the November 2014 edition of the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin,
with an article featuring our own activists, Kate and Sula
(and a mention of our 360 along the way...)
the paper version is even more amazing, with QUITE the opening spread...

"This video from the International Institute for Restorative Practices includes interviews with staff and students of West Philadelphia High School, which was on Pennsylvania's "Persistently Dangerous Schools" list for six years, but has improved immensely, due to strong administrative leadership and the implementation of restorative practices."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HatSl1lu_PM

Neil Geyette, the principal of the U School was a teacher at West Philadelphia High School and talks in the video. It's pretty short and very interesting! 

In regards to our project, I think it would be great to get more perspectives from other trans students as well as people in admissions. It would also be great to talk to members of the board of trustees. We would like to share our finidngs with the larger bryn mawr community since it seems like there is some knowledge about admission of trans students but still also a lot of confusion. It would also be great to open up the community to further discussion as well as have discussion between the student body and the people in charge of making decisions. It seems like this is already going on to a certain extent, but having even more of this type of discussion would help the trans community be directly involved in the changes being made.

Farida and I decided to devote  ten weeks to tracking the process of how MacBooks are made and how they are deposed. Over the years, technology has been groundbreaking and having a laptop is essential for every college student. But, researching on how exactly everything happened was shocking. This project required a lot of research because Apple is such a big business. While dealing with big companies, it makes researching twice as difficult because they aren’t as willing to sharing every secret. The questions that we wanted to ask, weren’t any that they would’ve liked to answer either. 

In mine and Nayanthis’s presentation of the contact zone of clothes, since it was such a limited time, we could not expand it further. If I could I would further expand it or carry it forward - I would look into all the brands I wear and not only the popular ones worn by us. Actually, maybe every single bran and publish it so it would be available to the public and they know what they are buying and where it comes from. I would like to understand how at every stage the labors are treated and also the process.

The project we worked on was on how cosmetics affected the contact zone which originally was supposed to revolve around us tracking which cosmetics people used and how that contact zone expanded based off sharing, kissing and what occasions they decided to wear it for. But it was difficult to find reasoning behind any of this without further researching the value makeup had and how it actually played into the meta-impression more. If we were to carry this forward more research would be required into how cosmetic companies identify their target market and what they use to appeal to them through advertisements and how this advertising is carried out through capitalism. To find how the meta-impression occurs we must find the root of it psychologically.

We woul probably carry this project forward by talking with more people, getting more viewpoints. We might also bring the issue up to a wider audience to share what we've learned, because many people don't know about the history/progress/barriers of this topic. I feel like it's good to show this to first years, because I'm one of those people who still doesn't know much about the college yet. When we were conducting our research, it felt to me that the contact zone(s) presented by this issue didn't really interact with each other? Like perhaps there was some imagined contact zone (like when people say they're going to fight "the man" but don't have any concrete idea of who they're facing)?

I would like to ban bottled water at Bryn Mawr. I was thinking that everyone could receive a water bottle with his or her welcome packet. There is no reason to have bottled water. As I explained, it is expensive, harmful to the environment, and wasteful.

Furthermore, I am thinking of trying to get rid of non-reusable plastic bottles as a whole on Bryn Mawr’s campus. The vending machines could just sell cans of soda or possibly sparkling water or juice.

I also think we should either not have Styrofoam take-out containers from the dining hall or we should get rid of “take-out” all together. People can find ways to either eat more quickly, or allocate their time better, but everyone needs to eat, and I think it should mostly remain in the dining hall.

I believe we might carry our 10-week project forward by calling this to the attention of someone who is in charge of encouraging diversity or choses the classes for our school.  By sharing this with someone who might have the power to inact change regarding it, we can aid the school in expanding its contact zone with all different types of people, thus making us more circumspect individuals.  I would like to know how my classes next semester would fit into this study, or how the most popular classes at Bryn Mawr would. Our classes were admittedly biased—maybe there is greater diversity that just didn’t surface in our study? Maybe not. I would also like to know what the people who aren’t given voice in our academic educations would have to say.  What do they think is important?