spring 2015
issue 17
Dear Reader,
As I grow older, I realize that my life will not turn into that of The Wild Thornberrys. I cannot live a nomadic life of traveling with a pair of documentarians, hanging out with a chimpanzee and speaking to animals like Eliza did. Sadly, this is another unfulfilled childhood fantasy. MANAGING EDITOR Victoria Russo SENIOR EDITORS Alexa Diaz Juliana LaBianca Victoria Rodriguez ASSISTANT EDITOR Sonia Suchak WRITERS Alexa Diaz Anna Hodge Juliana LaBianca Emily Malina Losa Amara Meru Victoria Rodriguez Johnny Rosa Victoria Russo Sonia Suchak PHOTO EDITORS Kyra Semien Vihan Shah DESIGNERS Victoria Amoroso Kaelyn Dessena Bingzhu Luo Jeremiah Shalo Tiffany Soohoo PHOTOGRAPHERS Victoria Amoroso Kaelyn Dessena Vihan Shah WEB DIRECTOR Jessica McKinney PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICERS Minji Hwang Monica Del Pilar Ramos Emily Malina
However, we don’t need to take such dramatic leaps to explore the world’s cultures. Our own backyards can be just as interesting. This issue of Medley will help you get there. Take the Connective Corridor downtown to explore the urban art transforming our community (page 22). See the world in a new light with local artist and SU grad Colleen Woolpert’s exhibit featured on page eight. Maybe you’re looking for something with an international twist. Start a conversation with one of the 4,004 of international students on our campus. Anna Hodge looks at the integration of international students while Sonia Suchak reflects on her and her peers’ first-year experiences with our community. If you’re dying to trade in Syracuse’s below 0°F for below 0°C, discover SU’s latest study abroad option to Poland (page six). If rainy and grey—earl grey, that is—fits your dry, humored personality better, find writer Johnny Rosa’s investigation into British tea on page four. Follow Losa Amara Meru’s journey back to her mother’s home country of the Philippines (page 18). Still want to travel, but the flight is too expensive? How does a Netflix subscription sound? On pages 21 and 25, Victoria Rodriguez suggests how to culturally round out your next Netflix binge and Alexa Diaz explains the whitewashing of Hollywood directors. Stop for a snack break with delicious recipes featuring dulce de leche found on page 12. Maybe we can’t navigate the world like the Thornberrys, but we can discover our own slice of the globe. You don’t need an expensive plane ticket, an exotic destination, or a fancy camera to explore culture. All you need is an open mind, a good guide, and the initiative to experience something new. Adventure is out there, dear readers. Go find it. With love,
Danielle Roth Editor in Chief
EDITOR IN CHIEF Danielle Roth
CREATIVE DIRECTOR Catherine Ann Mazzocchi
ADVISOR
Elane Granger, Ph.D
Cover Photo: Lois Mrinalini Taken by: Victoria Amoroso Back Photo: Samantha Reif (The photo was taken along the coast of Turkey.)
Spring 2015
Contents
4 TEA FROM ACROSS THE SEA Choose a side in Britain’s great debate 6 ZEBY POLSKA BYLA POLSKA Explore SU Abroad’s newest semester program 8 RE–ENVISIONING ART Travel through an artist’s exhibition on space and blindness 11 SYRACUSE LIVES THROUGH INTERNATIONAL EYES Embrace international perspectives on American culture 12 COOKING WITH MESSI INGREDIENTS Incorporate dulce de leche into three American desserts 14 MAKE SOME NOISE, BHANG BHANG Dance to the sounds of South Asia 18 FOREIGN RELATIONS Follow a multiracial student on her path to self discovery 21 STUDYING STREAMING ABROAD Contemplate cultural issues told by international narratives 22 ART IN THE CITY Witness public art transform downtown Syracuse 25 TAKE TWO ON DIVERSITY IN HOLLYWOOD Reflect on racial discrimination in the film industry Medley magazine provides a forum for students to explore the intersection of international and local cultures on our campus, in the city, and abroad. Medley magazine is published once a semester with funding from your student fee. All contents of the publication are copyright Spring 2015 by their respective creators.
27 STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND Experience the point of view of international students 29 ABROAD MOOD BOARD Get a snapshot of life abroad from SU students
TEA SEA FROM ACROSS THE
Straight from SU’s London campus, tea-lover Johnny Rosa brings us Britain’s king of hot beverages and the countrywide debate boiling over the proper way to pour a “cuppa” tea.
WORDS by Johnny Rosa
“It’s, like, Colgate or maybe Crest,” says a 20-something Brit to her friend on the Tube. “And it’s supposed to make your teeth whiter?” “Yeah. They totally work. My cousin brings them from America whenever she visits.” “Whitening strips. So you just put them on your teeth? What, while you sleep?” “No, just for twenty minutes or so in the morning. They’re great.” The conversation comes to an abrupt halt as the train turns a corner, sending the two university girls tumbling toward a wall in their six-inch heels. The girls’ struggle is not rare in the United Kingdom. Dealing with teastained teeth is a problem the majority of Brits face, and their apparent obsession for tea is common knowledge around the world. Around London, it’s nearly impossible to find an apartment that doesn’t come with a tea kettle. Cafés stock crates on top of crates full of the best Yorkshire or Twinings brand teas. At 216 Strand, among the skyscrapers of the modernday City of London, the nearly 300-year-old, two-story Twinings building is a testament to the legacy of tea in Britain. The tiny tea room is London’s longest standing taxpayer. The U.K. consumes roughly 3 1/2 cups of tea per person annually, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database. Popping into a shop for a “cuppa” is a common occurrence. To those who can afford a break in the middle
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of a busy day, afternoon tea is a cherished occasion. For Cathy Haill, a senior curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the world’s largest design museum in London, tea is a part of everyday life. “Everyone’s got an electric kettle,” Haill says. “It’s always surprising when I visit America because no one has kettles there.” In the north of England and in most of Scotland, where taking a break in the middle of the day to drink some hot flavored water is a bit too much to ask of the average working-class Brit, afternoon tea became “High Tea.” The meal at the end of the day was followed by cakes or bread with butter and jam, and a trusty cup of piping hot tea. The U.K.’s love affair with tea is so powerful that the country was forced to literally move mountains for this obsession. The Dinorwig Power Station in northern Wales is used as a “Short Term Operating Reserve” station. That means it only turns on to supply the U.K.’s national electric grid with the extra electricity needed when Brits nationwide turn on their kettles during a break in a national broadcast or popular television show.
essay “A Nice Cup of Tea”, “one of the most controversial points of all” is whether to put the milk or tea in your cup first. “Indeed, in every family in Britain, there are probably two schools of thought on the subject,” Orwell writes. The author confidently declared that of course water should be poured first, figuring, “one can exactly regulate the amount of milk, whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.” In 2003, on the centennial anniversary of Orwell’s birth, the Royal Society of Chemistry declared official opposition to the novelists’ conclusion. With Orwell turning over in his grave, the Society declared there was only one proper way to pour the proper cup: milk first. According to the scientists of the Royal Society, the only way to “properly denature the proteins in the milk” (that is, heat the milk evenly) is to pour the hot water on top of the milk. The properly denatured proteins, they decided, taste better than the intact proteins that infiltrate a cup of hot-waterfirst tea. Cathy Haill and her family would agree, “We never even thought to put the milk in last,” Haill says. “My mother was strongly against it.”
