What a wild ride 2020 was. I found a lot of things to keep me occupied amidst the chaos of the year and will continue to pursue them this year.
I have been working with the Newark Think Tank on Poverty to launch the #LetsTalkAoutStigma campaign. #LTAS is a social media effort to publicly discuss the harms of stigma on folks facing circumstances like addiction, mental illness, and poverty. These efforts include weekly discussions with community members, infographics, and educational outreach. The project is an extension of the Digital Recovery Cafe events that I got involved with in September of last year. Addiction and poverty are serious issues faced by too many Americans. On top of the challenges of these conditions, folks face additional shame and marginalization through internalized, social, and structural stigma. Through education and community outreach, we hope to limit the stigmatization of these conditions and thus acknowledge the humanity of the people in our community that face them. Feel free to check out the Newark Think Tank on Poverty FaceBook page and share the awesome work we are doing to address these issues!
In addition to the #LetsTalkAboutStigmaProject, I am continuing to work on the Augmented Reality by Terra Gallery app. In 2020, we launched multiple AR experiences including an augmented bee and butterfly, as well as augmented Halloween and Holiday Scavenger hunts! Our next project is focused on bringing to life three fairy characters that symbolize a simplified version of basic human needs: community, food, and shelter.
To improve my understanding of how the app functions on the back end, I’m taking an online course by Universe called “Introduction to Unity in 3D/VR.” The course is awesome and takes place live in AltSpace VR. My first project was to create a driving game, and it went pretty well! Feel free to check it out here.