Common Ground UC SAN DIEGO
CROSS-CULTURAL CENTER
Adjusting to Change
VOLUME 18, ISSUE 1 FALL2013
Edwina Welch Director Memories are the tides of Change Welcome everyone to 2013-14 and the first Common Ground Newsletter of the year. Fall is always an energetic time; welcome week activities, reuniting with friends we haven’t seen most of summer, and setting goals for ourselves anew. This year is especially exciting for the Cross-Cultural Center with strategic planning under the Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, working with new colleagues in the Black Resource Center and Raza Resource Centro, and planning for our 2014-15 CCC 20th Anniversary. We already had an alumni gathering to honor and remember a past intern Joy de la Cruz whose work and spirit permeate all we do at the CCC. This brings me to the title for this article. Over last year and summer, volunteers and staff at the CCC have been organizing archives in preparation for 2014-15 events and activities. We have been reviewing old flyers, student publications, following up with past interns, inte and gathering stories. Sometimes these remembrances, that connect us to the past, can make change hard, even scary… but here is the secret… change and memory are inextricably linked. Reviewing the past 19 years of community stories have been a catalyst for going forward. Seeing history through the eyes of current students offers another point of view and reminds us of cur the work that is still ahead. Reconnecting with alumni and past community partners, hearing their experiences, connecting them with current students help us explore new ways of working. Welcome 2013-14 so many exciting partnerships, relationships and activities. So many ways to honor the past and use that history and knowledge toward a new, unknown future… Are you ready for the ride? I am…
Diana Li
Common Ground Newsletter & Marketing Intern Hello! My name is Diana Li and I am the new Common Ground Newsletter & Marketing Intern at the Cross-Cultural Center! Welcome to this year’s first issue of the Common Ground Newsletter. This issue’s theme is Newslette “Adjusting to Change.” With a new school year, a new cycle, and new people, all happening during Fall, there is always a transition and adjustment to many different forms of change. This issue navigates this idea through experience, memory, acceptance, motivation and looking forward to the future. You are invited to explore what this means to you as you read through our submissios and meet the 2013-14 Cross-Cultural Center Staff and Interns!
inside this issue
Programs 2 Meet the Staff & Submissions 3
Fall Programs week
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Tue | Oct 29 | 1130AM-1PM | CCC Library
Social Justice LENS (Leadership.Educational engagement. Networking.Service in Community)
Fry Bread Babes and Two-Spirit People: The Berdache Tradition in Native American Cultures Wed | Oct 30| 3-5PM | CCC Comunidad
“The Real World Career Series: Building Skills for a Diverse Interconnected Community- Preparing for Grad School”
Learn about the grad school application process from Professional & Grad School Advisors. Application Process, Timeline for Applying, Entrance Exams, Financial Aid, Scholarships& much more! Wed | Oct 30| 6-8PM | CCC ArtSpace
“Honor & Resurrect: a Queer Trans* People of Color Art Gallery Reception” A reception to celebrate and honor the legacies of QTPOC. Thu | Oct 31 | 12-3PM | CCC ArtSpace
“Breather Series: Starlight Luminaries”
Take a BREATHER and come decorate your own tea light jars. Light your room with a new decorative piece. Materials provided will range from paint, glitter, stickers, gems, ribbons and glow sticks for a unique glow in the dark jar piece. week
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Tue | Nov 5 | 11:30AM-1PM | CCC Library
“The Real World Career Series: Building Skills for a Diverse Interconnected Community” Thu | Nov 7 | 5-7PM | CCC Comunidad
“Social Justice 101”
An educational space to explore and have dialogue on ideas in the Social Justice field. Wed | Nov 7 | 4-6PM | Women’s Center
“Works in Progress (WIP) Graduate Student Presentations on Gender and Technology” Fri | Nov 8 | 7:15PM | Digiplex Mission Valley
“American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs” Co-presented with San Diego Asian Film Festival (Pac-Arts Movement) week
Wed | Nov 13 | 3-5PM | CCC Comunidad
week
Mon | Nov 18 | 11:30AM-1PM | International Center
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“Faculty in Residence Prison Nation, with Dr. Dennis Childs and SAMI: Students Against Mass Incarceration” “Cross-Cultural Center and Staff Associations Diversity Luncheon” Thu | Nov 21 | 1-3 PM | CCC Library
“Social Justice Educators Present: Fashion and Resistance” Open Workshop