Everyone in the U.K. can agree: a proper “cuppa” is delicious. When it comes to their most precious beverage, the biggest Leaving the milk out entirely is not an division among Brits involves exactly how option in Britain. to pour a proper cup. Author of “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and “Animal Farm” and tea aficionado George Orwell wrote in his
cuppa tea time While Brits obsess over how to pour a proper “cuppa,” a new debate is growing: what kind of tea should they drink? Here’s a quick and easy guide to different kinds of tea from around the world.
MATCHA
BLACK
OOLONG
COUNTRY Japan
COUNTRY England
COUNTRY China
BREW TEMPERATURE 175ºF
BREW TEMPERATURE 212ºF
BREW TEMPERATURE 195ºF
BENEFITS The high amounts of the EGCG (epigallo-catechin gallate) have been shown to improve blood flow and lower cholesterol.
BENEFITS This classic tea is full of caffeine and antioxidants that can help protect against cellular damage.
BENEFITS Known to sharpen thinking skills and improve mental alertness, Oolong tea prevents heart disease and tooth decay.
MATE
SPEARMINT
DARJEELING
COUNTRY Argentina
COUNTRY Morocco
COUNTRY India
BREW TEMPERATURE 185ºF
BREW TEMPERATURE 180ºF
BREW TEMPERATURE 175ºF
BENEFITS Used as a stimulant to relieve mental and physical tiredness, as well as helping with low blood pressure.
BENEFITS Can soothe sore throats, headaches, toothaches, upset stomachs and cramps.
BENEFITS Great at killing bacteria, this tea can help ward off common infections. It tastes great and was labeled the “Champagne of Teas” by the U.K. Tea Council.
Students gather in old town Warsaw, Poland during their traveling seminar.
ZEBY POLSKA BYLA POLSKA WORDS by Emily Malina PHOTOGRAPHY provided by Katelyn Olsen
let Poland be Poland The tall trees found within the quiet depths of Ponary forest in Vilnus, Lithuania shadow the tragic events that took place there 60 years ago. As the students walk into the forest, their footsteps echo the gunshots that were heard from miles around, telling a story known by too few, but taken to heart by those that do. The 11 traveled here and throughout Eastern Europe with Wroclaw, Poland as the final destination. Beginning as a stop for the travel seminar for the Strausbourg, France center, this semester-long study abroad program to Wroclaw, Poland and 6
Eastern Europe is the newest edition to SU Abroad. The program focuses on studying the complex struggles of identity in Eastern Europe during World War I through the post-Soviet Union era. The first group of SU students who studied there in fall of 2014 were taught lessons that have been present for centuries. The program is thematically based around the Holocaust and its reconciliation in countries that bordered Poland. The seminar begins in the city of Vilnius, Lithuania, which brought them into the quiet forest of Ponary.
Ponary Forest lies within the Vilnius countryside and hides the dark past of Lithuania. The Ponary massacre was the mass murder of more than 100,000 Jews by Nazi forces during World War II. Upon walking into the forest, it is not clear what took place. “If you didn’t have a tour guide, you wouldn’t know what happened where. There isn’t really anything that evokes emotion or is recent, but once you realize the history it was something completely different,” says junior biology and political science double major Katelyn Olsen about the solemn walk through the forest. Sophomore international relations
and history double major Jake Fabrizio was also touched by the barren memorial of Ponary, “It shocked me that it was this big of an event. I could have gone my whole life without knowing about [it] … It was truly something that haunted me throughout the semester.” Days proceeding her flight to Poland, Olsen recalls “I had no idea what to expect, but I was ready to jump in blindfolded.” Before students were nestled in for their stay in the brightly painted city of Wroclaw, they began a seminar that showed how loudly silence speaks. “We thought it would be like a city tour,” says Fabrizio, “but we jumped right into the forgotten Jewish past of the city and country.” Throughout the semester in Poland, traces of conflict from the changing identities from World War II can be seen, and felt.
You can either fight about the history or build a future. But that complex history was the entire basis of this program. From Vilnius, students continued their travels to Sejny, Krynki, and Lublin, Poland; Prague, Czech Republic; Dresden, and Berlin, Germany. Junior international relations major Madeline Diorio,witnessed firsthand the dramatic shifts in identity in the program’s stop in Krynki. “There were three conflicting nationalities present, all of which we found in a woman we met there. She was Russian, born in Lithuania, and self-identified as Belarusian, which causes tension within the neighborhood that is trying to reconcile with border changes from just the 1970s,” she says.
From city to city, the lessons from the cultural displacement and identity became ever present. As the students traveled along the current borders of Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Germany, the group also traced invisible borders that had shifted with each war. Assistant Coordinator Juliet Golden shared that each country had altered dramatically. In nearly every time period, some form of a social group has been displaced, which forever mixes the identity.
lessons of reconciliation and identity, which inspired them even though they are far away from the heartbreaking sights of forgotten pasts. Olsen, Diorio and Fabrizio say that one of the most profound lessons they learned from the program was to not be indifferent and to stand up for what you believe in. “The words ‘never again’ are empty and they mean nothing,” Olson says. “Saying ‘never again’ doesn’t stop things from happening. Instead, you should educate people,” she says.
“The idea was to travel back into Poland and go to as many places as we can, but keep to the border. This would have been the heart of Poland during World War I and World war II,” says Golden. Golden says the intent was to follow the current border of Poland to show the cultures that remain there, but also to study those that had once inhabited that land. “And then,” Golden says, “We add to that Jewish history.” The program aims to enhance “action research” and turn what’s learned into tangible social action.
The Poland program strives to do that, while presenting the students with the history of each city and the people that once inhabited it. Diorio reflects, “Going back to the first day in Ponary, how we were taught not to be indifferent goes on with anything in life. We kept reminding ourselves not to be indifferent about anything. It carried out through the semester and I took that away more than anything.”
Once settled into Wroclaw, Poland the students were ready to consume the past of the city through the streets they walked on. Wroclaw itself provided the students with an urban example in the shifts of identity after the World Wars. Communist, German, and Jewish influences have touched the city throughout its existence. Once a city of predominantly German heritage, Wroclaw became transformed with Jewish and Polish residents following World War II. From then on, other identities such as Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Belarusian came and went, forever adjusting and shaping the country. “You can either fight about the history or build a future. But that complex history was the entire basis of this program,” says Golden. The students took to the overarching
The group takes a photo at the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) with their tour guide during a day trip to Dresden, Germany.
