360 Magazine Fall 2018: International Presence in the City by SU 360 Magazine

BAKE, MAKE CREATE su ALUM developes a PASSION for BAKING

GIRLS RISE UP local initiative empowers refugee women

FESTIVAL HOPPING CULTURAL AND ETHNIC FESTIVALS IN THE SALT CITY

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6 MAGAZINE

I’m sitting at the middle of a long table, looking warily down at the bowl in front of me. Unidentified vegetables float around in the pea-green broth and a faint scent of vinegar wafts around the room. I glance down the length of the table, thinking that maybe I could find someone to whom I could pawn off the dish. “Just try it; it’s really good,” a student sitting across from me says. “Everyone loves the pickle soup here.” It’s a few months into the first semester of my freshman year at Syracuse University, and this is the first time I’ve ventured off campus to see what the city has to offer. Twice a year, my Russian professor organizes a lunch for all her students at Eva’s European Sweets, a local Polish restaurant. It’s a tasty way to get familiar with Slavic culture (and, admittedly, a good retention strategy to keep kids in the Russian program).

Letter From

The Editor

Under the maternal watch of Russian nesting dolls, I enjoy chatting in a mix of English and Russian with my classmates and sampling different pierogis, an old favorite. Framed folk art covers the wall and an antique samovar sits in the corner. I’m not of Slavic heritage, but still, this somehow feels like home. And then there’s the pickle soup. I have a hard time imagining how it might taste any different than a bowl of warm pickle juice. As I’m trying to decide my course of action, the waitress returns with big platters of kielbasa and stuffed cabbage. She starts taking away soup bowls to make space for the new dishes, and I realize it’s time to make a move. I plunge my spoon in. I try the pickle soup.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in 360 Degrees are not necessarily those of the entire staff. 360 Degrees welcomes contributions from all members of the Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF community but retains the right to publish only material 360 Degrees deems acceptable to the publication’s editorial purpose. Mission Statement: Since its debut at Syracuse University in 1998, 360 Degrees has always strived to achieve a balance between tradition and change. Founded by Lanre Mayen Gaba as a new lens to view culture, 360 Degrees has a different focus, format, and feel than its predecessors. Through the years, the magazine has become a general interest publication with a cultural twist, dedicated to informing students about issues on campus, in the community, and in the whole world at large.

As I explored the city of Syracuse in the semesters that followed, I quickly learned that the international presence within the city extends far beyond cozy restaurants and their comfort food. Syracuse’s immigration history dates back more than two centuries, with the first waves of Irish and German settlers arriving to work in the salt mines. Today, different heritage organizations host festivals in honor of the diverse ancestries represented in the city (pages 5 & 6). The identity of the community is still evolving as the city welcomes refugees from Syria and Somalia and aids their adjustment with programs like RISE’s Women’s Empowerment Program (page 25). Even for international students attending the university, Syracuse offers resources and opportunities for them to connect with the cultures of their home countries (page 18). I’m now wrapping up my penultimate semester at this SU, and am grateful for all the different cultures the city and university have introduced me to. I’ve celebrated Diwali, tutored Somali-Bantu students, made friends from all over the world, and, of course, returned to Eva’s more times than I can count. We’re awfully lucky to live in a city representing such rich and diverse culture, so take the time to explore a little -- and be sure to try the pickle soup.

staff

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MOLLY BOLAN

executive EDITOR SHANYAH SAUNDERS

360 EDITOR LAUREN STECKLY

FRONT OF BOOK SHANYAH SAUNDERS

DESIGN DIRECTOR SAMUEL LUO

FEATURES EDITOR MADISON SNYDER

Public relations SAMUEL LUO

PHOTO EDITOR EMMA WISHNOW

WEB EDITOR HANNA MARTIN

table of contents FESTIVAL HOPPING

BAKE MAKE CREATE

MAINTAINING MINDFULNESS

REELING IT IN

RETURING TO ROOTS

GROWING ROOTS IN FOREIGN SOIL

FAR REACH IN THE NEAR EAST

THE 360

SOCIAL MEDIA FALL 2018

FESTIVAL HOPPING T

Written by: Katie Hageman

Various festivals bring a taste of Latin American, Irish, Greek and Jewish cultures for the Syracuse community to enjoy.

Syracuse Jewish Music & Cultural Festival

he Syracuse Jewish Music and Cultural Festival welcomes individuals of all ages and backgrounds. As festival coordinator Vicki Feldman points out, “We always try to offer something a little different each year—whether it is a new food or interesting music group, or something different for kids.” Upcoming date: September 15th, 2019 Jewish music tends to be adaptive and vibrant, often Location: Sam Pomeranz incorporating powerful melodies or elements of folkJewish Community Center campus lore, while still relying on harmonies and sounds from Started: 1999 Biblical texts and religious experiences. The festival Started by: Sid Lipton and Mimi Weiner always brings in one or two groups that come from out Fun fact: Each spring, the coordinators put together a fundraiser feaof town, in addition to multiple local groups from the turing music similar to what will be at the festival. Typically, $2,000 to Binghamton to Buffalo region. $3,000 is raised at this event. Farah, a music act from the this year’s festival, performed sephardic songs with driving rhythms, thus offering the traditional sounds of Jewish music to the crowd. A different group, Susan Hoffman Watts Jewish rituals. Judaica is Jewish ceremonial art used for Music Ensemble, performed dance tunes and more celebratory ritual services. melodies. Guests also have the opportunity to While listening, many festival-goers browsed the venmake and take home a shofar, an ancient Hebrew dors and enjoyed a meal. One of the vendors, The Oaks Gourmet instrument. Made out of a ram’s horn and resemMarket and Cafe, offered options such as BBQ beef briskets, falafel bling a pipe, shofars are musical horns controlled wraps and Israeli chopped salad. A popular vendor is Carvel beby the breath of the player and most often used cause it provides kosher ice cream, sundaes and smoothies. for religious purposes. Besides food tents, around 20 organizations set up “Commu The Jewish Music and Cultural Festival nity Tents,” which included synagogues and Jewish community is increasingly successful each year in because of organizations and nonprofits. Belle Kipa, a vendor, sold crocheted its large turnout. As Feldman says, “People who kippots/kippahs and hand-thrown ceramic Judaica. Kippots/kipcome are genuinely happy to see each other and pahs are small brimless hats typically worn when performing Jewish just ‘hang out.’”

St. Sophia’s Greek Cultural Festival Upcoming Dates: June 2019 Started: 1973 Location: St. Sophia’s Church, Syracuse, NY Fun fact: Typical Greek cuisine includes vegetables, potatoes, rice, olive oil, herbs and spices, and cheese.

