No ICE, No Fear
No ICE, No Fear

On the evening of October 23, along with dozens of other students and staff at the University of Pennsylvania, I attended a protest to shut down a speaking engagement with the director of ICE, Thomas Homan at the Perry World House. As an undocumented immigrant, Penn alum, and Associate Director of La Casa Latina, I felt deep hurt and anger that my alma mater and employer was providing a huge platform to someone who has been responsible for separating millions of families and violating fundamental human rights.

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Community EngagementKrystal StrongKareli Lizárraga
Protections Not Just for Dreamers
Protections Not Just for Dreamers

For the past two years, I’ve had to prepare for the distinct possibility of being deported. My future, and the future of 800,000 other DACA recipients, hang in the balance. On November 12, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about whether the present administration’s decision to wind down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was lawful. At the same time, attention and support for those with DACA should also extend to millions of other undocumented immigrants in the United States.

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OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomKareli Lizárraga
In Class to Incarceration: Re-Imagining the School to Prison Pipeline
In Class to Incarceration: Re-Imagining the School to Prison Pipeline

What is the school to prison pipeline? How do zero tolerance policies perpetuate this? How can we as morally bound humans, do our part in recognizing these injustices, as well as start to correct them? 

As a former (and future teacher), these questions have long floated around in my head. Although some may not recognize or be aware of a school to prison pipeline, the existence and perpetuation of this pipeline is ever apparent to me.

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OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomKareena Pamani
Community Event: Gentrification in Austin & West Philadelphia
Community Event: Gentrification in Austin & West Philadelphia

I heard about this event at the Walnut Street West Public Library on Facebook. To me, “gentrification” had become such an abstracted buzzword, and while I associated it with rising housing costs and displacement, I was otherwise unfamiliar with its mechanics, possible solutions, and the lived experiences of this city. I saw the event as an opportunity to deepen my superficial knowledge about gentrification.

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Community EngagementActivism beyond the ClassroomJessica Ch'ng
What Do We Choose to Memorialize?
What Do We Choose to Memorialize?

What we choose to memorialize is important. I want us to reclaim the monument for those whom the monument has often ignored, erased, dehumanized. Given the power we confer upon monuments in our society, their establishment can serve as a tool to reassert what we recognize, centralize, and legitimize, and ultimately confer our values onto, as a society. In 2013, the city of Philadelphia closed 23 schools for the 2013-2014 school year. Shuttered due to low enrollment and failing test scores, many of these schools played central roles in their communities. t did not have to be this way, and it does not have to still. What would happen if we memorialized these spaces, rather than letting them fade into obscurity?

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OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomMarissa Friedman
Uncomfortable, but Necessary: Fact-based sex ed as a tool to combat gender based violence
Uncomfortable, but Necessary: Fact-based sex ed as a tool to combat gender based violence

This article was written in response to a series of social media posted protesting the content of South Africa’s Comprehensive Sex Education curricular in 2019. CSE has been part of South Africa’s Life Orientation subjects since 2008. It aims to contextualize the role of public education in combatting the scourge of gender-based violence in South Africa.

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OpinionActivism beyond the ClassroomRehana Odendaal
I'm Scared I'm Definitely a Lesbian
I'm Scared I'm Definitely a Lesbian

Killjoy’s Kastle is a feminist haunted house that merges performance and installation art for an immersive experience that explores themes of feminist theory, lesbianism, queer activism, and more. In groups of 6-8, visitors are welcomed to the haunted house by a tour guide/performer, playing the role of a renowned “demented” women’s studies professor. The tour brings visitors through the space, engaging in both an artistic critique and analysis of feminist themes, as well as an active engagement in social justice praxis.

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Community EngagementActivism beyond the ClassroomJax Lastinger
Revisiting His Birthday Poem
Revisiting His Birthday Poem

In 2016 I wrote a poem about how I felt after the man who raped me was found ‘not responsible’ for his actions by my university’s student conduct. It’s called “The Birthday Poem” because the anniversary of the rape was just a few days after his birthday, and I was still processing my feelings that August about the student conduct decision made in February.

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2019Activism beyond the ClassroomRachel Watson
Why Can’t We Be friends: Working on a Philly Park Friend Group
Why Can’t We Be friends: Working on a Philly Park Friend Group

Getting involved with a local park’s Friends group has been fruitful and challenging. What politics of belonging exist in certain types of spaces of community engagement? How can we build change while accommodating a different, non-colonial vision of time? What is reasonable to require of people? How can joy be kept in this work?

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Community EngagementActivism beyond the ClassroomCaroline van ZeijtsComment