A Love Note to CAB, and a Warm Welcome to Everyone That's Found It
My college experience has been messy. There’s really no other way to describe it. I came to this university with the broad notion of doing something international, but without the know-how to make a real decision about my future. I just knew that I wanted to do something positive for the world. I discovered myself here. I found great pain here. I came into consciousness here. I healed here. I continue to need this place.
The organizations I have been involved with while attending UCSB have demarcated my experiences here. As I have grown increasingly politicized on issue areas that affect me, I have found myself reaching out to different organizations, seeking a connection with a group of individuals similar to myself. I haven’t been successful, until this year.
My personal growth happened gradually, over a couple of years of self-help and destruction. It didn’t happen suddenly, and it wasn’t magical. After two years of mental health therapy, I could feel myself gestating. Throughout this time, I had been withdrawn to myself, and to the people that I love and care for. It was necessary, for what I was healing from. But then, two years later, I was able to take time away from healing myself, and focus on healing my community.
I have come to love and know Isla Vista over the last four years. I have seen the issues that it faces, and I have seen the beauty that it produces. I love the little pockets of parks, the families that come to reside here, and the odd-ball mix of stakeholders that truly love this place. I knew that I wanted to be a part of the processes of change, even if I was to be just a small drop in the bucket.
CAB seemed like the best place to begin. Every week, I would get e-mails from them, jam-packed with opportunities to envelop myself in IV. They were full of versatile programs with adorable nicknames, along with descriptions of other great events occurring on campus. At first, I was overwhelmed; after neglecting my community service responsibilities, I didn’t want to begin volunteering and come off as a seasonal activist or volunteer. I wanted to be permanent, in the community. For Isla Vista.
Despite my hesitations, I decided to jump right in. The first event of CAB’s that I had attended in years was a weekly street cleaning. Even though I did not know anyone involved, I felt welcomed and humbled by the large group of people who chose to dedicate their Friday afternoon to cleaning the streets of IV. I remember, as we walked out of the IV Rec & Parks office with our grabbers and buckets, how proud I felt to be a part of this group. I saw my boyfriend at the bus stop near the Isla Vista Food Co-op and exclaimed, ‘I’m helping!’ After two years of being shut off, focusing on my own self-healing, it felt great to be using my newfound resources to give back.
I did not originally plan on becoming involved in leadership with CAB. I was already dividing my responsibilities between many different organizations, and was happy to be quietly volunteering at events without really getting to know any of the other CABbies (and embarrassing myself at the occasional meeting by spilling hot water everywhere or sucking at small talk). When I received a weekly CARE mail, however, I noticed there was a position vacancy in the CAB Foundation, a grant awarding organization affiliated with CAB in Associated Students. I decided to apply.
After spending a couple of weeks with the CAB Foundation (which is a fascinating, extremely rewarding organization that will get its own post), I was informed that there was a liaison position open between CAB and CAB Foundation: a position as a community outreach coordinator. Over this time, I had been interested in becoming more involved with CAB, but wasn’t sure if I was ready to take on the responsibilities of a coordinator. What if I wasn’t able to effectively represent the community? What if I failed at organizing large events like CARE Expo? I knew that if I were to commit to this position, I would have to do it whole-heartedly. After some deliberation, I decided to do so, and was very excited when I learned that I had been chosen for the position.
From that moment on, I have been privileged enough to be a part of the magic of CAB, and my only wish is that I had joined sooner.
Everything you need to know about CAB can be found at a weekly leader board meeting. In these meetings, consisting of about 20-25 people, there are not only the snacks and fun ice breakers that CAB is so well known for: there is true happiness, and a desire to bring that happiness into the community.
Community and campus organizations flock to CAB with their funding requests, presuming that CAB is supportive of any attempt to bring the community together in a positive way. They are right for believing this. The leaders of CAB want to implement their programs along with everyone else’s, and debates over how to approve funding requests often have more to do with logistics than on the specific missions of each group.
Take one moment to speak up at a CAB leader meeting and you will see the inclusivity and mutual respect that can be found there. While you’re giving your input, your fellow board members will not only listen, but they will try wholeheartedly to understand your perspective, and find some way to incorporate it into theirs. CAB is not a place where political bickering or power politics play into the decision-making processes. Everyone’s ideas are respected, and everyone is valued.
No organization I have been a part of has been as accepting and open to new ways of thinking. If you propose an idea to the CAB board, you will not be met with skepticism, but with love and encouragement. The organizers of this BCC have created an environment where individuals not only support each other’s project ideas, but help them become realities. I can’t count the amount of times someone in CAB has come up with a great idea, only to have it seen through with the combined resources and efforts of everyone on board.
And talk about programing! Every week, CAB hosts 20+ events on their own, and funds and sponsors even more than that. If I even do as much as blink, someone has come up with a new program that will soon enough become integral to the process. In CAB, programs don’t only begin; they last.
More than any other group I’ve seen or been involved with, CAB understands what it means to be a part of a community, and what it means to give as much as you take. After a CAB event or social, there is never a concern over who will clean up, or who will close up the spaces we have used. Everyone is involved in the entire process, and it’s not strenuous or forced at all. Everyone understands the individual role they play in the collective organizing we are doing.
I feel so lucky to have found home with CAB. In previous groups, I have often felt as if my ideas and input were not appreciated or understood. CAB not only has the resources to implement your ideas, but the passion and follow-through to see them through when the resources are gone. As I have nurtured myself over the last four years, CAB has nurtured me, too: my personal growth, my current life choices, and the trajectory of my future are all owed to CAB, and the sense of communal responsibility that it fosters.
I have often found myself wondering how CAB has grown to be such a positive and relentless communal group. For all purposes, it is just like any other organization: similar office spaces, same students, same by-laws, same mission statement. But there are, and always will be, things that stand out: a little tray of cookies left in the office for anyone to take; the simple crafts projects we do for each other around the holidays; the giant paper tree that encompasses a column in the main office; the helpful and supportive group texts; the diverse and creative ice breakers; and, most importantly, the work that CAB does for the community: relentlessly, tirelessly, and without asking for any recognition.
For those of you that are just now finding CAB: congratulations. My only regret at UCSB, despite everything that I have been through, is not joining CAB sooner. I encourage you to take every opportunity with CAB with open arms, and be assured that you will be received with the same openness.
For those of you who do not yet know CAB, but might in the future: CAB is still a resource and safe place for you. When the tension of campus life becomes too much to handle, you can seek refuge in the CAB office. You will be greeted with happiness, good conversation, TOO much free food, and a plethora of opportunities to empower yourself through communal giving.
This is my love letter to CAB, and everyone who I have met through it: you reflect the person I want to be, and you are shaping the person I will become. Seeing your smiling faces at every volunteer event, at every office meeting, and at every social, has bred in me a deep optimism, the likes of which I have not felt since I first became depressed at age 16. Thank you for giving me the tools I need to build myself up, and for teaching me what it means to be an active member of my community.
Just like I do, the community recognizes CAB, and loves it for what it is: a culture of positivity in a student government that can be hostile, divisive, and stagnated. No matter what happens in Associated Students, CAB remains as a beacon of bright light that serves the community, in any way it can.
<3 Cabbie 4 Life, for ever and ever. <3