WITNESS Online, Issue #6, Spring 2011

Witness is proud to announce the launch of its second issue. For two years now, the students of Witness have been working to establish an online and hard journal, to create a forum at Boston College for social justice issues. With this, our second issue, we continue to broaden the conversation on global responsibility, social justice, and citizenship.

The new issue contains everything from paintings to poetry, in-depth research to interviews and reflections on service.

You’ll find here pieces about violence and hope in Africa, the struggles of a broken educational system, single motherhood, and the failings of the drug rehabilitation system – and much more.

Join us to at our launch during ArtsFest, on Saturday, April 30^th at 3 p.m. in Devlin 101.

And pick up a copy of Witness around campus!

Inside this online issue: 

Encounter, Wednesdays 4 PM (Timothy Jenkel)
A moment of personal courage triggers a coming to terms with the complex dynamics of service.

Interview, Hockey Humanitarian: An Interview with Brooks Dyroff (Tommy Belton)
Boston College Hockey Player, Brooks Dyroff helped spearhead CEO4Teens,a community program focusing on global education. Tommy Belton sat down with Dyroff to discuss his recent success with the program.

Opinion, Blood Bananas Don’t Belong at Boston College (Andrew Sexton)
BC was quick to adopt Fair Trade coffee, but is dragging its heels at providing a Free Trade option for bananas.  The author urges the University to get on board this world-wide justice initiative.

Satire, BC Green Month: The Only Real Time To Recycle (Colleen Vecchione)
March: the thirty-one days when UGBC tells us it’s time to recycle and conserve. Take a look at the other ingenious events that took place during Green Month.

Art, TED: A Virtual Choir 2,000 Voices Strong
Eric Whitacre leads a global video project that unites over 2,000 people worldwide through music.

Service Trips, Boston College Summer Trips (Paulina Garcia)
Witness takes a look at the 2011 Arrupe International Summer Trips to Cuernavaca, Mexico, and Annotto Bay, Jamaica. By exploring cultural sites and interacting with the people, participating students hope to return with a greater awareness of the social justice issues that these two countries experience.

Wednesdays 4 PM

Timothy Jenkel, 2012

“I’ma kill that nigga if I eva see ‘im again,” one tattooed black man said and spat in the face of another. A third black man stepped in front of the affronting man and pushed him backwards. At their feet, a middle-aged white man lay asleep in his urine. Earlier today the shelter workers found the plastic vodka pint he had hidden in his coat. A month ago I had helped pick him up off the asphalt and set him in a wheelchair and with his nose still bleeding he had cried, “Why you helpin’ me? Why you tryin’ to make me do this?”

Hockey Humanitarian: An Interview with Brooks Dyroff

Tommy Belton, 2013

In 2007, Brooks Dyroff and friend Kenny Haisfield, both students from Boulder, Colorado, started CEO 4 Teens, a non-profit organization focused on global education. They raised enough money to sponsor an Integrated English and Computer Skills class of 10 students in Indonesia. The duo continued sponsoring classes, and by the time they graduated high-school, they had graduated two more classes of identical size.

Brooks Dyroff is now a sophomore on the Boston College hockey team. He has just returned from Minnesota, where he received the BNY Mellon Wealth Management Hockey Humanitarian Award, an award given  annually to a collegiate hockey player who serves the community. Dyroff won the award not only for his work abroad, but also for his cooperative work with the local St. Columbkille Elementary School in Brighton. Dyroff has organized a “Race to Educate,” a 5K race around Boston College on April 16^th at 10 a.m. Registration can take place on race day or at www.bcracetoeducate.com.  He and his teammates have also been selling hats and donating all profits to St. Columbkille. I sat down with Brooks and interviewed him on the recent success of CEO 4 Teens and its future.

Blood Bananas Don’t Belong at Boston College

Andrew Sexton, 2011

Our university takes considerable pride in its commitment to social justice. One of the school’s mottos reads “Men and women for others”. On the Boston College website, Father Leahy, the President of the University, writes “Boston College endeavors to educate a new generation of leaders for the new millennium—men and women who will be capable of shaping a new century with vision, justice, and charity—with a sense of calling, with concern for all of the human family.”[1] However, Boston College’s position on fair trade calls these elegant sentiments into question.

BC Green Month: The Only Real Time To Recycle

Colleen Vecchione, 2012

Last month UGBC ran its exclusive once-a-year only environmental movement called Green-Month. Green Month festivities were available throughout campus and students were invited to participate in a host of truly thrilling activities. Online, UGBC offered students the chance to fill out a Green Pledge and become Environmental VIPs for the entire month. The pledge made participating students eligible for such exclusive, limited-time activities as recycling, conserving water with shorter showers, and turning off unused lights.

TED: A Virtual Choir 2,000 Voices Strong

Eric Whitacre leads a global video project that unites over 2,000 people worldwide through music.

Boston College Summer Trips

Paulina Garcia, 2012

Arrupe International Summer Trips
Location: Cuernavaca, Mexico

Twelve students will be traveling to Mexico this summer with the goal of cultural learning. In this educational immersion trip, students will spend time in Mexico City and Cuernavaca, exploring the everyday life of the Mexican people and experiencing the issues that plague the region. The students hope to leave Mexico with a greater understanding of what is going on in the country: politically, socially, etc. Students will be exposed to and aware of social justice problems thought the world.

