y e a r t h r e e
In a word, fall was about s t o r y t e l l i n g. It was the unifying theme across all classes & weighed on my mind all quarter. What is the reason we tell stories? Who's story is it / who's doing the telling? What're we learning / what're we missing? This was most prevalent in my l s j class, storytelling for migrant justice. It's 3 quarter series so this was just the beginning. It was the most interesting and "hands on" lsj class I've taken, taking me outside of my comfort zone in so many ways. I cannot wait to see where it'll go in the next 2 quarters.
h o n o r s 2 2 0 (storytelling in the sciences) was a class that I had been planning on taking for a while. A lot of people had recommended it to me saying it was the most interesting and useful honors class they've ever taken. After taking this class, I totally understand where they were coming from. Despite this class taking place at prime naptime (2:30-4:30), I was always wide awake in class. I had never had much difficulty connecting with an audience during a presentation but this class taught me so much more on the effectiveness of presenting, from making sure the structure is gripping to making sure the slides hit the right balance between communicative and overwhelming. I also got to research some pretty interesting topics, and I had forgotten how much I love sharing my love of certain topics with other people :-)
f u n f a c t (this was my second quarter of getting straight 4.0s!
d x a r t s 2 0 0 was a really exciting class to take! I hadn't taken any art related class in years, so I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, this class caused me the most stress because not much was graded until week 9 or 10 of the quarter, and I had no idea how I was doing on the assignments! But at least they were fun to do and I had forgotten how much I love the opportunity to think purely creatively and to communicate my ideas.
My schedule was insanely empty this quarter in terms of classes, so I found a multitude of ways to fill the time: employment / RSOs / concerts / traipsing around seattle / giggling with friends
I <3 employment! This fall I started as Assistant Director of the ASUW GEC & also continued interning with the Alliance for Gun Responsibility from last winter! I also was more involved with some RSOs & became the Bricolage UW social media coordinator. SO fun.
1) ASUW orientation! 2) Canvassing with AGR! 3) Bricolage staff meeting 4) just a gorg view in seattle :-)
This quarter I felt more disgust than I ever expected I could feel: This disgust partially came from living in a world in which genocide was normalized, but largely came from the realizing that our "liberal / progressive / dedicated to equity / whatever buzzword you choose" university will never side with justice unless it is a palatable justice that will be beneficial to them. I am disgusted by the UW administration's response to a genocide in Palestine and will never forget this! This fall was an awakening moment for me!
w i n t e r quarter flew by. It was my busiest quarter yet, with 18 credits, my ASUW GEC work, finishing up my internship with the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, my silly life outside of school, and the usual horrors of winter . The good news is that I really enjoy being overwhelmed
i n f o 3 3 0 was a class that I was quite terrified of because of my lack of faith in my coding abilities. But it ended up being incredibly interesting and immersive to the point where I actually found myself enjoying working with and manipulating various databases. I feel incredibly lucky to have taken this class with such an amazing professor who explained the content so well-- attendance wasn't mandatory and all lectures were recorded but I found myself attending nearly every single lecture in person!
h o n o r s 2 1 1 was all about time. I was a bit skeptical and cautious going into the class because the description was so vague, it could've gone any way. Thankfully, it was a massive hit. I loved the readings & the ability to think about time in so many different contexts. My favorite aspect was the final project where we were able to create Something on Anything related to time.
A highlight of this quarter was that in January, someone reached out to me about being the featured reader at an open mic. Ever since spring of sophomore year when I quit my short lived career as an English major, I had been looking for ways to still keep motivated with my writing, and this felt perfect. I have always been fairly terrified about sharing my writing with the public and have been known to burst into tears when speaking in public (so it was kind of fitting that the day of the open mic happened to be on leap day hehe). But it went really well! My friends and siblings came and saw me read, and it just overall was one of the most fulfilling moments of my time at UW so far.
1) me & some people after the leap day open mic 2) my last adventure in Olympia w/ the alliance! This was a short session & I loved seeing how much more intense everything was compared to last yr! It's crazy that I've been interning here for over a year, and it's bittersweet to go! 3) A painting I made at a friends birthday party 4) the capital! 5) valentines I made for my class
I haven't mentioned two of my classes -- one was asynchronous online and fairly uneventful but useful for sure. The other was part two of the Storytelling for Migrant Justice three quarter series. The progress we all as a class have made together this winter quarter is absolutely insane, but I can't seem to put the experience in words quite yet, so stay tuned for a full reflection at the end of spring quarter.
s p r i n g sprang... this quarter I was taking two info class and two lsj classes. It was a little less busy than the rest of the year because my internship with the Alliance for Gun Responsibility was over, but somehow the days still managed to fly by in a sick wet blur of activity
The two info classes I took this quarter were i n f o 3 0 0 and i n f o 3 6 0. They were both very group project heavy and I am shocked by the amount of work I was able to churn out over the course of the quarter. There is not that much else to say about them. Nothing crazy.
The two lsj classes I took this quarter were probably two of my favorite lsj classes that I've ever taken. The first was women and the law. Majority of the readings for this class were opinions from major court cases, and it was so interesting to learn how to read and dissect this kind of material. The professor was absolutely amazing (much like every other lsj professor) and I looked forward to going to this class every lecture, and it really cemented in me that I want to go to law school (fun fact I took the LSAT for the first time during this quarter as well! How frightening). Instead of regular essays, we had to write mock opinions / dissents for fictional court cases and I had far too much fun with this. I'm quite proud of my final short paper!
The last class of this quarter was part 3 of storytelling for migrant justice. I don't even know where to begin to describe my feelings and experience in this class. It was honestly life changing. The things I learned, the people I learned them with, everything I got to do... talking to people detained at the NWDC, participating in solidarity days at KCIA where the deportation flights were flying out of, making paper mache heads for protests, making informational brochures to pass out, co-creating stories with people who are detained, being able to read that story out loud at the UWCHR symposium.... the entire school year in this class felt like a once in a life time experience. At the end of the quarter, we compiled all our stories and reflections into a cute final collection just for ourselves. I am so grateful for every minute I got to spend in that class and for every lesson I learned.
Some of my cute film pics from this quarter: 1) Campus afternoons 5/31 2) Book club 3) Baby ducks in Drumheller 4) Last days of the lsj class 5) Spring!! 6) A classmates birthday from the lsj class :-) <33