Thu | Nov 21 | 5-7PM | CCC Comunidad
“Graduate Student Diversity Dinner” week
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Thu | Dec 5 | 11:30AM-3:30PM, CCC ArtSpace
“Breather Series: Arts and Crafts”
Come to de-stress or take a break from work or school. Take home what you create, whether it is a picture frame, wooden box, canvas, etc. All supplies are provided. Mon | Dec 9 | 9AM - Tue | Dec 10 | 9am
“24 Hour Stress Less Study Jam”
During final's week, one of the Campus Community Centers and SPACES will be open 24 hours each day of the week for students to study. There will be study materials, study snacks, and copious amounts of coffee. The CCC will be open Monday morning to Tuesday morning. 2
Meet the Staff & Interns Violeta Gonzales Assistant Director
I am very excited about our new intern cohort. I am impressed with their work ethic, professionalism, and positive attitude. I already feel like we are a family. The interns have already grown so close together. They have inside jokes and support each other in their work, academics, emotionally, and socially. I look forward to seeing what contributions they will bring and how their passions will manifest into their self-initiated projects. So be on the lookout for some great intern programs!
Nancy Magpusao
Educational Programs & Manager of the Social Justice Educator Internship CHANGE Change is shift, movement, transition. It means persons and beings coming and going, timing, maturity, updates in one’s status, or seasons. We experience change psychologically, emotionally, physically, and mentally in our sense of perception and position. We literally create clear or clogged energy flow changes in our body through our quality of attitude and self-talk. Recently, a friend in pain whose cherished family member died, asks me: “how do I stop feeling guilty and regretful about my in/actions in the past; I should have done more, paid
more attention to this person?” My suggestion was: express feelings through meditation, prayer, journal- ing, communicating to one and another’s higher self; choose peace in the midst of hurtful circum- stances and release... Generate gratitude for the growth that comes from struggle and practice let- ting go. Sustained feelings of guilt, self-resentment, and regret, while understandable and very human, are options. How long do I choose stay in this not-so-good feeling? Is this feeling serving me and can I transform this to something generative? Am I now ready to move forward with these learned lessons? Our response to change is ultimately up to self. Wellness in self begins with thought. Choose well/ness.
Joseph Allen Ruanto-Ramirez Office & Fiscal Manager Affiliates Program Coordinator
When one asks me “how do you adjust to change(s)?” it surprises me because it presumes that the thought of the possibility of changes was not conceptualized; that changes came surprisingly and at times, unwarranted. A Buddhist scripture that I reflect on is on the Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra (The Heart of Transcendent Truth Scripture) that talks about the impermanence of life and things; how change is inevitable; and how attachment to old ways may become a burden to the self. The Sutra is the shortest scripture in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, and is one of the easiest to recite. It is usually recited scriptu when there is a surprising change in life, when one tries to detach themselves from emotional baggage, when one is trying to liberate themselves from physical hardship, and especially when there is a death in the family. You can Google the Sutra and read the scripture and some of the commentaries about it. The most famous is from the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh. A verse in the Sutra states - "Oh, Sariputra, Form does not differ from Emptiness, And Emptiness does not differ from Form. Form therefor is Emptiness and Emptiness therefor is Form; The same is true for Feelings, Perceptions, Mental Formation, and Consciousness." 3
Jayne Manuel
Joy de la Cruz Art & Activism Intern 3rd Year in Art History, Theory, & Criticism The transition from my second to third year might just be the largest adjustment I have yet to make in my college career, ca even more so than my transition as an incoming first year. I believe my experiences of this school year to be the stepping stones to my goals after I graduate, therefore, making a smooth adjust-足 ment crucial. This is the first year since I have entered UCSD where I have felt fully brave, comfortable, welcomed, and appreciated app within the spaces that I choose to occupy. It is such a new concept for me: a healthy mentality was always difficult to come by when I was accustomed to being under constant stress.
