The remote learning environment during the coronavirus pandemic posed a challenge for student engagement at the 糖心vlog视频: How could staff support students in staying connected with each other?
鈥淲e thought a lot about the best way to reach people,鈥 said Jorge Azpeitia, a member of UW Bothell鈥檚 Social Justice Organizers, a student group tasked in 2020 with developing options. 鈥淲e knew we didn鈥檛 want to subject everyone to yet another Zoom session, and at the same time we knew we could not gather in a physical space. But it was important to stay connected.鈥
After some research, he came up with the idea of a podcast, which he launched with his co-SJOs Gurleen Mann and Kelly Pham. Unlike a video conference that generally happens live, requires participation and keeps users tied to their screen, a podcast can be listened to anytime, anywhere.
鈥淣ot only is a podcast more accessible, it鈥檚 also more enjoyable,鈥 said Azpeitia, a 2021 graduate with degrees in Media & Communication Studies and in Culture, Literature & the Arts. 鈥淚t gives people an opportunity to get outside and away from their desks.鈥
Benjamin E. Lopez, the SJO adviser, said that 鈥渢he made space for people at UW Bothell to find community despite being in isolation 鈥 and provided opportunities for us all to learn from, care for and stand with one another.鈥
Somber similarities
The students wanted to use the podcast platform to discuss relevant topics that pertained to social justice and advocacy. Using that as a guide, Mann, a third-year student majoring in Law, Economics & Public Policy, decided to focus her episode on hip-hop and resistance.
鈥淗ip-hop was originally created for and by urban youth as a tool of expression in the 1970s,鈥 Mann said. 鈥淚t was a result of the frustration African Americans and Latinos felt when, despite the advancement in civil rights, their economic conditions still didn鈥檛 improve.鈥
To learn more about the genre鈥檚 history, she interviewed Dr. Georgia Roberts, a lecturer in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences who studies and teaches courses on hip-hop history and culture. Roberts has a course focused specifically on the work of rapper Tupac Shakur.
鈥淏y incorporating the legacy of the Black Panther Party and his connection to Black power, Tupac鈥檚 music preserves a moment in time,鈥 Roberts said. 鈥淭he lyrics are a marker that can be used to measure how far we have come, or conversely, how far we still need to go.鈥
A powerful example discussed in Mann鈥檚 podcast was Tupac鈥檚 song, 鈥淐hanges鈥 and its relevance to modern day. 鈥淭he song talks about mass incarceration before there was a word for it. The lyrics are about racism and misplaced hatred,鈥 Mann said. 鈥淪adly, it鈥檚 now two decades later and his words still hold true.鈥
Healing in community
Pham, a third-year student majoring in Community Psychology, also used her podcast to address racism by talking about the rise of xenophobia and Asian hate during the pandemic. She collaborated with UW Bothell鈥檚 and to create the episode.
The pandemic heightened xenophobic behaviors that targeted Asian people specifically, she said. 鈥淲e started seeing reports on the news of our elders being attacked, and people shouting slurs at them while they were just walking down the street,鈥 she said. 鈥淎s an Asian woman, I wanted to use the podcast to honor my community鈥檚 experience and remind them they are not alone.
鈥淚 see my parents in those stories,鈥 Pham said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 scary knowing my loved ones are at risk because they are Asian. They could get hurt just going to work. No one should have to live with the fear of being attacked for the color of their skin.鈥
Pham wants her listeners to walk away with a sense of unity. 鈥淭he one thing the virus doesn鈥檛 do is discriminate. But people do,鈥 she said. 鈥淐OVID-19 is going after all of us. We shouldn鈥檛 add to the chaos by going after one another, too.
鈥淢y hope is that we find healing, not just physically but psychologically and emotionally. Doing this podcast is just one small way to try to bring people together and make that first step toward recovery.鈥
Legacy lives on
Naomi Yohannes and Lauren Allen, Social Justice Organizers in 2020-21, followed in their predecessors鈥 footsteps and continued the podcast with a three-part series on cancel culture: 鈥淭he Tea on Cancel Culture,鈥 鈥淗ow to Get Away with Being a White Man鈥 and 鈥淢yselfie got Cancelled?鈥
Yohannes, a spring 2021 graduate with degrees in Community Psychology and in Society, Ethics & Human Behavior, said they wanted to take a closer look at cancel culture because of how prevalent it has become.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a buzz phrase. Even politicians have openly expressed their fear of getting 鈥榗anceled,鈥欌 Yohannes said. 鈥淲hat began on social media has now gone beyond our feed and the digital world to impact people in real life, often people who are in positions of power.
鈥淲e wanted to think about whether or not social media has enabled a universal surveillance on speech, and if the consequences of that surveillance 鈥 getting canceled 鈥 is just.鈥
Yohannes says that cancel culture mirrors a carceral system in that it is designed to punish individuals. 鈥淧eople can lose jobs, their community and even close-knit relationships. Cancel culture has the power to take people away from their lives as they know it,鈥 she said, 鈥渁nd the effects of it can be very isolating.
鈥淭hey may not be in prison, but they are definitely ostracized from society.鈥
Lauren Allen (l) and Naomi Yohannes Zoom in to record their segments for the podcast
What it鈥檚 all about
On the other side of the spectrum, Allen, also a spring 2021 graduate with a degree in Law, Economics & Public Policy, points out that although someone could be ostracized, the period in which they might be cast from the public eye may not last indefinitely. For this reason, neither she nor Yohannes see cancel culture as always being damaging.
鈥淲e see it as a way of healing, too,鈥 Allen said. 鈥淚t can be about telling someone that they can do, and be, better. It鈥檚 about accountability, learning and growing.鈥
Yohannes said in the end, that鈥檚 what she thinks it鈥檚 all about. 鈥淎ll we can do is learn from our mistakes and do better next time.
鈥淚 feel so lucky to be a part of a university where I feel safe enough to speak out and supported in my experience. UW Bothell helps us all grow to become better people.鈥