The Arrupe summer immersion trip lasts two weeks. Students will be doing a range of different activities all week during their stay at Cuernavaca’s CCIDD center. This includes listening to speakers’ perspectives on issues like politics and drug trade, their own lives, social justice problems, and more. Some time is also spent exploring the Cuernavaca’s market, nearby Aztec ruins, and squatter settlements. Furthermore, students will be interacting directly with people from Cuernavaca, listening to their stories, and getting to know them, their culture, and their lives.

Jamaica Summer Immersion Trip (Intersections)
Location: Annotto Bay, Jamaica

The Intersections program will take a small group of students to the town of Annotto Bay, Jamaica, with the goal to learn about the rural town and the lives of the people who live there. The undergraduate students will also reside and teach in Annotto Bay’s summer camp for children.

The trip will expose students to both the hardships of living in rural Jamaica and the larger social justice issues that the people they will meet actually experience. Students will learn a great deal about community living and lack of education in places like Annotto Bay. Discussion and reflection is key throughout the trip to allow students to reflect on what they have learned, and what they can do about it.

Witness looks forward to hearing the experiences and stories from participants who are going on these immersion trips this summer! Best of luck to all!

 

WITNESS Online, Issue #5, March 2011

Welcome to Witness: Online! Each month the Witness staff will publish a new issue of stories, reflections, opinion pieces, and art that illuminates issues of social justice on campus, locally, and around the world.

Please feel free to contact Witness with ideas, suggestions, and feedback: bc.witnessjournal@gmail.com

Kathleen Hirsch

We are currently calling for submissions to the online journal of Witness. If you are working on a piece that you would like to submit, please submit it to bc.witnessjournal@gmail.com

Inside this issue:

News, The Social Justice Network (Paulina Garcia and Colleen Vecchione)
Boston College is known for having plenty of social justice groups around campus.  Now they are coming together for the first time. The newest initiative on social justice on campus is the Global Justice Coalition.

Feature, Reconciling Religion and Homosexuality (Suzannah Lutz)
At an event sponsored by Allies, Mary Lou Wallner shared the story about her daughter coming out in a strict religious environment. Through this tragedy she hopes to encourage more reconciliation between religion and homosexuality.

Forum, Acceptance at BC
In what ways is BC not as welcoming as it could be towards GLBTQ members of the community?

 

 

 

Profile, Advocating For Justice: An Interview with Stephen Pope (Cara Condon)
Professor Stephen Pope is one of the most well-known professors at BC, particularly for his social activism. Cara Condon of Witness recently sat down with him to ask him about his work and passion.

Art, Art Sustains
(Andrea Chudzik, Gregory Keches, Kristen Kehlenbeck, and Juan Rodriguez)
In the fall of 2010, a group of Boston College students set upon the task of creating an image that could inspire social change. This film, entitled “Art Sustains”, is what they came up with.

Reading List, Spring Break Reading List (Witness staff)
Spring break is the perfect time to relax on the beach with a great book about social justice.

The Social Justice Network

Paulina Garcia, 2012
Colleen Vecchione, 2012

Most of us are aware that there are plenty of social justice groups around campus. So, what’s the big news? They are coming together for the first time. The newest initiative on social justice on campus is the Global Justice Coalition. This new collective effort involves many different groups such as Real Food, React, and Partners In Health, along with Witness.

On Friday the 18th of February, representatives from various groups got together in efforts to talk about having a new collective initiative dealing with social justice on campus. In hopes of creating a network within the social justice groups, each representative spoke about their own groups’ work. Furthermore, they offered suggestions of how to keep all of their groups in contact, creating a social justice community. Ideas included a cross-reference listserv, a council of e-board members from each group, and a social justice e-mail account. This community is open to welcoming any student or group that would like to also be involved in dealing with, addressing, and witnessing social justice issues around campus, in the city of Boston, and even throughout the world.

The Global Justice Coalition’s initiative kicked off with the Global Justice Fair that took place on February 14 where Witness was spotted. In the fair, more than a dozen student groups showcased their efforts involving social justice. Witness welcomed students to get to know more about the magazine and the online magazine. Talks about articles sparked great conversations about what students are involved in around campus and the city of Boston. Witness had a great amount of different students show interest in being involved with the magazine and social justice opportunities.

Witness is excited to see that the Global Justice Coalition provides a form for students to unite and share their passions for issues around the world that are important to them.

Reconciling Religion and Homosexuality

Suzannah Lutz, 2011

“People asked me if Anna hadn’t died, would I be in the same place, and I said, ‘No.’ It took her death to open my eyes.” Mary Lou Wallner shared her story last Thursday at an event sponsored by Allies, “Mary Lou Wallner: “Reconciling Religion and Homosexuality.” This was the first time she was invited to a Catholic university. Brought up in a fundamentalist household, Wallner was taught that homosexuality was a sin. When her daughter, Anna, finally came out to her, it was extremely hard for Wallner to accept Anna’s homosexuality. Their stormy relationship continued until Anna’s suicide in February of 1997.