Many of the smart, determined, and funny students who make Portland State such a delightful place to work and be find their way into the Freshman Inquiry classes--Immigration, Migration, and Belonging--that I'm honored to teach.
Last Spring a half dozen or so students in both classes collaborated with Joe Rivera Soto, a wonderful student advocate at Portland State, to create a podcast about, well, whatever they wanted to talk about. The sound quality of one of the podcasts was strong enough to distribute, so here it is. The peer mentors and I invited the students to research some topic that meant a lot to them, so they are discussing both that subject (imposter syndrome and racism in Portland, for example) and how it has shaped their lives.
The students decided on the format and what their roles in the podcast would be.
The title reflects the complex, particular, challenging, and wonderful personal stories behind the growing numbers of students from under-served communities who are enriching Portland State. I used to think that my primary role as a scholar who was interested in making the world a better and more humane place was to research and publish. Listening to students such as the ones speaking her helped me to realize that my time is much better spent doing what I can to smooth the paths of people such as Abigail, Adilene, Fatima, Joel, Liza, Nicolas, and Stacy to positions of power and influence.
Enjoy!
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