Started 45 years ago, St. Sophia’s Greek Cultural Festival offers the community a lively atmosphere filled with aromas of mint and oregano, and sounds of various string instruments. The festival takes place over the course of a weekend with a range of activities. Dance groups perform each day, and attendees have the opportunity to participate in dance activities as well. Another popular activity is the daily iconography demonstration, which explains the process behind the making and religious use of Biblical icons. Besides entertainment, food is an essential part of the festival. The word “kouzína”, meaning kitchen, is incredibly important in a Greek home. This is apparent at the festival, which features endless choices including lamb, chicken, pasta, grape leaves and baklava. Additionally, the festival offers a wine and spirits tasting schedule, an activity favored by many adults. St. Sophia’s church also offers tours during the festival, where guests learn fun facts about the church’s history and design.

Irish Festival

For 19 years, the Irish Festival has been celebrated during the second weekend of September. The festival coordinates local food trucks and entertainment for children such as jugglers, face painters and balloon-animal makers. Although the festival focuses Upcoming dates: September 2019 Location: Clinton Square, Syracuse, NY on the strong Irish culture in the Syracuse community, the music performances range in Started: 1999 genre in order to attract a wider audience. Budget: $120,000 At this year’s festival, the lineup included bands such as The Elders, The Moxie Management team: 15 members in the Strings, Kilmaine Saints and The Pride of Moyvane. This year, two of the bands—Connla primary coordinating committee and Cúig—came directly from Ireland. Families had the opportunity to listen to bagpipes, flutes and guitars while they roamed around the festival. In addition to enjoying the extensive music options, the festival also offered over 25 vendors, which sold knit sweaters, kilts, celtic crests embroidered on throw pillows and tapestries. Planning for next year’s 20th anniversary festival has already begun; almost all of the music acts have been booked. In celebration of this milestone, the festival would like to have a special performance by Canadian band Hadrian’s Wall. Their appearance at the festival would be a reunion performance because they have been broken up for the past ten years. Trad Fest, another Irish-centered celebration, will occur in March. Rather than a weekend event, Trad Fest will span one week, with a different type of music and a new venue each night. Possible venues include Funk ‘n Waffles and various restaurants in the Syracuse area. With the majority of bands coming from Ireland, the music will be more traditional than what is played at the Irish Festival.

Festival Latino-Americano Each August, the Latino-Americano Festival takes place in downtown Syracuse. It features authentic music, delicious food and traditional dance. The festival originally started in the 1990s, shutdown for a few years and re-started in 2011. Fanny Villarreal and Hugo Acosta, the individuals who restarted this annual event, are of Latin-American descent and leaders of the festivities. They strive to continuously reinvent the festival in order to entertain the community by offering new and different experiences. This year, the festival celebrated Christmas in August. “Parranda”, a traditional music genre from Puerto Rico played during Christmas time, entertained the community. In addition to local artists, Andy Montañez, a singer and songwriter from Puerto Rico, travelled to Syracuse to perform at the celebration. Guests immersed themselves in Latin-American culture by dancing with one another while listening to the merengue band Zafra Negra, and showing off their salsa skills during Orquesta Antonetti’s group performance. While adults occupied the dance floor, children ran around in colorful, traditional clothing from their home countries. Roughly two-thirds of this year’s attendees were of Latin-American descent. Some families brought flags of their home countries, which acted as visual representations of how diverse the festival is. Panchitos Taqueria, Las Delicias, and Don Juan restaurants served traditional Latin American cuisine at the festival in 2018. Year by year, one of the most popular dishes tends to be rice and beans with either chicken or pernil, which is roasted pork. “You can smell the food everywhere and [the smell] brings you to buy it,” Villarreal said. The 2 Latino-Americano festival is truly a community-loved and supported event that allows people of different origins to come together and celebrate different cultures through tasting food, listening to music and embracing the colorful atmosphere.

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Upcoming date: August 2019 Location: Clinton Square, Syracuse, NY Fun fact: The festival was reopened in 2011 after several years of absence.

FROM FAR AND WIDE

1810s During the Napoleonic wars, Germans flee their home country and many choose to settle in Syracuse.

For more than two centuries, Syracuse has been a micro-melting pot for immigrants and refugees from all over the world

1845 Potato famine drives people from Ireland. Those who come to Syracuse settle in what is today known as Tipperary Hill and work in the salt mines.

2017-18 Syracuse takes in 1,700 Somali refugees, according to data gathered by the Associated Press.

2015 Mayor Stephanie Miner signs letter to Obama, calling to increase the number of Syrian refugees the US will accept.

Source: ManliusLibrary.org 7

1865 There are more native born German and Irish in Syracuse than any other ethnicities in the city.

1880s Just a few decades after the first waves of German and Irish immigrants arriving in Syracuse, Italians begin settling after contributing to the construction of the West Shore Railroad in New Jersey and Southern New York.

1924 1990 The Jewish Quarter is settled southeast of what is today downtown. This area would eventually become known as The Fifteenth Ward. Little Italy is also well settled and established.

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Polish population reaches 10,000, accounting for most of the Eastern European population of Syracuse. They settled mostly on the west side of the city, drawn by the promise of railroad and factory jobs.

BAKE, MAKE, CREATE X

uyun Liu sits in a curved sofa chair. Her smiling face, neat bob and rectangular glasses are lit by lanterns that hang overhead. Her calm disposition does not betray her hectic time spent as an Chinese student in Syracuse, nor her life now launching a career. By weekday, Liu works as an architectural designer, but by weekends she is a blossoming baker. She came to America in 2012 to pursue her master’s degree in architecture from Syracuse University, leaving her home and family back in Xinchang, a small city in Zhejiang Province in the southeast China. Liu’s husband, Song, also came to SU to pursue his doctorate, and the couple eventually bought a house nestled in the eastern suburb of Syracuse. The tidy lawn leads to a white house, with plants and succulents lined up near the glass door. In the living room, the painted porcelain hens and ornate anime figurines sit on modern bookshelves. Amid the bustle of attending architecture school, buying a home and finding a job, Liu developed a sweet new passion – baking. Food has always been central in Liu’s life. Growing up, she ate a traditional southern Chinese diet made up of all kinds of dishes. “In classes they always ask you, ‘what’s your favorite food?’,” she muses. “That’s a question no Chinese people can answer.” Ovens are not commonplace in China, and traditional desserts are a far cry from the sugary cakes found in the United States and Europe. “When I was younger nobody had an oven in their

SU alum from China uses her attention to detail, developed from her role as an architectural designer, to foster her passion for baking cakes. Photos by Samuel Luo, Written by Quinn Gawronski

home, I never knew how cakes came out of a kitchen,” Liu says. “There was a bakery with a big glass window, and I sat and stared while they did the frosting the entire day.” Liu says that when she lived in China, the only grocery stores that carried baking ingredients were in big cities, so she had to improvise. She made tiramisu because it did not require an oven, and ordered her ingredients from an online seller, Taobao.com. When Liu moved to the United States, she found that cakes and baking materials were easy to come by.

