FEATURE
Building Bridges:
An Interpreter’s Journey in Little Rock, Arkansas
This photo was taken at the last stop on our tour in the Petit Jean State Park. I have always made it a habit to reflect from the highest point on my hikes as a way of deep reflection. Photo by Aaron Cobas.
How can equality be achieved? What does the future look like? How can we move forward? These were the answers I was looking for during NAI’s National Conference that I attended as a scholarship recipient in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the Fall of 2023.
On the final day of our conference, I had the privilege of venturing to Petit Jean State Park. I have always had a love of the outdoors and I was excited to see what Arkansas had to offer. As much as I enjoyed the amazing lessons from the seminars, sometimes the best lessons, I have found, come from the personal journeys we take into new and unfamiliar places.
As I stepped foot onto the highest point of the park overlooking the river that curved through the valley I reflected on my time in Little Rock: the skills that I have learned, the moments that will stay with me, and the final lessons that I have gained from this conference.
In short, I offer three key principles that I learned at this National Conference: joy, empathy, and hope. I recognize that everyone’s journey is different from my own. I hope that these three principles can help the next generation of interpreters on their journey.
This was one of the signs that I took a picture of during our final tour of the state park on the last day of the conference. A nice hike to wrap up an amazing experience. Photo by Aaron Cobas.
Joy
When I think about joy, we often interchange it with passion, such as the passion for our work of interpretation. We have our sites and each day we interact with many guests from different parts of the country, perhaps even the world.
For years, people of color, those in the LGBTQ+ community, and Indigenous nations have been met with discriminatory practices using laws and policies established in the upper echelons of power. On field trips to Lake Dardanelle State Park and Cadron Settlement Park, for example, I learned how these beautiful environments, stewarded for countless generations by Indigenous nations including the Osage and Cherokee, also witnessed the inhumanity and despair of, respectively, the Trail of Tears and Confederate soldier camps.
Yet, at the NAI conference, I met such unique individuals from different states and had different experiences in the field of natural, historical, and cultural interpretation. I witnessed lessons on the importance of learning about the stories of historically marginalized communities, and of working together toward a more inclusive and joyful world.
One such seminar at the National Conference that showed me how much the world has changed, for the better, involved the Cleveland Metroparks. Representatives from Cleveland Metroparks showed us their case study of making sure that their outdoor spaces reached out to the LGBTQ+ community of Cleveland through Pride Hikes and Campfires involving their six principles of diversity: mission-based, inclusive, safe, social, engaging, and pride.
During this seminar, interpreter Kelsey Rogers discussed the need for more inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in urban parks and trails. Using their passion for the outdoors and the need for advocacy, Cleveland Metroparks dedicated themselves to more representation in the outdoors. I believe this strategy could be used for other cities and states that want to show their compassion for those in the LGBTQ+ community.
From Cleveland Metroparks to many other seminars I attended, these interpreters all had one thing in common: their amazing passion and joy for their work was the basis of their professionalism. As an interpreter, when you have passion for the subject matter you demonstrate your willingness to make new material that helps your audience to learn. I say this from a personal perspective.
I have lived by a personal goal to inspire the same love and passion I have for the outside world in the next generation of nature enthusiasts. In my current position, I work next to the San Gabriel Mountains in California. The city where I work is famous for its bear encounters with residents… but visitors aren’t as accustomed to seeing bears on the hiking trails. Because of this, I make it a mission to not only help people understand that we must love these creatures but also to respect them as we would our own neighbors and community members.
When I teach people about the outdoors, I often meet individuals who have never been outdoors before. I use this encounter to joyfully share with these visitors the amazing benefits of being outdoors. For example, being outdoors often makes you more mindful of the larger world you live in and, as a result, makes you less stressed and anxious from the daily grind of our lives.
It is that same joy that brought me and everyone from NAI to Little Rock. And it is that same joy that will help to build bridges between us and the community we dedicate ourselves to teaching.
A nice little chocolate tarantula my tour and I found at Petit Jean State Park. Photo by Aaron Cobas.
In the day-to-day activities of our lives, we tend to forget the little things in life, like the rejuvenating feeling of playing in a pile of leaves like a kid again. An important lesson to enjoy the precious moments in life. Photo by Aaron Cobas.
