Breakout Session 3: ACTIVISM

Storytelling through Poetry: Looking Up and Looking Out

Facilitated by Dr. Dipika Mukherjee

Dipika Mukherjee is an award-winning writer and author of novels as well as collections of poetry and short stories. Her second novel, Shambala Junction, is the winner of the 4th Virginia Prize for Fiction. Mukherjee's debut novel was long-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize (2011) and republished as Ode to Broken Things (Repeater, 2016). As an expert in sociolinguistics, she has taught in China, India, the Netherlands, United States, Malaysia and Singapore.

For more information, visit Dr. Mukherjee's website: http://www.dipikamukherjee.com/home.

Aesthetics of Symbols through Egyptian Calligraphy and Art

Facilitated by Hamdi Attia

Hamdi Attia is an Egyptian artist, based in Evanston and also maintaining a studio in Cairo. He was artist-in-residence in Northwestern University's MENA program this past fall, where he conducted workshops. His facilitation focus on the experience or feeling of hand movement, the aesthetics of the symbols, which he’d relate to identity through conversation about the experience itself. For more information, visit: http://www.mena.northwestern.edu/people/artist-in-residence-hamdi-attia.html

Intersecting Identities & Navigating Oppression: An intersectional and personal exploration of gender and sexuality

Facilitated by Aisha Chaudri

Aisha Chaudhri, MA is the education manager for the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health (ICAH) in Chicago. ICAH is a network of empowered youth and adult accomplices who transform public consciousness and increase the capacity of school, family and healthcare systems to support the sexual health, rights, and identities of youth.

We educate, advocate, and organize for reproductive justice in Illinois, transforming public consciousness and envisioning a world in which all young adults use their power to achieve health and well-being in their own lives and for their communities.

For more information, visit https://www.icah.org/.

Moving Beyond Stereotypes of Beauty and Intelligence

Facilitated by Arianna Quan

Arianna Quan, or 全安琪 is a tireless advocate for women in STEM, and cultural competency. She has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, NBC, Associated Press, among many others for her service work during the 2017 Election Year, promoting her platform Being American: Immigration & Citizenship Education across the country.

During her year as Miss Michigan within the Miss America Scholarship Organization, she gained attention for being the first Asian-American and naturalized citizen to become a state titleholder. With that distinction, she was able to launch a speaking tour and collaborated with Asian-American organizations internationally, earning her a spot in Portrait Magazine’s 30 Most Influential in 2016.

Article: Q&A With Arianna Quan, First Asian American Winner Of Miss Michigan