What happens when two University of Central Florida students with differing politics sit down for a conversation?
When 23-year-old Ethan Espenship thinks about his faith, he describes himself as a “21st-century Christian” - not a bible thumper. When 21-year-old Jenna Von Burg thinks about her faith, she has a “very strong interest in the occult.”
The two sat down for a One Small Step conversation.
“I have always been very curious about other people's perspectives and opinions,” Von Burg said. “'I just like to understand people and their reasons behind the choices they make in their belief systems.”
Both Von Burg and Espenship are in a writing and rhetoric course at UCF together.
“This is a really cool opportunity to get to know someone in my class, meet someone from a different perspective,” Espenship said. “And I do international relations, and so I love learning about other people's backgrounds, no matter where they're from.”
Meet Ethan Espenship
Ethan Espenship is from Jupiter, Florida, and is majoring in international relations at UCF.
His mother is Danish, and he grew up in a home where religion wasn’t emphasized. While attending Catholic school for two years, he started praying and found it helped him
Espenship said he leans more conservative on some things like law enforcement and is in support of the free market economy.
“And a concern that I've had recently is the job market,” Espenship said. “I'm getting to that age where … we have to start looking at a potential career. And, you know, this job market's a little nerve wracking.”
He also has liberal ideas from his Danish mother.
“I believe in socialized medicine,” Espenship said. “So that's definitely a personal, political thing to me is the healthcare system. It really needs to be fixed up.”
Meet Jenna Von Burg
Jenna Von Burg grew up in the Tampa area, and came to Orlando for school.
She’s been part of the punk and goth subcultures for half of her life. She can remember being bullied in middle school for not being religious, with one kid putting a bible on her desk.
“You think this condescension is going to reach me?” Von Burg said. “Like, oh, you know what, I'm gonna go back to church, because you are so kind to put this holy text on my desk in science class.”
The issues that matter most to her are equity, animals and the environment, regulating large corporations, peace and representation of voters.
She originally wanted to major in political science, and enjoyed doing political spectrum tests.
“So my results deemed me a Democratic socialist,” Von Burg said.
The Takeaway
There was one area where both Von Burg and Espenship had significant agreement in views: The environment.
Espenship grew up in Jupiter, which has environmentally sensitive areas and limits development. For Von Burg, she tries to limit the use of plastics in her life.
“I avoid buying new clothes whenever I can,” Von Burg said. “I try to just buy as little as possible. But it's frustrating watching people with their like, here's my $300 Shein haul, or here's my like, here's my $500 Target run.”
Espenship agreed that over consumption is a major issue. They both reuse the lunch meat tupperwares to cut down on waste.
“I definitely know people who fall into that over consumption, and it's like, like, you could have just reused a tupperware,” Espenship said. “You don't need a tupperware that has embossed ‘sugar’ on it.”
“Everything can be solved by good Tupperware,” Von Burg said with a laugh.
In the end, both students realized there was a lot they had in common - both in politics, and in life. Von Burg said people need to do more listening.
“When I look at someone, I remember this person probably loves their mother,” Von Burg said. “This person probably has this hobby that they're really passionate about. Even behind their politics, there's just a person there that has a life that is as detailed as yours, and that they are not only defined by their politics.”
Espenship agreed.
“If you disagree with someone, especially when it comes to politics, take the politics out of it,” Espenship said. “When someone supports something that you don't support, or, you know, vice versa, just maybe learn about the person.”
