A Year Since...

It’s been one full year since I got to share this listening space with the city of Knoxville (literally right before the world shut down). In the days since, the need to listen and learn and love our neighbors hasn’t gone away (surprise).

“How Did We Get Here?” was a collective storytelling endeavor to bring attention to the varied experiences of immigrants, refugees, and international people living in the U.S. If you haven’t had a chance to hear some of the stories, they are all on my website here. (Each story is about three minutes long. Please go and have a listen!)

I share this, not to rest on old laurels, but to invite you (yep, you!) to come and learn with me. Over the past year, I have continued searching for and subscribing to additional resources that elevate immigrant, refugee, and international voices in American society and around the world—all with the driving hope to become a better ally and friend to those who experience the joys and triumphs and struggles and losses of making a life in a new country. Getting out of my own head and seeing from someone else’s perspective allows me to love and understand others more deeply and motivates me to join with them in pursuit of liberation.

Me & my sweet cuz, who drove down to see the show

Me and my friend, Marcia, who shared her story

Of course, relationships are by far the most enriching settings in which to learn a new perspective (hello, you gain a friend and get to be a friend!), but only if we are willing to listen.

In relationships, there are danger zones… if you’re not clear on what (true) friendship looks like, you might run the risk of treating a person like a textbook on the [insert culture] experience; only taking interest in them when you have a race question (Lord, help); or viewing them as a spokesperson for their entire race. In order to gain a more comprehensive view of the varied experiences within a community without exhausting the community, I highly suggest evaluating your sources of news, literature, music, etc. and diversifying them.

In this process of learning, I have found writers and organizations that are doing amazing work to embolden and equip people to share their stories. I have learned that I don’t necessarily have to align with 100% of a platform to learn something about the issues that immigrants face in the U.S. (Truly, if we have to agree on every single thing that someone else says, we will miss out on a lot).

So on this one year anniversary of “How Did We Get Here?”, I want to share a few resources that uplift immigrant, refugee, and international voices with you. Some of these resources focus on the effects of colonization in African or Central American countries, others shine a light on the immigrant experience in the United States. This is not a comprehensive list by any stretch of the imagination… just a few of my favorites. Also, I am still learning and constantly discovering, so if you have additional resources to share, please do!

Online Resources

The New York Times - “What Does Independence Look Like? Images From the Year of Africa”

United We Dream - Undocumented Under COVID

The Frontline

UndocuBlack

Books

Americanah - by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Hermanas - by Natalia Kohn Rivera, Noemi Vega Quiñones, and Kristy Garza Robinson

The Book of Unknown Americans - by Cristina Henríquez

Local

AKIN - Allies of Knoxville’s Immigrant Neighbors

Bridge Refugee Services

UTK Students for Migrant Justice

Bridges International

Until Black and Brown people are no longer criminalized for their skin color 🖤

Lily | Headshots

I love getting to do my thing while helping my friends do their thing! Lily is a counselor educator who just finished defending her PhD proposal (whoop whoop!). On top of being super talented and brilliant, she is just a good human, and I’m grateful to call her friend! Go read all about what she does on her site, and while you’re there, think about the school counselors you know and send them her way!

Sarah + Coleman | Engagement

The amount of laughing and FUN had on this shoot was ridiculous! Love watching these two together.

Nathan + Laura | Engagement

Dancing in the fields + dancing in the streets = pure gold.

"How Did We Get Here?" Stories

Story is a powerful thing—moving those who hear to laughter, tears, and deeper thought. I am so honored that each individual who shared in this project was willing to invite me and others into their story. It’s really easy to use stories for entertainment or for a quick feel-good moment... but let us be moved into action. To truly love, you cannot hoard privilege. We can all find ways to share what we have with those who have not. We can each find ways to love our neighbors every day by hearing them out before jumping to judge and assume.

See Gallery Story Transcripts here

Benito

Deeksha

Eddy

Edy

Marcia

Loren | Senior

She knows how to bring her own sunshine wherever she goes.

Kari + Chris | Engagement

Alas, an ode to summer in the middle of winter! These two were truly themselves together, and that is my favorite type of client. No pretense, no requests to change anything about them. They were just… them. That’s where the beauty lies, friends.

Thanks for trusting me with your engagement photos, Kari and Chris!

Marcia + Jack | Engagement

"Completely and perfectly and incandescently happy," they are. It is truly beautiful to watch Jack and Marcia's love for one another unfold. Through thick and thin, they are together. Words, words, words... just look at these pics for proof. 

Marcia is a grad student studying plant and animal sciences, and Jack is a pilot. I love that we got to bring a little bit of both worlds together here! 

Antonio (Spectrum 03) | Portraits

Never mind that these portraits were taken in December. (I said I was behind, right?) This is a judgment-free zone.

Due to recent events in our world, I've been freshly reminded that a few achieved milestones in the fight for equality do not equal constant progress. Sometimes we take a few steps back. We are humans. We will mess up. There is grace for that! Still, my frustrations with the current state of the world and how it is possible to still be calling people "apes" and penalizing people for standing up (aka kneeling) to a prejudiced system compel me to action. If you’re looking for a mantra, here’s a good one: I am not the standard. There are other ways of doing life, and they are just as valid and significant as my way. 

Listen to those that are different from you and choose love. Learning to appreciate and respect another way of thinking is half the battle, friends. Take time to listen to the stories of others--whether at the grocery store, in your neighborhood, or on "the other side of town." This is Antonio's story: 

"I grew up in a [predominantly] Caucasian town. My best friend was biracial as well (black/white). It was crazy to grow up around people that had no exposure to culture, especially as a pre-teen and teenager. 

