A wake up call

Hello,

This is my first post on this blog. I am glad Alise has documented so well our activities since the start of our fellowship.

I felt the need to write this blog entry in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. It is not primarily about the attacks itself, or my reactions to it, but about how I feel it pertains to what we do here at the University Library. I would like to emphasize that this is just my opinion.

One reason I believed I would be a good candidate for the diversity fellowship is because I come from a country which strives for unity in diversity, tolerance and equal opportunity.
I strive to live up to these ideals. Achieving this, to a great degree, is the Indian dream.

My country overthrew colonial rule through nonviolent aggression. My country became one of the first independent non-Western democracies. My country continues to be home to the largest population in the world under democratic rule.

This country I talk about, my country, is not just India. It is also Pakistan.
It is also Bangladesh, and most definitely Kashmir too.

The people who bear these labels now were all the same people once. ALL these people, united, launched an unprecedented movement to claim an improbable victory. I am free today because of them.

Now, this incident in Mumbai has happened. It follows several other incidents before it. The list of jolts to end the Indian dream is endless. But I believe that these wake up calls can be prevented.

The Indian ideal is America's ideal too. In fact, it is more correctly a human ideal. In the global society we live in, diversity is mostly welcomed with open arms. We like meeting people different from us, with different values and different experiences.

I can't imagine how boring it would be to live in a world with only clones of me. But I do occasionally harbor biases, it is part of being human. Whenever I combat my own prejudices, I think of someone I know who did not evoke in me a negative attitude, and I use the memory of this person as a weapon to fight.

A library is a perfect nurturing environment for diversity. Knowledge is necessary for awareness. Awareness contributes to personal maturity. Maturity fosters the spirit of inclusion and tolerance.

I sometimes feel the efforts we make to promote diversity seem trivial against real world problems. But I like to think that when a student glances at a picture of a democratic activist in Iran, perhaps while paying for a cup of coffee, it adds one more face to keep in mind, to be recalled when Iran's infamous President appears on the news.

I wonder what was going through the minds of those boys as they made their three-day journey from Karachi to Mumbai. I wonder if they ever had a chance to meet any good Indians, Americans, Britons or Jews. I wonder which unfortunate encounter with a bad person made them wake up from the human dream.


Sindhu.

Southwest Asia Online

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that the online portion of our Southwest Asia Exhibit is now up and running! On this site, you can check out recommended books and films that we selected from our library catalogs, as well as watch the original video feeds from each of our five interviews with students from the region.You can check everything out here:

http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/diversityfellows/southwestasia

Let us know what you think!
Alise

Southwest Asia Exhibit

Despite graphs and fact boxes constantly unsticking and falling due to the humidity and changing temperatures outside, Sindhu and I can finally call our second exhibit a success. We have made a goal to raise the bar at least a little bit with every exhibit, and I truly believe we accomplished that. Instead of just tackling one country, we tackled nineteen--making up the region we referred to as Southwest Asia.
We gave brief demographics and interesting information about fifteen of the countries and then focused in on the remaining four: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel and Iran. One of our own librarians, May Jafari, is from Iran and generously offered to loan us artifacts from her home country for the display. We also received artifacts from Sindhu, Robert Harris and Kathleen Hanna. Also included in the display were sections on science, religion, student interviews and a timeline. We tried to have as many pictures as possible, and even had a photo collage at the top of the first display case.
Currently the fellows are working on developing our accompanying website for the Southwest Asia exhibit, on which we are hoping to place lists of movies to watch and books to read concerning the region. We will also be uploading the video feeds from each of our five interviews.
We hope any of you who have not yet come to see the display, do so and give us your feedback. We are always looking for new ideas for our future projects.
Alise

Fall Forum on the Social Consequences of Immigration

Hey all! I attend the Fall Forum on the Social Consequences of Immigration on Monday, and I thought it might be something good to blog about so that our readers can know what us fellows are involved in outside of the library! As you may or may not remember, I want to go into immigration law...so this was right up my alley!
This event was amazing. It was hosted by the Mexico Interest group on campus and co-sponsored by probably around 20 organizations, including one of the other organizations I am involved with, Amigos en Servicio. It lasted all day from 8:30 until around 5, and there were two keynote speakers, breakout sessions and panel discussions. I had the opportunity to meet immigration leaders from across the nation as well as the Senior Adviser for Latino Affairs to Governor Daniels and coolest of all, the Mexican Consulate!! Univision came and videotaped when the Consulate spoke, so that was pretty cool and also excited my journalism roots. (Again, you may or may not remember but along with Spanish, I am also a journalism major.)
During this conference I learned about not just social consequences but the impact immigration (legal and illegal) has on ethics, the education system, the field of medicine and the economy.
Attending events like these and learning about the Hispanic community not just in Indianapolis but in the country is so prevalent because of how large that community really is. One thing that many people don't know is that Hispanics have now surpassed African-Americans as the largest minority group. If that is the case, then we need to be learning all we can about this culture and this people so that we can fully embrace them and welcome them to our heartland.
And if you are interested, you can read an article about the large Hispanic population I mentioned above here.
Well that is it for me now, please feel free to email Sindhu or myself at our gmail account, uldf0809@gmail.com, or subscribe to our blog! We love to get feedback.
Cheers,
Alise Cool

