New York City – GW Blogs from Abroad

Pursuing Solidarity

AdminOctober 8, 2014

Peace UN — Trip to the United Nations Headquarters: This quotes resonates because it highlights one of the greatest challenges of our society: overspending on armaments significantly decreases the access to resources by those who require the most access.

From the last post until now, I have traveled over 6,500 miles from Sugar Land to New York City to Santiago, Chile. Words cannot fully describe the magnitude of this experience. I will try my best to convey how my travels have shaped my understanding on human rights as well as shed light on my evolving approach on comprehending power imbalances and violations of rights.

We began our program in New York City, questioning if and to what extent universal human rights exist. Is it true that universal values are shaped the forces of globalization or do specific cultures maintain their own rights? It is too early for me to answer this question as my comprehension of this idea changes with each formative conversation, lecture, and site visit. While it is difficult to pinpoint which human rights are global, I have quickly realized that global oppression of rights is in fact similar, blatantly visible and unfortunately prevalent. Even though the protection of rights may take varying forms, its denial is undoubtedly felt around the world.

One of our stops in New York City was the UN Headquarters. It is rather naïve to say that as a world we have achieved all of the Millennium Development Goals. However, it is more appropriate to realize that we have become significantly more aware that systematic inequalities persist. The actions of developed actions disproportionately affect the livelihoods of other citizens. Solidarity is a key to identifying the mistakes of the past and present and helping redirect energy, resources, and human capital to restructure, rebuild and restore the rights of people around the world.

museo-de-la-memoria-chile-13 — Museo de la Memoria y Los Derechos Humanos-"Museum of Memory and Human Rights-Coming to this museum was the one of the most pivotal moments of this trip. It allowed me to reconsider the consequences of human suffering in the political transition of Chile.

Moreover, in Santiago, pursuing solidarity has manifested in the form a catalyst for connectivity. One of the biggest fears after the atrocious human rights violations in Chile from the 1973 coup d’état to the reconciliation that continues today is allowing those who were victimized by their respective governments to not be voiceless. We traveled to Casa de Memoria (House of Memory) to see with actual atrocities from the war were committed—excessive torture, disappearance of citizens, and indiscriminate killing of loved ones. The site presented an eerie image of the realities of the war. The damage had been done from the past decades and all we could do was join in a solemn silence with them. Nevertheless, it was this solemnity and solidarity that reinforced our commitment to being a part of the reconciliation process.

In summary, I wish to conclude with thought from one of our speakers on access to education as a way to address systematic inequality. He boldly articulated, “revolution is not only one day; it is a process. There is no day after the revolution, rather it is a life long struggle.” Similarly, solidarity is not a stoic recognition of human rights, rather it is also a struggle that motivates those who pursue it to rise to action and take charge of situations of injustice. Solidarity is an empathetic understanding, a cross-cultural dialogue, and a continually evolving strategy guided towards betterment.

Verdad y Justicia: "Truth and Justice-This engraving is located at the front of the entrance of Casa de Memoria, which is one of the sites of the torture and atrocious human rights violations during and after the Pinochet Era."

We must be aware and cognizant of our historical struggle and be mature in our belief that our collective consciousness is the precursor to our collective action as human rights activists. Solidarity, thus, identifies and understands oppression of human rights as a means to achieve and actualize these rights.

Donde Estan: "Where are they? This statement poses an important question to the leaders of the military coup. It challenges the ability of those in power to hold them accountable and fully cognizant of their actions."

Thanks for reading, and I will share more thoughts soon!

New York and the World

AdminFebruary 5, 2014December 14, 2018

By juliaraewagner

Today concludes the end of my first full week with the IHP Cities program. We have been prepping for our 3 month journey through India, Senegal, and Argentina with an orientation in New York City. We have already hit the ground running, examining the biggest questions in urban planning happening in our country's most vibrant city.

This week, most of our work was based out of the Chelsea neighborhood, which is home to one of the most diverse communities in New York City. An old manufacturing neighborhood, Chelsea has transformed into a mecca of art galleries and new urban design. Starting in the 1990's, it became the home of NYC's gay community. Today, it is one of the most trendy spots for the wealthy to settle into their multi-million dollar town homes. Meanwhile, Chelsea serves as a home to the older manufacturing communities and residents of the long-standing public housing facilities on 26th Street. Thus, the nieghborhood is a bustling mish mash of personalities and privalege.

Meanwhile, our group has been living at a hostel in Long Island City, Queens, a world away from our classroom in Chelsea. The site is also an old manufacturing center, but has not yet been touched by development or gentrification. Many believe, however, that the neighborhood is set to change in the coming years. MoMa has already established a satellite museum here, and a developer has recently kicked out longstanding graffiti cultural center, Five Pointz, as he prepares to develop and sell the space. Change is most definitely on the horizon for LIC.

