NY Perspective

My name is Devaughn Barden I’m twenty-three and one of four students chosen from the New York Area. When the opportunity arose to get out of NY and see how life is in another place I jumped on it. Life in the big city is a lot of different things but slow is not one of them. Initially I didn’t know what to expect once I set foot in Pine Ridge. Honestly I still don’t know what to expect and I think that’s a very good thing. I don’t know how to describe it to someone whose reading this but the people here are different and I don’t mean they’re different because of how they live or where they live. The easiest way for me to explain it is to use an example, back home if I were to walk up to a complete stranger and extend my hand they would probably look at me as if I’m crazy. In Pine Ridge it’s the exact opposite if I were to walk up to someone and extend my hand not only would they shake it but would end up having a conversation.

I don’t have too much in common with the younger participants in the program anymore. But I think it’s pretty cool to see how they deal with being in a new environment. I’ve learned a few things from them and have been forced to remember a few things about myself. The experience for me so far has been incredibly hard but not because of what I’ve been asked to do, it’s been a tougher road for me because I don’t have much of a background in photography and coming in and trying to learn how to operate camera’s I’ve never seen before let alone used seems and continues to seem impossible but like that famous commercial says “Impossible is nothing”

I’m not sure how this will all end but I know I can’t wait to see how it all plays out. Being in such a new situation and having so many variables is both exciting and scary at the same time. When I wake up in the morning I feel like I’m facing known unknowns. Every night before I go to sleep I like to ask the staff what’s going to happen tomorrow and I’ll go and I’ll sleep on it, I’ll know what to expect but I don’t know the how’s and when’s and to me that’s the scariest part of this whole experience.