Steven Barrera

CIS 110
9/25/14
Culture coffee hour (alternate)

Shades of Pride
The Shades of Pride is an organization on campus under the LGBTQ community (lesbian, Gay, Bi,
Transgender, Queer). Meeting 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month at 5pm this organization is basis is to
create a safe place for kids of all walks of life. Attracting mostly students of nontraditional sexual
orientations, the idea is that they are free to live their lives without judgment or adversity. Going into
this organization I stereotyped this experience as a place where kids that are gay or bi to hang and seek
camaraderie, little did I know that Shades of pride is more than just a place of non-traditional sexual
orientated kids. Its filled with students of all walks of life. Atheists, Mexican americans, gays, trans
genders, liberals, and republicans. Its a Place for literally anyone that is willing to walk into the door.
Therefore the organization intends on attracting anyone and everyone that is willing to come, a very
kumbya kinda approach they have, but they believe in the idea that we are all human and equal.
When I first attended the meeting I will admit I wasnt sure how I was going to handle being surrounded
by a populace that is so polar opposite of what I am used to and raised around. Being raised in a
conservative and Christian dominated house I was always raised to understand that it is wrong to be
homosexual or of a different religion. Going into the meeting I was very skeptical of how I was going to
be treated but I was quickly surprised to their acceptance of me and what I represented. Accepting
everyone with open arms being kinda a motto of theirs I quickly understood that this is a value that
they hold true, therefore I was greeted with courtesy and respect when I attended one their meetings.
After the meeting I began to collect my thoughts about how I originally felt about people or different

sexual orientations than me and of different cultures as well, and I came to the conclusion that we are
all humans. We all have blood running through our veins, we all have a brain, we all have hometown, a
name, and a history. Nothing about any of us makes us better than one another, I am just as likely to die
right now as you are. So what makes me better than them or you? We are all made of dirt just cut from
a different cloth.
Young Life College
Young Life College is an organization that accepts all denominations of Christianity under the
foundation of spiritual growth and development. Centralizing their studies and central message around
the teachings of Jesus Christ, they encourage small group atmospheres and companionship to develop
relationships with other Christians. Meeting every Wednesday at 6 pm going to this meeting was pretty
much a normal thing for me. I was raised in a Christian household so going to a youth group kind of
atmosphere is something I have been used to. The organization exist on the foundation to lead more
kids to follow the walk of Jesus and accept his eternal gift of everlasting life, through that young life
strives not only Christians of all kinds but also people that are curious of the life of Jesus and the
teachings of Christianity. Since this is a venue that I have been raised around all my life I was very
welcomed and felt very comfortable, which is actually ironic due to the increase of judgment within the
modern day church. The juxtaposing factor is the age of the people that go to each place, within young
life it attracts a lot of youth which makes up most of the campus thus inferring that college students
have a more liberalistic view on life, thus almost eliminating a sense of judgment and adversity. Through
obvious reasons I chose young life because its something that I am used to and it was something that
reminded me of home. By home I mean the church cause the church is a group of believers not a
building and at young life they have a lot of believers communing together in the glory of Jesus Christ.