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Springing into Service!

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For my service event, I chose to join the Ohio State community in participating in Spring into Service during the morning of March 23, 2019. During this event, the student cohort within the Office of Student Life, Pay It Forward provides opportunities for students to participate in environmentally-focused service events around Columbus. Fellow buckeyes and I met at the Union at 8am to receives our assignments for the morning before we left in provided transportation to our different sites.

Our International Affairs Scholars group was assigned to work with the non-profit organization Flow. We worked alongside the Olentangy River. The leadership of the organization were very welcoming and excited for us being there to help. They explained how trees and other plants can be harmful or beneficial to an environment based on how and when they are introduced. If they are harmful and not native, they are considered to be invasive species and should be eradicated. The leadership of Flow specified two trees in the area near the river that needed to be cut down because of the harm they do to the habitat near the river. This was the main purpose of the service event that day. We were suppose to cut down the callery pear trees and the honeysuckle trees in the area. They taught our group how to recognize these trees and gave us loppers and chainsaws to cut the trees down. After a while of cutting down trees, we were instructed to create piles of the trees. Some piles are pictured above.

This bring means to why this topic and event relates to International Affairs. These trees are some of the many invasive species of plants and animals that are intentionally or incidentally brought from foreign countries. These species can be brought through many avenues such as but not limited to trade and immigration.

After volunteering, we were taken back to the Union for lunch and a panel on ways we, as students, can practice habits favoring sustainability in our everyday lives. There were three panelists. Two of them work in the Ohio State community in sustainability aspects, and the other panelist is a current student who started her own student organization about sustainability and recycling efforts. They all talked about how they became passionate about sustainability and what they do in their everyday lives either at their jobs or at home to practice sustainability. They gave us easy tips and techniques of how we, as students, can incorporate sustainability in our lives slowly in order for it to become a habit we no longer think about. I gained knowledge of ways to advocate for and incorporate sustainability into my life that I never thought of. The student panelist told us about how coffee shops and smoothie shops will use our own cups to put our drinks in we bring them. As a result, a lot less styrofoam and plastic cups will be used, decreasing the amount of waste they create. Another helpful tip I gained was to use reusable straws and to encourage my friends and family to join me in adopting these tactics to promote sustainability. I intend to incorporate what I learned in my everyday life, and I’m really thankful that I was able to make a difference in my community that way I did while learning about sustainability.

I Celebrate United Black World Month

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Tonight, the night of February 19th, I attended the Student Life Multicultural Center’s featured keynote address and celebration for United Black World Month entitled, “Education, Civil Rights, and Equality: Cornerstones For Our Future” as it pertains to the month’s theme of “Imagining Black Futures.” It started a little after 6pm and was so moving I couldn’t wait to write about it. The event was advertised to have current CNN commentator Bakari Sellers as the keynote speaker but he wasn’t able to come due to unforeseen weather circumstances. In his place, a well-regarded professor that teaches African-American history in the History department at Ohio State, Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, spoke on the topic. My observation I made of this event even before I attended was the focus being on the African diaspora as whole instead of just African-American history alone.  This explains the month being called United Black World Month instead of Black History Month, the name February is most widely called and the only name I’ve ever heard until now. This event relates to the topic of International Affairs because it recognizes the entire diaspora, all communities worldwide that are descended from Africa.

The event not only consisted of the keynote address but it also had food and entertainment. Entertainment included spoken word poetry, ethnic African dance, and singing all from black artists sharing their experience of being black in an American context and global context. Through watching the entertainment, I gained other perspectives on the injustices happening against black people and gained a new way of thinking about my identity as an African-American at a predominantly white institution.

There were two spoken word pieces given by a young guy about the destructive cycle of lacking good father figures, violence, police brutality, and over-incarceration for African-American males and how it can be broken. The poet emphasized how it was up to the black community to build each other up because we aren’t getting positive reinforcement from the predominantly-white society they live in and we are not seeing enough positive representations of ourselves in the media to know we have the potential to be better and break the cycle. Being told who we are by people who historically oppressed us and don’t want us to progress can subconsciously cause us take on the identity and that future for ourselves. Right after this piece, a black woman performed a spoken word poem intertwining with the song, “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and its imagery of rising up to share her experience of understanding her identity and the powerful narrative that comes with being an African-American woman in America as it pertains to all her ancestors struggled and died for. She proclaimed that she came from a legacy of strength and endurance and only she can set her limits and define herself. She inspired me by saying that she values herself by what’s inside and not by how society sees her physically.

