Category: Project Weekly

Updated ILC Description:

This independent study project, created for and within the Student Originated Studies: Commodification Processes and Alternatives program, will study aspects of social justice, gender and sexuality, and political economy, with additional connections to the culture and politics of food and eating through the learning objective evidenced by the question, why is it important to study social justice and community relationship building? The student will work in an Internship with the Trans and Queer Center to research Trans and Queer centered spaces in higher education. The student will create a portfolio of work documenting their studies during the quarter, as well as writing a reflection paper at the end of the quarter, and creating a literature review for the Trans and Queer Center through their internship. Texts to be utilized in full or part over the quarter include: Racial Indigestion by Kyla Wazana Tompkins, The Chronicles of Winona Laduke: Stories from the Front Lines in the Battle for Environmental Justice by Winona LaDuke, The Secret Financial Life of Food by Kara Newman, Of The People, By The People: The Case For A Participatory Economy by Robin Hahnel, and Becoming A Student Ready College by Tia Brown McNair and Susan Albertine.

Final Narrative Self Eval Wright 1

Zoe Final Presentation on Quarter and Research

Final Research Report

ComAlt

Sarah Williams

End of Quarter Summation Paper

Zoe Wright

Multiple Narratives, Art, and Social Justice.

This aspect of this quarter’s work has been primarily amorphous, and very thought based. It’s something that doesn’t come together as feeling like it’s been work until the last moment, and then you have interesting connections and pieces fit together in ways you didn’t know they would. This quarter has solidified my understanding of how to find connections and find the ways each seemingly disparate subject touches another subject. I started out at the beginning of the quarter with the question “why is it important to study social justice and community relationship building?”. As the quarter has progressed, I’ve broadened my ideas to include why interdisciplinary or unconventional forms of education are important, and why it’s important to pay attention to art, performance, and informal or popular conversations around social justice and education issues. This paper provides a broad answer to these questions through discussions of what I’ve learned through the various conversations I’ve explored over the quarter, and why they have been important to my education and to the way I will consider and act on further education.

I’ve spent much of this quarter paying attention to the various ways people communicate and learn with each other in ways that wouldn’t be traditionally considered learning or getting education. I’ve read portions of the books Of the People, by the People; The Case For Participatory Economy, and Becoming A Study Ready College. I’ve read articles around social justice issues, current events, and the way various communities are building social justice languages and sharing them. I’ve watched videos that take a formal presentation speaking format, such as TED videos, and I’ve watched more personal discussion or satire videos. I’ve talked with people, and I’ve witnessed art and performances. I’ve attended workshops and lectures. I’ve done my best to pay attention to what is happening around me in the world.

One of the big critiques of higher education through colleges and universities is that you end up in a very protected, very homogenous idea bubble. That you don’t get challenged enough to speak with people outside your circle or deal with issues outside your circle, and you can start to expect certain language will be understood by everyone when it will not be. It can create a kind of language barrier.

If you think of highly scientific and technicial positions, there is a lot of jargon that happens within those positions because everyone in that circle will know what that jargon means. But anyone outside of that circle will be guessing or misinterpreting the meaning based on what jargon words mean in other areas. People who can translate jargon into terms anyone can understand, like tech writers, are very important in breaking this language barrier.

One of the workshops I attended was called Debating For Democracy, and was on the topic of framing issues. There were several big takeaways from that day of discussion. Depending on the results you want to achieve, some of the things to keep in mind are starting from the beginning of your issue. You’ve spent years and time and effort thinking about your issue and all its intricacies, but the person you’re speaking about it with likely won’t have, and won’t understand why your issue is important or connected to something they care about if you don’t start from the beginning. You want it to feel like there is tangible action that will make a difference and can be taken, because if everything is too big and too scary, nothing productive can be done. And you want to focus on broad, systemic ideas, rather than individualized or episodic stories. You don’t want to talk about one person who had an unfair experience, you want to talk about why certain people are far more likely to have that same kind of unfair experience in different circumstances.

