IAC
Arts & Culture Literary Magazine LiterarMagazine
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The International Arts & Culture cohort of the George Washington University EJlizabeth J Somers Women’s Leadership Program incorporates a study of the humanities and active involvement in performance and studio arts in a first year experience. Students in this cohort are immersed in the artistic culture in and around Washington, DC. They attend performances, watch private screenings, and meet with innovative women artists to learn more about their lives and bodies of work. The courses in this cohort include Women and the Creative Process, a performing or studio art course, and a University Writing course. This magazine is dedicated to the IAC Women’s Leadership participants during the 2017- 2018 academic year. It includes a collection of works from all the WLP students in this cohort. IAC Magazine Creation. Design, and Editorial Content: Hayley Margolis, GW/IAC 2017-18 Annalise Nassani, GW/IAC 2017-18 IAC Faculty: Professor Mary Buckley IAC Graduate Teaching Assistant: Hope Ajayi
na tio na l in te r 6
names and majors
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homes
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passions
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letters to our mothers
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poems
arts
symposium speakers
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theatre
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vital voices
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march for our lives
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ambassador’s dinner
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women’s leadership conference
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lt cu CDE 1091 | Spring 2018
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fine arts
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dance
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theatre
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music
T Co ab l e nt o en f ts
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International
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Katie Auerswald Major: Dance and Biological Anthropology
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Vi Deane-Polyak Major: Undecided
Stephanie Erskine Major: International Affairs
Jana Khalil Major: Undecided
Vanessa Law Major: Theatre
Caroline Lea Major: Political Science and Art History
Lydia Lin Major: Undecided
Hayley Margolis Major: Sociology
Cara MacErlean Major: Theatre and Journalism
Maisa Munawara Major: International Affairs
Annalise Nassani Major: English
Joy Nikkel Major: Fine Arts
Calista Ragland Major: English
Ariel Santikarma Major: Anthropology
Lana Singer Major: Political Science
Hannah Sturgis Major: Theatre
Emma Veon Major: Art History and English
Ellen Ye Major: Interaction Design
Mary Buckley IAC Cohort Professor Director of the Women’s Leadership Program
Hope Ajayi IAC Graduate Teaching Assisstant Public Policy Graduate Student
The George Washington University Elizabeth J Somer’s Women’s Leadership Program International Arts & Culture Cohort 7
But Where
Are You Really From?
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Bali, Indonesia Baltimore, Maryland Bangkok, Thailand Bluemont, Virginia Dhaka, Bangladesh Greensboro, North Carolina Hershey, Pennsylvania Hong Kong Ikare-Akoko, Nigeria India Lebannon
London, England Memphis, Tennessee Miami, Florida Nanjing, China Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Silver Springs, Maryland Summit, New Jersey Washington DC Westchester, Pennsylvania
Our impact at GW
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Mom, Dear Mom,
Wisdom and Mercy. You have shown me endless wisdom and forgiving mercy. When I think of you I think of the most precious lessons you taught me due to your selfless nature. Never once have your needs been put first. Philpians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” , but I would be lying if I didn’t say it was Chrsit and my mother. You are my mom, and for that I rejoice.
Thankyousomuchforthecountlesscarrides toeveryplaceIneededtogetto,formaking advisorysnackswhenIcouldn’t,forsearching throughcountlesswebsitestofindtheperfect college,forbeingmynurseeverytimeIget sick, for backing me up when I fall down, forrememberingallmyfavoritesnacks,for gettingexcitedformeoveropportunitiesand achievements,andmostofallforbeingmy mother.Thankyouforallthethingsyoudo and all the things you will do. love, your daughter
Thank you for raising me. There are so many parts of myself that I know I got from you. The physical things like my smile and my face, but also your intense drive to make sure everything is perfect, your emapthy, your passion, and your sweet tooth. I realize now that everything you’ve done for me - even the things I didn’t neccessarily appreciate - were all in my best interest. I look up to you so much. The fact that you have a full time job, run an entire family and casually teach pilates on the side amazes me. You are still the best mom I could’ve asked for and I love you more than anything!
