Common Ground Fall 2015 - CROSSings: Borderline by Cross-Cultural Center UCSD

borderline crossings

ucsd cross cultural center

COMMON GROUND VOLUME 21 â&#x20AC;˘ FALL QUARTER 2015

direc to râ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s me ssa ge

st a ff fe a t u re

in tro to c ro ssi n gs

FA R fe a t ure

edwina welch

hye young choi

staff & interns

robert castro

borderline crossings

f a l l m o m ent s

c o m m un ity s ub m is s io ns

staff & interns

ucsd cross cultural center

COMMON GROUND VOLUME 21 â&#x20AC;˘ FALL QUARTER 2015

winter c a le n d a r

director’s message BORDER CROSSINGS: TRAVERSING AT THE INTERSECTIONS

Borders are physical, spatial, temporal, intellectual, creative, personal, and ever present. For many, borders represent separation from family, friends, history, and knowledge. Borders define who belongs and who does not. National borders, personal borders, political borders, shape all aspects of our lives regardless of our awareness. Borders support cultural appropriation- we can dress up the ‘others’ with no consequence because those groups or cultures are ‘foreign’ to us. We can laugh, make jokes, and have an opinion about others without ever understanding how the food got to our table, where the clothes we wear come from, how our world works today. We can ignore borders—unless they impact us directly. We are meant to transverse, examine, and critique the very nature of borders

and boundaries because as individuals and communities we navigate them each and every day with 'real-life' emotional and material consequences. The UC San Diego Cross-Cultural Center was created to bridge these borders, to create spaces of home for underrepresented and marginalized students, staff, faculty, and community. At the same time, the campus community centers live on the boundaries of University policy and practice, negotiating and navigating the terrain of diversity and social justice. In many ways understanding the Center’s work as border and boundary spanning allows for conversation, events, research, and practices that examine all aspects of border. Traversing, naming and critiquing borders can help us build more understanding and a better campus climate. We invite you in this issue and through the work of the Center to join us on the journey. Edwina Welch

director’s message

"Gloria was not saying: well here are these two opposites and out of this contradiction comes a new, third way. No, no... she was saying that these opposites had to be kicked out from under— they were not a foundation, but only got in the way of creating what she was after. There was no linear combination of two contradictions to create a third; rather Gloria saw that between the contradictions was a place of the untethered possibility. A place that [Gloria], in her very act of writing into it, would learn how to occupy." —Editor’s Note, in Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza

"A border is a dividing line, a narrow strip along a steep edge. A borderland is a vague and undetermined place created by the emotional residue of an unnatural boundary. It is in a constant state of transition. The prohibited and forbidden are its inhabitants. Los atravesados live here: the squint-eyed, the perverse, the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel, the mulato, the half-breed, the half dead; in short, those who cross over, pass over, or go through the confines of the 'normal'." —Gloria Anzaldua, p25 in Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza

intro to CROSSings While brainstorming for CROSSings, I tried to think of what brought me into “community.” Grappling with my Asian American and undocumented identities came to mind, which led me to think about borders and borderlands. Gloria Anzaldua’s book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza was my main source of inspiration. The Fall 2015 sub-theme is “Borderline,” which examines the tangible and intangible margins we constantly construct and deconstruct, the thresholds we struggle to identify and navigate, and the barriers that protect and oppress us through time and space. Hye Young

intro to crossings

EDWINA WELCH DIRECTOR

meet the VERONICA SANCHEZ SOCIAL JUSTICE E D U C AT O R

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JAMEZ AHMAD O P E R AT I O N S & MARKETING

BENJAMIN MENDOZA OFFICE MANAGER

V I O L E TA G O N Z A L E S A S S I S TA N T DIRECTOR

ALEXIS BUZ SOCIAL JUSTICE E D U C AT O R

NANCY MAGPUSAO E D U C AT I O N A L PROGRAMS

N ATA L I E L A I SOCIAL JUSTICE E D U C AT O R

FAT I M A K A M I L SOCIAL JUSTICE E D U C AT O R

E D WA R D N A D U R ATA A F F I L I AT E S & O U T R E A C H C O O R D I N AT O R

WHITNEY KIM LA P R O G R A M A S S I S TA N T

CARL DE LEON PREUSS INTERN

JOLENA VERGARA COLLÁS JOY DE L A CRUZ ART & ACTIVISM INTERN

MAURX SALCEDO PEÑA P R O G R A M A S S I S TA N T

HYE YOUNG CHOI COMMON GROUND MARKETING INTERN

KEVIN LE C A M P U S OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT

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hat is your Role?