Re-envisioning Art From March 2 to April 14, 2015, the Gallery at the Ann Felton Multicultural Center at Onondaga Community College hosted the exhibition Persistence of Vision, by local artist Colleen Woolpert. Her show, part of a larger project with the same name, draws from her experiences with the visually impaired community and audio description, the process of describing the visual world to the visually impaired. She looked to this community and to the night sky for inspiration–finding similarities in astronomy and visual impairments. Her art aims to answer her question: “What do you see when you don’t see?” WORDS by Victoria Russo PHOTOGRAPHY by Colleen Woolpert
Two college students separate a set of black drapes blanketing the doorway to a dark gallery. They see two walls lined from the floor to ceiling with blank, white business cards. “The Great Unknown.” They touch them. Each has an invisible pattern of bumps: braille. On the walls opposite the doors, a video projection of a wrinkled woman with a full face, two lines for lips and thin arches over blinking lids, plays on a 30-minute loop. “The Persistent Blink of Light Upon Darkness.” The two explore a small room to their right. A yellow light projects a sun across the empty space, casting a circle onto a cloth unraveled at the ceiling and rolled across the floor. “Projecting Illusion II.” They make out a black box, the only object on the floor: a bench. They sit for a few minutes, staring at their shadows. Then the two get up, and move to another small room. Here, atop two white pedestals, sit one box each. The smaller box has a circular porthole filled with fuzzy, moving forms. A tiny TV. Planet of the Blind. Their adjusted eyes can see the instructions: ‘You may turn the dial.’ With each hard click of the dial, the screen displays a new but similar abstract image. Click. This one looks like microorganisms under a microscope. Click. The next is shifting layers of sediment. Click. Click. Click. What they don’t see is the artist Colleen Woolpert, seated in her studio, dressed in layers of subdued tones, her brown hair curling out from under a burgundy 8
hat. More images and inventions cover her walls and fill her desk drawers and bookshelves. She speaks with ease and enthusiasm about the years of experience that inspired this exhibition. In 2007, Woolpert had just moved to Syracuse, but it already felt like home. She attributes it to the city’s location on the 42nd parallel, the same as her hometown in Michigan. The artist had brought along a photography business from New Jersey, which she continued running from a studio at The Gear Factory on the Near Westside. After a few months in the city, Woolpert began working on her master’s of fine arts in art photography at Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. During her studies, Woolpert discovered the book “Our Movie Houses: History of Film and Cinematic Innovation in Central New York,” at the Erie Canal Museum. Flipping through the pages, she found a picture of The Gear Factory and eventually learned her studio was located in the same spot where the mutoscope, an early motion picture device, was invented. She had become intrigued with this machine at eight years old, when she saw one at the Muse Mecanic in San Francisco, Calif. In her 20s, she went back to photograph it. When she applied to the arts program at Syracuse, she wrote her letter about it. During her exhibition at Onondaga Community College (OCC), she gave a lecture titled “Picturing Motion: How Movies Began in Syracuse,” and explained the invention’s origins and importance to the history of film and Syracuse.
Over the past several years, she has invested her time in another invention, the “TwinScope Viewer,” a modern version of the stereoscope. Its historic design requires the viewer to place photographs in a holder and adjust the depth to see images in 3-D, which is not practical for gallery use. This led Woolpert to create her own. “Every inventor starts with a problem they want to solve for themselves.” She wanted to feature stereoscopes in her exhibitions, so an audience could view her 3-D photography in a functional way. She also wanted to give her twin sister, who was born with a condition restricting her sight to 2-D, a chance to see the world as it is. Her awareness of visual impairments began with her sister but continued into her college years, where she worked for the Michigan Commission for the Blind while earning her undergraduate degree at Western Michigan University. She spent most of her time reading textbooks to students, but recalls an instance when one student asked her to watch a movie and describe the scenes on the screen. Not until 25 years later did she learn that this process is called audio description. Woolpert first heard the term before leaving Syracuse for Seattle, Wash. in 2011, when she met a woman who accompanied groups of blind people to theaters to explain the performances in detail. She looked into it when she made it to Washington, but did not get involved until almost eight months later, after a visit to a tactile art exhibit, which led to
“Eclipse in My Bedroom” By Colleen Woolpert (not featured in Persistence of Vision)
an invitation to a tactile art class. She began working at the class as an assistant teacher, all while learning the profession of audio description and listening to the experiences of the non-sighted artists. But there was one woman whose words stuck with her. While walking around an art exhibit together, as Woolpert described the pieces, the blind woman told her, “I miss the night sky most of all.” Woolpert found it both perplexing and profound. Soon after, she noticed a neighbor’s telescope on the patio and started borrowing it to look at the stars. It sparked her interest in astronomy and led to reading and research. The more she learned, the more similarities she found with blindness. When she returned to Syracuse in January 2014 for a six-month residency at the SALTQuarters Gallery, she also joined an amateur astronomy club. Then she bought old films about space to watch on her projector. Again, one stands out: this time a film about fixing the Hubble Space Telescope. “The astronauts there, they’re showing their vulnerability in these little soundbites. They’re saying things like, ‘It’s terrifying. Every time you go out, your life is in your hands. It’s this kind of hell that I was living in, I was stuck out there.’ And these are the same types of things I was hearing when I was walking with people who can’t see.” These are the same types of things visitors experience at her exhibition. The exhibition coordinator, Briana Kohlbrenner, says Woolpert’s work is unlike fall 2014
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While walking around an art exhibit together, as Woolpert described the pieces, the blind woman told her, “I miss the night sky most of all.”
Above: Still from the video “Day Becomes Night” by Colleen Woolpert Left: “Persistence of Vision” by Colleen Woolpert Below: Colleen Woolpert and Stephen Kuusisto in front of the exhibition
other shows that OCC hosts. Unlike hanging art or displayed photography, the engaging and interactive elements have drawn visitors from outside of the typical audience, the art students on campus. “I’m trying to transform the gallery through other artists’ work. I was really looking for someone who could just take it to a whole other world.” Woolpert’s installations transport guests to another place and force them into an experience, one that at times seems to simulate space exploration or visual impairment. “No two people who are blind experience vision loss in the same way,” writes Director of Syracuse University’s Renée Crown University Honors Program Steve Kuusisto, in his blog’s review of Woolpert’s show. Kuusisto, a disability advocate and an author, gave a guest reading on blindness and imagination in March at Woolpert’s exhibition. His book, Planet of the Blind, has been another source of inspiration for her. She picks up the book, opens to a random page and reads:
Recollected stars on the retina Shimmer so I rub my eyes “It’s just so perfect,” she says. Perfect because it couples blindness with astronomy, because the words capture the idea of “navigating the dark” that Woolpert translated into art. The cards. The woman. The sun. The TV. “You turn the dial, like those old TVs, and in this case every channel is black and white static. You never get a picture. And that’s kind of persistence of vision too. You persist; you keep trying. That idea of keep going for it - keep trying - is what gets you to cross the threshold when you’re blind and go outside. You persist because you have to.” There’s something driving each of us.