We have also used New York to help us prepare for our travels in the coming months. Earlier this week, we tested out Indian, Senegalese, and Argentine restaurants so that we could have an idea of the foods we would be experiencing later on. I ordered the baked fish at the Senegalese restaurant and recieved a plate piled high with a huge fish, head and tail and all. Its going to be an interesting semester! It is truly amazing that this diverse city has been able supply us with such a rich backdrop in urban planning in the world today. As we continue to study how cities work across the world, I look forward to comparing these cities with New York and DC back at home.

The Last Supper (and 2nd to last Starbucks)

AdminFebruary 3, 2014December 14, 2018

By catrionaschwartz

Tonight is my last night in New York for four months! To celebrate this momentous occasion my parents and I ordered Chinese food from my favorite place in the city and watched a documentary about Rome. I also had my last Starbucks (okay 2^nd to last—let’s be real I’m going to get some in the airport tomorrow) for maybe four months because, as I recently found out, there is literally no Starbucks in Italy!

On a more serious note though, this will be the longest I’ll have ever been away from home in my life. At school there’s the Thanksgiving break and spring break and while there is a spring break in the IES Rome program I’m not going to be going home for it. I’m nervous about this but I’m also looking forward to the challenge. Besides which being away from home can make you appreciate certain things about your town/state/country that you had taken for granted before.

I’ve been trying to prepare by watching films and shows about Rome, and even trying an Italian language program online but all of that has now fallen to the wayside in favor of packing. As mentioned in my first post, packing can a bit of an art. Still, I’ve managed to squeeze some time in to watch some of “I, Claudius,” (a somewhat melodramatic television series produced by the BBC in the 1970s), “Meet the Romans with Mary Beard,” another BBC series, this time a documentary series made in 2012 about life in ancient Rome, and “Francesco’s Italy,” a really fun, again—BBC (this wasn’t intentional I swear) documentary program about contemporary Italy.

Despite this (really pretty meager) preparation I’m not really sure what to expect when I arrive in Rome. In London, where I studied last term, I felt like I could blend in with the other Londoners as long as I wasn’t walking around the city in a North Face, wearing Lululemon yoga pants. In Rome I feel like somehow it will be much more apparent that I’m American, even before I open my mouth to no doubt stutter really horrifically butchered, clunky Italian. I don’t think this will necessarily be a bad thing—maybe it will encourage people to overlook any faux pas I make?

I will let you know how it goes in my next post which will be after a week (my first week!) in Rome! Hopefully there will also be a few pretty pictures. Until then, ciao!

P.S. For anyone else planning on visiting/studying abroad in Rome I found a really great blog by an American who has been living there for several years. Here’s the link: http://www.revealedrome.com/rome-travel-planning.html

Adjusting to Brazilian Time

AdminSeptember 10, 2013December 14, 2018

By mfretes93

In New York, punctuality is key. In the land of Wall Street bankers and subways so crowded that you can taste the sweat of the person standing next to you, everyone will do anything to be on time. And that applies to everything--you need to be on-time to class, job interviews; you even just want to rush grocery shopping, for the sake of rushing. And for us, "on-time" is 15 minutes early. And actually being on-time is a slap in the face.

Surprisingly, one of the hardest things for me to get used to in Brazil isn't the language or the food or anything like that--it's their concept of time and punctuality. Which is to say, compared to life in the U.S.--and especially New York--it might as well not exist.

To put this in perspective, my first classes in high school started at promptly 8:08 A.M. everyday. If you dared to arrive at 8:09--tardy. At GW, it obviously depends on the professor, but if I were to walk in to any of my classes 20 minutes late, I would be the object of snickers from my fellow students and a stern glare from the professor.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, walking into class 20 minutes late means that you've probably beaten the professor--he'll come in another 10 minutes. A class scheduled to start at 9 A.M. will most likely start around 9:30, and if it's also scheduled to end at 11, it'll probably end at around 10:30.

Which isn't to say that classes are a joke. You're still learning the material. You're still taking notes and answering questions and fighting the urge to go on Facebook on your phone. In other words, class is still class.

They just have a different idea of time and deadlines: here in Brazil, 9:30 is 9:00; 10:30 is the same thing as 11:00.

So if you ask someone to meet you for lunch at noon, don't expect them to show up any earlier than 12:45. And that mindset applies to just about everything--meals, class, hanging out with friends. It's just how time works around here--it's flexible, everything is fluid.

Which, to my eye, is more reflective of the way that Brazilians view life in general: just live! If you're too consumed by deadlines and rushing around the city to be on time, instead of appreciating the sights around you, you're not living life the way that life is supposed to be led.

Was this mindset hard to adjust to at first? Of course. But now, day by day, I'm watching the time-obsessed New Yorker in me slowly dissipate, replaced by a person who doesn't mind waiting for the next bus on a nice day.

One thing that I can't ever change, though? Walking fast, everywhere, all the time--sorry Rio, you can't change all of them!