EDWINA: As the Director of the Center, my roles and goals are to support and create an environment where interns, students, staff, faculty, alum, and community can come together, critically engage in our histories, understand the interlocking nature of oppressions, and work toward building a more socially just climate. NANCY: As an Educational Programs and Social Justice Training Coordinator, I supervise the Social Justice Educator cohort and provide trainings and workshops to the campus community relating to cultural diversity, leadership and identity development, and cultural competency using a social justice framework. In addition, I also organize programs targeting faculty and staff such as academic and community presentations, professional development, and educational enrichment. JAMEZ: As the Operations and Marketing Coordinator I am in charge of maintaining the facilities and operations of the CCC. I also oversee the media and marketing. I supervise the Special Operations interns. I also work closely with the volunteer program. BENJAMIN: As the Office Manager I assist in the day-to-day operations of the CCC (managing the front desk, ordering supplies, etc.) as well as coordinate our Affiliate Program which means I get to work with all of the wonderful student leaders and organizations that have a close relationship with the Cross. Since I am new to the UCSD community, I hope to build more connections on campus and learn more about how I can better assist in the growth and development of the students that come through the CCC. JOLENA: I am the Joy De La Cruz Art and Activism Intern. My main responsibilities include coordinating art and activism themed art receptions, programs, and

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F E AT U R E D D Í A D E L O S M U E R T O S A LTA R JOLENA VERGARA COLLÁS

workshops as well as maintain the exhibits in all three art spaces. My goals in this position are all centered around challenging our ideas of art and our ways of engaging with it. I definitely want to encourage community to engage with art as a healing practice and empowering experience. NATALIE: As a Social Justice Educator I work with other SJE’s to create and facilitate workshops with a social justice framework in hopes of encouraging others to think critically and engage in discussion about themselves and their environment. ALEXIS: As a Social Justice Educator, I get to work with 3 other amazing coworkers in a team of 4 as we get requests from UCSD and the San Diego Community for all sorts of workshops. I strive to

create a brave space for critical dialogue to occur by facilitating the critical conversations and social justice knowledge shared in an interactive environment. It is my goal to continue the over 20 years of legacy here at the Cross and to help leave a lasting impact in this campus, especially for undocumented students who often times get left in the shadows here at UCSD. MAURX: I am one of two Program Assistant Interns. As a program assistant, I create different programs on a variety of topics within social justice and community building. I also work with the Assistant Director in order to support the many other Cross-Cultural Center programs that happen throughout the year. My work is driven by and compatible with a lot of my own passions and interests. I strive to create programs that are relevant and provide space for historically

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NIGHT SHIFT

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PICTURED FAT I M A , K E V I N , V E R O N I C A

underrepresented groups because there are so many stories and experiences that remain silenced and unacknowledged. EDWARD: As Affiliates and Leadership, I get to work with the student organizations affiliated with the Cross-Cultural Center and make sure that they’re getting the support that they need from the Center. I get to host retreats and mixers that enable students to interact with other leaders from the organizations affiliated with the CCC. I also work closely with the Student Affirmative Action Committee and serve as the liaison to them and all the SAAC orgs. VERONICA: I am a Social Justice Educator Intern at the CCC. My role is to create a space where students, staff, faculty, and community members can come together and have critical dialogues through a social justice lens that promote learning and growth. My goal is to facilitate a conversation with folks that will help foster and explore their journey of learning and empowering through their identities. FATIMA: I’m one of four Social Justice Educators who work together to facilitate conversations surrounding diversity and inclusion. These workshops are requested by campus and student organizations in order to start conversations regarding controversial topics. I hope that those who participate in these workshops will continue to use the Cross-Cultural Center to learn more and to begin using our social justice framework in their daily lives whether it is in conversation with other acquaintances in their classes and workplaces. WHITNEY: I am one out of two Programming Assistant Interns (PIs) at the Cross-Cultural Center. My role includes creating passive programming boards, critique this boards, my own

hat is your Role?