During a break from my seminars, I decided to venture out and take a tour of the Old State House, the original state capitol building of Arkansas and the oldest standing state capitol building west of the Mississippi River, now open as a museum. Photo by Aaron Cobas.
Empathy
I’ve always tried to stay humble and remind myself, as Isaac Newton wrote in 1675 (and others have described earlier still), that if I got the chance to see the stars it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.
The first time I heard empathy being used, and I mean truly, was during my community college years. As someone new to the world of higher academia, I knew that I wanted a higher purpose for my life. A way to make a mark on society; not in a way to receive praise or a form of accolades. So, when I learned about environmentalism and climate justice in my classes, I learned the full measure of empathy. To help others that are not as fortunate or blessed as I am. To live by the Golden Rule. To treat those as I wish to be treated. In that moment, a surge of rejuvenated energy went through me and it became the spark that guided me through my adult life.
However, as I got older, I realized the level of obstacles that can prevent people from enjoying the natural, historical, and cultural beauties of the world. Because of the unique opportunities that I was given in my life, including the honor of attending this conference, I want to dedicate my career to being more empathetic about the career decisions that I make. To help build those bridges across communities and allow others the opportunity that I was given in this life. One example I can do to help me make this a possibility is to seek out policy ideas and solutions that are more inclusive for people who have historically been excluded from fully enjoying the great outdoors.
The NAI National Conference taught me that empathy comes from dedication, practice, and a willingness to learn. Only by being empathetic can we as interpreters succeed in building those bridges between ourselves, the community we serve, and the next generation of interpreters.
For example, speakers from the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation led a seminar sharing how they serve young teens who had never ventured into the wilderness by teaching them new skills in trail maintenance and hiking. Further, these skills become tangible life lessons that these teens can take with them into their new professional careers later in life. I was struck by the level of dedication and passion that these interpreters, and others, have to ensure their outdoor spaces and programming are diverse, inclusive, and equitable.
Empathy allows us as humans to step into another person’s circumstance and/or situation in life and see their point of view from a different lens. By doing this, we not only make it easier to find solutions that help everyone but also create a more equitable world with one small act at a time. I also developed this skill in my graduate studies. During my master’s program, I coordinated with a public information officer (PIO) for a project involving web accessibility on government services in the City of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. This experience, along with NAI, taught me that the best life lessons are not only those that help people but also those that open doors for others to achieve greatness.
Hope
It has been four years since the world went into lockdown from a once-in-a-century pandemic. It has been roughly three years since armed insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol, attacking the sacred principles of our democracy. It has been two years since Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops into Ukraine. Last year was the beginning of the still ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza.
Despite our dedication to the field of interpretation, no one can predict what the future may hold. While it's our job as interpreters to give our guests insight into the world of natural, cultural, and historical interpretation we cannot use a crystal ball and predict human behavior to absolute perfection. We can teach about the Civil Rights Era and the Little Rock Nine and demonstrate the courage those kids showed in a country divided along racial lines, but there’s no telling if those same lessons will transition from one section of the country to the next.
Regardless, if there is one skill that I have learned from my time in Little Rock, it is the skill to be hopeful. Hope inspired a generation of women to protest in the streets for the right to vote in the U.S. Hope inspired the Little Rock Nine, including National Conference keynote speaker Minnijean Brown-Trickey, to go to school for an equal education in a racially segregated country.
My hope from this journey, and those who read this article, is that they find one thing to cling to that gives them that same hope. Each day, I help someone in my park with questions and answers. At the same time, I also help give lessons for our wilderness safety.
Last year, I had the privilege of giving a lesson on hiking safety to a group of young Girl Scout troops in Monrovia. I taught about what to do on the trail, how to react in an emergency, and other important tips to have a memorable hike in the forests. I hope that they have a great experience from my interaction and the journey they take on their hiking and/or camping adventures.
I saw this same hope in those interpreters in Arkansas. Each interpreter from different sites came together at the NAI National Conference to learn new skills, tools, and techniques. They are hopeful that they will make their cultural sites at least a little better for any visitor they come across during their journey.
My final photo of the 2023 NAI National Conference: me next to the conference sign. This experience was remarkable! Photo by Aaron Cobas.
My journey is far from over, and I do not doubt that there will be more obstacles to overcome. But still, I remain hopeful. If the theme of our conference was to “build bridges,” then I say: joy, empathy, and hope might be part of the interpretive foundation that withstands the test of time.