Dear Mom, Thank you. I feel as if thank you is not enough, but it’s how I feel. Thank you for being loving and kind. Thank you for trying to accomodate the American culture into our lives despite being raised in a completely different one. Thank you also for those Lebanese values. Thank you for being so strong. You have been through so much unimaginable pain and I truly can’t believe how far you’ve made it, I certainly wouldn’t have. You inspire me. Although I hated you for it at the time, thank you for showing me tough love even though it was really hard to hear when I was depressed it helped me get out on my own and it made me strong. Thank you
Dear Mother A series of anonymous letters to our mothers Orchestrated by Ariel Santikarma
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Dear Mong,
Mother,
Alot is happening with all of us and i feel bad for adding to it.I guess that’s why it’s been hard to be completely honest about me. I feel all the painthatyouhavebeenthroughandIunderstand whyyouactedthewayyoudidwhileIwas(am?) growingupandIforgiveyoubutatthesametime it’snevergoingtochangehowitaffectedmeand I feel that every day. I know you love me and I loveyoutooandwehavebothsaidterriblethings. The thing is that I can’t get those words out of myheadevenwhenyoustoppedsayingthem,nowit’s mesayingthosewordstomyself.Iamdisgusting adisgraceandsomuchmorebutIknowthatand I am learning from it. Now I understand how andwhyeverythinghappened,butitisn’tgoingaway. Yetmaybesomedayitwill.Iwillalwaystakecare ofyouwhenthingsaretough.Pleasedon’tpushme away. I love you more than words and i am so so sorry. From, Kveng
I am so sorry for learning to hate you the way all of us are taught to hate women. I am no longer angry with you for being both a working woman and a mother, for being both sensitive and not sensitive enough, and for ebing present and not present enough. I imagine if I have children one day, they will resent me for not being perfect in the way modern women are supposed to be now. There are many things I will never forgive you for, but I am coming to peace with us and all of our imperfections. Women have it too hard anyway. Love, your daughter
Dear Ma, Dear Mom,
There is a lot I wish I told you when I was younger. I regret alot about our relationship and how we weren’t as close as some of my friends and their moms. I resented the fact that you couldn’t be as involved with my interests because i was too young to understand what you were going through. I didn’t tell you who my first crush was and I didn’t even tell you when I was mad at you because I was so frustrated with our dysfunctional relationship. I didn’t have the guts to tell you about anything outside the house because I thought you didn’t understand, but really it was me who didn’t understand. I never told you I was sorry for not understanding. I’m sorry it took me so long to understand that you couldn’t help succumbing to your illness. Now tat I am older I want to restart. To do thinks together like baking and drawing so that we can finally get to know eachother. I love and miss you,
I love you and I miss you. There are some things in my life I wish I could tell you but something is stopping the words fromflowingfromymhearttomytongue.I’mafraidyou’llbe disappointedinme.ThatIhaven’tliveduptoyourstandards ofhowasmart,educatedandempoweredwomanshouldact. I‘m afraid that afteryou hear the truth you won’t think of me asanindependentwoman,butsinceyou’renotgoingtosee this I’ll tell you. I was sexually harrassed. I know it wasn’t my fault and that I’m not to blame, but there is still a part of me that is embarrassed to admit it. I feel like I wasn’t strong enough to push him away or communicate my feelings. I go back to that night and relive the sensation of nausea and disgust I feltwhenhetouchedme.Iwishthatfeelingcouldbereplaced withthefeelingofhome,ofyourwarmembraceandlovethat always brings me comfort. SometimesIthinkhowsomanywomenhavegonethrough similar experiences in the past and I wonder if you went throughittooandrecoveredtobecomethebrilliantwoman youaretoday.Maybeit’sthedisgustandembarrassment,but I can’t tell you. I love you.
your daughter
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Mommy, You never knew this but I always envied how confident you always were.I really do look up to you but sometimes that leads me to not understand you.Sometimes I fear that my relationship with ma will be like yours.You seem to get too caught up in bad love, not because you are scared but because some days I do not think you love yourself.And I think that is why I cannot love myself. You have shown me to accept whatever it is done to me.Even in friendships you let people walk over you and it hurt me because you are worth more.My biggest regret is feeling like I add onto your problems. You deserve all the love you get and don’t believe otherwise! Te Amo!