programs, and assisting Violeta with her programs. I do a lot of publicity and advertising for different programs that the CCC puts on as a PI and a bunch of other various things. My goals this year are to be in community more with everyone and to get to know my fellow interns better. I hope to continue learning and growing from everyone in the space because this is truly where I’ve found a sense of community. KEVIN: My position at the Cross-Cultural Center is Campus Outreach and Engagement. My role is to connect with the campus and provide students alternative ways to be involved with the Center. I’ve been developing the Cross-Cultural Center’s Volunteer program with the staff to make sure that our program caters to the needs of students on campus who are looking for valuable experience in leadership, professionalism, and social justice. I want to assists students in becoming greater leaders in the community! HYE YOUNG: As the Common Ground Newsletter and Marketing intern, my job is to create a quarterly newsletter and assist Jamez with the weekly E-News. Through the Common Ground, I hope to highlight powerful stories, thoughts, and talents in our community. CARL DE LEON: As a Preuss Intern, I am given work to do for the CCC, from inputting things into the computer, to working the front desk. I hope to help around the office by getting tedious tasks out of the way. I also hope to learn and grow as a person through the CCC.

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EDWINA: To me ‘borders’ are physical, spatial, temporal, intellectual, creative, personal, and ever present. Borders define who is in and who is out in all the context mentioned above. Borders represent the power to name and to ignore. We are meant to transverse, examine, and critique the very nature of borders because as individuals and communities we navigate them each and every day with ‘real-life’ emotional and material consequences- borders are strong enough to kill and strong enough to heal. BENJAMIN: What immediately comes to mind when I hear the term “borders” are barriers, crossing and intersections. Borders can be physical, mental, and/or emotional. They can be places that hold both pain and hope.

myself as a first-generation Mexican-American, mujer, mixed status family, and UCSD student. I am talking about them on a much larger, global, destructive, dehumanizing scale. Borders have been built by oppressors as a mechanism to bring fear, control, isolation, and hopelessness to the people being oppressed, whether it’s in Mexico, Palestine, Guatemala, Korea, etc. Too bad for the oppressors that these borders have also created resilience, resistance, and revolutionary movements to break them down. ALEXIS: Borders are inhumane, unnatural, and malicious obstructions. Their only purpose is to tear apart families, dehumanize entire cultures, and justify making the very essence and existence of a human being “illegal.” The US-Mexico border has and will define my entire life. It has cast me and my family in the shadows, made us targets of blind hatred and ignorant violence, it has forced me to live with anxiety and a never-ending reminder that I might not get to see my family ever again. Borders kill children, parents, and families, and borders kill the very last bits of our morality and humanity.

what do

borders mean

NANCY: Borders hold multiple meanings for me. In social justice work, I think of borders as psychological, physical, and emotional barriers used to define and confine persons or ideologies that have varying, intersecting degrees of power and privilege; borders are used to separate desired and undesired elements (read: cultural imperialism, hegemony), to protect interests against the Other (historically, the Other has encompassed non white, non cisgender, non male, non-Christian, non-American citizen, non-able-bodied, nonEnglish-speaking persons, for starters).

to you?

JAMEZ: I think of borders from a queer theory framework as ways in which borders are used to categorize people into “different”, “other”, or “nonnormative”. I think of borders in that sense as things that are not useful in building community or learning to accept individuals as they are. VERONICA: When I talk about borders, I don’t just talk about borders and their effects on

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EDWARD: Borders are imaginary. Borders are man-made. Borders are both the end and the beginning. Borders are not constant. Borders, to me, are temporal manifestations of the imagination, meant to be crossed and contested so that I can be challenged by going outside the comforts of the border in order to grow. FATIMA: Borders are societal constructions that arbitrarily decide difference, exclusion, and inequality. They separate people and afford one group privileges and others none. They separate families, friends, and shared struggles. It is a symbol

F E AT U R E D : ( T O P )

F E AT U R E D : ( B O T T O M )