The last thing that stuck with me was the keynote address. Dr. Jeffries centered his talk around the importance of people of color especially young people of color to imagine their own futures. He spoke of the African diaspora and how many people were dispersed to predominantly white countries to be slaves. He said that ever since this time, descendants have been struggling and working to be seen as equals to their oppressors and what that means for our futures and identities. He referenced the historic success of the movie Black Panther and what the fictional country of Wakanda represented for people of the African diaspora as a prosperous society where people are equal and foreigners, later, are welcomed and included. Dr. Jeffries mentioned that history has always shown how we imagined our future to conflict with how white people imagined our future and how we cannot sit and hope the progress happens. We have to act. We have to act because of proof from recent years and a different presidential administration that things don’t naturally get better. If we do nothing, they will always get worse. He ended by saying that we should act unified with our different educations and backgrounds. This event gave me so much to think about and to relate to. I’m so glad I went.

P.S. Steven, I’m really sorry I exceeded the word count by about 200 words.

 

My Crash Course of Germany and What It Offers Today

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For my academic event, I attended the event called, hosted by my fellow International Affairs Scholar and past TA Kate Greer, Dinner + All Things Deutschland held at the German House on January 31st at 7:00 pm. This event relates to International Affairs because it revolved around the history, culture, food,  and current political climate of the foreign country Germany in Europe. Kate also took time to highlight the opportunities to study abroad and intern in Germany that Ohio State and Columbus has to offer in her presentation. I learned so much from her presentation and enjoyed how she presented factual, sometimes complex information in a way we can all understand without getting bored. She kept our attention really well.

One of the main things I learned from her presentation was about the history of Germany. I never knew about its troubling history, especially the events leading to the Nazi party gaining power in Germany. Since I’m not yet accustomed to keeping up with other countries’ politics, I did not know anything about Germany’s current political climate and the party system. I enjoyed hearing about that. The most impactful thing I gained from this event was a new, less judgmental perception of Germany. Without really realizing it, I had a negative perception of Germany that I projected unfairly over its government and its people after first learning of the Holocaust and other horrendous events that Germany caused during World War 2. Learning how Germany has tried to rectify what happened during World War 2 and take the necessary steps to make sure nothing like it ever happens again made me face my unfair generalizations and assumptions head on and acknowledge that they were wrong and I was wrong for having them for so long. During this realization, I said a silent apology to Germany and promised myself that I would never judge a country at it’s present state so harshly by it’s gruesome past.

Unfortunately, I am not able to pinpoint anything specifically that relates to my coursework from this event. Instead, I can pinpoint a strange parallel I noticed between generalizing and judging an entire country and its people to doing the same thing to human beings. Just as it is unfair to perceive an entire people or culture today as one characteristic based on past actions so many years ago, it is unfair to do the same for countries with human beings in them. People change. People can grow, evolve, and improve and usually do, but I never associated that principle with an entire country before. But it makes sense to me now.

After the event, I was left with two questions. Fortunately, I stuck around with some friends and had the opportunity to ask and get them answered. I asked Kate and her friends about the concept of American cities having sister cities in Germany and other countries in general. I asked if the acknowledgement of being a sister city is reciprocated on both sides, and the answer was yes. I also asked about the process of finding your sister city and how that worked. I learned that there are official national organizations in a lot of countries that create this relationship.