During another workshop around privilege and recognizing privilege and being aware of privilege dynamics around you, there was a lot of discussion of development. For this workshop we discussed target status and agent status, places where a person is likely to be targeted as outside the norm and with less power, and places where a person is likely to have more power and be within the norm. There’s different ways you can be aware of those dynamics, and you can be aware of them at any point in time in different ways. So a lot of our discussion was on how that awareness of dynamics can work if you know it’s there and can recognize where you are at that particular moment, and where the person you’re talking to is. Because in essence, recognizing those stages was understanding what kind of language you needed to use to have the outcome you wanted. If you were aiming to educate and the person you were talking to is completely ignorant of terms like white privilege or oppression, it’s going to be a very different type of conversation than if they do have a basic understanding of those or other terms.

This is why I’ve found it very important to listen to all kinds of conversation and communication on all levels this quarter, because being aware of the kind of language that’s being used to have conversations on the subject you want to have conversations about is incredibly important.

It’s also why I feel that working on creating more available access to education is important. You want to have any many people getting the opportunities to learn what they want as possible, because that benefits everyone. You want there to be a broad mix of ideas and minds and experiences, on campus or anywhere else, because having to change and adapt your ideas to include others is incredibly powerful to developing messages and ideas that can cut across boundaries and create change. And to me, access to education doesn’t always have to mean access to formal, traditional, higher education as we think of it now. There are many ways to get a very good education that always involved that type of school. New methods of teaching and learning together are being used every day, and technology that provides greater geographical access to people to discuss different ideas with is definitely part that. There is more to education than intellectual book learning.

The book Becoming A Student Ready College is based on the idea that colleges and universities should meet students where they are experientially, rather than wanting students to have already achieved the criteria for being a perfect student. If that kind of model were to take hold, it would create a much greater access to education for a lot more students have it available to them now. However, while this book does briefly mention how your life experiences can impact your educational success, there isn’t a deeper probe at intersectionality, and much of the discussion is centered on very theoretical ideas rather than concrete actions and steps that can be taken. It’s hard because it’s not a model that exists yet, or one that only exists in a few small ways, but it does make it frustrating when all that is being done is thinking about how to think and talking about how to think.

One idea that I have come across during my research project for the Trans and Queer Center this quarter is the idea of a counterspace. In my understanding, it is a safe space that has taken a further step and is used as a foundation of safety and solidarity to put in work on creating social change. I love the idea of a space that is not only a safe place to be and express yourself, but also a place where you can find strength to do the difficult and stressful work that creates change. I’ve discussed at some point over the quarter an experience I think was as close as I have come to experiencing such a place and atmosphere. That was at the dragshow I attended on the night of or day after the Inauguration. The space that show created was very much a place for celebration, for expressions of anger, and for acknowledgment that there would be battles ahead and that this performance and community building time would be part of what would give all of us in that space the power to carry on.

To go in hand with the idea of counterspaces, I’ve experienced several deeply moving performances over the quarter that have created quiet space for reflection and acknowledgment of other’s experiences and the many ways you can share experiences and have different experiences at the same time.

These performances for me have tied into the ideas of media and other forms of representation and creation of multiple narratives. In watching the musical Allegiance you can see how each characters experiences their need to fight for their freedom and their happiness and their lives, and you can see that each character sees each other character’s actions in very different lights based on their own decisions. It was a really powerful and richly potent way to highlight that people may struggle for the same common goal in ways that are entirely opposite each other and perhaps may work against each other because there isn’t the right kind of communication happening. To highlight that way of multiple narratives being powerful and true in such a way was truly beautiful. Because there is danger in having a single narrative that describes an entire people, it’s over simplifying and generally not a good narrative that’s being told. There are few role models and it makes it seem like there are few prospects.

One of the things that I wanted to hold onto over this quarter, was the idea of not discounting the power and message of something just because it is fiction, or just because it is art. There are many conversations to be had over art and fiction’s role in change and social movements, but that it has a role is undeniable. Don’t discount the powerful things you can learn from books, movies, art, and performance.

I have grown up with the somewhat odd sounding idea around me that fiction can have a more potent element of truth than reality can at times. Of course that’s then a discussion on what truth is that’s entirely too complicated and unanswerable for this moment, but still, fiction can distill powerful, expressive ideas from experience.