W H AT I S E N V I R O N M E N TA L R A C I S M ? MAURX SALCEDO PEÑA

RACIAL PROFILING I N T H E U. S . CARL DE LEON staff feature

of a hierarchical society that thrives on the elevation of one group and the marginalization, exploitation, and oppression of others. They are a reminder of violence, struggle, and hatred. KEVIN: “I think that our everyday lives are reflective of different borders - some very visible to us and others invisible. Being a queer, Southeast Asian American is a political identity made up of intersecting borders that manifest in how I act and am perceived in society. I think a lot about how my U.S. nationality and queerness does not fit in hetero-patriarchal roles upheld by my refugee family, who are also struggling with assimilation and racism. JOLENA: Borders mean limitations. My immediate thought is about how borders separate people, identities, and communities. But at the same time they are thought to unify the people within them.

MAURX: Borders are, at the core, made of cemented violence and power. They are still and seemingly everlasting yet they infiltrate, shift, merge, burn, dissolve, separate, and erase all at once. They seek dominion over many but are eagerly ready to dispose of certain presences and make as if some of us never existed in the first place. In my own life, the literal and figurative lines of difference that borders embody and enforce have resulted in revelation, hopelessness, isolation, and anger. I travel across and in between those lines, worlds, and identities every day yet am deemed non-existent. NATALIE: When most people think of a border, perhaps they think about the borders of an image within a coloring book, which guides us as a child. For others, the effects may be painful and triggering. For those who knows how it feels to be bounded within walls, “borders” becomes a place of suffocation, limitations, and separation. HYE YOUNG: The word “borders” brings suffering to mind. It reminds me of separation, sacrifice, death, and longing. I see most borders as arbitrary and unequal divisions that restrict people’s agencies. WHITNEY: When I think of borders, I think of physical walls that are unnaturally planted into the ground we stand on in order to divide certain groups from each other. I think of boundaries that are set by an institution to prevent people from crossing over to the other side or to separate families from each other. They are lines and tall narrow walls of separation that allow one side to thrive while the other struggles. CARL: Borders, to me, are related to boundaries. Borders set boundaries for different types of things. For example, they show how far a person can go before they reach the “limit”.

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do you what struggle to negotiate? JAMEZ: I struggle to negotiate my mixed race identity in spaces that focus solely on individual communities and this is compounded by my queerness and how it intersects in my own experiences as well as how queerness impacts the experiences of individuals that I am interacting with. NANCY: Navigating opposing truths can be a challenge and source of tension. For example, while I know that capitalism often means there are local and overseas workers that labor for so little pay and don’t have ideal working conditions with little or dismal benefits, I realize that I am a budgetconscious consumer who can make intentional decisions about what to buy and who to buy from, although such decisions may not always be in the best interests of the factory worker. ALEXIS: I struggle to negotiate how humanity has caused so much pain, misery, and atrocities throughout history to this day. How do we justify the act of making human beings “illegal” and the existence of murderous borders? How do we justify the racist and relentless murders of our black and brown communities at the hands of police? The displacement of communities of color through gentrification? The constant attempts to maintain control of women and their bodies? The current genocide of indigenous communities? The malicious treatment towards our LGBTQ communities? And sadly the list goes on. FATIMA: Negotiating my presence on this campus and my experiences as a Muslim, woman of color,

as well as the university’s complicity in so many oppressions is a daily struggle. Having to pass the Veteran’s hospital every day on my way to campus is a reminder of the violence we’re complicit in the massacres, tortures, and rapes of those who share my religion, my ethnicity, my language, my culture; the existence of a drone research division; the tuition we pay that directly funds attacks on the people of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Palestine - it’s a reminder of my own difference. WHITNEY: I struggle to negotiate my identities and personal happiness. Throughout my life, I have felt both validated and invalidated because of my ethnicity of being Teochew Chinese-Vietnamese American. Living in a world where one identity cannot exist without the other, I am proud of both of my ethnicities, but also have to carry the weight of what it means to be encompassed by them simultaneously. I also often struggle to prioritize my personal happiness and self care for work and school. I have to try to avoid disappointing other people, but also acknowledge that it is still important to take care of myself. JOLENA: I definitely struggle to negotiate my love of community with my commitment to higher education and devotion to my family. Activism isn’t easy and often requires sacrifices, even if they’re small ones, it’s hard to create boundaries and borders (see what I did there?) to maintain balance between all my commitments. MAURX: Because of the intersecting identities that I hold, I am constantly crossing different lines and worlds that often contest each other and produce destructive feelings of exclusion/not being enough. I struggle to negotiate belonging and even being because of this. I have confessed to some I hold dear that I am on a journey to build/find my