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A Letter To My Sister Upon Arriving at College (2017-2018) Modeled After Theo Van Gogh’s Letters to his Brother Vincent A poem by Cali Ragland
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My dear, Thanks for your letter, I. How is business with you? You must be busy, studying subway tracks and sinking your hands into the dirt of North Philadelphia. I’m only just noticing how attached I am to Pennsylvania, now that it’s been decided I must go away. I have been a stranded binary star, wandering libraries at night. Be of good heart if things sometimes get difficult, everything will come right later on, and no one can do what he really wants in the beginning. II. Write and tell me which painters you like best, both the old and the new, you must be sure to do this, I’m curious to know. Go to museums, paint yourself with oil. I saw from your letter that
you
have
art
in
your
blood,
‘The evening’. That’s rich, that’s poetry. but beware of your heart. Do not sink it entirely into orange canvases which do not exist. III. I was surprised to find 3 paintings by Corot in the church there. Do you think Corot went to mass by painting light? ‘Rembrandt, Reading the Bible’ I also like ‘Tell me the old, old story’ very much. I first heard it sung in Paris, in the evening in a small church I used to attend sometimes. No. 12 is also beautiful. It was a beautiful, almost solemn, evening; I got home at quarter past 10. IV. I sit and write often Take iPhone photographs of orange flowers and send them to you in hand written letters. I try to observe stars. You are not stranded. And now adieu, these are only a few words written in haste, but I just had to tell you how very glad I was. I wish you well, and believe me ever, Your loving sister
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a poem by Lana Singer
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I’m sitting here, trying to think of home. That place I lived for 18 years. The two-story house on the corner of Valleybrook and Suggs, With the Japanese maple trees arching over the front porch, And the basketball hoop With the net that has frayed at the bottom from disuse, And the small pool house in the backyard, That once housed my father’s Sunday night poker games. And then housed my mom’s friend who had just moved from Oklahoma. And then housed my grandmother, who couldn’t afford her apartment anymore. And now houses my recently college-graduated sister and her corgi. A house behind a house. A home for many. I’m sitting here, trying to think of home. That place I lived for six weeks. The one-bedroom apartment in the heart of Cluj-Napoca, With the smallest kitchen I have ever seen, And the odd bookcase stacked with archaeology textbooks, A manuscript of Macbeth translated into Romanian, And a threadbare copy of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Which I read over one long weekend, After a tough week on the dig. The dirt under my fingernails, Reminding me of the corner of Valleybrook and Suggs, And the warm bubble baths of my childhood.
And the constant hum of old buses on standby. I think of late-night chats in the hallway, And polls on whiteboards. I think of smoke detectors beeping for no reason, And the loud slam of doors that are never locked. Even when it should be quiet, it isn’t, Reminding me of the little hut at the bottom of the hill, And the 4:00 AM wake-up call, And my hungry friends. Home is nowhere, and home is everywhere. Home is old memories and new experiences. Home does not discriminate By the duration of time there, Or the size of the space, Or the life lived. The sickness is curable. It subsides, Just by being there, Just by being. I am sitting here, trying to think of home. When I realize, I am home.
