'Tis the Season

     This is the time of the year where you can smell the winter in the air. The leaves begin to show their deep red hues, and the thick wool coats come out of the closet. The holiday music begins to grace the radio frequencies and retail stores start to stock their shelves with gift-able merchandise wrapped in eye-catching ribbon. Amongst the seemingly decrease in nature's thermostat and the chaotic scene of the shopping centers, it's important to remember what this time of the year is all about.

     I'm the type of person who finds myself reminiscing about my childhood adventures and precious moments that happened way back when or even last week. I look through photo albums, notes, and little nick-knacks and sometimes find myself wishing that I was still close to that person, that I still spoke with that person. Life changes and people move away, relationships fray at the ends, and people fall apart. It happens. But I also believe that things happen for a reason. Things fall apart so you can find something new. People leave your life to make room for the new ones that come in. And every person that you encounter leaves you with something--may that be a lesson learned, a memory to cherish, or just an ear when you needed one the most. Everyone we meet impacts and affects us in some way, shape, or form, and we in turn do the same for those who we encounter. Those moments are special moments that are often unexpected and quick to pass by. 

     Time is quick to pass by. Words that are unspoken, remain unspoken, and unheard. Permanence is only determined by relative time. If someone makes an impact in your life, I think it is important to acknowledge that. 'Tis the season for family, friends, and loved ones. 'Tis the season to give thanks--thanks for the food that graces the table each night, thanks for the roommates who listen to you rant about the dramas of college, thanks for the friends who accept you for your quirkiness, thanks for the strangers who hold the door open for you, thanks for each day that you are able to laugh, cry, love, and smile.


     It doesn't take much for someone to touch my heart, and it doesn't take much to acknowledge someone for doing just that. So, I will start off by thanking you, dear reader. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read what I have to say. Thank you for taking the time to appreciate the product of all our hard work. If you do anything after reading this post, I hope you take some time out of your day to thank at least one person who has impacted your life, in any degree, for the better.

     Kindness is contagious. Spread it.


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Holly Tran, Staff Writer, is currently a sophomore at the University of Rhode Island pursing a major in Biological Sciences.
    
    

"For Colored Girls": A Review

       How much power do we have as individuals over the relationships we keep? Whether it is between men and women or friends, we all tend to submit in some way or another. After watching Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls for the URI Multicultural Center Dialogue Group, my eyes opened to the different ways we, as women, friends, daughters, sisters, and peers, submit to the pressures of the relationships that we carry. This movie showed the extremes that women go through with their marriages and the relationships that they keep. Now I am much more aware of the different power struggles that I have with friends and family members. 
       
       After watching the movie with the group, we were asked to sit and talk about how we felt about it; and to be quite honest, I was not ready. My mind was racing through the situations that were portrayed before me--"What would I have done if put in the situations presented? Have I ever focused on myself and not taken the opportunity to make a major difference?"--All this while processing the poetry that resounds within my mind today. A few days later, I was able to put the array of emotions, questions, and thoughts I had together. It was a truly enlightening and empowering feeling. 


       With friends, we either submit to the decisions made by the group without much of an argument, or are the ones making the decision for the group. In the case of male-female relationships, women tend (note I said the word ‘tend’) to submit to the needs of their counterpart. After watching the extreme situations that the characters of the movie went through I realized that everyone experiences this on one level or another. Despite the severity of the experiences (violent or not), we need to be aware that these issues affect us, and we all need to find the power to be who we are and have equality within the relationships that we keep. 


       I would recommend that everyone to go and see this movie, I plan on reading Ntozake Shange’s book from which the movie was based to gain more insight into the power we all have within us and I hope you get as much from this as I had!

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Addendum: FOR COLORED GIRLS brings to the screen Ntozake Shange's Obie Award-winning play, "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf," a poetic exploration of what is to be of color and a female in this world. --Rotten Tomatoes Synopsis

The URI Multicultural Center Sustained Dialogue Project meets every Monday at 6PM at the Multicultural Center. This is an open event where all individuals are welcome to join in.

Denise Dujon, Staff Writer, is a senior undergraduate student at the University of Rhode Island majoring in Biology.

Multicultural Center e-Journal: Request for Submissions!

The MCC e-Journal is a digital bi-annual publication (one issue each semester), that features artistic and expressive work from university students, campus staff, and guest contributors. The idea is that one theme/topic will be proposed and individuals can then interpret that in their own way—may this be in the form of photos, drawings, poetry, narrative stories, collages, et cetera. The possibilities are endless!

 Fall/Winter Publication Topic: How has community service helped to make you the person you are today?

This semester's e-Journal will be unveiled in celebration of MLK Week. The theme of service will resonate through a collection of creative original works in the honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy.

DUE: Friday, January 14^th, 2011 at 9:00AM

Submissions formats: .DOC, .JPEG, .PDF

Submit all entries via e-mail to: multiculturalcenter.uri@gmail.com

Check back on the MCC webpage to see on-going developments!

And the Kid Cudi Raffle Tickets Go to...

  Congratulations to our 14th Annual Diversity Week winner! 


  Jacob Wigton, an undeclared freshman, won a pair of tickets to 
  see Kid Cudi perform at the Ryan Center. 


  The raffle was a random drawing based off of Diversity Week 
  workshop registration and attendance.