Rose Jacobs Gibson

Summary: On Thursday night I went to see Rose Jacobs Gibson a Social Justice activist. She strives to make San Mateo County the best it could possibly be and wants to make it much safer and healthier place to be. She was mayor twice and served as a member of council many times. She began by telling us that she was born in San Francisco and later moved to East Palo Alto. She said that she wanted to make a difference for elders, youth and community members. In her first year serving in the council, the crime rate dropped 88%. The San Mateo County board accepted 2 out of the 5 gun propositions she suggested. Gibson is the president and CEO of Hagar Services Coalition. Also, a new project called ILEAD which stands for the Initiative for Leadership Engagement And Development to better prepare young people for the future. She ended her speech with a quote from Pope Francis which was to "be hopeful no matter what and never give up".

Commentary: Overall, I thought Rose Jacobs Gibson had a nice speech. She read off of a script which I wish/thought she would not have. It almost seemed like she was not prepared. However, she was very informative and gave a lot of facts. Her speech was rather long so it was hard for me to be interested the whole time. I admire what she has done and I think it is amazing that she has a vision of what she wants San Mateo County and even the world to be like. I also liked how she ended almost every paragraph with "social justice matters" so that really stuck with the audience.

Voice of Witness 10/27

Summary: At first, I began to look at the main page and see what was there. There were several tabs for me to choose about Books, Education, News, Getting Involved and to Donate. I looked at the books tabbed which is also what eventually leads to the links you provided. I began to find a lot more things about what we will soon be learning. I learned that there are a series of the book we are reading. I next clicked on the Columbia link and there were videos along with images which documents how peoples lives in Columbia were impacted by violence. Lastly, I looked at the last link and that was an interview with 2 people and talked about what they were doing with their projects and how their books were. The last link also discussed people after being abused and how they aren't treated like people anymore.

Commentary:
Overall, I enjoyed the website. It had many links and information about what we are going to be reading. However, with that being said, it was almost too much information and I was overwhelmed with where to go and what to click on. Having the links provided made that easier for me but it was still a challenge to pick and choose with so many options. I am very excited to start reading this book.