I’m sitting here, trying to think of home. That place I lived for one month. The little hut at the bottom of the hill, Where I awoke at 4:00 AM to the crows of a rooster, And found a handwoven bag waiting for me, with a tin inside, Filled with rice, chicken, and vegetables. My host mom always gave me too much, But I shared it with my friends, Who were more than willing to ease my burden, Reminding me of the one-bedroom apartment in the heart of Cluj-Napoca, Where Andreea and I shared meals Made in the smallest kitchen I have ever seen. I am sitting here, trying to think of home. That place I have lived for one year, so far. Room 130, just for now. I close my eyes and hear the cheers from the lacrosse match,
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Fine Arts
Watercolor Portrait by Maisa CDEMunawara 1091 | Spring 2018
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Who is Looking? Reversing the Male Gaze in Iconic Hollywood Films Photography Series by Vi Deane-Polyak
The Graduate (1967) directed by Mike Nichols
Transformers (2007) directed by Michael Bay
Psycho (1960) directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Ceramic Bear Bust by Caroline Lea
Communal Quilt by Jana Khalil
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My peers in the International Arts & Culture Cohort are exceptional women. They are passionate, creative, intelligent, inspirational, perseverant, and empowered. It has been an honor to live and learn with them this semester, gaining an intimate perspective of their aspirations and talents. This series is an attempt to capture each woman in her artistic and spiritual element. While the final series is meant to evoke a dramatic statement on pure power and personality, the process was equally important to this project. Capturing each woman consisted of a lengthy process of interviews, research, collaboration and artistic creation. With each subject matter, collaboration and communication was essential to ensuring that each woman felt empowered by the process of being photographed and agreed with the visual identity I wanted to portray in their portrait. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the series this year. My intention is to finish the series next year. The continuation of the project after our year in the Women’s Leadership Program will be an opportunity to rekindle the sense of community created by the program
P h o t o g ra p h i n g Female Empower ment A ser ies by Hayley Margolis CDE 1091 | Spring 2018
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I wanted the style of Ariel’s portrait to be more abstract and conceptual because the way she intellectualizes the world challenges existing boundaries and definitions. At the time, Ariel and I were both inspired by Gloria Anzaldua’s book, Borderlands, and her complex perspective of the world and identity. Ariel and I also both admire Frida Kahlo and her surreal style of visualizing pain and internal conflict. My intent in this photoshoot was to utilize stylistic and conceptual inspiration from Frida Kahlo and Gloria Anzaldua to illustrate the complexities of Ariel’s identity and creative process. To do this, I painted a background to resemble the surreal landscapes of a Kahlo piece. This was a challenge in itself as I was constricted to painting on a piece of paper taped to the wall of my dorm room. I also only bought black and white paint because I knew the final photo would be monochromatic and it would be a waste of money to buy colored paint. I then downloaded the final image in the software Adobe Illustrator and juxtaposed an excerpt from Borderlands on top, making sure that the font was subtle enough to be visible but not compete visually with the composition. CDE 1091 | Spring 2018
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With Caroline, we wanted to emphasize meditation and the quiet power of grace and poise. Connecting mind, body and soul to strengthen self-autonomy was key in visualizing how Caroline embodies empowerment. An early idea inspired by her favorite artist Jan Vermeer utilized the natural window lighting inherent to Vermeer’s style, but manipulating the usual domestic scene by portraying Caroline doing a strong yoga pose.
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Ceramic Mugs by Jana Khalil
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Dance
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Like confusing dance instructions, a teacher in the dark with a flashlight compels my body to jitterbug like a ghost So that other people might say on some gay occasion in summer that “I was always a natural dancer�
Section of Ars Poetica By Cali Ragland
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Patriarchy is primitive. Let’s evolve.
Katie is a Presidential Scholar of the Arts at George Washington so her identity as a talented dancer is intrinsic to her academic empowerment. That being said, Katie is critical of the competitive nature of dance culture, and it was important when photographing her to represent her as a more complex human being than ‘just a dancer’. I realized that photographing Katie in a dance studio still limited her creative expression to dance, no matter what pose we positioned her in. This led me to seek the Natural History Museum as a location since Katie intends to double major in dance and archaeology.
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Steph is an incredible ballerina, but she is also the hardest working and most ambitiously organized woman in the cohort. Just like I tried to convey that Katie was more than a talented dancer, I wanted to illustrate how Steph’s inspiring work ethic and intellect were just as impressive as her physical grace and power. I wanted Steph to occupy the physical space of a desk as a ballerina. A desk is a symbol for executive authority and usually implies masculine power. I thought of images of male presidents of the United States behind the majestic presidential desk and could not think of any images of women occupying the same space with the same power. When a woman occupies a desk in a photograph, it is usually sexual, implying disobedience that she is somewhere she should not be. I wanted Steph to not only look like she belonged at a desk, but that she was talented and intelligent enough to overpower the masculine authority of a desk.