Human Flow and Why It Matters, My Third Reflection

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I attended the IA Scholar movie night showing of “Human Flow” which took place at 8:30pm in the Smith side basement area of Smith-Steeb Hall this past Monday, November 12th. This event relates to the topic of International Affairs because the movie explored the refugee crisis in different areas of the world.  The movie showed the audience firsthand what refugees of different cultures lives are like in various locations around the world. The movie crew followed communities of refugees, lived with them, weathered storms and struggles with them, and sat with them and asked them to share. Refugees would share what was on their mind at the very moment and what they personally have gone through to “attempt” to seek asylum. Some would speak of what they were leaving behind –  their ancestors’ land, other family members, tyranny, pillage, rape, and war – in order to start a new life. The risk of death on the trek to what they believe to be a place of freedom and human dignity is a lesser risk than then their almost imminent death in their homeland. The underlying theme of everyone’s testimonies is their want to be seen as human beings and to be treated as such. Something they weren’t expecting in Europe was the amount of opposition they faced. It wasn’t something I was expecting either.

Being surrounded by domestic news about our own refugee crisis in our current administration and the injustices of that, I somehow thought it couldn’t get worse or just as bad as we have in America. I was wrong. In a lot of European countries, they have borders. They have wired fences for the sole reason of keeping refugees out. There was a fact displayed sometime during the documentary that really struck me. There were only 11 countries in the world with borders and walls when the Berlin Wall fell in 1991. Now that number has risen to 40 countries which baffles me. The xenophobic attitude seems to be spreading like a disease which makes no sense to me in America’s case because America is the great country it is because of immigrants. In the film, there was also a great, thought-provoking quote that President John F. Kennedy wrote in his book, A Nation of Immigrants that I loved. Kennedy wrote, “Another way of indicating the importance of immigration to America is to point out that every American who ever lived, with the exception of one group, was either an immigrant himself or a descendant of immigrants.” I’m so happy this film introduced me to this quote because it succinctly puts into words my exact feelings towards immigration.

This film also relates to the discussions about immigration along the US-Mexico border held in my Spanish classes. We talk about the attitude the current administration has about immigration and the affect it is having on Hispanic families and the perspective of American families of what to think of immigrants. We’ve talked about Trump’s order to separate kids from their families putting them into detention camps and what this implies about what America is becoming. Overall, this film opened my eyes and made me more aware of the current world I live in and how I can help to make my corner of the world a little better.

The Significance of Indigenous Languages in Latin America, My Second Reflection

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This past weekend I had a super-enriching experience volunteering for the 2nd Symposium on Indigenous Languages and Cultures of Latin America in conjunction with the 4th Symposium on Teaching and Learning Indigenous Languages of Latin America on Sunday, October 28th for the entirety of the program that day from the hours of 8am-2pm. I primarily worked in the Faculty Club and the Thompson Library but the symposium was also held in a variety of locations across campus during the other  three days it was held. This event relates to the topic of International Affairs because of its emphasis and focus on the indigenous languages and cultures of Latin America and the immersive atmosphere of speaking the Spanish language throughout the symposium.

So far, this event is most definitely my favorite event I’ve ever attended for International Affairs Scholars. This is because I gained so much from this experience. Professionally, I was able to take part and witness a more formal environment than what I am used to attending classes everyday. This environment allowed me to utilize certain soft skills that benefited me to practice and exercise. Personally, I met and engaged with many native Spanish speakers and understood more and spoke better than I expected. This checked off a bucket-list item and a personal goal for me that made me feel really proud of myself and affirmed my love for Hispanic culture and my decision to keep studying Spanish. This also benefited me personally because the people I met were also some of the most inclusive, kind and helpful people I’ve ever encountered. They seemed genuinely interested in my journey as an undergraduate student, my studies, and my interest and love for the Spanish culture. We shared our backgrounds and what led us to be at the symposium that day. We also talked about the differences between the universities in the United States and Central America, which was an interesting discussion, and some people were even impressed with my speaking abilities. I even met someone that came all the way from Ecuador to Ohio for the symposium. Overall, everyone was just so open, kind, and willing to connect.

Academically as someone minoring in Spanish, I gained and learned so much just from immersing myself in the environment of people speaking only Spanish and navigating my way through that. I payed attention to the cadence of how native speakers spoke and asked them questions about the Spanish language and about some of the several indigenous languages discussed at the symposium. Also because I am minoring in Spanish, this event lends itself to all that I’ve learned in my Spanish classes at The Ohio State University. Depending on the different Hispanic countries focused on during the class, we, the students, also learned about the indigenous languages specific to those countries. Learning vocabulary and practicing pronunciation all those times in class really solidified my knowledge and helped me feel confident when I spoke and not as uncomfortable as I thought I would before I volunteered. This experience will remain a highlight of my college career.

