{"id":12495,"date":"2014-11-30T18:19:47","date_gmt":"2014-11-30T18:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/challengedetroit.org\/blog\/marthacavazos\/?p=21"},"modified":"2014-11-30T18:19:47","modified_gmt":"2014-11-30T18:19:47","slug":"in-the-spirit-of-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/in-the-spirit-of-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"In the spirit of the holidays…………"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the spirit of the holidays, I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about American traditions. Having been absent from these traditions the last two years, I\u2019m finding myself more alert to all things culturally unique about this time of year.\u00a0 Things like Christmas tree lightings, Black Friday sales, eggnog\/pumpkin spice everything are making me think more about the blend of rituals we\u2019ve created in our country, and in Detroit.<\/p>\n

While exploring Detroit\u2019s holiday traditions for the first time, I\u2019ve been simultaneously serving as a kind-of cultural guide to my Freedom House<\/a> language partner and that has made this time of year much more fun and fascinating.<\/p>\n

Freedom House\u2019s mission:<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom House is a temporary home for survivors of persecution from around the world seeking asylum in the United States or Canada. Our mission is to uphold a fundamental American principle, one inscribe on the bas of the Statue of Liberty, providing safety for those \u2018yearning to breathe free.\u2019 In 2012 we became a formal partner in the Northern Tier Anti-Trafficking Consortium servicing victims of human trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Freedom<\/a>

Freedom House nestled in some fall foliage.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been volunteering at Freedom House now as a language partner since May, and the experience has been so, so wonderful. Until recently, I visited the house (right in my Mexicantown neighborhood!) once a week for an hour. Because my language partner\u2019s English is strong, we passed the hour by exchanging stories, talking about American culture and her native country, and all of the new experiences she\u2019s had at Freedom House in America.<\/p>\n

In the last few weeks, my language partner has been able to leave Freedom House for the first time, and we have spent hours exploring the city, which has now become saturated by holiday decorations, special holiday events, and of course, lots and lots of holiday traditions.<\/p>\n

Re-engaging with these traditions myself, and describing, explaining, justifying them to my language partner has gotten me thinking about the importance of the preservation of these traditions and values. It\u2019s also gotten me thinking about the importance of preserving, understanding and navigating other cultures\u2019 and countries\u2019 holidays and traditions too. For me, engaging with new and different traditions and perspectives gives me a deeper appreciation and understanding of my own.<\/p>\n

As I dive into my first holiday season in Detroit, I want to be as aware and as intentional as possible in my celebrations. I want to be grateful for the boundless holiday spirit in this city, I want to learn about other holiday traditions big or small, and I want to be mindful of those residents at Freedom House, and all over the country, who\u00a0are experiencing their first American holidays.<\/p>\n

Happy December!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the spirit of the holidays, I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about American traditions. Having been absent from these traditions the last two years, I\u2019m finding myself more alert to all things culturally unique about this time of year.\u00a0 Things like Christmas tree lightings, Black Friday sales, eggnog\/pumpkin spice everything are making me think more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/252"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}