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T h e a t r e CDE 1091 | Spring 2018
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When trying to capture Hannah’s radiant power and dynamic presence, I was inspired by the photographer George Platon’s portrait of Bill Clinton. Platon used a wide lens and low angle to capture Clinton in the same style architecture is photographed to emphasize dominating presence. Clinton’s pose is inherently masculine, with his wide set legs and sharp angles. This provoked me to emasculate the power pose by having Hannah portray the same pose but challenge the gendered power. I also looked at many of Annie Leibovitz’s photographs of women to study how she balanced femininity with self-autonomy. A fun challenge when photographing Hannah was choosing which Hannah to portray. Hannah is a slam poet, actress, conscientious intellectual, fiery force of justice, and an empathetic friend. She is often defined by others by her creative rhetoric and while it seemed logical at first to prop her with a pen, we later decided that it was a superficial metaphor that did not fully embody the essence of Hannah’s deeper insecurities and aspirations. Through power poses and outfits suggesting that authority can be feminine, we strove to capture the pure essence of Hannah on the majestic Corcoran stairs. CDE 1091 | Spring 2018
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My original idea for Vanessa was to work with the metaphor “running with scissors”. Vanessa has a love hate relationship with running, but it is an important way for her to destress and push herself physically. Vanessa also has a complicated relationship with scissors, as cutting her hair is her coping method for overwhelming anxiety and stress. Also the metaphor itself, running with scissors, implies a disregard for conformity and recklessness that I thought represented Vanessa well. The day we planned to redo Vanessa’s photoshoot happened to be the one year anniversary of the day she cut her hair until it was above her ears. Since that day Vanessa has overcome an emotional roller coaster of coping with anxiety. Self-love is the first step to female empowerment, and I wanted Vanessa’s photoshoot to celebrate her process of overcoming the social stigmatization of mental illness and finding healthy ways to battle anxiety that do not involve scissors.
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Hannah Sturgis as Herself in Migratory Tales
Hannah Sturgis as Giselle in The Workroom
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Cara MacErlean as Sarah in Translations
Vanessa Law as #14 in The Wolves
Makeup Art by Vanessa Law in The Addams Family
Theatre
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Music
For Annalise’s portrait, I channeled creativity solely into how she held her viola. Solving this restriction was a long and stressful process, resulting in a solution inspired by Wonder Woman. I wanted Annalise’s portrait to symbolize how her instrument is her tool to achieve creative expression and empowerment. I thought of poster designs for the Wonder Woman movie this summer and how she held her sword and shield in each shot. Because the sword and shield have vaguely similar shapes to a viola and bow, I took screenshots of Wonder Woman posters on my phone and told Annalise to hold her viola and bow in the exact same position. This in itself had technical complications and choosing a background from our limited options was near impossible, but we eventually emphasized the dramatic twist of wielding a viola like a weapon .
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C U LT
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U R E
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Yeganeh Salehi, Iranian Journalist
Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Nigerian Author,
Yeganeh argues that any person pushed to experience extreme stress and pain will summon the strength to endure and survive. Every human is capable of intense emotional and mental strength, but most people are never forced so far outside their comfort zone that they need to find that strength. Adversity challenges an individual’s confidence in their identity by stripping the stability from their lifestyle. This forces reflection and judgement of character that is inhibited by comfort and stability. The strength to endure these situations is a survival mechanism.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is more than a role model to me. She embodies an epitome of intellect, empathy, creativity, feminism and articulation of beauty through prose that I can only dream of aspiring to reach. When I read Purple Hibiscus in high school or further explored her other works independently, Chimamanda familiarized a country generally exoticized by American culture, but I never fathomed the opportunity to see her in person.
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Lara Brown, GW Associate Professor and Director
Kathryn K. Matthew, Director of Museum and Library Services
Symposium Speakers
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“The thing that resonated most with me about the Check-It Gang was their defiance of any label or stereotype you subconsciously wanted to place on them. As black males living in the ghetto, their bright fashion and feminine aesthetic disrupted the stereotypical attire. As gay and transgender men, their ferocious protective nature and violent tendencies juxtaposed the communities expectations for them to remain weak and submissive to bullying.�
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“The Civility in Politics panelists, Lara Brown & Cynthia Steele Vance, spoke about leadership values; authenticity, kindness, character, curiosity, courage, and heart were some of the topics discussed.”
“In learning about Wendy Wagner’s Seven Cs of Change, I realized that the small efforts I have been making in the past semester to be collaborative, communicative, and open to others’ opinions amount to a post-industrial paradigm of leadership.”
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Museum Visits
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Aida This particular production of Aida utilized modern graffiti art, offstage lights and singing, and militarized costume design to create a culturally ambiguous setting. The director’s intention was to manipulate the original ancient Egyptian context of the opera to create a unique experience for the audience that was open to imagination.
