Equity and Inclusion in a Digitally Networked Affinity Group

This excerpt from my case study of the Bay Area Nature Journalling Club describes how the group practices equity and inclusion. My interview with Yvea Moore is featured here.

Connecting learning is a communal, interactive, dialogic, and process-oriented style of learning (Rutten, 2018) that takes place in digitally networked spaces. This format offers possibilities for equity and inclusion through opportunities for audience members to develop a sense of belonging and equality. Yvea remembers in July 2020, the idea came up of starting a Zoom group where members of the community could “combat (pandemic-related )social isolation and continue to be interactive with each other.” Pencil miles refer to the idea that getting in the habit of drawing regularly improves one’s skills and doing it with a group is even more helpful. Pencil Miles and Chill is described as “a super low-key, supportive drawing and chatting hang out” where a person may choose to share their nature journaling work if they wish, and all agree to offer support in a respectful way.” In Yvea’s words, the goal is “to create a sense of community, company, and building friendships.” As a person of color, Yvea is particularly sensitive to protecting everyone’s right to be heard. She says she regularly scans the gallery in order not to leave someone out and has noticed that people of color sometimes get talked over. Yvea’s one rule for the group is to be kind and remember “we all come from different backgrounds either in our art or life experiences.”

Reflecting on her own sense of belonging in the world of nature journaling, Yvea credits being exposed at a young age to “positive stories about how you belong in nature.” She mentions that as a person of Cherokee, Africa,n and White heritage, she believes that it is important to see naturalists from diverse backgrounds to give more people a sense of belonging and “add more voices to the choir.” In describing her first class with Jack, Yvea noted that a simple wave made her feel recognized and credited him for understanding that a small act of kindness can be a really big thing to someone else.” Sh,e in turn, facilitates each Pencil Miles and Chill session with a deep sense of caring. “May we all look for opportunities to be kind to each other and to find ways that we can support each other ?” Despite the fact that participation in the sessions is informal as people drop in from week to week, I observed a sense of cohesion on the part the regular participants, reflected through sharing personal information and referring to past conversations. In one of the last Ask Jack sessions I observed, a teenage participant spoke up to say it was his one year anniversary with the group and described being quite shy and nervous about participating at first but that the group “has given me confidence…like a second family”