Victor Betts
Operations & Marketing Coordinator A Poem by Kid President Two roads diverged in the woods And I took the road less traveled. AND IT HURT, MAN! really bad... ROCKS! THORNS! and GLASS! My pants broke! b NOT COOL ROBERT FROST! But what if there really were two paths? I want to be on the one that leads to awesome.
Rebekah Harrold Financial Analyst
Creatively Having Adaptive Newly
Although I have been around the CCC space for a good amount of time, I almost feel like I am adjusting to a new sense of community. Seeing and experiencing moments from the side of an intern is odd, interesting, exciting, nerve-足wracking, and all inte at once, beautiful. I am an individual that usually is highly appreciative of routine in my daily life, but all of these changes that I am and will continue to experience are definitely welcomed.
Irving Ling
Affiliates & Outreach Coordinator 5th Year in General Biology & Ethnic Studies
Growing Evolutions
Although over the past four years of my college experience my Myers-足 Briggs personality type has only changed by one letter, from being an INFJ to difference has really captured di the significant amount of growth I have experienced at UCSD. Where once I had been too afraid to speak up and too scared to stand out, I found my voice in working with other students to make change on the campus and in the greater community. With only nine months until graduation I am excited for what this year will bring. Working at the Cross-足Cultural Center this year, I hope to further understand myself as I prepare to go out into the world. As I go through this process of transitioning to a new chapter in my life and adjusting to the changes, I hope to always stay grounded and centered in community. Never forget the past. Be mindful in the present. Always look towards the future. 4
German Octaviano
Diana Li
Programming Intern 3rd Year in Ethnic Studies
MOTIVATION
Common Ground Newsletter & Marketing 4th Year in Visual Arts Media & Ethnic Studies
That point, you know that point Two years have just passed you by. It’s been up, down, side to side But really… life is complicated. Once used as a defense mechanism To stop thinking about the complexities of everything. Life is complicated and Blank blank blank. Let me just turn around and not look back At the past. Let me not look at the present. Let me not look at the future. So then should I be taking everything one step at a time Or really looking at the big picture. Down the path and a simple statement “damn its not our first year anymore” Struck, and I go 100 miles an hour Thought after thought after thought following one another. Let me just stay quiet... I don’t feel like talking anymore. anymo I don’t feel like thinking anymore. I don’t feel like looking anymore. But wait, I don’t want to close my eyes. I don’t want to close my ears. I don’t want to close my mind. So life is complicated. But let me look. Let me turn and acknowledge. Annie Vasishta Let me read what is within that book. Social Justice Educator Because I don’t want to, 4th Year in Psychology I don’t want to look away. & Business I want to look at the past present and future. And I want to see where I stand “You must have chaos In this place we call life. within you to give birth That I wish more people looked at, to a dancing star” Being as complicated as I think and will be. - Friedrich Nietzche
HERE I am! Ready to go. Let’s hit it. Not so fast.
Can’t go that fast. Wait. That’s too much. Stop it. Stop. Stop. Slow down.
G N AN M H U C T U A
E
...
OK! Go!
Here WE are!
Let’s get it done.
The beginning of the end of my college journey has begun. Changes are happening rapidly and adjusting in a timely manner has been somewhat of a struggle. But hey, I love Lion King and the circle of life is continuous. Time doesn’t stop either, however, I am blessed to be surrounded by amazing individuals who make the process p of adjusting less difficult. With these people I don’t have to “adjust,” I just have to balance the new changes that come along. What makes this process of adjusting a bit easier is knowing that it is all worth it. Knowing that I am investing not only in my own growth but also being able to be a part of the growth of others. In addition to that, I continue to try to find myself in the sea of constant changes - to never forget my values and who I am while continuing to adjust to changes. Gandhi taught me to be the change I want to see in the world, so where’s whe a better place to start than to start being ok with the changes that are occurring in my life now in order to visualize what the physical manifestation of change entails. 5
Tania Romero
They understand that eventually their petals will fall off. Their stems will wilt. And eventually die. But they are not scared, because they know that they will reborn. Next Spring. After their internal process all over again.
