- This debate we saw from the CT Forum opened my eyes to the importance of immigration, and how its many laws decide the future of many coming to this country. One of the quotes that resonated with me from this debate was, “We consider immigrants essential workers, but do we consider them essential people?” This quote was from Jose, an undocumented immigrant who has had a rough life, and has dedicated himself to making immigration better and spreading awareness. I feel that some people are afraid to speak out about the issues regarding immigration laws, thus having them continue.
Former United States Attorney General, Loretta Lynch
Author and immigration advocate, Jose Antonio Vargas.
Former White House Chief of Staff, General John Kelly and moderator, Evan Osnos.
- During these presentations I established a deeper understanding of the problems that we as a nation are facing, and ways that it connects the terrible event of the pandemic going around in our world right now. Most of these issues included fossil fuels from cars and vehicles, climate change, and technology corruption. All of these problems overlap each other and connect to one another in various ways. I learned that there was a russian heatwave a couple years ago that killed thousands of people and was heavily influenced by climate change. Very ramped-up the temperatures are produced during that time and affect many people in the vicinity. I also gained a larger understanding of the fact that many islands are being flooded because of the rising water levels as well.
3. Summer Reading
- The Monk of Mokha is about a man named Mokhtar, who wanted to bring back original Yemeni coffee, but had to do so during a civil war in the country. Throughout reading this book, it was impossible not to see examples of globalization, seeing as the whole premise of the book is about him bringing coffee from Yemen to America. One example of this is when they are talking about the origin of coffee and how it came to be throughout all different countries. Mokhtar talks about how Al-Shadhili, a Sufi monk, married an Ethiopian woman and brought the coffee plant with him, though it hadn’t been cultivated yet.
4. Justice, Identity, and the 2020 Election
- The webinar talked about a lot of issues surrounding the world these days, such as pollution, identity, and environmental racism and poverty. Even though the panel ran through the issues, they also described some actions people can take to help. Some of these actions include finding other people that have the same interests and solving a certain issue together, as well as just picking up a piece of trash.
5. Google Meet on Voting and Voter Suppression in CT - The ability to vote is a major right, and a privilege for many. Sadly, some people aren’t able to vote because they are not a U.S. citizen. During this Google Meet conversation, we talked about the process of voting, what is required, that you have to be a registered democrat or republican in order to vote in primaries, and have to be a party member to vote in Connecticut, etc. I think that many people are impacted by the restrictions on voting, especially because they may not know who to vote for, seeing as some information is not backed by facts and is false with zero credentials.
6. From the Quad to the Keyboard: How Hate Has Moved From On Campus To Online
- This livestream hosted by ADL Never is Now talked about racism and hate physically, and how it has moved to be virtual with this new world that we now all live in. During the livestream we talked about the issues, as well as ways to combat them. Everyone participating in the stream agreed that Global participation and monitoring is the only way to combat Anti semitism.
7. First Cathedral Baptist Church Service
- I took part in the First Cathedral Baptist Church service online live stream, and it is the fifteenth oldest historically black church founded in the city of Hartford, Connecticut, and is located in Bloomfield CT. It is a nondenominational Christian ministry with Baptist history. During the sermon, which is the lecture which addresses different topics usually about morals and lessons, the preacher talked about going “all in” with Jesus, and how sometimes one just has to put their full trust in the lord. This shows how much everyone really believes in Jesus.
8. Interfaith Workshop
- I gained much knowledge from this session, the majority being about different religions, and the roles that they play in connecting people on a spiritual level. We talked about God, and all of the different beliefs that religions have. One of the questions that they asked us was, “do you find truths in other religions?” I answered yes, because all religions worship some form of a higher power. This is a common factor that most, if not all religions share. The value of religion in my mind has increased drastically because of this workshop, seeing as I now know how it connects people throughout their lives.