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Stephen Kuusisto interacts with “Projecting Illusion” at the exhibition.
Syracuse Lives Through
International Eyes WORDS by Sonia Suchak
My nationality is American, but my life has always been an eclectic buzz of colors, cultures, and traditions. I grew up in an American boarding school located in southern India. I met people from all over the world, learned about new cultures, and celebrated many festivals. I think in four languages and I find comfort within the borders of the Middle East. My years in Bombay made me fall in love with life and find beauty in every culture. Now, I have added Syracuse University to the list of my homes. For many international students, America has a reputation for being the land of opportunity. Along with this opportunity comes American quirks and habits. What’s normal for Americans may be startling for someone of a different national origin. SU has a total of 4,004 international students, combining rich backgrounds and cultures from over 118 countries on every corner of our campus. I have had the opportunity to live in a dorm which houses many international students from nearly every corner of our earth. Most dorms offer these special living and learning community floors to allow students who share similar interests to live, study, and take classes together. I live on the international relations learning community, right below the international cultures learning community. Cuiru Wu, a student who lives on this floor in Day Hall, was surprised by the importance of athletics to American students. “I thought that college only meant opening textbooks and gaining job skills. The thought of school spirit never occurred to me,” said Wu, a social work and policy studies sophomore from China. She was shocked that football and basketball players are treated as college celebrities, and that athletics coaches tend to get paid much more than the deans for various colleges do. Eden Telila, a freshman from Ethiopia majoring in international relations, noticed the amount of food that goes to waste here.
“I can’t get myself to see so much fresh food not being put to good use,” said Telila. “It’s like a crime.” She pondered the fact that Syrian children do not get anything, while Americans are served large quantities and tend to discard most of it casually. Freshman political science major Domenica Vera was shocked at the freedom here and the amount of space citizens have to pursue their passions in a wide range of ways. “The patriotism I have seen in America is an abstract painting of what true freedom should look like,” said Vera, who is from Ecuador. Americans can wear the flag on clothes. Rules don’t prohibit the expression of love for this country. Satoshi Sugiyama, a freshman newspaper and online journalism major from Japan, said the strangest thing about America is the measurement system. “I still don’t know how their metric system works and I wonder how they figure it out with so much ease,” said Sugiyama. “And why do Americans drink so much Coke? Coke is nice and all, but so much Coke.” When reflecting on the experiences of these students, it’s clear that the distinct beauty of this country does not only stem from its diversity and rich history, but also in its routines, habits, patterns, and customs that are deeply enrooted in its cultural patchwork quilt of tradition and belonging. My pride comes from the word “international.” I consider myself to be a citizen of the world. This pride led me to Syracuse University, where I was surprised by the plethora of diversity this upstate New York school had to offer. I instantly felt at home as a secondgeneration American with an immigrant’s perspective. While America has always been my home, it is still a strange land for me. America recognized me as a citizen, but my running shoes and my backpack taught me how to crisscross the globe and gave me an identity I am still discovering. Alongside my international peers, we have stepped into the roller coaster ride of not only discovering the rigor of earning a college education, but of discovering what American culture is. spring 2015 11
Cooking with Messi Ingredients WORDS by Victoria Rodriquez PHOTOGRAPHY by Victoria Amoroso and Kaelyn Dessena
Dulce de leche is believed to have originated in Argentina, although many other Latin American countries try to claim this sweet delicacy. The legend says that in 1829, Juan Manuel de Rosas, an Argentine army officer, had asked his maid to cook some milk and sugar. By accident, the maid left the ingredients on the stove for too long, and the result was dulce de leche. Though it mimics the color and consistency of caramel, dulce de leche holds a market of its own in the United States. In fact, it has been incorporated into many American desserts. Lucky for you, you do not have to study abroad in Argentina to get a taste of this Latin indulgence.
DUCL
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Make some noise,
bhang bhang WORDS by Victoria Russo PHOTOGRAPHY by Victoria Amoroso
Members of Syracuse Orange Bhangra file onto a dark stage while the audience’s cheers fill the auditorium. From the front of the formation, a single male voice rings out, pumping up the people with three simple words: “Are you ready?”
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spring 2015 15
This spring, the South Asian Students Association, an organization dedicated to sharing the cultures of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, hosted its first dance showcase. The event featured performances from the all-male a cappella group Orange Appeal, dance duet Nidhi and Shibani, and the groups SU Zinda, Rhythmic Divas, Raíces Dance Troupe, and Syracuse Orange Bhangra. Bhangra is a high-energy folk dance that originated in Punjab, a region of Pakistan and India. A group of friends started the team in 2004, as a way to have fun and honor their culture. It has since grown to include 30 students. For some members, like sophomore Daivie Ghosh, this showcase was the first big performance. But for others, like senior Stephanie Breed, it meant the last. Backstage before the finale, the team pinned uniforms and practiced steps, both of which were new for that night. They had just received the colorful costumes from Punjab and learned the routine only a few weeks prior. They made their way to the stage, shaking off nerves by sharing stories of past dance experiences. When they appeared in front of the audience, their intensity mixed with the crowd’s emotion, escalating into an atmosphere that screamed success.
“I hope a lot of people will step out of their comfort zone and come tryout for our team next semester. And most importantly, I hope everybody who took out the time to come watch us enjoyed themselves!” Ratnanjali Khanduja
President of South Asian Student’s Association Co-Captain of the Bhangra Team
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Foreign Relations WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY by Losa Amara Meru
“Got it!” I replied with a grin. As we pulled up to the bus station, which was more of an empty space with a lot of dirt, people, and buses, we saw my bus—the bus heading to Baguio City— about to close its doors.
Astring
Puring
Vergara Clan
Losa’s Grandma
“There it is! Go! Run!” yelled my aunt. I ran towards the bus and climbed aboard. Those already seated stared at me briefly and then went back to whatever they were doing. With a sigh of relief, I sat down as the bus shuddered to life and crawled forward. As the ticketer came up to me, I smiled and held out my money. “Baguio City,” I said. He raised an eyebrow, took my money, punched my ticket, and gave me change. He knew. He knew that despite my
Miming
Sub–clans
Pacing
“Ok L.A. You’ve got your money? You’ve got your cellphone? Remember, get off at the last stop—it will be a bus stop — and then call your cousin when you get there, okay?” said my Auntie Faith, as we sat squished together on a tiny tricycle.
