Shading in the Lines: A Documentary on Lovett's Diversity

It's here! Watch it, spread the word, and leave a comment!

Shading in the Line Trailer

Check it out! Just a little snapshot!

Interview with Sandra Switzer

This was my favorite interview of all of them. Mrs. Switzer had so much to say on diversity and the curriculum that we ended up speaking for about 30 minutes! I really would like all of you to watch this video, so I'm not going to write a lot. All I can say is that one of the proposals I will be putting forth is that every student should have to take her World Religions class at some point because the discussions that you have are so in-depth that the information and experience you get is so valuable. Go on and take a look!

Interview with Isabella Ko

My interview with Isabella was definitely an interesting one for sure. I really enjoyed her fierce determination in making sure she continued to explore her culture. She was one of the few people to mention that although Lovett was an open minded place, they still had a ways to go if the wanted to truly become a diverse place. This train of thought got me thinking on something. Lovett has diversity because it has some students who come from minority cultures, but is it a truly diverse place? Meaning if those cultures and students are not accepted into the community, can we really say we are diverse? I agree with Izzy in that I don't find Lovett to be diverse, but does have diversity.

Interview with Irma Navarro

Back with another one! Mrs. Navarro, one of the directors of college counseling, was the 2nd adult that I got to interview. Right off the bat, we got deep into her personal history of being an immigrant child from Mexico and coming to the states. Skip to the middle around 6:30 to see the peak of the interview. She gets really emotional when she speaks about her father. She really wants to make sure that she is connected with her heritage and spreads accurate information by teaching classes and the like. She also wants to make sure she fulfills her father's dreams and wants to reach the point where she can say that her parents work has paid off. A great story!

Interview with Karan Soni

My interview with Karan, a senior, was my first true interview (he was my 3rd interview over all) where I was able to really feel comfortable asking more in-depth questions. I like this interview because we really talked about the foundations of being cultural. He concluded that those kids who feel more pressured to act a certain way (especially socially) are like that because of their cultural connections at home. If parents don't take an active role in teaching kids, then those kids will not be able to have that strong cultural connection like Karan. This gave me a really unique thought. I had thought that the school was to blame when kids lost their cultural connection. However, after speaking with Karan, I've come to realize that parents are more to blame than the schools.

Interview with Julia Koh

Talk about a tough cookie, Julia Koh is a tough junior and she was no different here. She was blunt, honest, and kind of harsh. Julia avoids the pressure all together at school. She maintains her identity by hanging out with mostly just Asian kids. While I like this desire, I can't say I like the action. I can't help but feel that such a mentality might make you miss out on something or prevent you from helping spread accurate truths about your culture. Many people follow this mentality. One of the book I'm reading talks about how African Americans and Asians tend to sit together at lunch even though the school community is still welcoming. The main draw is comfort and stability. You can be with like-minded people who share your commitment, passion, and culture.

Interview with Naina Murthy

My interview with Naina was pretty short but very in-depth and personal. What I loved about her interview was that she was able to tell such a personal story with relative ease. More specifically, when she says the way she preserves her identity is by talking about it. Whether it's in the classroom, with her friends, or during a discussion, she teaches her classmates and herself. Peer-to-peer learning is a surefire was for a kid to learn something easily. I think in terms of general overviews, Naina is on to something. Maybe having a class or two taught by seniors on different cultures might be worth a try.

Interview with Emily Stark

Another really good one. Emily Stark's story is an interesting one. She was adopted by Caucasian parents while she is Chinese. Two things here that were memorable. First, is that Emily attends Chinese camp every summer in order to have that cultural bond. Her parents can't provide that for her, so she faces more pressure than the average multi-cultural student. Second, is that she finds a lot of what Lovett does is a little watered down. For example, the Chinese food isn't authentic and the cultural events aren't either. I recently spoke with Mrs. Hawkins, Director of Diversity Learning, about this. While Mrs. Hawkins explains that such events are actually planned by Chinese people (as an example), many of the planners do this because of the crowd they cater to. That's right folks. Kids aren't getting the actual cultural experience because we are afraid of what they might think of the actual version. By doing so, we only perpetuate the stereotypes (such as Panda Express) and cause a cyclical problem. They get a watered down version because people (I think) are afraid of if that culture might be "rejected". Emily would like to see these events reflect the actual versions. That way, when kids that aren't in that culture are exposed to it somewhere else, they can decide whether it's genuine or not.

Interview with Naomi Tesema

Meet Naomi Tesema, a 12th grader and Mrs. Tadesse's niece! I really enjoyed this interview because a lot of my focus here was not her pressure from Caucasian culture, but from African American culture. A lot of Naomi's friends are black and she is quick to make an important distinction that we don't really think about. She finds that the term African American isn't really applicable to her friends because they have no idea where their ancestry comes from. By contrast, she knows she is Ethiopian and can identify with her African culture. She explains that most of her friends should be referred to as Black Americans. No doubt such a contrast is interesting to think about. For example, Caucasians do not refer to themselves as European American since many have no idea where their ancestors are from anyway. I wonder how many African Americans prefer that term. Something interesting to find out!

Interview with Andy Garcia

Andy Garcia is a Hispanic 11th grader at Lovett. His mom also teaches Spanish in the Lower School. Like the first one, I was pretty nervous because Andy was going to be my first kid I was interviewing. Interestingly, Andy was saying because he had two cultures (Mexican and Argentinian), he already had to deal with balancing two different cultures. For him, the pressures at school aren't anything to worry about since he does it at home anyway. 

Interview with Azeb Tadesse

So my first interview was with Mrs. Tadesse, who is the assistant librarian at Lovett. She's Ethiopian and came here over 30 years ago. Because this was my first, it was very nerve racking. I came up with 4 questions, but I quickly realized they didn't apply to her! As an immigrant and someone who grew up in Ethiopia, she was/is never affected by the Lovett culture here. Her bond with her culture is so close, that her identity was never in jeopardy at all. Interestingly, this helped immensely when I went on to shape my other interviews. I'm glad I started with her because it would highlight a crucial aspect: time. Kids at Lovett only have so much time at home vs. school, which means limited time to practice their culture. If they don't get that much exposure, that kid's link with his/her culture would be strained when it came to practicing a different one.

Wednesday April 6th

After a stressful beginning of the week including soccer games and exams, I've finally been able to truly start. Yesterday, I emailed 3 people, 2 students and one faculty member, for being in my documentary. Luckily each one said yes! My plan is to ask them 4 prepared questions (see below) that will be the same throughout the documentary. I've sent them these questions beforehand for them to prepare. I also will ask 3 impromptu questions based off of the answers that they give me. I'll be spending Friday and the weekend uploading and editing these videos. Be sure to check them out!

1. What do you think the culture of Lovett is and is it different from what you have at home?

2. What pressures do you face at school when it comes to being from a different culture?

3. How did you find the adjustment when you first came to Lovett?

4. How did/do you manage to balance your culture at home and at school?

Only one more week till the project starts!