Thursday, May 19, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Annual DAIS Conference hosted at Riverdale
Diversity Awareness Initiative for Students is an organization that plans an opportunity to discuss issues of diversity on Friday of every month. I have been to a few of these meetings throughout the past couple of years, but I know that a few of the Junior and Sophomore go to these meetings regularly. It’s a great time to speak up and connect with students from other independent schools around the city. The last meeting is this Friday, May 20th at Packer Collegiate to discuss how the conference went and to acknowledge the seniors during their very last DAIS meeting. If you’re planning on attending meetings next year, check out http://www.daisorg.org/.
At this Conference, I attended two workshops: “The Minority Table” and “Born this Way”, which was a discussion on homosexuality. I loved both discussions and how seriously they were taken. A lot of great things were said, and it was nice to see how open/ comfortable other schools are compared to Riverdale. I’m proud to say that I spoke up at both, which never happened in a past DAIS Conference. The Talent Show had a few technical difficulties, but was still a good time. It was nice to see Danielle represent with her beautiful dancing. Dinner was yummy, and even though I left the dance early, I hear that most people had a great time.
It was nice to see so much color on campus and spend some extra time with my favorite people. :)
Senior Project
My first week of Senior Project was amazing! I’m still going to school every single day from 8:25am-3:30pm, and even stay working until the late bus unless there’s a baseball game. I’ve spent the first two days mostly cutting out images and putting together some small combinations. Then, all of a sudden I grabbed a huge poster board and started coming up with bigger ideas; these “gender bending” collages will definitely range in size. I notice that I’ve been playing around with black and white vs. color, and I’ve started out with some really iconic and simple images. I won’t just stick to that though. I plan to use tissue paper and tracing paper to add on some transparent layers, and Mr. Enright (my advisor) has already told me before that what I consider “overworked” tends to be my best work. So basically, I need to stop being so analytical and go a little crazy. Cool! I’ve also been keeping a journal. My journal is a big sketchbook. I take notes in it during my studio time and write in it every day. A lot of the pages so far also have images I really like and would like to imitate somehow, quotes that relate to my topic, and sticky notes from the book that I’m reading. I’m taking notes on Post-It’s since I borrowed this book from Ms. Quarshie. It’s My Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein, who doesn’t identify as a man or a woman, and it’s PERFECT. It really is a workbook that asks questions and gives me ideas for exploring my own sense of gender.
HOLA/BSA Assembly: Voices
One of my proudest moments ever. For those who weren’t there, for our assembly we collected “blurbs” from all of the HOLA and BSA (Black Student Alliance) members about their general thoughts on Riverdale or specific experiences/moments that stand out to them. Then, we had someone else read it aloud during the assembly, so that it could be anonymous, but still feel personal and be someone’s true voice. We actually didn’t plan this, but Ms. Quarshie opened it up for discussion right there in the theater, and that was probably the best part for me. I also made a fool out of myself during both of my “solos” on stage, but that’s nothing new. I proud of myself though; I spoke up.
In HOLA this week, we’re going to have a discussion about how it felt, any reactions (positive or negative), how it could’ve have been better, etc.
Another favorite part:
I must give myself, Nijai, and Ms. Quarshie props for putting so much time into this assembly. Also, I’ve never loved the energy of HOLA and BSA more. I know this was difficult for some people, so I’m proud of us.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Chelsea for taking photos and recording every single part of this assembly, including the discussion after. Woo!
Monday, May 2, 2011
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