Tintoy
Over winter break, Losa Amara Meru reunited with her mother’s side of the family clan in the Philippines. After flying 7,000 miles, faces from her mother’s stories came alive in a language and land that was simultaneously familiar and foreign.
Losa’s Mother
Losa
female: male:
Filipina appearance, I was still a foreigner in this country, but he didn’t say anything and moved on to the next person. For the rest of the five hours on that bus, I stared out the window, imagining what life would have been like if I lived my life in the Philippines like my mother had.
Ruth
Pat
Pacanay
Albert
I had just come from a week with my Filipino relatives, whom I had grown up with in California. Our reunion was joyful and full of adventure—we stayed at a resort, visited a water park, went island-hopping, bought souvenirs, and danced on the beach. We effortlessly invented inside jokes and pranks, just like we do when we’re together in the States.
Her family that lives in California
Losa’s cousin and best friend
This was what I had known of my Filipino family. Hanging out with my cousins meant never-ending fun, food, and adventure. Parents and “oldies” would chat away together while us “young kids” entertained ourselves. It didn’t matter that the youngest of us “young kids” was now 16 and the oldest of us was 30; we always treasure our time together. Even though we are not immediate cousins, we have always treated each other as if we were because we all belong to the same large family clan of nine subclans and six generations. But there I was, on a five-hour bus ride by myself in a foreign country, traveling to see the immediate cousins and relatives. I hadn’t seen them since 2008 when I had last visited with my mom and brother. I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew I wanted to connect with my mother’s first cousins who had grown up and lived in the Philippines, 7,000 miles away from my hometown of Los Angeles. As a multiracial American citizen, identity has always been a huge question mark for me. I grew up appreciating and learning about both sides of my ethnicity—my dad is from Nagaland, India and my mom is from Baguio City, Philippines. I grew up in Los Angeles, California with pride in my uniqueness and a love for my family, friends, and community. I was never at a loss for diversity in my life.
When I came to Syracuse, I mourned for those who had never had “real” Mexican food and for people who believed Chinese food only comes from places with take-out boxes. But I also started started wondering who I was. I knew I was “different.” Everyone is, but I felt strange because I didn’t know as much as I thought I did about my own background. People have said a variety of things to me ranging from “You’re so Asian!” to “You’re not a real Asian.” They’ll say, “Can you speak any other languages?” or “Wow, you’re really white-washed, huh?” I had no idea how to respond to any of these questions or comments, and most of the time I just felt confused. I even felt ashamed at times for not knowing or understanding how to respond. With these thoughts accumulating in my conscience, I decided to make the journey after my best friend, who is also my cousin, moved to the Philippines earlier last year. This move coincided with our family clan’s 70th annual reunion and my winter break. I had some cash in the bank that I probably shouldn’t have spent, but I made the decision to go. What exactly was I hoping for? I had no idea. I wanted to learn more about myself, my family, and my roots. I wanted to reunite with my best friend and cousin. I wanted to achieve some sort of self discovery, but self discovery is not something you can just magically find when you leave the country. The first thing I noticed after arriving was that the steering wheel was on the left and we drove on the right side of the road, just like the States. The American influences permeate every inch of the Philippines: love of fast food, Top 40 American radio music, “Western” style clothing. I eat with a fork and spoon at home. Here, everyone eats with a fork and spoon. The food was the Filipino foods I crave when I am in Syracuse. Because I was with family members who also had lived in California, things felt like home. I had these constant revelations that things were familiar, but still unfamiliar. My experience was a constant cycle of familiarity and memory, but with epiphanies and feelings of belonging and wholeness. If what I wanted was self discovery, I certainly got it. My limited access to my phone and the Internet made me more engaged in
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the present. I was able to fully enjoy every single moment, knowing that I had no way of communicating or engaging with all the hubbub happening back in America. I was physically and mentally present and able to experience everything. Self discovery comes in waves. It happens in times of unavoidable discomfort and longing for what you are used to. I stayed with different relatives throughout my entire visit, and I can say that it was easiest to be among my Californian relatives. I felt carefree when I was with them—we went shopping together, midnight bowling, watched movies, and played at arcades. I felt at home and at peace. The real culture shock experience began to take shape when I stayed with my more immediate relatives after the five hour bus ride to Baguio City. I would sheepishly and constantly ask who was who and how I was related. When I last visited at thirteen years old, my mother introduced relatives to me, but I didn’t pay attention to these important things. I realized quickly that my mother was my only connection to my Baguio City relatives. Without her there, I felt a little lost. I somehow thought that because I was “older” and “more mature” than before, I would relate easily with my family members. The reality was that we still live different lifestyles in different countries. We all clearly love each other very much. They took great pains to make sure I was well-accommodated and fed. They were eager to show me around Baguio City and go wherever I wanted to go. I understood more Tagalog (Filipino language) than I ever had in my life, but I still felt uncomfortable speaking it. My cousins could understand and speak English, but they felt uncomfortable speaking it as well. Most of the time I quietly listened, picking up the majority of the conversations around me. I would smile, listen, and say a few words. Despite my familiarity with Filipino culture, and our overlap of language and communication abilities, there was still a barrier. At the pinnacle of my Philippines trip, we all traveled together to our 70th family clan reunion on New Year’s weekend to welcome in the new year together. Here, I was with both my Baguio City family and my Californian cousins as well as over a hundred relatives of all ages. It’s quite the interesting revelation realizing that
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you are related to so many people. I have a retired famous basketball star for an uncle and an accomplished children’s book writer for an aunt. There are dentists and doctors and athletes and performers and farmers and I am somehow related to all of them. That deep-rooted question of identity began to flare up in my chest again. My mom had always been my connection to my Filipino side, but I was there alone. Self discovery, I thought. My relatives greeted me warmly and told me stories of my mother, her sisters, and my grandparents. For our family tradition of hosting a talent show for all the “kids,” I put together some footage of my trip and presented a short film on what family meant to me. Throughout the entire three-day reunion, I never felt like I had all the answers. I met and chatted with family I had only seen as square photos on Facebook and I continued to enjoy the familiar company of my Californian cousins. Screening my short film, however, allowed me to discover my own personal connection to my family beyond just my mom’s stories. In ways that I couldn’t express verbally or physically, I was able to share my feelings of joy, belonging, and love towards my family that had been hidden behind my hesitation to speak Tagalog or my growing homesickness for America. My story is different from anyone else’s, and my family acknowledged that and cherished my presence all the same. In the Philippines, I was welcomed into a culture and family that is mine. I felt what it was like to just exist and be content—the only questions I was asked were if I was eating enough, if I was enjoying my time, if I could understand Tagalog, and if I knew how much I looked like my mom. People knew who I was. Even if they didn’t, they weren’t concerned with how “different” I was. I was family. That’s all that mattered. As much as I enjoyed my spontaneous Philippines trip. It made me realize that America will always be my first home. At home, I have family, friends, and the reasonable expectation that a full roll of toilet paper will be provided in every restroom. By seeking to learn more about my heritage, I learned to embrace my own upbringing and culture as well. Being multiracial in America means that I belong to a culture of endless questions and relentless curiosity. I embrace it.