The set itself was painted by famous graffiti artist, Retna. Retna’s style uses simple geometric shapes and lines on a large scale to create a design of pictorial language. The creative team behind Aida said he incorporated words into his designs to create more intrigue. This abstract and stylized background left the geographical context of the play up to the audience’s imagination and also enforced the concept of the society as a religious cult.
Theatre Performances CDE 1091 | Spring 2018
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The Effect When Marcel Duchamp shook the art world with his fountain, he defined art as anything that provokes a reaction. By finding artistic value in the disgust, confusion and anger his ready-made provoked he revolutionized our perspective and opinions on art. Considering that Duchamp paved the way to contemporary definitions of art, most critics would say a play like The Effect has high artistic value because of the intense emotions experienced by the viewer.
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Familiar In the play Familiar, writer Danai Gurira represents the immigrant experience diversely. The way in which humans contend with their migration, perceived loss of culture and then their rebuilding of culture is not uniform in any way. There are immigrants, like the mother in the play, who adopt the culture to which they move, try their best to speak unaccented English, and assimilate as smoothly as possible. Then, there are immigrants like the father figure, who will never stop yearning for the place they came from. Then, there is everything in between. There are immigrants like the PhD-holding aunt, who has found success and happiness in her new home but who cannot seem to fit quite “right� into American culture. These diverse narratives, which encapsulate many ways in which humans can contend with the diversity of human cultures and their migration within them, do immigrants justice. After all, when stuck between multiple cultures, multiple languages, and multiple identiti es, how could it be realistic for any one formulaic immigrant experience to exist? The reality is that existing between the cracks of global cultures is messy, and Gurira portrays this well.
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Nina Simone: Four Women The set, characters and music of Nina Simone: Four Women created an educational theatre performance that combined visual effects, soulful musical and profound dialogue to bring the music of a civil rights activist to life. Though the play was set in the historical context of the 1960s, the themes of racial conflict and adversities experienced by black women in America continue to hold topical relevance today. The experience of a contemporary audience following and relating to the creative process of civil rights activist Nina Simone, offered a unique insight into both history and the present. This emphasizes the timelessness of Simone’s soulful tunes and passionate rage.
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Women’s Leadership Conference
Lina Khalifeh’s work began with empathy for women who didn’t have the mental, physical and emotional tools to defend themselves against gendered harassment. Lina worked hard to train herself proficiently in the martial arts, but was not satisfied until she shared her obtained empowerment with other women and changed their lives. Patience was crucial for the longterm success of She-fighter. In her speech, Lina mentioned that the effects of her first studio were not visible for a while, and there was a significant time period of uncertainty whether the time and financial investment would be worth it. It took firm patience and confidence in her vision to devote herself to the success of She-fighter. Focus also played a crucial role in She-fighter’s success. The mission of the organization is clear, concise and meaningful: teach women and girls the martial arts and self-defense so they feel physically and mentally equipped to assert empowerment when harassed by men.
2018 Vital Voices Awards
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What makes Jamira Burley, and all of the awardees, so good at what they do is that they engage with the communities that they grew up in, surrounded by cultures and people and problems they know too intimately. They take all of the trials and challenges thrown in their face from a young age and decide that there is nothing to be done but act, seek justice, and find restoration.
Kiran Bir Sethi is remarkable because she was able to single handedly notice a problem in her own son as he attended school and design a new inclusive educational process that ecouraged empathetic thinking and problem solving. She identified or “felt” a problem, “imagined” a better future, “acted” on this idea, and “shared” this idea with others by opening her own school. Her ability to share this dream proves the power of design, especially in education and how we can make differences in the world around us, no matter how small we feel. We simply must share.”