“There was a bakery with a big glass window, and I sat and stared while they did the frosting the entire day.” She relished the boxes of rich cheesecake she could purchase for only $5. “I liked using the spoon to cut it – I can hear the sound,” she says, grinning. “It sounds delicious. I tried to make that and use a different recipe.” With an oven and baking supplies at her fingertips, Liu began developing her skills. Her apartment near Nottingham Plaza had an old and outdated oven, so she upgraded to a small countertop oven and began testing out cheesecake and cupcake recipes.

Liu’s friends at SU were eager to taste her creations, and many of them urged her to open her own bakery. The grueling coursework of architecture school consumed most of Liu’s time, but baking became her passion.

Matcha Mille Crepe Cake Xuyun makes

As her course load lightened in her last semester, she dedicated more time to experimenting. She made lavish layered crepe cakes, inspired by famous bakeries in New York City. She made six different crepe cake mixes, changing the ratios and recipe with each attempt. “I find how to make it softer, make it taste better,” Liu says.

She wants to utilize modern baking techniques to create unique desserts that are both healthy and beautiful. Liu is not the only one in her family who turned her passion into a way to help and serve those closest to her. Much of her knowledge on the intersects of food and health comes from her mother, Wene Zhang, who began studying Chinese medicine two years ago, at the age of 50. Her mother was a housewife throughout Liu’s childhood, but when her husband suddenly passed away from liver cancer, she needed to find a job. It was a lucky coincidence that she found traditional Chinese medical care and now has patrons contacting

her through WeChat to set up appointments. She can cure a child’s fever in a matter of 30 minutes, Liu proudly says. “Even at the age of 50, when she feels like she’s really into something, she tries very hard and is focused with a lot of passion,” Liu says. “I am very proud of her.” Baking desserts is not Liu’s only passion. Tea was an integral aspect of Liu’s childhood. Xinchang is known for its green tea called Big Buddha Dragon Well, and as a child, Liu would go to the mountains after school to pick tea leaves. “It’s part of my childhood,” she says. “Even before the bakery I always wanted to have a tea house.” When she was pursuing her undergraduate degree in Hangzhou, China, Liu always admired the quaint houses on the edges of West Lake, and dreamed of owning one herself. At her teahouse, she imagined, customers would enjoy desserts, a hot cup of tea and a quiet escape from reality while overlooking the peaceful lake.

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Since becoming a homeowner, she has furthered her efforts in her baking experiments, and has begun making specialized birthday cakes for friends and family. Among the most elaborate are a Minion cake and a soccer ball shaped cake, where she used paper stencils to design the gridded pattern.

FAR REACH IN THE NEAR EAST

Written by Amanda Paule Photo Credits to the Near East Foundation Archives

Local non-profit provides developmental aid to countries in the Middle East, Africa and the Caucasus.

o you ever have the natural instinct to just hold the door for someone or to help somebody out? Imagine that, but on a huge level—helping internationally, if that makes sense.” This is Katherine Davis, a member of Syracuse University’s class of 2019 and a current Development and Research Intern at the Near East Foundation (NEF). NEF is a non-profit organization headquartered in Syracuse, NY that works to provide developmental aid to people and communities across the Middle East, Africa, and the Caucasus. Davis works with a team to advance proposals for projects to be implemented in NEF’s countries of focus. Currently, she is researching the potential of initiating a new program in Iraq, a country in which NEF has not yet established a presence. “It’s constantly changing,” Rachel Bass, class of 2016 SU alumna and Program Development Officer at NEF, says. “We’re constantly finding new funding opportunities that, unfortunately, usually stem from and respond to protracted crises.” Due to its response to crises, NEF has a long history of change and expansion. In 1915, it was founded as a relief organization mobilized and funded by the U.S. to help those affected by the Armenian Genocide. Following World War I, the organization expanded to help those displaced by the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. This expansion would not have been possible without the efforts of the thousands of Americans who served and volunteered, both at home and abroad, for the Near East Relief, as the organization was formerly called. In 1930, the organization was renamed the Near East Foundation, signifying its transition from a focus on humanitarian relief to an emphasis on long-term development. Many of its current projects have economic elements, such as fostering economic independence for women, refugees, and youth, or facilitating peacebuilding through economic development and cooperation. Other focuses include improving food security and natural resource management, especially in light of the climate extremes experienced in the regions in which NEF operates. Many of NEF’s projects focus on building sustainable living conditions for those who reside in these areas. As part of this sustainability effort, the organization emphasizes the importance of local engagement and leadership, even within NEF itself. “Our aim as an international organization is to remain locally-led, especially as we expand and grow,” Bass says. “Whoever is leading the process at the country 11

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level is going to be someone from the country or region, and typically the country staff is nearly 100 percent local as well.” This feature distinguishes NEF from many other international, non-governmental organizations. Remaining locally-led is one way, Bass believes, that NEF remains relevant, knowledgeable and efficient when implementing its projects and achieving impact in their new and current regions. Maintaining relevance and efficiency is also something NEF aims to achieve through its affiliation with SU. In 2010, NEF moved its headquarters from New York City to SU’s campus and has since relocated to an office downtown to accommodate its recent growth. As a part of its close relationship with the university, various academic groups and faculty have supported NEF in conducting various research projects, including field research in countries like Sudan and Mali. These partnerships help NEF advance its learning objectives. “You don’t want to just be implementing programs inside a vacuum,” Bass says. “You want to learn from the process and always improve. It’s a constantly changing world and it’s a constantly changing field, so we’re trying to stay on top of everything and remain as relevant and effective as possible.” Regarding funding for their various projects, Bass discusses how NEF responds to opportunities driven by other entities, such as governments, the United Nations, private foundations, and corporations. They have also begun to explore a more proactive approach to developing programs by designing them “not in response to a donor’s funding opportunity, but rather in a design process that we lead based on our experience—both in the field and at HQ—and then strategically present those ideas to different donors who may be interested,” Bass says. Davis’s preliminary research exploring potential for implementing and funding projects in Iraq exemplifies this strategy. NEF’s constantly evolving work is impacted by more than just available funding opportunities. In a broader sense, it is affected by global affairs. “Pretty much every country that we work in is affected by conflict and/or climate change,” Bass says. “The Syria conflict affects Jordan and Lebanon where we work with both refugees and host communities; we have an agricultural development program inside of a war-torn country that actually had to be relocated mid-implementation because of military offenses; and in Sudan there are conflicts and displacement affecting pretty much all of the places we currently work in Darfur.” Circumstances such as political pressures in donor countries also impact NEF’s work. “There are larger narratives right now in the European Union, for example, about preventing migration from sub-Saharan Africa and finding