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“home” because “home” is a feeling/place I have never felt. It is a word that I have always avoided. I exist in a place in between identities. It is a place that many do not recognize but these identities dictate the way I have to live my life for survival. HYE YOUNG: I sometimes feel like if I want to go to medical school as an undocumented student, I have to sell myself and act out multiple scripts that society has written for me (myth of meritocracy, the model minority myth, the

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DREAMer narrative). I also struggle to navigate social justice spaces as an Asian American woman and ally to black and brown communities. I realize I have great privilege, I realize I have benefitted from the struggles of other POCs, but I often feel invalidated by non-API folks on campus. The system is way too good at erasing our histories and pitting us against each other. I would like to lend myself as an ally, but I have yet to have meaningful dialogues about how to work in solidarity.

What is the CCC’s relationship to the daily crossings we undertake to exist in multiple contexts? EDWINA: The Cross-Cultural Center was born at the intersections of ‘crossing.’ Students, staff, faculty, and community came together to create spaces that support the ability to thrive. To this day first time visitors comment that the space ‘feels’ different than other places on campus and students comment they wish they found the space sooner then their 3rd or 4th year. As we traverse spaces the unnamed feeling of welcome and validation continue to be the intangible elements that support day to day crossings in the Center and at UCSD. NANCY: The Cross-Cultural Center’s relationship to the daily “crossings” we undertake to thrive is one of facilitating healthful and generative forms

of interactions. Borders are socially and physically constructed, imagined, and imposed. I’d like to think that the Cross-Cultural Center is working to reconstruct, reimagine, and propose alternative, healthy ways of being, living, and thinking. JAMEZ: The CCC is a point of convergence where existence, survival, and thriving all intersect. The CCC plays a crucial role in providing support to all individuals who are experiencing any type of “crossing” in their lives. It is a resting place as well as the fork in the road. ALEXIS: For me, the Cross-Cultural Center is the only space at UCSD, possibly in the state or staff feature

even entire nation that allows us to engage in these daily “crossings” with a stronger sense of self and “community.” The Cross-Cultural Center was started by critically minded students of color, has grown tremendously because of a diverse staff and a critical community of students of color, and will forever be the home for the SAAC community as it continues to thrive for years to come. EDWARD: With the CCC being in the center of campus and it’s mission to look at everything through intersectionality, I believe that the CCC plays an important role in the daily “crossings” in our life and at UCSD. The center through it’s over 20 years at UCSD is a place of growth, (re)learning, and questioning of the many things in and out of the university. I think the CCC is a place of innovation and a place of curiosity that fuels and provokes the minds of the many individuals who traverse the CCC and the UCSD campus.

FATIMA: To me, the Cross-Cultural Center is a place where we can negotiate these “crossings.” It is a platform for us to discuss struggles, identities, and oppressions and a sanctuary from the daily reminders of our differences. It is a place to laugh, to cry, to learn, and to gain strength. WHITNEY: I think that the Cross-Cultural Center is an amazing place to find support, friendships, knowledge, and community when we struggle to retain ourselves and prioritize the multiple crossings we have to undertake as students, siblings, children, role models, student workers, community leaders, etc. I often find myself coming back to the CrossCultural Center after a long day, when I’m lost and don’t know where to go, or to just find people for support.

What is the CCC’s relationship to the daily crossings we undertake to exist in multiple contexts?

VERONICA: In a literal sense, I believe the CCC’s relationship to our own daily crossings as POC students of many intersecting identities at UCSD has, in a way, became a loophole or transition state at this institution to help us navigate our journey through the imaginary borders that this institution has put in place. For me at least, I can’t say I would still be here as a student or an intern without places like the CCC.

