May 2024 recap
Repost from May 31, 2024
This month has been such an emotional rollercoaster — lots of highs, a ton of lows. Through it all, my family and friends have really shown up to kūkākūkā and kōkua. My time in Tovaangar at the beginning of the month already feels like a lifetime ago, but my mind and my heart will not forget the violence at UCLA and Dartmouth's campuses from April 30 to May 3. It really moved me to see graduates across the country voice their resistance during commencement ceremonies; a video circulating of a master's of social work student at Columbia University tearing up her diploma seconds after receiving it continues to sit with me.
One notion that I've been thinking about in the past two weeks is how activism and resistance can look, sound, and feel similar yet different depending on one's context. A friend shared her stance that UCLA's School of Education and Information Studies has students, faculty, and staff who "get" why folks are calling for endowment sources to be disclosed and for institutions to divest investments from pro-Israeli companies. There are individuals in the institution who are aware of Israel's oppression of Palestine and who understand how a Free Palestine can have a positive global impact. Consequently, because there are so many critically conscious individuals, she believes one of the most impactful ways for students to resist, then, would be to drop out of their programs and stop funding the institution through tuition and fees.
On the other hand, in the University of Hawai'i context, I think there are more students, faculty, staff, and community members who are unaware of Palestine's struggle and its significance on a global level. Therefore, resistance looks like the spreading of critical consciousness to others. It's could actually be more efficacious to remain in a university setting and work toward the interpersonal, individual awakening of hearts and minds.
I'm grateful for these kinds of conversations because they force me to re-imagine the world and to dream. To hope. I've spent a majority of this month scrolling through social media profiles and news websites for updates on activism around the world, and the moments when I've processed with friends and family have been extremely healing and nurturing. When I was feeling at my lowest this month, just really helpless and hopeless, I saw an Instagram post by @Blackliturgies that a friend circulated with two important quotations: "Reminding myself that whatever powerlessness I feel today is by design. That as long as there is Palestinian breath in Gaza, we really cannot afford to submit to the cynicism that tells us nothing can stop these massacres." and "I do what I can ... with what power I have." I don't often feel like I have power, but I do know I have some privilege to be able to call myself a graduate student, a U.S. citizen, able-bodied, and geographically isolated from genocide and war in Palestine. There is power in that positionality.
As a result, I'm ending this month remembering that contexts matter. We do what we can with the power, privilege, and critical consciousness we have. There are ways that I can show up, resist, and mobilize to effect change in my community and my Lāhui. It may look different from those garnering mainstream attention by news organizations looking to spin political narratives leading up to the 2024 presidential election. But it is resistance and activism nevertheless. It is action with future generations in mind. It is an everyday stance that continues to chip away at imperial empires.
May roundup [the highs and lows]
12 busy days, 1 stressed day, 12 relaxed days, 6 fun days, 0 junk days
5 books, 1257 pages read (Book of the month: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison)
6 graduation celebrations (Biola University, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Kapolei Charter School, Ke Kula Kaiapuni ʻo Ānuenue)
1 peer-reviewed article published
Submissions
1 TA application (UCLA)
1 graduate student paper entry (AESA Conference)
1 epistolary manuscript
Notifications
1 invitation to peer review for an international journal in education
1 article passed editorial board review, currently undergoing peer review
1 article under expedited peer review