ways to persuade would-be migrants to stay in their home country, such as improving their economic prospects at home. These are some of the conversations and trends that we take into consideration while trying to concern ourselves with the wellbeing and best interests of the individuals and communities we serve.” As an International Relations major, exposure to this aspect of global affairs through her internship at NEF has greatly impacted Davis’s studies. Looking at governmental topics in the classroom and development aid topics at work, allows her to draw connections between the actions of international governments and the realities in which people around the globe are living. “I make these connections now that I don’t think I would have made if I didn’t have that experience,” Davis says. An important part of this experience for Davis is the unbiased nature of the data her research is based on. It provides a representative voice for the people and the conditions they face living in those countries, while also allowing her to draw her own conclusions. “While we only provide a small portion of what they need, we are still doing our part to help and do as much as we can,” Davis says. “We all have to help. That’s my big humanitarian go to. I respect that not everybody feels that way, but, either way, you are playing a role in the world, even if you are being selfish. So, we all play our part. And this is how I’m playing mine.”

Morocco – In Morocco, NEF works primarily towards youth empowerment. Projects focus on providing access to education for students in rural areas, helping young entrepreneurs create businesses and access finance, and improving overall social accountability and entrepreneurial ecosystems in the country.

Morocco 

Mali and Senegal – In Mali and Senegal, NEF works with local governments to help build their capacity to access international funds for climate change adaptation. Other programming focuses on improving livelihoods for farmers in rural subSaharan regions and for women through microenterprise development.

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Mali & Senegal Visit neareast.org for more information on NEF and its programs 13

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Sudan – Sudan continually op NEF’s current p peacebuilding t cooperation, im management su helping women

Syria – In Syria, NEF runs an agriculture value chain development program in which it works to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and food processors, and to improve food security for vulnerable populations.

Palestinian Territories – Notable NEF projects in this region include the Palestinian Agricultural Water Management (PAWM) and Olive Oil Without Borders, which focus on improving natural resource management and building economic cooperation in the region. Other activities include supporting early childhood education and school feeding as well as supporting women’s economic development.

Armenia – In Armenia, NEF’s programming works with organizations who support women’s equality and women’s economic empowerment, and who work to protect women from gender-based violence. NEF helps these organizations connect with similar social enterprises and find more stable streams of funding.

Syria

Palestinian Territories

 

Sudan 

 Jordan and Lebanon

Lebanon and Jordan – In Lebanon and Jordan, NEF’s biggest focus is on supporting refugees and host communities experiencing strain due to the Syria conflict. NEF works to establish support and information centers that provide skills development and income-generating programming such as employability and enterprise training.

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n has one of NEF’s longest perating program offices. projects in Sudan focus on through fostering economic mproving natural resource uch as access to clean water, n earn safe livelihoods, and more.

MAINTAIN MINDFULNESS Meditating in Hendricks Chapel is one of many ways for the Syracuse community to practice, learn and appreciate religion of all kinds. 15

Karen Nezelek, the meditation leader, describes her process. She practices Zen Buddhism, a school of meditation she learned in Syracuse. This ideology can be both a religion and a practice. Although rooted in Japan, it has connections to other ancient religions and traditions, she says. Nezelek’s meditation process is difficult to describe because much of what happens can neither be put into words nor be easily translated from Japanese to English. Students on campus participate in religious and spiritual activities to learn, practice and understand themselves and the world. The activity of meditation extends far beyond what is normally perceived as religion, Nezelek says. By participating in meditation and similar activities, the mind opens to new thoughts and ideas.

Nezelek acknowledges the positive effect that religious or spiritual practices can have on one’s perspective on life. She told a story about a time she bought food for a homeless person on Marshall Street. Through this experience, she learned that one of the biggest complaints of the homeless is not that they are hungry, tired or cold, but that they are not seen. Nezelek asks her meditation group to truly see other people beyond the surface and to try to understand

“This process recognizes that and encourages selfinspection … and by doing that, you become compassionate.” their struggles. “A lot of this process will help you experience compassion. Usually all of us suffer in some way,” Nezelek says. “This process recognizes that and encourages self-inspection… and by doing that, you become compassionate.” Religion is an important aspect of many people’s lives. Much of a person’s religious perspective is formed by the environment they are raised in and their culture. Family and community can help shape and maintain these beliefs. When students go away to college, many FALL 2018

he colors on the back wall of the small room in Hendricks Chapel melt together like watercolors. In the center of the room stands a wooden cabinet, holding a Buddha statue and incense. The smoky scent from the incense wafts throughout the room, creating a mood of serenity in the dimly lit chapel. The beat of the mokugyo keeps time. A bell rings out and the chanting begins. A small-framed woman sings out Japanese words while participants sit in silence. When the chanting ends, everyone closes their eyes and sits in silence for thirty minutes. The goal is to slowly count to ten while keeping the mind free of thought. Once thoughts intrude the mind, restart and begin counting at one. Restarting is not a failure; it is a part of the process.

have access to different religious organizations and activities that they can participate in on and off campus. At Syracuse University, Hendricks Chapel is “a home for all faiths, and a place for all people,” according to its website. While walking through Hendricks Chapel it is clear that it is a symbol of unity for the Syracuse community. Every Sunday evening, there is a convocation ceremony. Throughout the week, Hendricks hosts programs, such as interfaith dialogues, centered around discussing issues that face society. For some students, Hendricks serves as a safe space. Religion can be a comforting constant in the lives of SU students during a time in their lives where everything is changing. They can count on their fellow students, community members, and religious leaders to provide a sense of familiarity. Amir Duric, the Muslim chaplain at Hendricks, believes that the environment at SU allows students to “rethink their belief system, religious practices and even their identities.” Duric feels that most students at the university should, at some point, become involved with some sort of religious activity. “Students who participate in religious activities perform better in their academic work and extracurricular activities, since religion helps them to stay focused and mindful in all aspects of their life,” Duric says. “Therefore, those students who experience religion find it as a great support.” Hendricks Chapel and its services exemplify the university’s efforts to promote inclusion and diversity. The red brick chapel, with its proud ionic columns and stone staircase, sits at the center of SU’s quad, welcoming the Syracuse community and offering it a new perspective on the world. Written by Brittany Richardson, Photos by Molly Bolan, Design by Elaine Duckworth

REELING IT IN

Started by a passionate SU professor and his wife, the Syracuse International Film Festival showcases works from SU students and renowned filmmakers.

