Yesterday, on September 26th, I went up to the 11th floor of Hunter College’s North Building to kill some time before my next class— Artificial Intelligence with the esteemed Professor Epstein. To my surprise, the 11th floor was a whole new world compared to my everyday mundane routine spending my time on the 10th floor as a CS student. To me, art has always been a fascinating interest of mine. For the first time in a long time, I felt as if I belonged.
It was astonishing to see the works of talented, undergraduate students at Hunter— some who I might’ve passed in the hallways at some point. My favorite piece was Alonsa Guevara’s work of art: relatos de Origen/Origin Stories that is located at the Anna Zorina Gallery on 532 W 24th St. Having your artwork hung at a Manhattan gallery does not sound like an easy accomplishment and should be hugely celebrated.
I believe celebrating others’ accomplishments and promoting interdisciplinary interests is a step in the right direction towards creating a more equitable and enticing CUNY. For me, I love photography and my goal is to become more intune with my hobby and find a community of other photographers. It takes great bravery to tap into one’s creative intuition during one’s undergraduate studies.
By having an open mind and exploring everything your CUNY campus has to offer, you may find a community where you feel like you belong. By being yourself, people around you will also be themselves— fostering a harmonious community. Why is this so important? Most of us mask our true selves when we step into society, in hopes of not being judged by others. This is damaging to our creative self, as it inhibits what makes us uniquely different. Creativity brings us alive!
Frida Kahlo taps onto this subject better than I can, “I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me, too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.”
Seeing the drastic atmospheric change, between the 10th and 11th floor, has inspired me to bring change to the 10th floor. Computer Science is an academic subject, where students are heavily focused on their studies and oftentimes neglect the art of communication.
My mission, along with others’ help, is to bring a culture change within the CS community at Hunter. In fact, change is already in motion! All it took was one simple conversation with the CS Department faculty, who in my good fortune was very understanding and accommodating to me. Together, students and staff can come together and aim for a better community. My goal? Bring more art to the 10th floor of Hunter College’s North Building.
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