What Water Means To Me: Life

Bio:

My name is Bizzy Quinn and I am from San Francisco, California. I took the picture above one of the first times I visited Yosemite National Park and since then it has been one of my favorite pictures of water. I am currently a sophomore at Indiana University studying media advertising. Although this class did not directly relate to my major, it has taught me so much about issues with water security and how it disproportionally affects African American communities. Learning more about this crisis has opened my eyes to how many changes need to be made to both policy and infrastructure and also how lucky I am to have the resources I do. 

Project Summary: 

“How to Win the Water Wars?: Offense vs Defense,” is about African American communities suffering from old pipelines and water sources throughout the United States and how communities, states, and the country can come together to work as one. My partner and I looked at cases in the United States of families and communities still suffering from water injustices to this day. We attend a college in Bloomington, Indiana so we wanted to see how close-to-home water disparities were occurring around us, hence our focus on the United States. This lens was intended to show how even if one’s own community has high water security, communities nearby, mostly prominently African American communities, are suffering from low, hazardous levels of water insecurity every single day. Although our lens is just focused on the Midwest, water wars where communities are fighting against the intended officials, government, and world to help them occur everywhere in the United States. Our presentation included various videos, articles, and personal experiences from across the country and how one major issue can cause numerous unique issues in different places. Facts were gathered through the Internet, images, and articles to highlight how having sides to a water war will not work. With that being said, our presentation demonstrated how local efforts have shown progress and with growth and funding can help impact communities at large. When institutions, government officials, citizens, and elected leaders start to listen to locally impacted communities, both sides can work together to cause change toward safer water. This project hopes to share the issue, stories related, and progress towards ending the war.

Personal Relationship to Water: 

My personal relationship with water has always been very positive and fortunate. I have always loved the water and grew up surfing at the beach, swimming in Lake Tahoe, or playing Marco polo in the pool. I am frequently using water in my everyday life for things like showing, drinking, and cooking. After taking this class, I can see how lucky I am to have this relationship with water as many other people do not have the same privileges or resources. I also now know and better understand how important it is to advocate and try to help those in water insecurity.

Response to Pumzi:

After viewing Pumzi initially and then again I have seen a new view of its message. The first time I viewed it I saw it as a message to all of us about how important it is to look after our planet to ensure our society does not result in extreme and grueling measures to obtain unsustainable amounts of water. Viewing it a second time allowed me to pay closer attention to detail and I realized that the water crisis was a result of people in power in the community. This made me realize that water issues are a result of the mishandling of resources.