Written by Maria Ramos-Francia, Photos by Katie Reahl, Design by Elaine Duckworth

he Syracuse International Film Festival first came to Syracuse, NY 15 years ago. It was created in 2003 by SU professor Owen J. Shapiro, and his wife Christine Fawcett-Shapiro. The festival is co-sponsored by the College of Visual and Performing Arts. It was created as a way for film to be brought to the community. Its goal is to engage, entertain, inform and inspire the people of Syracuse through film. The festival started off as an annual event and has now transformed into a year-round producer of screenings. This year, the festival went from October 10th to October 14th. The event kicked off at the Redhouse Arts Center with a fundPresented for outstanding raising gala which included special guest, creative achievement in super-model and actress, Grace Jones. independent cinema Jones, a native of Jamaica, was raised in Syracuse and finished college here before 2018 leaving for Paris to begin a career in modGrace Jones eling. A showing of the superstar’s new documentary, Bloodlight and Bami, was 2017 shown and followed by a live stream Q&A. Giancarlo Esposito However, Grace Jones wasn’t the Michal-Bat Adam only exciting guest to be a part of SYIFF Ed Green this year. On October 12th, the festival hosted an evening with Jeremy Garelick. 2016 Garelick graduated from Yale University Bobby Moresco with a degree in film and theatre. He went Eugene Corr on to work with acclaimed directors Joel Oren Lyons Schumacher and Todd Philips. Currently, he is well-known for his work as a producer, even though he has experience as a screenwriter and director as well. One of his most popular movies was the 2015 rom-com hit, The Wedding Ringer, which was shown at the SYIFF on October 12th and was followed by a Q&A with the producer. Much to the audiences’ surprise, Garelick wrote The Wedding Ringer when he was 21 years old but, it took almost 15 years to get made. The night was full of laughter. The audience was delighted with the movie, and even more so with Garelick and his stories about the film industry.

SOPHIA AWARDS

1. Student watch The Resort by Ananda Garrisonv 2. Students see the credits roll of Blue Toes by Isobella Antelis 3. Attendee of The International Film Festival poses in front of the backdrop

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The festival’s original schedule included showings of Big Time Adolescence and Banana Split, two of Garelick’s upcoming movies that featured young and popular actors such as Dylan Sprouse and Liana Liberato. Both movies were filmed in Central New York, with backing from Garelick’s Syracuse based production studio. Due to legal reasons the films could not be shown. However, Garelick apologized profusely and made up for the inconvenience by giving the audience a sneak peek of both movies. October 12th and 13th were also exciting nights because of the showings of silent films, a music video competition and one of the festivals biggest highlights, the 48-hour Film Competition. The competition challenged teams of up to five people to create a short film in, you guessed it, 48 hours. Each team received a prop, an action, and a location which they had to incorporate into their film. All completed films were shown and judged during the festival, winners won up to $1,000 in cash prices. Having participated in a competition like this one back in Mexico, I would recommend aspiring filmmakers to participate in this competition at the festival next year because those exhausting 48 hours were truly worth the experience. The film festival came to an end on October 14th at the Shaffer Art Building, here at Syracuse University. The showings featured short films about disability, indigenous people and films by new filmmakers, some of which were works done completely by students. Many of the volunteers at the festival were SU students. If you would like to support the festival, it is a non-profit organization and donations are used to improve it and provide filmmakers more opportunities to become successful in the film industry. Donations can be made online or sent directly to SYIFF’s offices. The festival presents an amazing opportunity for aspiring filmmakers to immerse themselves in the world of film and make connections with other filmmakers. It’s a great place to go and meet interesting people from all walks of life who thoroughly enjoy every aspect of film. The whole experience allowed me to see movies with a new perspective. In today’s world, it’s important to support international films because everyone has a story to tell and we should all listen.

Growing Roots In Foreign Soil Written by Casey Tissue and Victoria Muriel Photos by Sam Lee 19

written by: Lianza Reyes

y dusty, overpopulated hometown of Metro Manila, Philippines, seems to have little in common with where I am studying now at Syracuse University. Cold seems to pervade every spot of Syracuse, New York, where leaves turn red at the turn of the daylight hour. It seems like polar opposites – it was part of the reason why I decided to come to the United States. It’s been two full years since I first moved, and now I seek Manila wherever I go. I’ve come to accept versions of my home country that aren’t exactly the same, but are similar. Because now, homesickness does not swallow me as it used to. Now, it just sneaks in and becomes the monster under my bed. Fortunately, there are people, places and organizations that have helped me keep my grip for my culture intact. The city of Syracuse, along with SU, has various ways to keep international students connected to their home country. What’s interesting is that Philippine culture in upstate New York isn’t as stark or obvious as, say, Chinese or Japanese culture. But the first anchor point I managed to find was through the Filipino Student Association, an organization that I began my sophomore year. When I began, we probably only had a few core members that attended meetings. Today, there are nearly 50 members on our OrgSync page, many of whom attend our events regularly. FSA introduced me to a family away from the Philippines that shared my humor, had similar passions and wanted to share their pride of their identity. One day, in a small get-together, FSA finally ordered Oompa Loompyas, which is a fusion Filipino restaurant that caters. To see people overjoyed over a taste of lechon (pork dish) and garlic rice was a familial experience. Even though it didn’t taste close to our mothers’ cooking, we all enjoyed it. Various restaurants in Syracuse keep me grounded to what I love most – the food. Lemongrass is a personal favorite, with its wonderful blend of spicy and sweet pad thai noodles. I also still enjoy Bleu Monkey for sushi, though at the end of the day, I wait most days to get a taste of Filipino food when I come home. Outside of the immediate familiar sphere that is my Filipino roots, I still feel my Asian heritage (and by extension, an international student) have a hand in my day-to-day experiences. One way in which I always feel myself at home is the Office of Multicultural Affairs, where I see myself represented constantly through Huey Hsiao, one of the assistant directors. Last spring, Huey gave me the opportunity to interview Anish Shroff, an ESPN playby-play broadcaster, for a lecture for the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. During that lecture, I felt my pride for Asian stories shine in Shroff’s own experiences as a first generation American. Manila still feels far, but closer now than it did two years ago. The 8,000 miles feel shorter, because now, Syracuse has become another home. Another place to rest my head. Another place that has who I love and what I need.

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Six SU international students find ways to embrace their culture on and off campus while navigating their identity in this new space.