People make meaning from stories, so just because it’s a story doesn’t mean it shouldn’t make meaning for you. To practice compassion and empathy and powerful emotions around powerful artwork and performance, and remember that those powerful emotions can be carried over into other aspects of your life feels like an incredible benefit.

Fiction can be used to satire and exaggerated things that are wrong, as well as highlighting things that are right. Science fiction, or even fantasy, as ways to critique issues in our society is a very real and fairly frequently used device. Fiction can also form a brilliant place to develop thinking on topics that fall very much in ‘gray areas’ that force your mind to be complicated in the way you make up and develop your morals, ethics, and ideals. With intention fiction can become proponents of intersectionality by exploring diverse, fully fleshed out character’s with identities that are real and include more than one stereotype or trope, or better yet of course are not based on stereotype or trope at all.

In listening to TED Talks about how to work on changing narratives through action, or art, or in certain decisions, in listening to Angela Davis speak live, and then listening to a conversation between her and Toni Morrison about prison and education and the commodification of libraries and knowledge, in reading even part of By The People, For The People, I have found incredible connections between ideas of intersectionality, interdisciplinary diverse types of education, and art, performance, and story.

I feel that everyone should know a little bit and think a little about all of those connections and intricate dynamics. And that if you do, and if you realize you are and you should and you keep doing it, then you’re going to get a pretty good education, whether you’re in a college or not. And because I have that feeling and I’m working to recognize those principles, I’m very satisfied with the work that I have done this quarter, and the connections I have made between informal means of communication and learning, and their importance to formal means of communication and learning.

As I have been working hard on producing the final products of my work over these last two weeks, I will keep this short.

I have written a final paper in summation of my studies around social justice, education, and art which will be posted as project post.

I have written a final report of my research which will be posted as well to the project posts.

I am satisfied with the work that I have done over this quarter, and I am glad to have finally finished these projects and be able to be proud of my results.

Time these weeks have been taken up mostly by final reading, much thinking about writing, and writing. I haven’t had the chance to think of a proper topic to discuss from my week’s musing, as I have done previously because of this incredibly focused work. I believe my final projects will speak for themselves.

This week has been fairly stressful as I work to get all of the things done that I need to get done before the end of the quarter. I am further behind on work than I would like to be, and there are a few things that I had said I would do if I had time that I will not be able to do, but I think I am still able to do all of the elements that I had included in my ILC.

My research is starting to feel like it is coming together into something interesting and useful, at least as a starting for further research.

I am stressed about getting everything done, but I think I can do it. It won’t be as timely as I was hoping, but the end of quarter snuck up and collided with extra work not only for this program but also for my job and other responsibilities outside of school.

As the end of the quarter nears I feel a bit as I always do, there is a lot of doubt that what I have accomplished is enough or will be good enough, but also knowing that it is the best that I could have done under the circumstances.

In addition to running about madly getting things done and amassing large amounts of hours as buffer for week ten, I attended a dance performance at the Cornish Playhouse in Seattle. It was put on by the Spectrum theatre company, cand called Rambuctious Iteration #3: “The Immigrants”.

It was five dances with live music accompaniment from a simple collection of instruments.

The music was composed by different immigrant composers from various places in the world, most of which the US has had conflict or tense relationships with over the years.

We were introduced to the piece by the artistic director of Spectrum who said that many of their works of late had been having political elements and commentary, and this piece also perhaps had subtler political implications.

This dance performance was to quietly stand on its own and say, if we did not have immigrants and their experiences, we would not be able to witness this beauty and art. We would be deprived of their contribution to the arts and our society.

The performances were beautiful and powerful, and it was a really wonderful, intimate experience of being in a small theater with personal talks and questions between each dance as the musicians set up, being able to see the movement of the dancers and the concentration of the musicians. The music was interesting and felt new and fresh.

It was a really wonderful experience, and I really appreciated how well this performance fit into my quarter’s exploration of the connections between education, social justice, and art and theater.

It is the highlight and relaxed part of my week, and I am glad I got to attend even through the business and stress of the rest of the week.

 

This last week has been incredibly busy. I attended the Evergreen Lobby Day at the Capitol, the Debating for Democracy Workshop, and I had an awesome conversation about research questions with my internship supervisor.