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KEVIN: As part of 5 campus community centers at UCSD, the CCC’s values and philosophies are shared across campus. I think that the great thing about being a part of spaces like the CCC is having the opportunity to not only break down borders personal to you, but also be involved in breaking down borders for others as well. I see these spaces promoting and helping maintain collaboration across all borders. The CCC has provided me the space to grow as a student leader and activist in addition to being a welcoming spot for eating, reflecting, and studying.

F E AT U R E D W E E K 2 T H O U G H T S P O T: W H AT ’ S Y O U R FAV O R I T E VIRAL VIDEO? FAT I M A K A M I L

crossing into the CCC makes it easier to take the breaths I never took growing up. NATALIE: I think the term “crossing”, in context relevant to the mission of the Cross, refers to intersectionality. We all hold many different identities and values that sometimes cross over with others. Where we find a common cross connection, we foster that to create a community around education, that’s both diverse and different, but also united by our common need for knowledge.

JOLENA: I think that the Cross-Cultural Center is a sanctuary for the crossing of many different identities as well as the home for those negotiating those daily crossings. I would venture to say that those daily crossings are encouraged and engaged with because of the Cross-Cultural Center and the tools for development it provides. MAURX: The CCC is one of those “in between” spaces for me. Since getting more involved at the CCC, I feel closer to that idea of “home”. The CCC is a refuge where I feel seen, valued, and where I can just be. In many ways it has become a refuge and a place where some recognize me for who I am and all the complexities buried within me. These are feelings I never thought I would experience. I grew up needing to be actively resilient in order to survive no matter the exhaustion and moments where I collapsed. But

HYE YOUNG: The CCC facilitates “crossings” by providing a space for listening, learning, and reflecting. These processes often help me find ways around borders and imagined obstacles. During my first year at UCSD, shortly after the death of Michael Brown, I attended a Black Studies Project round table discussion at the CCC. It was the first time I had listened to black people’s struggles from a place of extreme humility and conviction. At first I was ashamed because I had entered that space thinking I would get my personal questions about antiblackness in the Asian American community addressed. But it was a necessary step for me to understand the gravity and complexity of all the problems the black community faced. That was the beginning of my comprehension of the frustration and urgency of black students on campus. It really hurt that I had to fight myself and multiple institutions to understand humanity, but the CCC mediated that difficult “crossing.”

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extras VIOLETA: I am the Assistant Director/Program Coordinator of the Cross-Cultural Center. I can’t believe my 10 year anniversary is coming up! My time at the CCC has been very fruitful. Coordinating our internship program has been one of the most meaningful aspects of my life. So many memories start with the intern retreat and continue after they have completed their internship. I am still very much connected to many interns. I am enthused to hear about their adventures post college. They reminisce about the special moments they shared within the walls of the Cross. Some of these moments can be found in our enews’, Common Ground Issues, and permanently on the glass walls outside of the CCC Comunidad room. The art installation on these glass walls document 20 years of existence. You can see the many faces and events that have shaped the Cross. I visited the wall this week and looked at the empty glass past 2014 after giving a tour to a new student and began to reflect on last year. Our 20th anniversary felt like a border, borderlining into a future of possibilities. Everything that has happened in the last 20 years seemed to have been building up to that celebratory moment that many of us shared with each other. Now that the climax is over, I don’t feel that we are at a peak. We are continually peaking with no end in sight. That’s the most exciting thing to me about the Cross-Cultural Center! We will continue to grow as long as the Cross continues to have a heart that strengthens the foundation for the students and community we serve. BENJAMIN: I recently received my Master’s degree in Higher Education Leadership from the University of San Diego. Before moving to San Diego two