Returing to Roots

CAMILA BENCOSME It was winter break of her freshman year at Syracuse University. Camila Bencosme was home in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. “Are you ready to go back? Are you excited?” her cousins asked her. “No,” she responded frankly. Bencosme always knew that a cultural adjustment would entail challenges. “That’s why I came here, because I was open to that,” she says. She chose Syracuse over Manhattanville, a college with a large international hispanic population. Despite knowing Manhattanville would be a comfortable environment for her, Bencosme chose to step out of her comfort zone. “I think stepping away from that environment of people that are very similar to me has been a big part of my experience in Syracuse,” she says. “I’ve gotten to learn more [by distancing] myself from home.” Yet, the memories of home remain. “There’s nothing like it,” she says. “The way things work, the culture.” Home was the place where she could dance in her room, where she could joke with her friends, where she could be herself. At Syracuse, she felt as though her personality was slipping through her fingers. “It wasn’t a problem for me to speak in English to people...but trying to find my personality in English was hard...I feel like I’m a cooler person when I speak in Spanish,” she explains. The norms of American society contrast with those of the Dominican Republic. The countries differ not only linguistically, but also in the overall rhythm of life. Like all freshmen — especially those from foreign countries —— Bencosme had to step into a new rhythm. For her, dancing proved to be the best solution. “If I was going to do something on campus, it was going to be dance,” she said. Enter Raíces. Raices (the Spanish word for “roots”) is Syracuse University’s only latin-based dance troupe, specializing in styles such as merengue, salsa, bachata and even hip-hop. Bencosme earned a spot during her sophomore year, and the team immediately embraced her as part of the family. “That helped me get to know more people that are kind of like me, at least in some way,” she reflects. More than a social endeavor, joining Raices was also a way to reclaim her personality — of reconnecting with the girl who had once danced her heart out at quinceñeras and school competitions back in the Dominican Republic. It has also given Bencosme the opportunity to reach beyond

campus into the broader Syracuse community as the group opens its showcases to the general public. Now a senior planning her future in web design, Bencosme feels at home in the United States. She has learned to see every situation — including her first-year struggles — as constructive. “I don’t know why, but last semester, it just switched in me,” she says. “I’ve started thinking differently...I don’t think any experience is bad.” She knows that those struggles helped shape her, and that made them worth it.

International Students’ Food Favorites

CHRIS VOGT According to Chris Vogt, America is the land of public relations — and this semester, he’s getting a firsthand experience. As an exchange student from Stuttgart Media University in Germany, he is spending four months at Syracuse University, studying public relations and sampling the culture of American college life. “I’m here to find new things,” he says. He wants to experience the fast-paced nature of New York City, feel the tension of the midterm elections and immerse himself in the language he’s been learning since he was six years old. He does not want to feel as though he is still in Germany; instead he wants to embrace the diversity American culture has to offer. Still, home seems to find its way to him. One day, Vogt was sitting in class when he spotted a familiar German phrase near him, tattooed on his American classmate’s arm. The phrase was slang from his home state, Bavaria. “He had this German figure of speech on his arm,” Vogt recounts. “I asked him, ‘What’s the story behind that?’” He learned that the classmate is a fan of a football club from a region two hours from Vogt’s hometown of Nuremberg. “People in my area would not say that,” Vogt explains, “But that was kind of cool. It’s crazy that there are so many connections to this small area that I am from.” Vogt not only finds bits of home woven into his college life, but also in his travels across America. A short trip to Niagara Falls brought yet another surprise encounter. “They sold this German chocolate. The factory is just a twenty minute car ride from my place in Stuttgart,” he said. “It was great to see — just to say, ‘That’s where I’m from.’” He has seen the chocolate in stores around Syracuse as well, and he enjoys explaining its significance to his friends. “There’s always a sense of [pride]; although I have nothing to do with it, other than just living next to it.” He says that he believes that it will help his American friends remember him even after he goes back to Stuttgart. Vogt also recalls his visit to a biergarten in downtown Syracuse, where he caught a glimpse of home from an outsider’s perspective. “It was so interesting to see the American perspective of Germany,” he says. He describes the amusing sight of thick, wooden tables — what Americans expect to see in his country. “That’s not how tables look in Germany,” he explains. Vogt can attest to the vast distinctions between German and American culture. Yet, he says that while there is distinction, there is no disconnect. In his short time here, he has felt no need to seek out the culture he left, perhaps because he has found so many parallels between American culture and his own. Some experiences, such as enjoying music, transcend culture. For example, Vogt talked about the Syracuse marching band playing a song by Imagine Dragons and shared that they are just as popular in regions of Germany as it is in the U.S. Although Vogt hasn’t actively sought out bits of home during his time abroad in the U.S., parts of home still managed to find him anyway.

Samir’s Imported Foods Mediterranean and Middle Eastern specialty store 811 E Genesee St, Syracuse, NY 13210 Indian Bazaar of Syracuse A full-line Indian grocery store and international market 4471 E Genesee St, Syracuse NY 13214

Indian Fashion Chaat House Hole-in-the-wall specializing in chaat, classic Indian street food 4469 E Genesee St, Syracuse NY 13214 Las Delicias Latin-American restaurant focusing on Dominican and Puerto Rican cuisine 552 Westcott St, Syracuse NY 13210 Wolff’s Biergarten German bar and restaurant specializing in biers, wurst, and soccer 106 Montgomery St, Syracuse 13202

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Byblos Mediterranean Cafe Mediterranean eatery with a focus on Lebanese cuisine 223 N Clinton St, Syracuse, NY 13202

Ladin’s Turkish Coffee Ingredients: Cezve: This is a special long-handled pot, usually made of copper. Ladin often uses an electronic version. Cold, filtered water Ground Turkish coffee Turkish coffee cups with lids

Christian Andino Borrero Puerto Rico isn’t a foreign country, but it might as well be — this is what Christian Andino Borrero says he realized after he came to Syracuse University. An intensely proud Boricua, Borrero, who hails from Carolina, Puerto Rico, does not try to hide who he is. Coming to Syracuse, however, he realized the disconnect between how he saw himself and how he was perceived by others. As a second year student in international relations and policy studies, he says he is acutely aware of and frustrated by Puerto Rico’s nature as a territory of the U.S. “We neither exist in the international arena, because we’re not our own country, [and] we don’t exist in the US,” he explains. When he first came to Syracuse he felt a sense of isolation; he found it hard to adjust to certain aspects of American culture. “The happiness that everyone exudes, the warmth of the Caribbean, the music, the food, the going out scene, [and] just the way people sometimes treat you,” he says, was what he missed most about life on the island. He also shares that his and others’ Puerto Rican identities were questioned on the basis of skin color, being told that they either “looked too white” or “looked too black to be Puerto Rican.” Though identifying as Afrolatino — “black” and “latino” — he could not be fully either in the eyes of many people. He grew annoyed with the idea that both “puertoricanness” and latinidad were separate from blackness, and that he had to defend his identity. Despite knowing that there were many Puerto Ricans at SU, Borrero says there was a lack of community amongst them. Hurricane Maria in 2017, however, was a major turning point. “We dealt with [it] individually, or maybe with a few friends, but not as a community — waiting to see when I’ll finally get a text or a call from my family to see if they’re okay, to see if they’re alive,” Borrero recalls. 23