The lobby day was really interesting, I wasn’t really sure what it was before I got there, but I’m very happy I got to go. It was put on through the Trans and Queer Center, and a small group of us traveled to the Capitol campus, heard a short presentation by an ACLU representative, a short outline of what bills had been chosen for us to talk to our representatives about that day, and a brief description of what lobbying is when you’re a citizen. Then we visited Representative Steve Kirby, Senator Sam Hunt, the Legislative Assistant to Representative Beth Doglio, and Representative Brian Blake. We talked briefly with each of these people about the chosen bills, did some reflection on the day and what had happened, and headed home. One of my big take aways from the day was that I really want to be able to move through different social spheres when I am out of school and working on my own projects. I want to feel confident to talk with political and authority figures, academics, professionals, and whoever else I need to. Because it’s really important to know that most of the people that seem untouchable or out of reach can be reached, they can be talked to and you can have conversations about important things that you care about. At least it’s easier to create the right circumstances for that to happen than it seems. Whether or not your conversations and input will be entirely considered is a different point, but access is a starting point at least. I want to feel confident enough to talk with anyone I need to, and I want to help make greater access available for more diverse people.

In the Debating for Democracy Workshop on Saturday we learned some techniques on how to frame arguments in a more coherent, positive way. In other words, how to phrase things in a way that there is a sense that something can be done, that it’s a stance on what you’re for rather than what you’re against, and so you’re using facts and statistics in an effective manner. This was a really productive workshop for me, and I found a lot of value in the way things were explained to us.

We did a couple of exercises that came up with some cool results. At one point we were asked to come up with three words that described your advocacy dream team. I pulled some of my favorite words from that exercise: Empathetic, Resilient, Accessible, Diverse, Inclusive, and Informed. In addition to that workshop I had time to think on one of the issues that is important to me, and come up with a little bit more of a solid idea of what I wanted to promote the most, at least on that day.

I was working on the idea of access to higher education, but over the course of the day I decided that interdisciplinary education at all levels is incredibly important. To promote variability, flexibility, in subject and type of education will create far greater access to education to individuals in varying circumstances. I think this is important at all levels of education, from kids to teens, to college or trade school to industry training; I cannot imagine any kind or form of education that would not benefit from connections to other subjects and fields.

I also had a really cool conversation with my internship adviser about how to think about research questions and findings. We talked about why it’s important to note and think about why certain terms come up with results while others don’t, why one aspect of a topic is studied while another is not, or at least not noticeably. We talked about how I was going to account for these observations in my literature review, possibly in the form of some recommended questions for further inquiry, perhaps to include it in the prose discussion or conclusion, for examples. It was a very informative and interesting conversation that brought up a lot of things for me to consider as I am working on my literature review.

In all, I am a bit stressed about the amount of writing and reading I have to get done, but I am not despairing, and I had a very productive week in terms of thinking and working on cool events.

A note on my internship. I have collected a narrowed selection of articles in varying lengths that I am reading and taking detailed notes on. From these notes I will write up my literature review, bibliography, and other notes and thoughts. I’m not sure exactly what this format will look like, but I am confident that it will meet the structures and requirements I set for myself at the beginning of the quarter.

Because this project is so very research based, there’s not always a lot to report at one time, because the time I’m spending is done researching in small chunks, or reading in large chunks. Progress reports are short and sweet. The time when I will really be able to dig in and describe what my time has been taken up doing, my thinking and writing and notes, will be primarily at the end when I will have had time to organize my thoughts and conclusions and experiences along with the presentation of my finalized research.

Besides the reading and collecting I’ve done for my internship, I have attended a couple of events in the last week that have been on my mind and seem quite worth thinking about.

The first was my attendance of the Chibi Chibi Con dance, which prompted a lot of thought while I was there about how people interact and have fun and meet each other and all of these dynamics that were present in various ways at the dance. People cheering for each other as they showed off dancing skills or learned new ones, making a circle in the dance floor. People dancing with likely strangers, and in vastly different styles and skill levels at the same time. It’s interesting to think about social interaction and social dynamics for me because it’s so rich and has so many variables and factors. I can’t come to conclusions about it, because I don’t know nearly enough on the subject and the many variables mentioned earlier. But it seemed at the dance, and from past experiences the rest of the day as well, a makeshift community is formed. And being able to feel that and think about how many variables and conditions and situations had to have happened to create this community that seemed to have unspoken agreements and traditions built in, is a really powerful almost visceral feeling, even when you don’t know all the chains of action that allowed for it to happen.

