It has long been my dream that the voices of Brown University's Asian and Asian American community would fill campus with their thoughts and ideas. While I worked as layout editor for our literary magazine, VISIONS, I often meditated on its motto: Envisioning and Building a Stronger Asian/Asian American Community. But how does one envision and build a community?
We have at Brown what the outside world would consider a vibrant and active community of students who organize events around political and social issues and forms of cultural expression. I celebrate this achievement while also hoping to challenge the community to exceed what is already expected of it. Our community is so large and we as individuals are so busy that the
moments for interaction and communication around this idea of how to
envision and build our community are scarce. I am led to wonder what
would happen if these conversations did happen.
Imagine a forum where
individuals could workshop their ideas with student leaders and alumni from across
the spectrum. Imagine a space where any student could share his or her
thoughts without needing to speak through a student group. Imagine a
way for us to communicate without the need to be in the same room.
What events would we create? What would we learn about ourselves? How might we stumble upon better ways to organize and reach out to the rest of the student body? We have in our midst an untapped potential for collaboration and the possibility to unleash a storm of collective creativity. All this could be as simple as an email.
This blog, this space, is perhaps a way to get at this. I invite you to participate in writing this blog with me. I want to hear your voices, and I want to read about your experiences. What you write doesn't have to be long or polished. Posterous is an amazing invention that will allow you to post to this blog simply though email. Just shoot it to post@asianatbrown.posterous.com with a thought, a comment, a criticism, a question, or a reflection, and whatever you write will appear up here. No messy interfaces, no registration. I can't promise what will happen after that, but all possibilities are there.
As one final note, I offer this blog out of humility because I know there is great risk that few will ever read this. Students have so much vying for their attention, and this blog may easily get lost among all the papers, exams, events, and meetings. Even if students make it here, I can't assume that my words will bear any weight. I am one person and my influence will only go so far. There is also a view that will negate this post entirely; not everyone wants or cares about community. If you haven't been inclined toward community, then I challenge you to try something new. But if you already believe as I do in the idea of an Asian/Asian American community at Brown, then write that email and let's build something together right here, right now.
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