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March for Our Lives On March 24th, 2018 a revolutionary group of students, a riveting group of musicians, and an astounding rally of over 200,000 protesters gathered in fear, anger, sadness, hope and determination for the March for Our Lives. This rally to end gun violence in America, ignited by the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, amplified the voices of student activists representing a variety of races, genders, ages, economic backgrounds and painful trauma from gun violence in their communities. Famous singers such as Andra Day, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Lin Manuel Miranda, and Jennifer Hudson offered the gift of music to soothe the pain of victims and ignite hopeful fire that pain and anger can be channeled into action and change. The March for Our Lives articulated several problems and solutions under the umbrella of gun violence. The student activists addressed the issues of vulnerability to guns that affluent and secure communities face, the systemic violence in urban communities inhabited mostly by low-income minorities, the corrupt political influence of the NRA, and the significant lack of gun control in America compared to other countries. They offered actions to address these issues including age limits on gun purchases, background checks, the ban of civilian purchase of military-grade assault rifles, educational programs, and more. None of the requests the activists made of the American government included the radical ban of all guns for all civilians. The students were articulate, stern, and reasonable, but they also made it clear that if elected officials refused to validate their requests and the direness of the situation, progressive America would wield its political power to vote them out of office.
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Attending the March for Our Lives provided me with statistical knowledge of gun violence, a broad perspective of personal narratives depicting the subjective urgency of the issue, awareness of my political power as a registered voter to change the agenda of current politicians or vote in a different representative, and a sense of hope that my generation was empathetic, creative and perserverant enough to catalyze a social revolution. Throughout the rally, videos played to provide the facts, figures, and political climate of gun control beyond the speakers standing on stage. This informed the protesters on why they were there, what they could do about it, and how they could articulate their agenda to someone who disagreed. Hearing young voices aged 11 to 18 brim with tears and rage about the friends, brothers, sisters and classmates they lost to unwarranted bullets emphasized the vulnerable innocence destroyed by gun violence. This focus on the pain, loss and death of children made it impossible to disagree with the essence of the movement. It was reiterated many times throughout the march that the purpose of Congress and the federal government is to serve the people. This reversed the presumed power structure of American government, empowering the angry youth chanting at the base of the Capitol and diminishing the superiority of the old white men inside it. “Vote them out!� was a repeated chant throughout the event, reminding the protesters, the media, the government and the country that the collective voices of dissent represented a significant percentage of the voting population. Our refusal to elect officials who take money from the NRA and oppose gun control could strip many politicians of their positions. The event empowered me to value the power my singular vote has in altering the course of American democracy, a sensation that previously felt naive and pointless. As a student activist aspiring to devote my life to the battle for social justice, the March For Our Lives reinvigorated the hope, urgency and excitement that had recently been dull and dwindling. When constantly focused on the improvement of the world, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of issues that exist and the stubborn systematic nature of many of them. Through the experience of music, emotional speeches, information and rallied urgency, I was reminded of the clear sense of purpose possessed by my generation and the hope that we had the power and dedication to make tangible change.
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Dinner and Panel with Female Ambassadors
Ambassador Thelma Phillip- Browne, St Kitts & Nevis
Ambassador Hunaina Al-Mughairy, Oman
Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana, Rwanda
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Ambassador Maguy Maccario Doyle, Monaco
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A panel with Mary Ellsberg. Elizabeth Chacko, Samah McGona Sisay, Caroline LaGuerre Brown, and Wendy Helgemo
Leading For Inclusion “The ideas I would bring to the panel discussion would work cohesively with the work of Caroline Laguerre-Brown,Wendy Helgemo and Samah McGona Sisay. All three of these women have dedicated their academic studies and careers to advocating for oppressed people. All three women also attended law school as methods of obtaining authoritative knowledge in the areas of inequality and social change. I believe a conversation synthesizing the experiences, perspectives and ideas of these three women and myself could produce an empathetic, well-informed and sustainable solution to social inequality.These intelligent women all have diverse backgrounds that influenced their perspectives and values. Listening to their ideas and how their political opinions have been shaped by valid life experiences, would create empathetic discussion and lead to informed action.�
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Women’s Leadership Conference March 2, 2018
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“In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.” —Sheryl Sandberg
The George Washington University Elizabeth J Somer’s Women’s Leadership Program International Arts & Culture Cohort
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This magazine was designed by Hayley Margolis and curated by Annalise Nassani
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The George Washington University EJS Women’s Leadership The George Washington UniversityProgram EJS Women’s Leadership Program | 2100 Foxhall Rd NW 20007 | (202) 242-6697 | wlp@gwu.edu CDE 1091 | Spring 2018
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