Northfield to Selma 2019

Our lunch stop was at a restaurant center where there was Chick fil a, Panera, Chipotle, and Popeyes. After 5 days I have missed fresh foods which is why I decided to have lunch at Panera. It felt so good not eating at a fast food restaurant because I was starting to feel unhealthy. We’ve been eating so much it’s crazy. There is nothing to complain about though because it has all been very good food!

by Luis Alvarez

by Armira Nance

Today was the fourth leg of the trip, during which we remained in Washington, D.C. Our day consisted of a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture and some free time before having dinner at the original Ben’s Chili Bowl restaurant. During my time at the museum, I learned more about the plight of slaves in the 19th century and the struggles they faced even after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

by Jelilat Odubayo

Currently in Richmond, Virginia. The past two days have been a storm of emotion, beauty, and rage.I have been enraged for the past two days. In part, it is the rage I brought on this trip with me. The rage that often accumulates in young black girls who are silenced that later powers and plagues us in adulthood. This rage I keep renegotiating in hopes of avoiding having to dismantle all that I thought of myself and this world to be. At the moment, it looks as though destruction is necessary to build something else.

by Guapo Banuelos

If the entirety of human action has resided on the physical piece of orbiting rock we know as Earth, then “history” lives in the material objects that age and die with us on our journey, forming but one identity of that object. Even though we translate history into the mind’s realm once it is spoken of, we first encounter the full emotional weight of said object before translating those sentiments into language. Not always self-evident, one must listen closely to hear what is whispering forth from our preserved monuments. Tinged with remnants of human subjectivity, these objects comment both upon the past and upon our present selves, simultaneously.

by Rei Fujii

We started in Indianapolis, IN this morning at 7:50 and arrived in Uniontown, PA at 19:45. Around noon, we made our first stop of the trip at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (NURFC) in Cincinnati, OH. I quite like traveling the Midwest by bus. In between the time that I’m sleeping, talking to neighbors etc. on the bus, I love to occasionally look out the window and observe the horizon at the far edge of the flat Midwestern landscape. My appreciation for the horizon is perhaps related to the fact that I’m currently spending my only year at Carleton as an exchange student from Japan; Mainland Japan is a volcanic island filled with so many mountainous regions that I never have the opportunity to look out and see the horizon at home. I’d love to see more of the Midwest before I go back.

by Jelilat Odubayyo

I spent most of yesterday evening packing and re-packing all that I would need for this journey. I started out with a small, carry-on bag and tried to stuff as much as I could in there. Then I laid out all the clothing and items I would be mixing and matching and using for the next ten days, in several different cities. I have seen people on Youtube use this method in packing. I did not want to underequip myself simply to meet some idealized form of minimalism and detachment from excess material goods, but rather to take with me what I needed and nothing more. Ultimately I decided to take a standard-size rolling bag since a carry-on would not be enough to space for my yoga mat for my morning stretching and strengthening routine.