Soon after the catastrophe, a fellow student approached Borrero and several others regarding starting a Puerto Rican student association. “We were all on board instantly; we all knew it was something that we needed even outside of the hurricane, but especially because of the hurricane. It’s something that we needed to feel like we had a piece of home here,” Borrero says. The group had two weeks to do everything: write a constitution, find an advisor, get enough signatures in favor of the organization and develop a mission statement. After just barely meeting the deadline, the Puerto Rican Student Association (PRSA) was created. For Borrero, the PRSA fulfills an important goal. “[It is] a space where you can be understood, where you can fully feel like you can be yourself, where you can stay connected to your culture,” Borrero explains. The group’s first major event was Voces en Exilio, or, Voices in Exile, which was a commemoration of the hurricane exactly one year later. It united the Puerto Rican community in Syracuse, being meant for both students and community members. “We had a singer and a guitarist do songs that are cultural emblems of Puerto Rico like En mi Viejo San Juan” he says, “It was a tribute and a form of healing from [what] happened.” As Philanthropy Chair for the PRSA, he has worked directly with La Casita, a Syracuse University body which serves the Latin-American community on and off campus. Borrero recruits volunteers for their programs, such as those that tutor children in English and Spanish. Though the organization is still in its infancy, one of Borrero’s primary aims for the future is to further connect with the Westside’s larger Puerto Rican population. “We struggle in similar ways,” he says, “We can help them and they can help us — we want to connect with them and ask them what they need.” Borrero says his time in Syracuse has made him reflect on what he values. “You realize that there are things that maybe you took for granted of your culture — things that you love, things that make you feel comfortable, that make you feel happy,” he says, “there are beautiful things about my culture that I’m definitely gonna keep alive.”

Directions 1. Measure out the water with the cups you are going to use. Pour the water into the cezve. 2. Add sugar according to personal taste. 3. Add a heaping tablespoon of ground coffee. 4. Stir the mixture until combined. 5. Slowly the bring the mixture to boil over medium heat. This will take 3-4 minutes, so keep a close eye on it. As the coffee warms, you will see a dark foam building up. This is very important. It is customary to serve Turkish coffee with the foam on top. 7. Closer to the coffee coming to a boil, use a teaspoon to transfer some foam into each cup. 8. As the coffee comes to a boil, pour half into the cups, over the foam. 9. Boil the remaining coffee for 15-20 more seconds, then pour the rest into the cups, filling them to the rim. It’s tradition to twist the lid of the cup while making a wish, open it and look at the grounds to guess your fortune.

Ladin Bacakoğlu It is November 9, and — despite studying across the ocean — Ladin Bacakoğlu has not forgotten that tomorrow is an important day in Turkey. To commemorate the passing of the republic’s founder, she plans to do what she often does on national and religious holidays: she’ll take out her special pot and prepare the Turkish coffee she brought from Izmir, her hometown. Bacakoğlu’s offer to cook Turkish cuisine is for anyone; she’ll give it without reservation. And she loves giving her friends a taste of Turkish coffee, even if that means adding loads of sugar and a side of Turkish delight so they can bear the bitter taste. “I’m happy here,” she says. Still, she appreciates a token of home, as her heart is in both United States and Turkey — and all over the world for that matter. Her calling is to pursue international law in America, but she’ll never lose her love for home in Izmir. “Everyone is just really open-minded...the food is amazing...It’s a different world than the [east] of Turkey,” she explains. Bacakoğlu aims to stay connected with that world beyond coffee and the occasional conversation in Turkish. She wants to reach across the earth to incoming students facing the same transition she did three years ago. To do so, she must remember how she felt at that time. “I didn’t know where I was coming...I had no idea what was Syracuse,” she recalls. Before coming to Syracuse University, she attended a meeting in Istanbul where a graduate student advised her to join the International Relations Learning Community. “That changed my life,” she says. The people she lived with her first year came from all over the world — America, Kuwait, China — yet their common embrace of a cross-cultural perspective unified them.

Sharing Turkish cuisine with new friends, bonding with people who share her passion, advocating for students who came from abroad just as she did — in all of these situations, Ladin Bacakoglu has allowed her past to inspire her future.

FALL 2018

Bacakoğlu hopes to connect herself back to Turkey and to other nations, specifically through advising incoming students in the same way the student in Istanbul advised her. One approach she has taken to this objective is proposing a website idea to the Slutzker Center for International Services. Her potential website would serve as a virtual mentor, educating international students and their parents about life in Syracuse prior to arrival. “I think the main problem is before they come here,” she explains. “A lot of my mentees don’t have winter coats. They don’t know those kinds of things.” A website now exists that resembles her idea, but she is still pushing the admissions department to begin mentorship earlier in international students’ college careers.

RUTUJA GANOO Feeling out of place is nothing new for Rutuja Ganoo; in fact, it’s been her ordinary, she explains. Throughout her life, she’s lived in various locations: born in California, moving between states in India, transferring to England, returning once again to India, and finally settling in Mumbai, which she calls home — all before coming to Syracuse University in 2014 to study architecture. In navigating these different spaces, she explained, “I really felt the need to change a lot of things about myself to fit in; I realized recently that there are so many things that I love doing, or that come so naturally to me, that I really suppressed for a long time,” she explains. She admits that wherever she went she could not be fully comfortable with her cultural identity. While in England, a kid had laughed at her food, and in India, embracing her culture was considered “uncool.” She struggled with the fact that the morals and values she was being taught by her family were not acknowledged outside of her house. Thus, she came to put her culture on hold. “I think over time you hear all these different things and just learn to suppress your culture] even more and more,” she says.

“Always stick to your roots, because you’ll need a place to go back to.” Being in Syracuse, she realized that in the hustle and bustle of life she began losing touch with her home culture. Her freshman year, she could neither get decent vegetarian meals nor Indian food; she had relatively few Indian friends; she was often surrounded by predominantly white faces; and in her architecture classes, she learned about mainly European figures and their contributions. Eventually, she began to feel as though she was missing something and recognized the value of reconnecting with her cultural heritage. As a result, she found other students with whom she could relate. Although there is a large Indian community here, she and other Indian students initially ran into some difficulties when looking to reconnect with their culture. “I think it took a lot

of time to figure out the right places to go to, and the right places to look,” she says. “Our professor [was] like the one with the beacon, telling us where to go. But before her we had absolutely no idea of events on campus.” Through events like Holi, Diwali, and “Garba” night sponsored by the South Asian Student Association (SASA), Ganoo says, she has been able to reconnect. “You hear music you’re familiar to and you just light up,” she says with a smile. Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture, or SPICMACAY, has brought back fond memories of attending classical music and dance shows as a child, Ganoo says. She discovered it after seeing her friends, both dancers, perform in one of the events, and the familiar sights and sounds have brought a sense of home to Syracuse. “Bollywood Nights” with her friends also bring Ganoo the comforting feeling of familiarity. “We get together every week,” she says, “we make [Indian] food and we watch a funny Hindi movie.” Food has played a major role in Ganoo’s experience, as well. Although she admits the Indian food in America is not the best, going to get chaat — Indian street food — hidden in a sweets shop next to the Indian Bazaar, brings comfort. In fact, the Indian Bazaar in Syracuse, being the primary supplier of these foods, offers international students in particular increased accessibility: for any order over $50, they will send a car to retrieve students to pick up their groceries. Strangely enough, she admits that leaving home for Syracuse has actually strengthened her cultural ties. “Always stick to your roots,” she says, “because you need a place to go back to.”

