Intro to NCLC 304 class

Hey all. I'm LuLu, a fourth year Integrative Studies major in the New Century College Program. I am graduating in the winter with an individualized concentration called "Education, Social Action, and Construction of Differences" because I am trying to negotiate my ideals of activism, learning, and community with my intent to be an educator in higher education. I just do not want to be stuck in academia. On other notes, I am a seventh generation Vermonter on my mother's side, I have three younger sisters, and my father escaped from Hungary during its communist time. I love Vermont now, but as a high school graduate, I could not wait to get away from my homeland to somewhere more diverse and somewhere where I could figure out who I was without the pressure of a small town that I had known my whole life. Luckily, as a result, I am much more comfortable with myself as a female-bodied, queer-identified, white person committed to antiracism and anti-imperialism. During my first year at Mason, I spent most of my time joining causes and getting to know student activists and student organizations. This time was a very important time for me, one I remember as my self exploration phase. I dabbled in Amnesty International, Pride Alliance, NAACP, the Feminist Ninjas/ Feminist Student Organization, Students for a Democratic Society, and probably some other groups I cannot quite remember the names of. One of the most memorable activism experiences I had was when I was working with SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), when we had a protest about (this is not the memorable part unfortunately) something like worker's rights or parking? and tried to do a march through the Johnson Center. It was so unsuccessful, people did not care why we were there or even that we were there, so we took our march to the Provost's office. The person "leading" us that day tried to talk to the Provost but security came and we were all kicked out. I think we even asked a member of Broadside to cover the event, but we clearly did not make a difference because I cannot even remember what we were protesting.