Crossing Borders, My First Reflection

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For my Campus non-IA/community event, I chose to attend the viewing of the Columbus Crossing Borders Project film Breathe Free and the accompanying panel afterwards at Gateway Film Center on Sunday, September 16th. For the panel discussion, the speakers were Ohio filmmaker Doug Swift, Columbus Crossing Borders Project Director Laurie VanBalen, leaders of Community Refugee and Immigration Services or CRIS, and local refugees. This event relates to the topic of International Affairs naturally because it deals with bringing awareness to our country’s corrupt immigration policies and our country’s mistreatment of refugees and their stories of immigrating to America. The film allows its viewers to meet several male and female refugees and follows them on their journey and resettling in the United States. It also includes an emotional, heart-wrenching segment of the refugees sitting down and telling their story of why they decided to leave their home country and the high stakes of their decision. They told detailed stories of what happened as they crossed their borders leaving their country to seemingly safe. Hearing their truths was hard to process. I felt like I hearing stories from a scary, horror storybook. They were bravely revealing things that were hard to imagine and understand. The film also shows how America’s border issues and the refugees’ stories led to local artist Laurie VanBalen being inspired to create the Columbus Crossing Borders project. She eventually recruited 34 Ohio artists to translate the refugees’ life experiences to artwork. The project is now touring the country.

From this event, I have gained more academically and personally. I have grown academically by learning so much about immigration policy and what Columbus is doing to help incoming refugees. Before this event, I did not have much background about this because I only knew about CRIS and what it was doing to help teenage refugees by providing willing mentors from our campus. I did not know what was being done for adults to acclimate to America. Personally, I learned to show even more compassion, love, and respect to refugees because it’s the right thing to do, and you truly don’t know what they have gone through. To me, they’re walking miracles because of their struggles to become an American citizen and live a better life. When I, or any other American who can sometimes take their blessings for granted, heard their experiences in that movie theater, it rendered us speechless. What can you say to that?

This event relates to a topic  one of my Spanish classes have discussed in the past. It is the topic of immigration laws and what all these laws and Trump’s wants and suggestions on this issue imply for undocumented  Hispanic immigrants. We talked about different incidences in California of Hispanics being caught while undocumented and being disrespected in the process of being deported and what the effects are for families and the stigma already surrounding immigrants. After attending the event, I don’t have further questions because my main question was answered during the panel. That question was “What now?” “What more should be done and how can any regular person get involved and help?” The answer was to make a difference by spreading awareness with word of mouth and by showing up to support and/or volunteer at the existing immigrant services organizations in Columbus. This was an event and conversation that I am so glad I was able to join.

 

Year in Review

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[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]

G.O.A.L.S.

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[ “G.O.A.L.S.” is a place where students write about how their planned, current, and future activities may fit into the Honors & Scholars G.O.A.L.S.: Global Awareness, Original Inquiry, Academic Enrichment, Leadership Development, and Service Engagement. For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.

Global Awareness: Students cultivate and develop their appreciation for diversity and each individual’s unique differences. For example, consider course work, study abroad, involvement in cultural organizations or activities, etc .
Original Inquiry: Honors & Scholars students understand the research process by engaging in experiences ranging from in-class scholarly endeavors to creative inquiry projects to independent experiences with top researchers across campus and in the global community. For example, consider research, creative productions or performances, advanced course work, etc.
Academic Enrichment: Honors & Scholars students pursue academic excellence through rigorous curricular experiences beyond the university norm both in and out of the classroom.
Leadership Development: Honors & Scholars students develop leadership skills that can be demonstrated in the classroom, in the community, in their co-curricular activities, and in their future roles in society.
Service Engagement: Honors & Scholars students commit to service to the community.]

Career

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[“Career” is where you can collect information about your experiences and skills that will apply to your future career.  Like your resume, this is information that will evolve over time and should be continually updated.   For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]