Hi everyone!
I’m Calvin, a Junior now in the Architecture Department and excited to participate in the CoDesign studio this semester! I come to this class as a designer and activist– I hope to explore how we can apply art and technology in innovative ways to create and inspire movements.
I grew up all over New York City– Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, in diverse neighborhoods such as Flushing and one of Brooklyn’s many Chinatowns. Growing up in New York, I’ve developed a keen sense of the problems that minorities face living in urban environments. As a designer, I like to tackle these problems and examine how we can design the built environment to be more accommodating, safe, and provide equal opportunities.
During high school and at MIT, I worked with ECAASU (East Coast Asian American Student Union), a youth-led NGO. While working with ECAASU, I was engaged with people from organizations such as WHIAAPI (which got me thinking more about policy and education) and NAAPIMHA (mental health and intersectionality) at the yearly ECAASU Conference.
Coincidentally, this past weekend was the 2017 Conference in North Carolina, co-hosted by the Triangle-Area universities: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina State University. This is what inspires me this weekend– the conference brings in thousands of youth from all over the country to focus on the issues that matter to us as students, activists, organizers, et cetera. This year I was unable to attend, but what stood out to me was their passion and reason for hosting in NC this year.
In the past couple of months leading up to the conference, there was a lot of discussion about North Carolina, specifically. ECAASU has brought themselves out to North Carolina to be engaged in the conversation and has shown solidarity with the marginalized communities in the South.
Looking forward to working with you all!
Hi Everyone!
My name is Aditi Jhaveri and I’m an Junior at Wellesley College. I’m an international student from Mumbai, India and am majoring in Women’s and Gender Studies and Economics. I am a really talkative and fun person; I love eating and discovering new restaurants and baking. I am incredibly interested in print and graphic design, but would love to learn more about the process of “design” and creation. I come to this class as a student and an activist –– incredibly eager to learn and tap into the power of media and aware of the power of youth in social movements.
One groups that I most recently learned about was BAGLY – Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth. This group is a Massachusetts wide group that works towards social justice for LGBTQ youth. The organization focuses on providing “safe spaces” for LGBTQ youth to promote discussion and open communication with one another. Through leadership programs, the organization enables youth to understand the power dynamics and systems of oppression that exist both within and outside the LGBTQ “community”. The organization also advocates for social acceptance of diversity, and challenges institutional discrimination against LGBTQ youth.
I find their work inspiriting because it is amazing to watch youth come together, for over thirty years, to fight systematic and social oppression. I also think it is incredible that this organization focuses on education and social awareness, not just legal reform.
This is a link to their website: http://www.bagly.org