The other very powerful experience I had this week was attending the showing of Allegiance in theater on the 19^th. Allegiance is a musical about the Japanese Internment camps of WWII, a project primarily spearheaded by George Takei. The recording of the show has been shown in theaters twice now, one day only back in December, and one day only on the 19^th. I was fortunate enough to see it on the 19^th.

It is an incredibly powerful, moving, masterpiece of a musical. It’s seamless in the way each element, piece, memory, and word flows together. It was a visceral experience for me; it made me cry, and ache.

There were so many powerful elements, and one of them for me was the beautiful showcasing of different kinds of activism and different ways to approach problems.

Each character followed their ideas of what the right action to take was, and many of them were upset with each other for those actions. The entire show was a flashback in that it was memories of the last time this old man saw his family that was torn apart by the camps influence and by the actions each of them took to try and change the camps. One went to war for the country, one refused to, another wrote letters and got them smuggled out of the camps.

They condemned each other’s actions because seeing those actions from the inside it’s impossible to see they’re working for the same goal, but watching you can see every single aspect of that common goal and how each action helps further it, even if it blocks aspects of another’s actions.

It was beautiful and powerful and so teaching, I wish I could make every single person in the world watch it, and think about it. There are so many connections this musical could make with activism, history, war, racism, it’s very rich.

It was set at the Heart Mountain Internment camp, and that is where I will be geotagging this post. I did not actually go there, but it is an incredibly important part of this week’s learning.

In this week’s reflection I wanted to mention a topic that’s been floating around my mind over the last week or two. I want to type up some of the ideas, even if they’re not all solidified or based on strict scholarly work. It will help me in further thinking about them, maybe it will start some interesting conversations that can bring depth, and they’re definitely a part of my thoughts over the last weeks and thus a perfect fit for a weekly reflection.

A lot has been going on. Culture is rapidly creating itself around the new political climate we find ourselves. Everyone is commenting on or criticizing some part of the system, the people, their actions, policies, anything.

I think it’s really important to pay attention to those conversations that are happening on small scales because it informs you about how a large percentage of the population are feeling, not just academics and scholars, not just journalists and media representation. Even if the conversations you’re paying attention to still fall into a relatively small social circle, or couple or social circles, say Facebook or other social media circles, there can still be quite a broad spectrum of opinions flowing.

It’s also interesting to pay attention to the memes that are passed around through culture. To analyze memes themselves, and their role in the creation of culture, community, identity, and the spread of knowledge is a very high caliber task, and to do it properly requires a much greater access to communities and ability to look at statistics of sharing and types and content and all that lovely data. I am not in a position to take on that burden.

But I am interested by certain trends and ideas that I am exposed too in different way through the spread of memes, screenshotted tweets, etc. Usually they are not ideas I am entirely unfamiliar with, and to see a little slice of what many people are relating to an identifying with is really interesting, especially if there is a deeper theory that can be applied to the conversations that are happening over this media.

The conversation I want to think about with this piece is the connection between capitalistic gain from social justice alliances and trends. And then conversely, capitalistic loss from social justice movements.

Of course there has already been discussion, demonstration, and study of how protests like boycotting and strikes creates change. Protest, strikes, and disruption of economic activity are examples of loss of capital.

But in the last couple weeks have brought up conversations about the dynamics of how corporations can positively benefit from social justice movements.

I’ve seen a lot of headlines about how this company or that has created ‘heartbreaking’ ‘important’ ‘progressive’ ad that includes a same sex couple or family or a positive supportive message about refugees and creating change. And while it’s great that it’s happening, there’s also an aspect of it that feels . . . opportunistic.

There’s a good incentive right now to take various political standpoints. It might lose the company some customers, but it might also gain a whole lot.

Over the last few weeks memes have popped up about Starbucks suddenly becoming everybody’s favorite coffee place because of their support of, I think it was refugees and veterans. And sure, it’s good when a company with resources pledges to support marginalized communities, even in very particular ways.

