A Note from the Director
In this issue of IMAGES, the contributors share tales from journeys home and cultural traditions, tell of junior year abroad experiences and interview new faculty and administrators. This tapestry of IMAGES from students demonstrates the strength in our diversity. IMAGES reminds us that there is no single narrative to describe the student of color experience and yet common themes emerge from reading the submissions.
Tiffany Cirigliano, IMAGES Coordinator, began the production process by holding an interest meeting to recruit volunteers to assist with various aspects of the publication. Students interested in layout design, being copy editors and writers attended. Among them, Michelle Permaul, Naomi Greene, Amelia Thompson and Danny Romero agreed to interview new faculty and administrators. Thus, you will read about Celestino Limas, Sharon Beverly, Miranda Martinez and Haoming Liu, relatively new administrators and faculty who have already contributed greatly to the campus. Many thanks to Tiffany Cirigliano for your vision, hard work and commitment and to all who shared their creative talents and experiences making IMAGES a reality.
Since our last issue of IMAGES, several new student programs have kept the ALANA Center active and bursting at the seams. The Men of Color Alliance (MOCA) held three successful meetings and are actively working to establish a new organization that will provide educational, social and cultural support to men of color on campus. Members of MOCA are part of the planning team for a Black and Latino male conference that will be held at Vassar in November and will draw participants from over 35 colleges. Women of color, many of them seniors, are actively planning for a May production of
For Colored Girls... and report being extremely busy auditioning over 20 women who would like to be a part of the production. In December, the women of
Sister's Place met to discuss "So Long a Letter", written by Nova award winner Mariama Ba. Sister's Place is a literature book ,club which explores issues and interests particular to women of color. After a staged reading in the ALANA Center by students who attended a Black Radical Congress Conference in June, a lively dialogue ensued between freshmen and seniors about one's responsibility in creating institutional change and mentoring incoming students. This dialogue provided a catalyst for a one-day April festival,
The Arts of Resistance, to explore the transformative power of the arts. These student-led programs have contributed to a wonderful energy, contagious creativity and nurturing love that is "seeping through the walls" of the ALANA Center, as Jennifer Kirkland, program assistant and President of the Black Students' Union, put it best.