GSIF Post 5

  1. List ten things that make you feel human. 

 

  1. A morning routine – every day I spend at least an hour by myself getting ready. This is extremely important to me because I have days where this is my only hour of relaxation. So, I like to start my day by “becoming” a human and drinking my coffee while listening to music as I slowly wake up.
  2. Exercise – This also an act of self-care, but I really like intense forms of exercise. I have played competitive soccer almost all my life and I am a mountaineer. I find that when I push my limits physically I understand how far I can go and appreciate all that my body can do.
  3. Compassion – nothing makes me feel more human than socializing and empathizing. I just think that part of being a human is being around other humans- it’s how we were built. In being able to relate to others, you find more of yourself.
  4. Complete Isolation – As much as I love people, I also love being by myself. Giving myself space to just “be” helps me explore my thoughts and emotions more. Sometimes the world is a very busy place for me and I need to process in order to maintain myself despite the fluctuations around me.
  5. ART – First of all, art is the most human creation there has ever been. Art is an outlet of expression for humanity. It is how we make the darkest stories bearable to share and how we connect across lines that typically divide. I find that art makes me feel human by connecting me to the humanity of others. 
  6. Getting sleep – I have never taken for granted the impact of a good night’s sleep. I need enough sleep in order to feel human – I learned this the hard way in high school when I had insomnia. That experience made me irate and anxious, so now I never compromise my eight-hour sleep requirement.
  7. A nutritious diet – I was brought up to believe that what you put into your body deeply affects how you feel on the day-to-day. I have the privilege to access healthy, unprocessed food options and eat well-rounded meals. This ability gives me the opportunity to feel more human – I try to eat as organic as possible on a college student budget. 
  8. Authentic choice – Honestly, this is something that I don’t even have yet. This is one of those ideals I like to keep in mind when picking from the options I am given in life. Most of the choices we make are allotted to us by the powers that be, and it is easy to accept what is given as “freedom.” So, in order to be human one must be in touch with what they really want and unafraid to make a choice that is not advertised to them. 
  9. Accepting contradiction – Being a human means that we are not a binary creature. Often, I have beliefs that contradict one another and I feel conflicted in my beliefs. I find that by accepting contradiction is in my nature, I am validated to explore the two values as coexisting ideas instead of combative principles. This gives me more freedom of thought because it allows me to see the world as more complex than black and white.
  10. Pursuing joy – As cliche as it is, this statement repeats for a reason. Feeling human is really hard to live with sometimes, it can be an experience filled with pitfalls and pain. However, joy is something I find breeds resilience in life. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu put it, “Yet as we discover more joy, we can face suffering in a way that ennobles rather than embitters. We have hardship without becoming hard. We have heartbreak without being broken.”

 

  1. Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with the GSIF / LVSIF. Specifically, discuss 1. Why should I engage? 2. How must I engage? 3. With whom must I engage? 4. What kinds of challenges, opportunities, and approaches should I care about? 5. What might my epitaph read?

 

When thinking about the reasons behind my work and the motives that have brought me to this opportunity, it is very important that I take into account my past circumstances and the philosophies I was raised in. I was raised in an environment that sought out truths – my mother is a journalist and my father is an accountant. Most of my mother’s work involved finding moral discrepancies in her environment while my father seeks to create numerical models for sustaining a comfortable life. 

Here at Lehigh, I incorporate these lessons my parents taught me and I think I bring many of their ideas to GSIF with a twist of my own. This fellowship gives me the opportunity to tell a story, and the coverage we are doing involves institutions as well as individuals. This lets me interact with people and gain a compassionate understanding of my project but gives me the opportunity to look at the maternal mortality crisis through an institutional perspective. I can balance empathy and analytics in my approach. To me, the Mothers of Sierra Leone project provides the opportunity to use art to engage with a community in a meaningful and measurable way. 

Right now, my level of engagement is relatively low – I am focused on my project but I don’t have as much awareness about the place quite yet. So, I try to supplement myself with outside readings to learn more about Sierra Leone – from politics and health journals to watching interview footage. But reading can only take me so far. When I get there I would like to think in questions and talk to anyone willing around me. I find that the best method of engagement (for me) is through conversational learning. I am a people person so the more people I interact with, the more I will learn.

I deeply care about collaborating with subjects and giving them autonomy in my films. I have been taught that ethical films tell the most accurate stories because they give a voice to the subject on and off-screen. Filmmaking is a very meticulous craft and small creative choices compound into a larger narrative. So, I like to ask my subjects for advice throughout the whole process. Overall, my philosophy is to balance the facts and the feelings while giving my subjects an empowering platform to use.

One thought on “GSIF Post 5

  1. Really interesting reflections on how your background informs your theory of engagement in general and how that relates to this project in particular. Nice work!

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