But it’s interesting to consider the incentive pathways for various companies and industries. Advertising and capital becomes a very tangled beast when trying to differentiate between truly and deeply held values and acting in particular ways to gain profit. Examining monetary incentives and funding decisions for big corporations, government subsidies, and scientific research can lead to some interesting conflict of interests.

This is something I’ve been thinking about over the last few weeks. I don’t have anything really specific, and I haven’t really gathered any particular cases or studies to talk about, and I don’t seem to be having a real easy time making the right words come out in this piece.

But it’s an interesting dynamic to think about, and I think it’s worth discussion and study.

I’ve found a lot of my time these last few weeks focused quite a bit on reading articles, watching videos, and paying attention to the interactions and conversations of people around me. Under my learning objective to understand the connections between and importance of activism, social justice work, and education, I don’t think that paying attention to the smaller details happening around me is a bad thing.

I love theory and I love making huge connections and putting ideas in context and conversation with each other. But a big critique of mainstream higher education is that it depersonalizes what it teaches, and lessens the ability to apply the big picture theoretical knowledge you gain to the local and personal, to the interactions that happen between people.

You cannot learn everything there is to know from a traditional classroom. You won’t always be able to see the big picture if you only have experience with local affairs and personal interactions. There has to be some kind of balance between the various ways to learn and take action. And that’s what a big part of my studies this quarter have been.

In the last weeks I watched a collection of TED Talks and quite a few videos from the Youtuber Ash Hardell, an educator on topics of gender, sexuality, and expression. I’ve read articles commenting on the actions people are taking, and I’ve paid attention to the conversations that the professors, teachers, and mentors in my life are having.

Watching these videos and articles has been important to me because it’s a practice of making connections, of gaining context and working with frameworks and big ideas and small personalized ideas at the same time. It’s listening to people’s experiences and thinking about how they fit with larger theories, and if they don’t fit, why don’t they? What’s missing in the theory that’s not taken into account?

To me, that is what a really good education should do. It should teach you how to make connections and take any piece of information, media, or material and learn something from it. To add to the way you see the world.

I am really enjoying taking the time and putting in the effort to include smaller pieces of writing, videos, and less formal lectures in my learning method. It’s been really fun to make connections between a discussion between Toni Morrison and Angela Davis that I watched in the first week or two, and a TED Talk discussing the power prosecutors have to create positive change in young lives. To read an article about the misappropriation of MLK’s legacy to take power away from the protestors of the present that connects to so many previous seminar discussions about protests, power, accountability, and respectability politics.

I am also looking forward to taking on some more theory and bigger ideas in the next half of the quarter, and on reading a lot of journal articles for my internship literature review. I think that will become what takes up most of my time over the next several weeks as I look for broader connections, agreements, and disagreements and explore the depth and breadth of research done on trans and queer spaces in higher education.

Week Three Reflection: Staying Outraged

Out of the various articles and pieces of writing that I read over the last week, my reaction to one in particular surprised me. It was called “How to #StayOutraged Without Losing Your Mind” and it talked about how to keep yourself from creating a ‘new normal’ in this political climate where so much is threatening so many people’s lives and freedom. It talked about how to momentarily distance yourself from news so it doesn’t become ingrained as what is happening, about how to start participating and doing little things to resist and protest and start participating. I spoke in last week’s reflection about trying to find where I should be in terms of activism and social justice work, and while I don’t want to revisit any of that, my reaction to this article felt particularly important. I was overwhelmed with emotion as I read through the points it made. It made me feel hopeful that I could help create change, scared for that will happen before it gets better, frustrated that I don’t feel the strength I think I should, and it broke the feeling of numbness I hadn’t noticed permeating my mood. I think there is something really important in anything that can break through that numbness, so that we can really be aware and be able to engage and participate in the crap we are about to go through.

