THE TUFTS DAILY Est

Where You Rain Read It First 56/40 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LXVIV, NUMBER 39 THURsday, MARCH 26, 2015 TUFTSDAILY.COM Literary magazine Parade provides space for marginalized voices by Miranda Willson editors include Priyanka Padidam and is to be a platform, so whatever nar- publish a longer literary magazine Daily Staff Writer Ray Bernoff, the prose editors, Morgan ratives the people who are submitting when it receives additional funding Freeman, the poetry editor, Miranda want to tell, that’s what we want.” and enough submissions. The execu- Hoping to provide a creative out- Perez, the magazine’s spokesperson and Yin emphasized the importance of cre- tive board members have also created let for people of marginalized identi- Y-Binh Nguyen, the treasurer. ating a space that does not simply tol- a Tumblr and Instagram to advertise ties, first-years Sandy Yin and Jennifer The magazine allows students of all erate or accept different identities, but the publication and are organizing a Lee recently founded Parade, Tufts’ identities and backgrounds to sub- actively emphasizes those perspectives. second writing workshop for March 25, newest and currently unrecognized lit- mit, striving to avoid tokenization of “In general, if you look at what some according to Yin. erary magazine, this semester. minorities and other students, Yin said. people think of diversity, it’s just a way While the executive board members While open to all identities and per- Parade is now accepting poetry, prose of checking off that you have some- will select pieces for the magazine based spectives, the magazine intends to and visual art submissions, according one of each identity in the room,” on each issue’s theme, they intend to prioritize submissions from students to its website. Yin said. “But it’s not enough to say, publish every submission they receive of marginalized backgrounds and per- “We’re interested in how systems ‘We welcome people of all identities,’ online, according to Bernoff. “Unless spectives, including students of color, interlock,” Yin said. “We’re interested because when you say that, you’re still it’s hate speech or truly awful in some students with disabilities and gender- in white supremacy playing off with allowing dominant voices to take over. other way,” he noted. nonconforming students, according to gender politics, how race and class This is a space where we are inten- While Padidam hopes to gain a large Parade’s website. play off each other … basically anyone tionally amplifying the voices of peo- readership, she also thinks that Parade “Jennifer and I are both very inter- who doesn’t see themselves represent- ple who aren’t heard. Their voices are should primarily stick to its mission ested in systems of oppression and the ed in mainstream media, we’re trying still silenced, unless you intentionally statement: “To act as a creative forum way they shape how people of margin- to liberate their voices.” make them heard.” and space for people of marginalized alized identities live their lives and see Padidam emphasized that the maga- Padidam said that she thinks the identities to tell whatever stories they themselves represented in media, poli- zine does not select which submissions presence of first-years on Parade’s feel are worth telling.” tics and society as a whole,” Yin said. to publish based on the subject matter executive board is beneficial for the Yin emphasized the importance of “We both had experiences working they address. magazine’s future. Parade’s mission statement as the mag- with publications before, so we decid- “We aren’t creating any bounds for “We’re going to be on campus for lon- azine moves forward. “I think success ed that creating a magazine that show- people’s identities,” she said. “No mat- ger; we will have time to dedicate our- for us is defined by how people per- cases marginalized identities would ter the topic, it’s still a way to push back selves to this publication,” Yin added. ceive our space, whether people feel be a good way to voice the voices that against mainstream media, because it’s “And of course we have upperclassmen we’re coming forward with what we’re aren’t being heard.” coming from those voices that are usu- who are helping us, who have more con- trying to do,” she said. “Success isn’t The executive board is composed ally silenced.” nections and are more experienced.” about how much money we get, how entirely of first-year students, accord- “We’re not policing anyone’s identi- The executive board intends to pub- much advertising we get to do. This ing to Yin, Parade’s editor-in-chief. Lee ty,” Yin added. “As a literary magazine, lish the first issue of Parade, which isn’t something we’re trying to appeal serves as the the creative director, and of course we want to have quality con- will be in the form of a