9. IDS Task Force
- IDS stands for Independent Day School, and is the name of the elementary school I went to. The IDS Task Force is a group of people that discuss diversity, equality, and inclusion at my old school. We try and think of ways to make students more aware of what is happening in the world regarding race, gender, equality, and religion. I got an email asking me if I would like to be a part of this task force because I was an alumni, and I accepted. In our first meeting we discussed the differences between race and diversity at IDS, versus at our high schools, as well as ways that we could implement strategies to get students input on those categories. We also talked about how IDS is a predominantly caucasian school, and students there cannot really experience diversity until they are thrown into an environment with it, such as high school. Looking back, now I can clearly differentiate between race in middle school vs race in high school.
10. Quincy Amarikwa Zoom meeting
- This Zoom meeting was very educational for me, as we were talking about race, and the implications and impacts of it through sports. We also discussed matters besides that, such as impacts of decisions, and balancing one's career with their life. Quincy, our speaker, is a MLS player for the Las Vegas Lights, and is also an executive on the board of Black Players for Change, which is an organization founded by Major League Soccer players to stand up to racial prejudice. During this Zoom meeting we talked about many subjects, but one thing that Quincy said stood out to me a lot. He mentioned how if you take away pretty much everything that sports are, except for the core of it, then it becomes a slave-like system. He mentioned that the players are “owned” by the managers and owners of the team, and they get sent to play for the entertainment of people all around the world. The main factor that really got my attention was the fact that it is voluntary, and the players opt into it and choose to become a part of the team.
11. Classrooms, COVID, and the future of education webinar
- This webinar talked about the effects of COVID on the educational system, and the impacts for the future. One of the main statistics that really intrigued me was the amount of students and youth that were absent from school in March of 2020. There were over 1.5 billion, and that is the first time a pandemic or a crisis has affected so many people. Even though so many are still absent from school, about 90% of higher income countries have been able to offer some sort of online opportunities, yet in the more poor regions of the world that number goes down to 10-15 percent. People agreed that there would be lasting effects even after this virus goes away, and Emiliana Vegas spoke about how we need to intervene now, especially because of the people that are at a bigger disadvantage regarding this current situation than others.
12. Global Security in a Pandemic
- Throughout this discussion about global security during COVID, one of the main factors that kept appearing was the facts of power displacement, variations, and change within countries. David Sanger talked about how the things that aren’t happening are just as important as the things that are happening, and how one of the things we aren’t seeing is a coordinated global response. He then mentioned how since the post WW2 era, many have seen the United States as the “leading engine” of global response, and most of what we have seen so far during this COVID crisis has been individual country response. A question arose from the audience, and it was about the lasting and long term effects of the virus on global security. Sanger responded by saying that there will be both positives and negatives, yet one of the good impacts would be that there may be more cooperation between countries in the future.
13. Virtual Town Hall with Senator Blumenthal
- This was a very interesting event to attend because it explored many sides of thinking about the environment that I was not used to. There was one fact that really got my attention and that was the fact that climate change has now been confirmed as a matter of national security by the department of defense. I find this to be a very good thing, because now it might bring a little bit more urgency and awareness to the issue, and it may be resolved a bit quicker. We also talked about ways to resolve the issue of climate change, albeit slowly. One of the main ones was changing your diet to eat healthier, as it can mean big changes for the climate. It seems like a false opinion that solving climate change is going to raise the unemployment rate when the reality is our economy is going to shift massively into producing different types of energy as opposed to fossil fuels. Change will eventually work its way up the ladder of power throughout time, but in the meantime we need to show those people in power that we are angry about the climate issue. In other words, citizen activism. This is important to spread awareness about this issue.
14. Peter Toscano's Climate Workshop
- This was a very intriguing workshop for me, even though I had done plenty of climate change webinars and workshops before. It made me think about it in new ways, and how religion can come into play. Peter Toscano talked about himself at the start, and about he came out as gay, and tried to show others different ways to view ideas and faith. We then discussed how climate change is a very politicized issue and affects so many people because of the ways that it can cause so many feelings and reach their hearts and emotions. He also showed us some videos he helped produce, which centered around people's points of view. This is one of the parts when I learned the most, as I heard thoughts directly from a person's view. I then learned about Rta, and how it is dharma which is universal and encompasses all things, as well as being the good of all things. This can also tie into Svadharma, which is different for every person, as it is what they can do, what they can accomplish, and what they feel. Climate change is related to this because of what people can accomplish regarding the issue by themselves or with others.