Post Exhibit Reflection

Okay, so our exhibit has officially been up for a week and we are still having compliments roll in! We are very proud of it. =) I talked with last year's fellows and they were both very interested in how we got the MAC hooked up/running. Launch day went great--not only did we have library staff come, we also had other students and even some of the Chinese students we interviewed. We gave away Chinese candy and sugared mango, along with apples and oranges. In addition, we made bookmarks and also had pamphlets letting visitors know about all of the Chinese events coming up. I am going to look into trying to post some pictures of the exhibit on this blog.

I have to keep reminding myself that Sindhu and I have only been here a little over a month--it feels like we've been here forever. And that is a NOT a bad thing; we feel home here now. We are meeting/befriending a lot of the library staff and networking with people we probably never would have met outside of this fellowship. I'm finally remembering names with faces and that is an accomplishment, believe me!

Currently we are working on creating new READ posters and we also have our first Diversity Council meeting this afternoon. We are also brainstorming ideas for our next exhibit, which should launch late October/early November. We are open to input, so don't be a stranger!

Alise

Coming soon!

Well, it's finally happening. Our exhibit is due to launch in two, that's right-TWO! days...and we are more excited than ever. We got the monitor up and running today and it looks fantastic. We are really hoping to make a splash with this exhibit; do something that has never done. It's due to launch this Friday, at 3:30 on the first floor of the library behind the big staircase. Come join us and tell us what you think! We'd love input.

Besides, we are pretty proud of what we've gathered and would love to show it off. :)

Alise

Confucius Institute

I don't know how many students are aware of the small Chinese treasure we have on the first floor of Cavanaugh, the Confucius Institute at IUPUI. I knew it existed, but had no idea the extent to which it adds to the diversity here on campus. I have recently got to know this place due to my work on our upcoming exhibit, and I just felt I should give it the exposure it deserves. Walking in you are immediately met with cultural artifacts and books galore representing Chinese culture and life. You are drawn in by the friendly staff waiting to help you in any way possible. They have resources galore on study abroad opportunities, language and culture classes offered, and performances going on in the surrounding community. In just two weeks they are sponsoring the "Jiangsu Silk & Bamboo Arts Troupe Performance" at Clowes Hall of Butler University. The show will feature traditional Chinese song and dance, acrobats, and all kinds of other cool things. I definitely suggest anyone interested in Chinese culture or simply just cultural immersion to attend this event. They hope to sponsor many more Chinese cultural events throughout the year.

Also in honor of this event we have decided to bump up our exhibit grand opening. We will officially be presenting our exhibit on September 12, the afternoon before the performance at Clowes hall. We are very excited and hope you all come out to see it!

Oh, and you can find more info about the Confucius Institute at http://www.iupui.edu/~china/events/confucius-institute-inauguration/.

Alise

First Post

Hello! My name is Alise Cool, and I am one of the two new diversity fellows for this year. I'm a sophomore, majoring in Journalism and Spanish, and am absolutely excited for this opportunity. I grew up right here on the East side of Indy and graduated from Warren Central High School. Learning about other cultures has always been my passion and going into this fellowship that's exactly what I hope to do. I've only been working here a week and already I have learned a lot about China (and India, thanks to Sindhu!) that I would have never known and I'm so grateful for that.

One of our jobs as fellows is to create a cultural display every two or three months. We have decided on a topic for our first display, which we hope to have out in about three weeks: China! Since the Olympics were just there and therefore everyone's focus is already on that region, we decided to hop on that bandwagon and help the IUPUI community get to know a little bit more about Chinese culture. We are working with the CCC (Chinese Culture Club), the Confucius Institute and many other campus organizations to try and bring you the most accurate, educational and interesting display we can. We will also be developing an internet exhibit to coincide with the project, so keep your eyes open!