y e a r f o u r // crashing
I know that "crashing" sounds like something awful and negative, but I am meaning it in a sense of catharsis, culmination, the rising wave splashing back down and becoming a part of the greater whole once again. This year I was gutted, in every way that one can be gutted. I was knocked off my feet by joy and grief and excitement and love and hope and anxiety and everything in between. Senior year means things coming to an end, but it also brought so many new beginnings and fresh opportunities that I was not about to screw up. I felt things coming to an end... wrapping up my LSJ classes, signing up for INFO capstone, working on my Honors portfolio, running the degree audit 1000 times, all while figuring out What On Earth Is Next, what has the last four years of work been building up to for me?
In the Fall, I took an INFO elective entitled "Public Interest Technology." It had a vague description, and I didn't really know what I was getting into until the quarter started. But on the first day of class I wanted to slap myself for taking so long to discover the world of public interest technology because this was the term for exactly what I had been scavenging for with both of my majors; it was the exact intersection of LSJ and INFO-- analyzing our technological tools from a societal perspective in terms of the pros and cons, the policy needs, and also analyzing our societal structures and policies from the perspective of potential technological avenues. For my final paper, I was able to investigate domestic violence in the world of our rapidly evolving technology and the unqie policy concerns that brings. This was the interdisciplinarity that I had imagined when I first applied to the Honors program four years ago.
After the slightly optimistic catastrophe of GEC last year, when I was Assistant Director, I made it my mission to turn this commission around as Director. I was terrified. There were no blueprints, instructions, or even a concert job description or role model. My Assistant Director was brand new to ASUW and was even more unsure of where to begin than I was. But we locked in. In October, we held our first event (for Breast Cancer Awareness month) and people came! We hired interns and have held at least two events a quarter. I am still kind of in shock by the progress we made, and even more in shock that I was able to spearhead this movement as Director. Guiding my team was scary at first, but I cherish them so so much now and have learned so much about what it means to be a leader. This was my first time being "head" of something, and I didn't know I was capable of it until it was over. If GEC stays afloat after I graduate, I am proud to say that it wouldn't have been possible without the lessons I learned with my team and my resuscitation.
Senior year meant INFO capstone. I first was in a group that I had to part ways with due to their lack of morals and insistence on choosing to partner with a company like Boeing that was complicit in genocide and the murder of my community members. Making the active choice to leave them was so empowering and clarifying for me, and I'm so glad I did because of how awesome my new group ended up being. This is another instance of culmination: We are creating a storytelling-based site for students to share their primary sources from their family history to challenge the white dominant orientalist perspective that classes are currently taught through. I brought my love of design, resistance, storytelling, and the logic of coding all together for this. CulturED feels representative of each year I've spent at UW and every tool I've learned to wield in the face of repression.
Senior year also meant it was time for my fourth and final WA Legislative session! I interned with CAIR WA, an organization focused on legal and political advocacy for Muslims in Washington State. By now, the rhythm of the legislative session was second nature to me, but I was really excited to be working in an issue area that was personal to me. While I loved working with the Alliance for Gun Responsibility in the last two sessions, working with my Muslim neighbors and community members directly felt very personal. The experience was also given more weight, given the backdrop of the new Federal Administration. My community was on edge, and my position as an intern gave me the tools to equip them to take back their power and advocate for themselves. A big part of my job was organizing the Muslim Day at the Capitol lobby day, and it was so heartwarming to see the Capitol building crawling with people who are so often underrepresented in these areas. I was also able to work on a passion project analyzing Trump's immigration policies in the context of America's history of immigration policies and I was so excited to be able to educate my communities on something that feels so inaccessible and imminently terrifying.
In September, I dreamt that I was studying abroad during spring break. Seven months later, I spent my spring break with 20 lovely individuals in Reykjavik, Iceland. This was another experience that I never thought possible as a Freshman. I had never traveled this far from my family before, and I wasn’t acquainted with any other student on this trip. In my 10 days there, I visited glaciers, swam in geothermal hot springs, toured the parliament, spoke with Icelandic activists and legislators, explored Icelandic nightlife, and had the time of my life. It was a whirlwind, socially and academically. I was interested in the fact that Iceland is #1 globally in gender equality, but in my time there, I learned this was because they did not operate with lenses of intersectionality; none of their advocacy was done with people of color or immigrants in mind. We have a lot to learn from Icelandic advocacy and governmental systems, but also plenty to be weary of.
And now to answer the question on the tip of everyone's tongue... What Is Next? The truth is that all of my experiences, my passions and joys and inclinations come crashing down and point to a single space: Law School. I took the LSAT for the final time in October, applied everywhere at the start of November, and have committed to the UC Berkeley School of Law. I am guided by my passion for storytelling, questioning, resistance, exploration, logic, and interdisciplinarity. I am going to ask questions. I am going to trace words in the sand looking for the shape of an answer. I am going to crawl, crack, create and hopefully crash into myself all over again. My perspective is so much wider than it was four years ago and I am getting ready to enter Law school with the understanding that I will be confident in myself as data wrangler, writer, and activist, holding both feeling and fact. Let it wash over you. Again and again.
