anyone attending the dinner. However, I can say that I was nervous for no reason because the dinner went amazingly. When I arrived at the street the house was on, I had issues finding it. Luckily the girl who I was paired up with, Lily, arrived soon after me and we found the house together. Lily and I had texted a little bit but this was the first time we had met each other. As we were looking for the house we shared some basic information about ourselves and got to know each other a little bit. We were having dinner at a family friend of Lily’s. Lily’s friend, Paige welcomed us in. Paige has a baby named Bo who is less than a year old. She explained to us how her and her friend Jessie were staying at this house, although they did not live there. Paige and Jessie are missionaries; they are planning on moving to Turkey in several months to pass along their faith. Their husbands were currently on a ten-day trip to Turkey for a missionary expedition so they were staying in the house until their husbands returned on Saturday.

Paige sat us down at the table and laid out plates for us. She was extremely polite and friendly. We shared basic information about our lives such as where we were from, members of our family, what we are studying, etc. Paige cooked meatball soup and cornbread which smelled amazing. She joked around saying she was not a very good cook and apologized if it was not good. Paige served us food and we talked a little long. Her soup and cornbread tasted amazing.  As we were eating Jessie walked in the door. She wasn’t back yet because she had made lasagna for one of her friends and was delivering it to her. Jessie was very similar to Paige in regards to kindness and generosity. Lily and I introduced ourselves to Jessie and we talked a little bit. Jessie also has a young baby who she brought out to us. Both babies were adorable. Jessie’s baby is a girl, so the two joked around saying that their babies were destined to get married. The two women are in their mid-twenties and they both attended WKU. We talked a little about the changes WKU has made since they have been there. They were also curious to hear about my sorority, since neither of them or Lily had been in sororities at WKU.

Jessie and Paige are very devoted Christians. When they asked me about my faith I told them I was Catholic. They were both happy to hear that I have a relationship with God. However, I would not say that I am anywhere near as a good follower as they are. It was very interesting to hear them talk about their faith. They both shared how they believe that God has a plan for them so no matter what happens they trust Him. They shared examples of when they have put their life into Gods hands which amazed me. Although I have a strong faith, hearing them talk about their devotion made me realize just how faithful they are. When we asked what citizenship meant to them, they both thought about it for a while. Jessie answered first explaining how she doesn’t think about citizenship much because she is moving to Turkey in a few months. However, she also added that she is very thankful for the rights that she has living in the US. She explained to us that she felt like she had no place to complain about her right’s because women or people in other countries have nowhere near the rights that we do. Paige agreed with this. Both women shared that they were thankful that God had them born into the US. However, they both stated that although their live on earth is important to them, the real place that they are citizens in is Heaven. Even though I come from a Catholic background I am often not around people who share their faith in a way that Jessie and Paige do. Although I do believe in Heaven and life after death, I focus on my life on earth quite more. This differed from Jessie and Paige who focus more on afterlife. It was very interesting hearing their side of the way they live. They also told us about their plans to move to Turkey. This was extremely interesting to me because I could not imagine moving that far away. Jessie explained that the first three years of their time in Turkey would be spent learning the native language so they could better communicate with the citizens. When we got on the topic of holidays they explained how they planned to have a big Thanksgiving and Christmas since it would be one of their last holidays with their families. After dinner Paige offered us dessert. The women have friends over almost every night of the week so they had a surplus of left over desserts.

From these two women I learned what is was truly like to live your live caring for other people. They live their whole lives trying to better the lives of others. They were both very thankful for the democracy that the United States has to offer. As I mentioned early they both felt no need to complain because the US has given them so much. This was a real eye opener to me because I often hear of people complaining about their rights as a US citizen. Although I do feel that there are some issues with the democracy in the US, and can honestly say that we have it way better than many other countries. Jessie and Paige helped make this more clear to me. In our class we often talk about how we can better the lives of people around us. Jessie and Paige better the lives of people around them by sharing their generosity and kindness with everyone. After an hour and a half Jessie and Paige said it was time to put their babies to bed. However, before Lily and I left Jessie and Paige made sure sure to let us know that we were welcome back at any time. I’m very glad that I had the chance to meet these two wonderful young women and I feel that I would never forget this experience.

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