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and a half years ago, I lived in Seattle, Washington for eight years where I received my Bachelor’s in Communication Studies and worked at Seattle Central College. Since living in San Diego, I have loved getting to learn more about the city and the local community. In addition to working at UCSD, I also love to volunteer with the Trevor Project (which is a non-profit organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ youth) and San Diego PRIDE. In my free time I like hanging out with friends, going on art crawls, taking long walks on the beach (no seriously), checking out local events, and finding cool spots to watch the sunset. JAMEZ: I love TV and film. I am currently watching Empire, How to Get Away with Murder, Quantico, Once Upon a Time, The Walking Dead, Gotham, and Teen Wolf. Other favorite shows include Sailor Moon, Digimon, Pokemon, and Cowboy Bebop. If you nerd out over TV we can nerd out together!! ALEXIS: I am a fifth year transfer double majoring in Ethnic Studies and Public Health. BORDERS ARE NOT SUSTAINABLE AND WILL BE TAKEN DOWN ONE DAY BY THE COMMUNITIES THEY DISPLACE. EDWARD: I am a fourth year double majoring in Economics and Ethnic Studies. I have a white Pomeranian dog named Buddy. I am from Glendale, California. I was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States when I was 12. I also like school supplies and consider my purchases as a personal investment to my education and note-taking. VERONICA: I am a third year majoring in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Ethnic Studies. To dismantle borders, systems of oppressions, social constructs, brutality, and hate, is to bring liberation

to all who have been oppressed by and have not benefited from these constructs. FATIMA: I am a third year majoring in Urban Studies and Planning with a concentration in urban diversity. My minors are Ethnic Studies and Global Health. What is crucial to even beginning to negotiate or trying to overcome our struggles and our conflicting identities is to have a place like the Cross-Cultural Center that can facilitate these discussions and provide intersectional and cross-cultural understanding and solidarity. It’s a privilege to have a place that strives to retain and provide resources to marginalized students. WHITNEY: I am a second year majoring in Public Health. I am excited for what this year has to offer and am looking forward to being a part of the CrossCultural Center and the legacy that it holds and continues to create. The vibe of everyone here from the professional staff to the interns has been amazing and I am excited for new people to become a part of the space as well! KEVIN: I am a fifth year double majoring in Ethnic Studies and General Biology. Last summer I went to Vietnam to study abroad with Ethnic Studies! Through the class, I learned so much about how queer youth navigate through unsupportive institutions and family structures. Lastly, everything that I am started in the Asian and Pacific-Islander Student Alliance (APSA). When I think about where I am today, I think about all of the strong and empowering women I’ve met in APSA. It was their passion and guidance that empowered me to become better each day as a person and as a leader. Thank you for seeing the potential in me before I did! JOLENA: I am a fourth year double majoring in Ethnic Studies and Sociology. I am a loud and annoyingly proud Fifth Harmony fan and Kale

enthusiast. I enjoy cooking and smashing patriarchy. MAURX: I am a fourth year double majoring in Ethnic Studies & Earth Science and minoring in Education Studies. “And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” This is a quote by Haruki Murakami that rests in my mind as I lay in the outskirts and in-betweens of borderlines. I am slowly collecting my tools and dreams so that one day I can end these borderlines and instead bring a beginning to my home. HYE YOUNG: I am a fourth year transfer student double majoring in Global Health and Biochemistry & Cell Biology. Some fun facts: 1) when I took my first Ethnic Studies class in community college I cried while reading my textbook; 2) my favorite book is And the Band Played On; 3) I spent my summer at a community health clinic called Asian Health Services developing a transgender patient care protocol; 4) I have experienced more emotional growth from one quarter of working at the CCC than I have my entire undergraduate career; 5) I love Thai food. NATALIE: I am a fourth year majoring in Communication and minoring in Socioanthropology. I like reading court cases and I am bad at remembering names. CARL: My full name is Carl Joshua Guiab De Leon and I like the color blue. I have an older sister who is 22 and lives with her husband and two children, and I have an older brother who is 26 that lives in his own house with my dad. I live with my mom and her boyfriend. staff feature

introducing

dr. Robert Castro 2015-2016 U C S D T H E AT R E & D A N C E FACULT Y IN RESIDENCE

How did you get to where you are? I like to think I have had crossroads in my life that have influenced me as both an Artist and Human Being. One of those was right here at UCSD as an UG in the Theatre & Dance Department, when I met and worked with the theatre director Anne Bogart. She made me aware that the Theatre and Art are really about big, necessary ideas - putting ideas and thinking on the stage. Another major crossroad was my time as an Associate Artist with El Teatro Campesino, the Chicano theatre company founded by Luis Valdez. Luis challenged me to embrace my sense of identity, my sense of history, my sense

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of community, my definition of America. Another crossroad was my time working with Anna Deveare Smith, the great actor and writer. It was during my time with Anna that I realized as an Artist I have the opportunity and power! - to shape and influence culture.