Raised by my white grandmother, I was always different in the household. I always embraced my culture but because I wasn’t raised around it, I didn’t know a lot of things about it. The town made it so hard for me to be cultured because they were afraid of it.

People are afraid of what they don’t know.

The people that I met when I moved to a more diverse town helped me to really embrace who I was. They have helped mold me into the man I am today. There have been pastors, father figures, mentors that I have been blessed enough to look up to! Because of them, I no longer feel out of place but exactly placed in this world! 

The program I am furthering my education in is school counseling. The reason I wanted to do this is because I want to make sure that the youth of our generation or the next don't grow up without anyone. I know that during my childhood as a youth, I didn’t have anyone to talk to or go to that would talk me through these things. I now believe that is my calling in life. My hope is to give back and to help youth to not go through the same mistakes I went through." 

Spring Recap, pt.1

This season is running away from me quickly, so here is a "latergram" post in honor of all the big things that have happened this spring.

First up, 2018 grads! Congrats to Ian and McKenzie for working hard to complete a major chapter of your lives!

Finishing college was one of the biggest accomplishments in my own life, and it really is a moment to capture. To be honest, I still wish I had taken senior photos. Needless to say, it's an honor to mark this life stage for friends. Happy adulting, McKenzie!

Coming up soon: celebrating friends with babies and businesses, engaged friends, and married friends. What a happy, crazy season!

Ashley (Spectrum 02) | Portraits

Being a minority has made me stronger. My wounds run deep and as of a year ago, starting to heal. I never talked about my racial issues or the attacks I’ve received with anyone really until I moved to Knoxville. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling was valid, or if I even had the words for it. All I knew was anger, confusion, and shame. I mean, my family being from Uganda, born in America, going to a predominantly white school, having mostly white friends... Not African enough, not black enough and obviously not white enough.

Now because of my social character, making friends wasn’t hard, but fitting in was. I mean FULLY fitting in. Lovey in crowded room, but never really FULLY expressing myself. I think I got “the race talk” in second grade. I found myself doing extra to make someone feel comfortable. However the more I buried my hurts and my wounds, the harder it became. I LOVED my friends, but I didn’t know how to tell my white friends how I felt; they don’t know the struggles. Not that I’d wish it upon anyone... now I see God loves my skin, and doesn’t need me to “be black” when it’s convenient or live under the labels that make people feel good. He will fight for ALL people.

The labels that have caused some type of disadvantage are: I am a first generation African American, a child of divorce, single, a woman who is now living in the south, so I’m decently low on the scale of what culture would call #winning. The way this country was set up, I’m not supposed to make it; but Christ beat death for me, therefore I win too. So I wear my disadvantages proudly, so people can see how big my God is and watch Him show up. No, I don't always wake up with this mood, but once I believe in this truth, there’s no stopping me.

McKenzie (Spectrum 01) | Portraits

I love seeing people in their most pure and honest form—apart from the filters of media characterizations and stereotypes. When I look, I see fearlessness in one's gaze, serenity in another's smile, years of stories bundled in a laugh... all this richness in an individual's experience is hard to discover if we don't first choose to really see them with unfiltered eyes. 

We live in a world where expectations for your race are pinned onto your diaper as an infant and drilled into your head as you grow. In these expectations are rules for what you can and can't do, how you can talk, how loud you should be, what music you should listen to... as a _____ (fill in the blank with your race) man or woman. But people's stories go beyond these parameters. 

I've been thinking about the experience of being a minority in America and all the different stories that exist within that experience. We stand out in a crowd, which ironically can be an incredibly invisible feeling. Are the people I am encountering really seeing me? Or, do they see the black girl I'm "supposed" to be? 

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation -- either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.” MLK Jr.

Now, thanks to Martin Luther King, Jr. and men and women like him who fought and prayed hard for their dreams, my sufferings are minuscule compared to the experiences of the 1950s and 60s. But we all know there’s still work to be done. 

I asked some friends, with whom I share the minority experience, Tell me what shaped you. What has your experience been like? No expectations, just questions. 

This is my friend, McKenzie, and this is a little snippet of who she is: 

Defining parts of my childhood include "becoming a Christian for sure. . .  just being around people who loved God really helped me understood who I was as a Christian. 

A really close friend I had who God allowed to grow up with me through my teenage years [really impacted me]. We shared everything together, and that was really a blessing because I really got to know myself because of her. I learned that thinking deeply and having really analytical thoughts wasn't weird. I had a friend to share my thoughts with!

My parents and siblings have ALWAYS been there to support me. I just think I learned what love is and how to love from my immediate family."

Thank you for taking part in the Spectrum portrait series, McKenzie.

More stories to come.

Murphy Family

So I might be a little behind. Just starting to catch up on life since New Year's, and it is March y'all. Better late than never, right?  

So much personality, and I love it. Thanks for making my job so fun, Murphy family! 

Sister Seniors

Confession: I absolutely love people watching. I could be entirely entertained by it--no cable, no Netflix. Photography is basically a license to people watch, and maybe that's why I love it so much!

Watching and capturing these twin sisters' personalities was super fun. Thanks, Kimberly and Stephanie, for being troopers and marching all over downtown Knoxville with me! 

The Ahrens Family

It's so fun to see and record a family as they change and grow. These kids are slightly taller than they were the last time I photographed them. :) Thanks for the honor, Ahrens family! 

Julia | Senior

"My little baby is all grown up and saving China." - Mushu

I've had the honor of capturing each of my siblings' high school senior selves. Now the baby of the family is striking out on her own path. Where do they say time goes?

Congratulations, Jules!

This is technically my mom's senior year too, and I'd be remiss if I didn't congratulate her as well. This is a crappy iPhone photo, but I don't care. She has done it all for us, and is the best teacher that four kids could have asked for. Happy senior year, Mom!