Social Justice Educator 3rd Year in Biology I want to be a flower. Not because they are beautiful, but because they are bold. Because they are adapting, but do not assimilate. A weed has the same characteristics as a rose, but isn’t a rose and doesn’t act like a rose.
Change is just like that. Like a flower. Your life wears off. You petals start falling because you’re learning to let things go. Your stem starts wilting because you may no longer know who you are. And eventually you won’t die, but become dormant in the winter winds. Giving you time to process on your own. Giving you time to think how you’re going to reborn Come back up. Blossoming, Blooming, and being more beautiful than ever. Adapting to change is an internal process of deconstructing and rebuilding. From the winter season till the spring that comes right around.
I like the fact that they are dormant. Like if they are internally processing for a season on how they are going to blossom in spring. They don’t try to live and try to blossom all year long/ They like to rest and rejuvenate themselves. Take time. And after that hibernation of rejuvenating and processing who they want to be in spring They bloom and blossom to their maximum capacity I want to be a flower Not because they are beautiful, but because they know how to take care of themselves. They know when to let go and understand that they can’t be a beautiful flower forever.
Anthony Jongco
Social Justice Educator 3rd Year in Math-Applied Science: Economics Seed dreams to flower Nurture: water and sunshine Sprout up! Limp to side Change is good, Have focused efforts Adjust your sail with the changing wind and you can make it to your destination. No matter the number of storms encountered or Get lost Expect shipmates to be sticks in the mud. Adjust to change, It is part of this journey: Life.
Dream Big, like a seed, reach for the sky Find out where you are and what is coming to you Change and Adjust your sail until your reach your goals. Adjusting to change Unnoticed efforts count too Looking back will help
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Sandy Garcia
Eliseo Rivas
Programming Intern 2nd Year
Social Justice Educator 5th Year in Critical Gender Studies
Leaving my status as Freshmen behind requires the embodiment of a more mature and accountable self. Sophomore year has just begun and it is already moving at the speed of light. I am no longer the little freshman living in the dorms without a worry about life. Today I assume my role as a student, an employee, a commuter, a dreamer, a realist, a woman on the path to finding her true self and the state of happiness. I recognize the change and the journey are not easy, but I must also remind myself that they are not impossible either. The people that now surround me are my friends, my support, and it comforts me knowing I will grow alongside of them. This is me today at the beginning of my new internship and stage in life. I look forward forwa to seeing myself the day of tomorrow, but I also dread the moment when I must give my last goodbyes to the place that has already begun to feel like home. With strong will I begin my journey, and with a stronger will I hope to finish. Change, I now welcome you.
3 trucks and 2 cars. sweaty from lifting boxes cooled by lemonade. I come from a mobile family. Growing up, my family and I moved 5 different times for reasons I still do not entirely know. Adapting, adjusting, and acclimating were unknown to my vocabulary, but helpful in new neigh- borhoods and schools. Adjusting to change has meant getting used to putting memories into boxes and hoping that one day I can return to them. I return, choosing what to do with these memories. Sometimes, they resist and don’t want to be recalled. Others wait to be handed off as hammy downs. All are still worth something. Tattered and torn, these boxes relay stories of resistance, because I am still here. Adjusting to change means recognizing and accepting that things will not be like how they were before. My friendships, ambitions, priorities, and tastes do not look anything like they did my 1st year as a 5th year now, and that’s ok. Life is not stagnant, and neither should my expectations of life be. If I do not challenge myself to change and adjust, I don’t know how I would grow.
peace.love. JOY.always
10 years later & Joy de la Cruz (1978-2003) inspires on. Activist WOC, poet-storyteller, fierce & fabulous octopus-dancing-music-lover, Joy reminds us of our own radical creativity. -Jason Perez 7
Artwork by Dianne Que
Sure as sunrise light, memories rotate meanings- time to send one off.
UCSD Cross-Cultural Center Business Hours: Mon-Thurs 9a-9p Fri 9a-4p 9500 Gilman Drive, 0053 La Jolla, CA 92093-0053 Return Service Requested Retu
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