What kind of conversations are you looking forward to having with the community during your CCC residency? What thrills me most about my residency this year is the opportunity to meet and spend time with the diverse communities and individuals that make up the CCC. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m

looking forward to hearing what people feel are important and pressing concerns - both in day-to-day living and in the larger world. I’m looking forward to conversations about what people are curious about, what they are obsessed with, what they are passionate about...

What is theatre’s role in addressing contemporary social justice issues? What I love most about the theatre is its ability to respond to the world around us. To take problems and crisis and not only discover and offer creative solutions, but to express those possible solutions in an artistic fashion. I firmly believe theatre that is filled with a moral energy and sense of social justice has the potential to transform and heal our world.

Could you tell us a little bit about your current project? My current project is a new play by the Los Angeles playwright Gabe Rivas Gomez. Gabe has written a contemporary adaptation of Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. We have been developing the piece for the past year and it will have its premiere in LA in January 2016. Gabe and I spent the summer deep in dramaturgical discussions and rewrites after a reading of the play in May. I’m just about to begin working with the designers - sets, costumes, lights, sound - in the next days.

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fall moments

empty keyholes by hawari aia

I. My frame stands, defiant. In memory of the hands that contributed to my legacy. I am not what housed, but, instead, what homed. My frame, now, broken, a fond yet fading memory of what was, and a capacity of disaster. In loving hands, are the keys that fit this— these empty key holes.

The ones I struggled to learn, struggled to maintain. I live in these frames, these, empty key holes. III. We are stripped of our humanity, and our culture, our land, our home, our home, but we have the keys, and the deeds to our home. They are our weapons, but what are they to compare? Our family photos are shattered paper held together by the tears of weeping mothers.

IV. Empty key holes, defiant frames, and, and, she still has a name, and still knows their names. II. Tormented under oppression. Maimed until her knuckles bled I have chosen to live in the defiant frame. the color of life. Or maybe I can’t leave. Suffocated to an ashen face. Or maybe there’s nowhere else But— to go. …still breathing. To inhabit, to live, to be. Still alive, she is. I am a memory, a source of grief, Alive indeed, and so I watch over my family but she has had better days. And, she has a name. I am here. I am home. Her name is Falasteen. But I have forgotten my name. Can’t put my finger on them— my syllables of familiarity. fall moments

week 1-5 winter programs MON

TUES

WED

THURS

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

JANUARY

winter 2016 calendar

Thursday, 1/7, 1-2pm, CCC ArtSpace, 2016–17 Intern Hiring Information Session

Thursday, 1/14, 5-7pm, The Village, CCC Info Session for Transfer Students

Thursday, 1/21, 12-2, CCC Communidad, Hot Topics: “Documented” Film Screening & Discussion

5-7pm, CCC Comunidad, Life Skills Series

FEBRUARY

Tuesday, 1/19, 4pm, CCC, 2016–17 Intern Hiring application deadline

WEEK 5

WEEK 4

WEEK 3

FRI

Thursday, 2/4, 6:30-7:30pm, CCC ArtSpace, Breather Series: Therapy Fluffies

winter programs

week 5-11

WEEK 9

WEEK 8

WEEK 7

WEEK 6

MON

TUES

WED

THURS

Wednesday, 2/10, 3-5pm, CCC Comunidad, Real World Career Series: Public Speaking

Thursday, 2/11, 12-1:30pm, CCC Communidad, Hot Topics: MTV’s “White People” Documentary Film Screening and Discussion

WEEK 10

MARCH

FINALS

FRI

Monday, 3/14, 9am–Tuesday, 3/15, 9pm, CCC All, StressLess: 24 Hour Study Jam

Thursday, 2/25, 5-7pm, LocationTBD, Race, Privilege, and Immigration in the U.S.- An Evening with Jose Antonio Vargas

Thursday, 3/3, 4-7pm, CCC Library, Winter Wellness Party

Thursday, 3/10, 12-3pm, CCC ArtSpace, Breather Series: Arts and Crafts