shorter zine, to the majority, because the majority other executive board representatives and tent, but first and foremost, our goal in early April, Yin said. It hopes to has a space on this campus.” by Daniel Bottino “These [microfinance] institutions are News Editor able to target those that don’t have easy access to the commercial [and] formal A group of students spent their spring sector,” he said. break on an Experimental College-led In Bucerias, the students were able to tripStudents in Bucerias, Mexico. embark The goal of the interact on with microfinance clients of microfinance ser- trip through ExCollege course trip was to give students a better under- vices and learn how microfinance loans standing of microfinance. work in the culture of the local commu- The trip’s attendees included sopho- nity, Grenier said. mores Lara LoBrutto and Sara Pearce- Students were able to get hands- Probst and senior Gabriella Zoia, who on experience with several aspects of is also an assistant news editor at the microfinance, including meeting loan Daily. The students were accompa- clients, members of microfinance nied by Adam Grenier, a lecturer in the institutions, people in remittance pro- Experimental College, and Elly Rohrer grams and people involved in lending (LA ’11), who is the director of Human circles, as well as more recreational Connections, a nonprofit dedicated to activities, he said. leading educational and academic tours “[Lending circles] are even more infor- for college students. mal than the traditional microloans,” According to Grenier, Rohrer pitched Grenier said. “These are circles that are the idea for the trip. She expressed inter- established in villages [and are] very COURTESY ADAM GRENIER est in organizing a microfinance tour for locally built.” From left to right: Lara LoBrutto, Gabriella Zoia and Sarah Pearce-Probst admire the artisan Tufts students. Pearce-Probst said she was work of Human Connections client Leonarda, especially the Tufts Jumbo elephant inspired “[Last fall] we started building out extremely pleased with the outcome by Leonarda’s indigenous Huichol culture. what the itinerary would look like of the experience, emphasizing that for Tufts students, with a focus on the trip helped her gain an under- “I wasn’t expecting anything related In addition, LoBrutto explained that microfinance, which is what I teach standing of microfinance that she to my studies when I went … but the the stories she heard from the resi- here,” Grenier said. “We’d basically be could not have gotten through her community center was by far my favor- dents of Bucerias left a major impres- embedded with three different micro- engineering studies. ite place because they combined social sion on her. finance institutions while we’re there “Learning about what microfinance entrepreneurship with engineering: How “The families we visited had incred- for the week.” actually is was a highlight, but more they designed the building, how they ible stories to share, from Leonarda’s Grenier explained that microfinance than that, the most interesting, fun and made it energy efficient and environ- perseverance as a single mom to Don can be defined as financial services for also awkward part to me was actually mentally friendly and combined that Carmelo’s rise from an orphan to a suc- the poor. visiting people’s homes,” she said. “You with strong community building and cessful restaurant owner raising 10 chil- “[Microfinance] is most common- don’t get that just going as a tourist by bringing together people of American dren,” she said. “They will stick with me ly connected with the distribution of yourself … to really meet these people descent and Mexican descent,” Pearce- for a long time to come.” micro-loans — that’s how it was popu- and have them welcome you into their Probst said. These experiences allowed LoBrutto larized — but it entails a lot more than homes is a very special experience.” LoBrutto added that the trip enabled to gain a new perspective on microloans. It’s about loans, savings programs, She added that since Rohrer had pre- her to learn about the importance of finance and its related questions, she insurance programs, education … finan- viously established connections with the communities in Mexican microfinance. noted, as well as stimulating her interest cial education,” he said. “It’s much big- people they interacted with, the visits “I learned that the reason for micro- in future career paths. ger than just loans.” felt more comfortable despite the per- finance’s relative success in Mexico is “I believe that the discoveries and Financial services, including loans, are sonal nature of the financial questions the existence of strong communi- realizations that this trip facilitated relatively easy to obtain in the United States, being discussed.

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