As a report of what I have done this week, a lot of my time was taken up in writing a piece I have been thinking about for quite some time. Back in November I came across a contest with the prompt “Are Digital Technologies Making Politics Impossible?” Since then I’ve been thinking about it, writing notes, trying to write drafts, and battling a good deal of self doubt on whether I should feel like I have any authority or credibility in writing a response to that question. Over the last week I made a last ditch effort at taming that self doubt and writing a reasonably decent response. And I am proud of what I managed to create. It feels important, and it feels thought out. I’ve been thinking about which things were important to talk about within the word limit, and about how those topics should be strung together. How it could be built upon for a further, more in depth work. In the last week I finished writing an absolute crap draft, and I turned it into something that I am proud of and happy with. I’m not going to share this piece of writing on this blog because I don’t want it to be available to the public, but if anyone is interested in my conclusions, I am willing to share a hard copy.

My internship has been slow to get started, but I have begun collecting articles with interesting looking abstracts to read, and I am working on finding an organizational method that works for me to keep track of how I find and work with the articles I’m going to be using. I expect there will be more to report on this by next week.

There were a lot of complicated things that happened for me during this last week. I participated in C3’s lectures on Wednesday and early Thursday, which included the movie “Who’s Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, lies, and the global exchange” and a guest lecture by Sarah Eltantawi on the Iraq war. On Thursday I observed the protest and walk out. I read the first chapter (written by Joni Seager) of the book Dangerous Intersections about the connections between military activity and climate change, and a chapter from Sister Outsider called “Transforming Silence Into Language and Action”. I read various commentary on the Women’s March and the Pussyhat movement. I read an article on the way Martin Luther King’s legacy has been misappropriated as a way to control the content of current protests.

I felt like I was present in an important moment. And I felt like I was absorbing all that was going on around me, even when I didn’t know exactly what to make of it.

Since school started this year I have felt so much expansion in my worldview. I have learned a lot about allyship, advocacy, and activism. I am taking in information every single day, especially in the last few months, about how to be critical and how to be involved and engaged, how to be inclusive, how to lead and when it’s most important to give space to other voices.

I haven’t figured out how all the pieces fit together yet. I haven’t figured out a way to turn all of the things I’ve learned and all the things I feel connected to and all the things I want to contribute to into a solid course of action. A stable idea of how exactly I can best fit into the world around in a meaningful way.

There are people around me who have, or who are comfortable getting involved with action even if they don’t know how it fits yet. I can’t jump in with both feet yet, and part of me feels guilty for that and another part knows I will be next to useless until I feel stable in my knowledge. (Not static, because I don’t ever want to stop learning, but stable enough to stay strong.)

One of my questions for this quarter was why it is important to learn about social justice. What the connections are between activism and education.

Education, either from a somewhat traditional course of reading and writing and thinking or from a hands on, peer spread, or community based learning, has been incredibly important to me in finding out more. It’s taught me how to find information and use it. It’s taught me how to look at things critically. It’s given me a place to be comfortable and pushed me past my comfort zone.

My education has given me tools for putting small details and small pieces together within a bigger picture and make connections that are of vital importance, yet not always made.

At a simplistic point, activism is education. It’s spreading information that is unacknowledged, hidden, or silenced. It’s broadening minds.

Education and activism are entirely tangled. They benefit each other. This quarter, in part, is about expressing in more depth and detail that tangle, and that benefit.

On Saturday, the day after the Inauguration, I attended a Drag Show. Its theme was superheroes and shedding secret identities to become your true self. The organizers of that show were people I went to community college with, who I met through the GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) on campus. At that club, we were usually lucky if ten people showed up at a time.

When I got to Evergreen, I attended the LGBTQ Welcome reception. I wasn’t expecting it to be so well attended, and when what felt like sixty or seventy people showed up it was incredibly overwhelming. It was a very overwhelming amount of people, and there wasn’t the space or time to get to know anyone slowly. I am a very white human, I am very straight passing, my personality is quiet unless I’m with people I’m close with, and I don’t have the confidence to take on the powerfully open aspects of personality that I so admire in others. With these things together, I don’t expect to be trusted, I don’t expect to be much more than on the outskirts of any communities, especially when I am new.

So in many ways, the small community I had at community college was more than what I was able to find at Evergreen. And when I go back and interact with those people, it feels comfortable and familiar.

Last Saturday was a charged day. It was a powerfully emotional show. I watched with my partner fighting exhaustion and being overwhelmed by social stimuli and at the same time being a part of a community that was celebrating its strength, venting its frustrations, and charging itself for a fight at the same time.