Studying
driguez
WORDS by Victoria Ro
d a o r b A g n i m Strea stime. Next time you are pa st te la ’s ica er Am me vant films ix and Hulu has beco of these culturally rele re Binge watching on Netfl mo or e on ing ch at w rs, consider cuddling under the cove from around the globe.
El Norte
Chevolution
Director: Gregory Nava Rated: R Release Date: 1983
Directors: Luis Lopez, Trisha Ziff Rated: NR Release Date: 2008
Based on a true story, the journey that Enrique and Rosa make from Guatemala to Los Angeles is one that many immigrants endure. The troubles continue once they arrive on American soil, as the pair struggles with the social, political, and financial hardships that come with being undocumented immigrants in the United States. Although immigration policy is widely debated in the United States, El Norte exposes audiences to the violence and hardship immigrants run from and continue to face in “the land of the free.”
Ernesto Guevara, also known as Che, lived his life trying to overthrow political systems. He sympathized with the lower-class-led rebellions in Cuba and throughout Latin America. Yet, it was his widespread image that transformed him into a globally recognized icon of resistance. Though he was assassinated, pop culture and pop art have kept his ideologies alive.
Paris is Burning
The Central Park Five
Director: Jennie Livingston Rated: R Release Date: 1990
Director: Gregory Nava Rated: R Release Date: 1983
For LGBTQ individuals living in the harsh society of 1980s New York, attending ballroom dances was a glamorous escape. Minorities, in particular, had a difficult time making ends meet as a result of the social stigma surrounding their presence in the United States. This American documentary exposes audiences to the city’s drag scene, and grants them with the opportunity to understand that “realness” was a method of survival for marginalized youth. The objective was to blend in, but the dream was to make it big.
The year was 1989, and Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Kharey Wise, Raymond Santana, and Yusef Salaam were branded as the Central Park Five. As a result of racial profiling, these five young men were wrongly accused of raping a white woman in Central Park. The documentary provides insight from family members, historians, journalists, and investigators. Evidently, the film proves that young, poor AfricanAmerican male is the “most endangered species” in America.
add artwork without considering its surroundings. Instead, he spent two weeks listening to members of the community before writing the haikus he would later paint in block letters across the bridges. (“Now that we are here, nowhere else matters,” reads one mural in blue and yellow. “I paid the light bill just to see your face,” says another).
ART IN THE CITY After decades of poor planning and disinvestment, downtown Syracuse is transformed through public art and creative urban planning.
WORDS by Juliana LaBianca PHOTOGRAPHY by Vihan Shah
When set against Syracuse’s industrial backdrop, art stands out. Rusted train trestles provide an unlikely canvas for vibrant murals. Landmarked 19th-century buildings make grand subjects for illumination projects. Across each of the city’s neighborhoods, a collection of parks and unused spaces facilitates both pop-up projects and commissioned installations. But in addition to adding beauty and interest, Syracuse’s most recent public art projects do something far more important: they serve their city. With projects concentrated along the Connective Corridor, a $46 million urban planning initiative of Syracuse University, the City of Syracuse, and Onondaga County, almost $2 million in funding has gone toward art that considers the principles of creative placemaking, an evolving practice among urban planners. With creative placemaking, art is not
random. Rather, artists, designers, and planners consider a community’s physical, social, and historical character when planning art, streetscapes, and centers of activity. Advocates of the practice argue it can catalyze social and economic change by creating neighborhoods people want to be involved in. As a result, it can bring people together to improve safety and support local businesses. All things this city—any city—could stand to improve. A prime example of placemaking along the Corridor is Steven Powers’ $120,000 project “A Love Letter to Syracuse.” In 2010, the Corridor commissioned the Philadelphia artist to rejuvenate a set of old railroad bridges in the area between Armory Square and the Near Westside. According to Marilyn Higgins, Syracuse University’s vice president for economic development, Powers did not simply
From the huge, almost floor-to-ceiling windows of Syracuse University’s Warehouse, Linda Dickerson Hartsock, director of community engagement and economic development at SU, points to the features that once made this city buzz. Next door, on Franklin and West Fayette Streets, lay the crossroads of the early 20th-century New York Central Rail system. Two streets down, where Erie Boulevard is currently located, ran the Erie Canal, the city’s 18th-century center of commerce. Scattered around these hubs of transportation stood headquarters for the rest of the city’s industries: salt, iron, steel, candles, cars, traffic lights, and typewriters were all at one point engineered and manufactured here. University namesakes like L.C. Smith, John R. Crouse, and Francis Hendricks all made careers for themselves in the area. Unfortunately, the years following World War II did not go well for Syracuse. Families moved to the suburbs, an overhead Interstate fragmented the city by forcing the demolition of a thriving business district, and industry declined. A seven-decade-long period of poor planning ensued, and what was once the proud economic heart of the Upstate region quickly went into a downward spiral. As Syracuse continued its decline into the new millennium, a coalition of community and business leaders formed to discuss the future of their city. The idea gained momentum and influence, and in 2001, then Mayor Matthew Driscoll began putting together a comprehensive plan that would set the city’s priorities. The plan was the first of its kind since 1919, and ultimately would define a city that hadn’t been defined in decades. “The Comprehensive Plan identifies public art and placemaking as valuable urban elements,” says Owen Kerney, assistant director for city planning. “They’re not only valuable in a sense of economic development, but they’re valuable to residents and their quality of life. These are things that make a community desirable and unique.”
With the Connective Corridor’s basic infrastructure complete (water, utility, streetscape, and sidewalk infrastructures were all tackled in the project’s earlier phases), public art and placemaking are more apparent than ever. Hartsock and others at the Connective Corridor have even dubbed 2015 the year of public art. The city’s history has been reimagined through murals. In July, Buffalo-based artist Kelly Curry completed “The Mule Days of Summer” on the façade of the Erie Canal Museum. Curry worked closely with the museum’s curator in her research process, and the painting shows what the area looked like when it was ruled by the canal. The city’s buildings have been illuminated through the “Corridor of Lights” project. Throughout downtown, LED lighting units illuminate more than 20 buildings, many of which were designed by world-class 19th-century architects. Even the city’s buses have been beautified through bus wraps and fabric interiors designed by SU’s VPA students.
Advocates of the practice argue it can catalyze social and economic change by creating neighborhoods people want to be involved in with, and therefore can bring people together to improve safety and support local businesses.
ALL THINGS THIS CITY–ANY CITY–COULD STAND TO IMPROVE.