THE SLUTZKER CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL SERVICES

How do I apply for a visa? How can I practice conversing in English? Where can I find a bank in Syracuse? These are a few of the countless questions that accompany studying internationally at Syracuse University. The Slutzker Center for International Services provides the answers. Professor Patricia Burak served as the director of the Slutzker Center for 41 years before becoming a full-time Arts and Sciences faculty member this year. She explained that the center’s services include “immigration, support, and programmatic guidance” and that it works in conjunction with organizations like the International Center of Syracuse. In addition to assisting students with logistics like finding employment and obtaining health insurance, the Slutzker Center sponsors programs for personal mentorship and intercultural dialogue. The center’s website highlights the Mix It Up, a series of meals and culture-sharing discussions, as well as the Connections Program, which assigns first-year international students to experienced mentors.

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Throughout her years at the Slutzker Center, Professor Burak enjoyed watching the city embrace SU’s international students. “Many of the local cultural communities welcomed [them] as children from home,” she said, “and that tendency remains today.”

The Women’s Empowerment Initiative, a subgroup of RISE, gives young refugee girls a support system to navigate their lives in the U.S. Written by Kate Brennan Photos by Sunghee Kim Design by Elaine Duckworth

GIRLS RISE UP

magine what it would be like to leave everything you’ve ever known, having to adjust to a whole new way of living. Wouldn’t you want a safe place where people will work with you to help you to settle into this new world? On the corner of Burt Street in Syracuse, New York, there is an octagon-shaped brick building. While it may not look like much, this place is a sanctuary for countless refugees in the area. It offers a multitude of programs that help immigrants with ESL, citizenship tests, job opportunities, financial literacy courses, and academic assistance for children grades K-12. Among all of these resources, there is a fairly new initiative that stands out: the Women’s Empowerment Program. According to Isabelle Kallman, the associate executive director, the mission of the Women’s Empowerment Program is to “bring together these girls that have a similar experience of being a refugee, create a safe space, and let them experience and learn about new things kind of in that space.” She sat across from me in the classroom where they hold this program, for adolescent girls grades 7-12. Behind her is a chalkboard with scribbles all over, a pile of painted paper plate masks, mountains of books, and electric tape hopscotch on the floor. And let’s not forget about the endless RISE puns gracing posters (RISE-ing artist, RISE-ing to new horizons, etc.). She says “You know, as a teenager you just want a safe space to kind of like, be away from your parents, experience new things, hang out with your friends. Being the child of a refugee or being a refugee yourself is a pretty unique experience and I think they don’t always get a safe space to talk about it, or a safe space to hash out that experience when they’re in school with the rest of the kids so we just try to make them feel like they can do that here.” The initiative embodies the center’s self-empowerment mission; however, it condenses it into a sub-community for young women to have a sense of belonging and even sisterhood. There are countless activities these girls can participate in, a major one from last spring being the Women’s Refugee Expressive Art Project. Kallman says “We had a partnership with Everson, the Museum of Art, and then we also had some students come from SU actually, and they did different art projects with our adult women from Women’s Empowerment once a week. A lot of the women who come to ESL in the morning would just stay to do the art project. And it was good for them because even if they didn’t speak a lot of English, they’re getting a chance to do something creative and also practicing different vocabulary and stuff that that they don’t normally get to do.” This women’s art project is only one of the exciting activities that has been offered as part of the program, but has visibly had an impact of the self-esteem of these girls. Hanging on Kallman’s office door are a couple collage-style pictures made by participants in the program. They are templated images of girls that were colored in and decorated. One is a picture of a girl that has blue and green gemstones for hair and is covered in basketball stickers. The other is a girl with purple and yellow squiggly lines and polka dots colored in for hair, and a striped background colored in using multiple neon highlighter colors. Both are scattered with messages that remind these girls of their worth, such as “I am loved”, “I am worth it”, and “I am always going to be okay.” The quote decorating one of these masterpieces that most strongly represents the mission of RISE is “Every day is a brand new day...you can put the past behind you and start fresh.” This speaks to the idea that although these girls may be coming from places where they didn’t have the same rights or opportunities they have here, this is their chance to build a new little life here in Syracuse.

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The majority of refugees associated with RISE are apart of the Somali-Bantu population, as it originated as the Somali-Bantu community center. However, according to Kallman, “they don’t always come from Somalia originally, because Somalia has been torn apart by war. So the refugees are moved to camps, refugee camps, in Kenya or other countries in Africa. So you could have a refugee in Syracuse that’s Somalian but they’ve never actually lived in Somalia because they’ve always lived their life either in a camp or here, which happens a lot.” Despite the majority being Somali-Bantu, RISE serves all refugees and immigrants in the Syracuse area. Kallman says “We have a pretty big Arabic population now, so Syrian, Iraqi, countries like that. We also serve a lot of Nepalese and Burmese refugees as well.” One of the biggest challenges for someone immigrating to a new country is trying to reach an equilibrium between their traditional culture and this new culture, and it is twice as hard if you are a young girl still learning about identity and still trying to find yourself. Of the girls in Women’s Empowerment, Kallman says “Some of them are really head-to-head with their parents on wanting to embrace the culture here and being fully American, and a lot of them are trying to be really respectful with their parents and maybe embrace a few new things. We talk about that a lot during Women’s Empowerment and how they want to navigate that, and how they can maybe do it in a way that’s comfortable for them, or doesn’t cause too much trouble at home...you know, I think it’s really challenging.” There is a community mural that was done recently in the RISE center as an answer to the question of what type of activity could bring together staff, volunteers, community leaders, youth, and clients. The mural displays the title “What RISE Means To Us”, with words like “life”, “hope”, “growth”, “home”, “gratitude”, and my personal favorite, “dream center”. There are multicolored paint handprints all over the wall, each one of these handprints belonging to a person, each person having a story. These people came from faraway places to chase after the famed American dream. This mural illustrates not only why refugees come to RISE, but what they hope for when they come to America. RISE helps them to reach these dreams, and now, because of the Women’s Empowerment Initiative, young refugee women are given a safety net so they too can chase this dream.

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