Real Stories from Common Ground
Audra Eagle
Common Ground 2003 participant
I really wish I could go back to that experience and learn something else about myself and the world all over again. The entire experience was practically indescribable, the people altogether brilliant, and I wish I could do it over and over again.
It has been quite difficult to select a memory in particular from the many I shared with those at Common Ground... but on a personal level, watching the film DreamWorlds II was a terrifying and life-altering experience. As the film progressed, I felt a fire, a passionate heat rising within me.
My hands in fists, my teeth clenched like a vice and my entire body was burning. I found myself running out of the room when I could take no more stress within -- only to find a fellow Common Grounder right behind me, arms outstretched.
“I realized that for the first time, I had discovered my own voice.”
Nothing had ever made me feel so outraged, so powerful, and so victimized in my entire life. Yet as I told my story to the Common Grounder, I realized that for the first time, I had discovered my own voice. This film, but more importantly the person who had cared to listen to me, taught me the value of the retreat its entirety: that life is about knowing yourself and loving and understanding others.
Shadee Malakou
Common Ground 2003 participant
I'm really scared, guys. I feel that I am starting to close back up. I think my greatest fear returning to campus is the things that I chose not to see in the past-- the same things that are blatantly, glaringly obvious to me now. It's too easy to sink back into one's old ways... and I'm finding myself doing it.
I'm looking for a little inspiration from the group that knows me best... and not just for myself, but for all of you who I'm sure are also struggling to fit into campus life while holding on to your common ground identity.
Amelia Herbert
Common Ground 2003 facilitator
The Common Ground love is still emanating from me everywhere I go... All of you Grounders have affected my Duke and life experience so much... I always thought that in theory a bunch of people from different religions, sexualities, races, and whatever other labels they give us to divide ourselves, could get together and all make peace and love - but people called me idealistic, people called me a hippie, people said "you're young, you'll learn," I was the radical, the one always talking about something way too "deep."
But now I feel so fulfilled knowing that I've seen it with my own two eyes and felt it all throughout my being...and I can challenge them to just stop and to think, because when we take the time to actually ask "why?" instead of just to do, something really powerful happens.
I'm not at all afraid that this Common Ground spark will die off and people will go back to "normal", because once your eyes are opened, they can never be closed again...
“Once you have released your mind from the shackles placed on it, you can never fully go back to the ease of not knowing, and not questioning.”
In my every day conversations I already see this spreading and opening up thought; it's not always something blatantly evident and physical action, but nevertheless, we're doing a lot, simply by embracing our new state of being. (I hope that makes sense).
So, though it's always been one of my favorite quotes, now it resonates so much deeper: "Free your mind, and the rest will follow."
Linda Arnade
Common Ground 2003 participant
Common Ground made me distinctly aware that race relation problems do still exist, whether we care to recognize it or not. Through Common Ground I was able to meet many people academically, racially, and socio-economically "diverse" and discuss in an intimate and raw fashion race relations, gender, and sexuality issues.
I came out of Common Ground realizing that we have a long way to go, but discussions such as those at Common Ground is the first step....
Jonathan Wells
Common Ground 2003 participant
In approaching the Common Ground retreat, I came with an open mind, expecting to discuss and to debate the issues with other students. However, more than anything, it was having an open heart, sharing emotions and experiences, that drew us closer to our purpose and to each other.
Chidimma Eto
Common Ground 2003 facilitator
I remember when we were doing the Iceberg activity. It became overwhelming obvious that very few of us fit into the categories that we tend to govern our lives by. And to see that the white people in the group were ashamed to be there, and that they felt they had no real culture of their own was an experience in itself.
Of the many break-throughs that we experienced, this one was amongst the most memorable because it was the closest I have ever been to seeing from another skin's perspective.
“To say the least, it was a life-changing experience.”