Of course, Syracuse is not the only city to have embraced creative placemaking as a valuable economic and social stimulus. In Buffalo, a city similar to Syracuse in its industrial past and current economic challenges, its city leaders backed a $17.6 million artist live-work loft development. Currently, 60 artists and their families live and work in the building, a former Buffalo Electric Vehicle Company factory that had previously been vacant for 15 years. The lofts not only brought a creative class to the city, but bridged the divide between the economically opposing neighborhoods to their east and west. Since their completion in 2007, the lofts have empowered developers to take on projects in the surrounding area. Still, certain characteristics make Syracuse a prime location for placemaking. According to Higgins, the downtown area is ideal for three reasons: the city’s industrial past and rich history, its proximity to the university, including its professors and dense population of college students, and a new cadre of young people moving to the downtown area who are dedicated to creating change. “If you are one person and you decide to come home to Syracuse and make a difference, you can,” she says. “What you do will be felt and seen and noticed.” The Connective Corridor’s current call for public artists is for a $650,000 project to be split between six to 10 artists for six to 10 installations. The call asks artists to be conscious of creative placemaking, and Quinton Fletchall, public art coordinator
for the Connective Corridor, says the selected pieces must pay attention to space. By the call’s close in March, Fletchall received applications from 276 artists from 17 countries. He and Hartsock believe this is because, in addition to a substantial financial incentive, people are interested in what is happening in Syracuse. “I’ve read through a few of the artist statements already and they have shown excitement in the Connective Corridor,” says Fletchall. “The project itself is drawing attention.” Another cause for attention is visible progress. In the last three years, residential occupancy in the downtown area increased by 31 percent, with the largest amount of growth in the 24 to 35
age bracket. To keep up with demand, there is $145 million in residential development happening downtown, with current apartments at a 99 percent occupancy rate. And while there is surely work to be done in Syracuse outside of its downtown area, entrepreneurs and developers have taken on more and more projects that would have previously been enormous risks. With the 15-year project just hitting its tipping point, Hartsock says there is even more to come. “I think in five years, Syracuse will be a much different place.”
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A SEVEN–DECADE– LONG PERIOD OF POOR PLANNING ENSUED, AND WHAT WAS ONCE THE PROUD ECONOMIC HEART OF THE UPSTATE REGION QUICKLY WENT INTO A DOWNWARD SPIRAL. “If you are one person and you decide to come home to Syracuse and make a difference, you can,” she says. “What you do will be felt and seen and noticed.”
Take Two on Diversity in Hollywood WORDS by Alexa Diaz
The 87th Annual Academy Awards has been regarded as one of the least inclusive awards shows in recent years. The nominations did not consist of a single actor or actress of color. Not one female director or writer was nominated, and of all the movies that were nominated, only five were directed by a person of color. The lack of diversity among the nominations made waves on the Internet, spurring the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag and emphasizing the fact that female directors are underrepresented twelve-to-one, according to the 2014 Hollywood Diversity Report conducted by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African-American Studies at UCLA. A Los Angeles Times report revealed Oscar voters are 94 percent white, 76 percent male and on average 63 years old. Although the diversity gap in the Academy Awards is undeniably present, there are several directors working to change that.
Ava DuVernay Ava DuVernay is an American director and screenwriter who gained national attention for “Selma,” which tells the story of the historic voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. The film made Duvernay the first black female director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award and to have a film be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. DuVernay also co-wrote “Selma,” which was released in December of 2014 and earned $5 million on Martin Luther King Jr. Day alone. DuVernay’s achievements date back to previous years, including 2012 in which she became the first African-American woman to win the Best Director Prize for her film “Middle of Nowhere” at the Sundance Film Festival. In the summer of 2013, DuVernay was invited to join the director’s and writer’s branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, making her the second black woman to be invited to the director’s branch. “Folks see films, see history, see art, see life through their own lens,” said DuVernay on the lack of diversity at the Oscars to Democracy Now. “And when there’s a consensus that has to be made by a certain group, you know, the consensus is most likely going to be through a specific lens. And unless there’s diversity amongst the people that are trying to come to the consensus, then, you know, there will be a lack of diversity in what the consensus is.”
Alejandro González Iñárritu Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of “Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance),” was the second Mexican man to accept the Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture at the 87th Annual Academy Awards. “Birdman” received nine Oscar nominations and won four, including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Achievement in Cinematography. González Iñárritu was not a stranger to the Academy though. In 2007, his film “Babel” was was nominated for Best Picture and earned him a nomination for Best Achievement in Directing. His debut feature film,“Amores Perros,” was also nominated in 1999 for Best Foreign Language Film. In his acceptance speech when he took home Best Director for “Birdman,” González Iñárritu addressed Mexicans and Americans alike: “The ones who live in Mexico, I pray that we can find and build a government that we deserve, and the ones that live in this country, who are a part of the latest generation of immigrants in this country, I just pray that they can be treated with the same dignity and respect as the ones who came before and built this incredible immigrant nation.”
Justin Simien Director Justin Simien is best known for his social satire “Dear White People,” which debuted at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize for Breakthrough Talent. The critically-acclaimed film, made possible through an IndieGoGo campaign started by Simien, was awarded Best Independent Feature Film by the African-American Film Critics Association and was nominated at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards for Outstanding Film. On an individual basis, Simien was nominated for Best Breakthrough Film Artist by the Central Ohio Film Critics Association and Most Promising Filmmaker by the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards in addition to other recognitions from various organizations. The Texas-born writer and filmmaker was named in Variety magazine’s “10 Directors to Watch” list in 2013. “I love when people, white folks especially, don’t expect to really identify with the black characters, but they do,” said Simien about “Dear White People.” “I think we all have identity crises throughout our lives. It’s a very universal human experience, so it’s cool that people are able to have that even though the cast is primarily of color.”
