Day 7: Connection

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We went to the Tate Museum (a contemporary art museum). The exhibits that stood out were: women empowerment in art/media, the contradiction between media connection and interconnectedness, and an interactive piece on immigration. The immigration piece had a room of silence. Before you entered, you received a number stamp on your hand. This number changes daily and represents the number of people who migrated from one country to another last year plus the number of migrant deaths recorded this year. This reflects the sheer scale of mass migration and the risks involved. After you received the stamp, you entered the room that had an organic compound in the air to induce tears and invokes what Bruguera (the artist) describes as “forced empathy.” This immediately invoked my response of STAY AWAY you hate crying. However, this now meant I had to experience it. I have decided everything that triggers that response is meant for me on this trip. It is time to lean into discomfort and experience all that startles and stirs. We received the stamp 10,145,733. Today the number is 10,145,987. This means in 13 days there have been 254 migrant deaths. I know very little about where my family came from to get to the United States and why those chose here. But I wonder if would I have been strong enough to leave everything I knew behind? I wonder how people received them when they arrived? How to do I chose to receive new people into my world? We met Shelby’s house mom from when she studied abroad. She was interesting to converse with and did her best to answer a week’s worth of accumulated questions. She gave us an older generation’s view on Brixit (largely influenced by immigration and trade) to compared to the younger gentlemen we had met and explained why people were disappointed in May’s lack of firmness negotiation. She also explained how British shipping used to work in London, health insurance and gave us a tip on a museum to visit. She like most people we met asked about our views President Trump and our thoughts on his policies within the United State and his recent Europe trip where he failed to make an appearance and was distracted by the weather while speaking at a WWI memorial. It was fun to learn about her life and the similarities all people have.

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