December 17, 2016 - 10:15
By the end of the semester, our presentation project topic also comes to an end. Compare to the conclusion and the process of presentation that lasted for 7 minutes, our process of drafting the plan and the research process that lasted for more than a month is much more meaningful and significant.
We obviously should have stated earlier for our interviews. We drafted a plan of the interviews during the class, for which we planned to interview 10 staffs, faculties and more than 30 students that covered as much races, sexualities and nationalities as we could，but we actually started when there’s only one week left to present. In order to prevent getting emotionless and standardized answer, we decided to make every interview an informal and intimate talk, hopping to dig the most deed answer from their inner hearts. Our questions will go with the flow of the conversations, but would have four main bones: How does Bryn Mawr affects our identities and vise versa? How do international/queer/other students feel within the community? Why do contact zones even at a liberal arts, a progressive institution tend to cause culture clash? And how does the contact zone in Bryn Mawr reflects the contact zone in the world at large? As a result, I interviewed 10 international students and Toni interviewed 7 of her her friends, we met the every other day to discuss our findings and to shape our conclusions.
Both of us were very much invented in it because these are problems we personally care a lot after we came to Bryn Mawr. What is Brynmawr and who we are? I desperately wonder how do other students perceive Brynmawr? Is there any problem that we didn’t realize? What types of students does it looking for, are we the right type?…With so many questions to ask ,I mainly asked juniors and seniors for interviews because they may have more stories to tell.
With a simple original intention to look for the answers for my esem project, I got a treasure house of stories that are way much beyond my expectation. I learned how people’s sexualities and understanding of sex altered after the years in Brynmawr, “ I thought there’s only straight or lesbian” says Ye Feng, ‘but now I realized sexuality is not on way or another, it’s fluid. You chose a person just because you like him/her/them, and he/she/they just happens to be a woman.’ I was impressed how people perceive their national identities differently, ‘When I was in China, my most prominent identities are my age, sex, jobs and heights. But now in Brynmawr, they are pronouns, nationality and my race. I am judged by them wherever I go. Your personal characteristic somehow doesn’t matter anymore.’ But also, ‘ I was frustrated by my Chinese identity at first, but now I learned to value it more, in academic and cultural ways.’ I’m also surprised of how upperclassmen struggled in depression and self-skepticism during their freshmen year like us and how they became who they are.
One of the senior Hou Wang (they/them pronounce), shared me that they made a video named How you like it about how Brynmawr empowered them to fight against their dad who is patriarchy and became how they became comfortable to embrace their own queer identity. After they played the video, one of the faculty gave them a passionate hug and asked them if they could show this to Kim Cassidy, because they are ‘the kind of student we want to present.’ That reminds me of Ruby’s words, ‘I’m tired of the endless discussion about identity, race and sexuality. I’m tired of being so aware of who we are.’
Talking about the college experience, people told me it’s not who gives you what kinds of experience, its how you make it. You can have a great experience wherever you are, and the place is just happens to be Brynmawr. At the end of every talk I got a brand new version of my college. I thought I found out what Brynmawr is like after the first semester of my first year, but I was wrong.
So what is Brynmawr?
For this question which lots of first year students like me wonder, I would say that Brynmawr is a place where everyone wants you to be happy, but you can only be happy by recognizing who you are and what you want. Maybe it is a bit over discussed about identities and sexualities, but there would be no other places like it in the rest of our lives. Maybe it’s too politically correct in some ways, but it’s just how the world is like. It’s so ideal yet so real. I thought Brynmawr is a place that lack of interesting people and not going to enrich you in other ways but academically. The reality is, true, it’s not like other schools, there’s no social pressure and career projects that picture the real world for you; But it’s not all about academic strength where students call themselves “mawrtyers”, instead it’s a bubble, an ivory tower, a mirror, where we consistently think and reexamine our identities—to find our inner selves.
The project really reshapes my impression of Brynmawr and relights my hope. I was depressed about Brynmawr for a while, but now I realized there’s a whole lot of things to be experienced out there and a lot of interesting people to talk to. No rush, mawrtyers, no rush. ‘Everything will figure out it own way.’ Says Hou Wang, ‘it’s just the matter of time.’.