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WORDS by Anna Hodge PHOTOGRAPHY by Bingzhu Luo YAOFANG PENG felt a sense of crippling embarrassment every Wednesday during the fall semester of her freshman year. Sitting among her peers in a recitation on global communities in a Syracuse University lecture hall, Yao (as her close friends call her) struggled to form her opinions on the controversial articles assigned for homework. One article discussed women’s rights. Another discussed labor unions. Yet the readings, which took her peers 45 minutes to digest, took her six to seven hours to read. And while the readings were in her peers’ native tongue, the readings were in the Chinese student’s second language. Yaofang Peng, now a senior finance and supply chain management student, is just one of 4,004 international students at SU. This is a number that has grown by 130 percent in the past ten years. More than half of these students, like Yao, come from China. Nearly 20 percent of the student body consists of international students, but there is still a major sense of segregation in classrooms, residence halls, and throughout
the SU community between foreign and American students. Zhiyi Gan, a fifth year industrial design major from China, also experiences this segregation on campus, but understands why it occurs. “It is hard for both the international students and Americans to understand one another,” Gan says. “Because of the different cultural backgrounds and language barriers, it’s not easy for an international student to express everything he or she wants to say and to be understood.” Pat Burak is the director of SU’s Slutzker Center for International Services, a safe haven that provides support for international students the moment they arrive on campus with orientation services and mentor-mentee programs. Last fall, 180 of the 400 incoming undergraduate international students signed up for the Slutzker Center’s mentoring services. Through this program, a single mentor works 20 hours per week with 15 to 18 mentees to provide guidance to students
as they navigate American college life. While the mentorship services benefit the international students, including a guide when they arrive on campus and opportunities to meet other international students, segregation still exists for international students in the residence halls. SU built its first International Living Center (ILC) in 1971 in today’s Lyons Hall. Foreign students made up 60 percent of the residence, while American students made up the remaining 40 percent. This was a strategic method, according to Burak, to prevent American students from dominating the learning community. There were never more than three people from the same foreign country living in the building, ensuring that students were forced to mingle with one another. The building, which consisted of bedrooms, a pool table, laundry machines, and study areas, separated men and women by floor. The ILC ran for 26 years and was “hugely successful” at socializing both American and foreign students, according to Burak.
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However, a number of factors contributed to the downfall of the ILC. Following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. immigration services created a new immigration software system to oversee international students. This computer program increased the workload of the Slutzker Center by 100 percent, at a time when the university was continuing to admit more and more international students. Budgeting also took hold of the ILC. Deborah Freund, former vice chancellor and provost from 1999 to 2006, announced in 2002 that she had 10 million dollars within her budget to develop learning communities across campus. The ILC, which had been running for 27 years, was ultimately turned into a residence hall for first year international students. However, the kitchen was removed, forcing students to travel across the street to Shaw Hall for meals. “It took away the sense of community,” Burak says. “We were one of the first in the country to have an international learning center. That made it a bitter pill to swallow.” Then the ILC moved to Day Hall on Mount Olympus. The learning community turned from an entire floor to just half of one. Despite the move to a smaller facility, the Slutzker Center supports the students in other ways. The course Global Learning in a Global Community provides international students with a classroom experience focused on international living and learning. The course is offered through the learning community and is taught by Elane Granger, associate director of the Slutzker Center. Granger cites the attendance levels in the course as an example of the segregation that often occurs on campus between American and foreign students. Although international students attend, there is a lack of American student participation. “It takes a great deal of effort to inspire students to wake up and engage with these international students,” Granger says. “This is an issue that drives my fuel each semester. It is a constant uphill battle that comes about each year.” One contributing factor is study abroad programs, which can stunt students’ abilities to really engage with their international peers. “These students go abroad and tell me how wonderful their experience was and how they are better communicators and have a better global perspective,” says Granger. “But while you go abroad, only some of the experience rubs off on you. So many students study abroad and get two percent of a 100 percent experience.” To both Granger and Burak, living in a country for a semester isn’t enough. “You need to be just as engaged globally on campus as 28
you were when you lived internationally,” Granger says. “The saying ‘A stranger in a strange land’ is often passed around,” says Diane Danneels, a junior advertising and marketing student from Switzerland. “It’s interesting because it is a campus that really pushes for diversity, but some of the students just don’t always support that ideal.” Americans students can forget about the culture shock that comes with being an international student adjusting to American college life and dealing with American peers, says Burak. She discussed one student who came to the Slutzker Center for support: The female student’s roommate frequently had sex in their split double room with different male guests while the international student was in the room. The situation ended in a room switch for the international student who was too scared to confront her roommate.
YAOFANG PENG, NOW A SENIOR FINANCE AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT STUDENT, IS JUST ONE OF 4,004 INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AT SU.
Another student came to the Slutzker Center after her checkbook went missing following a weekend away from campus. Burak says it was painful to watch as the international student grappled with the fact that her roommate might have taken the checkbook. “She felt a great deal of shame accusing her roommate of stealing,” Burak says. “That’s something we witness often – the difference in values, and what we consider right and wrong.” Language and the differences in meaning are also apart of the culture shock that adds fuel to the ongoing segregation at SU. JoJo Liu, a junior marketing major, says language surrounding the LGBT community that is acceptable in his home country, China, is considered offensive in the United States. “In China, it is okay to say things like, ‘That’s so gay,’ but here it is really frowned upon,” he says. “The customs sometimes just don’t align, which limits relations even more.”
“IT TOOK AWAY THE SENSE OF COMMUNITY,” BURAK SAYS. “WE WERE ONE OF THE FIRST IN THE COUNTRY TO HAVE AN INTERNATIONAL LEARNING CENTER. THAT MADE IT A BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW.”
Gan says that, while she is “good partners” with American students, they are “not close friends” who support her. While this segregation needs to end on campus, Granger says, there is only so much the Slutzker Center can do alone. Regardless of the resources available to fix the issue though, she emphasizes the need for a reform to the campus culture. “The light needs to go on across SU that this is a global environment,” Granger says. “I believe so strongly that we do a great disservice to students by not addressing this problem. They will be the ones to vote for presidents, they will be the ones entering into a global workforce. How does our world function if we don’t prepare our young people for that kind of a world?”
“IT’S INTERESTING BECAUSE IT IS A CAMPUS THAT REALLY PUSHES FOR DIVERSITY, BUT SOME OF THE STUDENTS JUST DON’T ALWAYS SUPPORT THAT IDEAL.”
ABROAD MOOD BOARD TRAVELING ABROAD CAN BE ONE OF THE MOST REWARDING EXPERIENCES IN COLLEGE. FROM HIKING GREEK MOUNTAINS, TO EXPLORING CHINESE PALACES, SU STUDENTS HAVE DONE IT ALL. CHECK OUT THEIR EXPERIENCES.
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A Tibetan walked through prayer wheels in Lhasa, China.
Students get ready for an ATV adventure in Corfu, Greece.
View from flat onto Edgware Road in London, England.
The Potala Palace built at an altitude of 12,322 feet in Lhasa, China.
Jumping off cliffs in Greece while on the way to the Alps. Macarroons from Divan Pastaneleri in Ankara, Turkey.
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Daily life in KadikĂśy, Ä°stanbul, Turkey.
A scenic town with a history of 1,300 years in Wuzhen, China. The Panda Lake formed by glacial movements in Jiuzhaigou, China.
Students take a day trip to Stonehenge. Spice Bazaar in EminĂśnĂź, Istanbul, Turkey.
The inside of Church of Saint Savior of Chora in Faith in Istanbul, Turkey.
Sunrise along the coast in Pembrokeshire National Park, spring 2015 31
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Balloons on the shore of the Marmara Sea in Kadikรถy, Istanbul, Turkey.