Welcome to CalSO Postscript
This newsletter features stories for and by Berkeley undergraduates. If you've attended CalSO, you've already learned a bit about the campus. Postscript hopes to expand your knowledge about some of the opportunities and advantages available to you.

Postscript Fall 2006 Stories
Welcome to Cal! | Peer Education: GenEq Resource Center | I "heart" consent | Writer's block: a Berkeley tutor's experience | Campus Politics: the ASUC and me | Community Service: Hurricane Katrina

Postscript Fall 2005 Stories
Dear incoming freshmen | Diversity in Berkeley | Drinking 101 | Research: Expand your undergraduate experience | Paris, France: Fall 2003

Detail of a mural from the Tunnel of Oppression Sexism Room. Photo by Josh Hattersley.

Every single person has a unique perspective and life experience under their belt, and at Berkeley, the range is greater than many people have ever encountered before. This diversity may be different, it may be scary, but it is awesome. Know that it may be difficult to get used to, but ultimately the challenges you may face will make you smarter and stronger. Diversity is one of many reasons why you all chose Berkeley over Stanford, and coincidentally one of many reasons why Berkeley is so much better.

I am a white woman who grew up in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. My community was pretty much racially, socio-economically, and religiously homogeneous. I was almost incredulous when I was looking through college books and discovered that white people were not in the majority at Cal. It was so different from my reality at the time. Flash forward to move-in day...one of the scariest days of my life. Mostly because I'm kind of shy, and so meeting a lot of new people is my version of hell. I was a long way from home and the people I cared about. Everyone and everything was different. As I began to realize that I was basically ignorant regarding people's cultures, religions and the places they grew up, I also found this cluelessness was mutual. I fielded questions like, "Is Minnesota a state?" and assumptions like, "So you must have grown up on a farm and gone to a small high school."

After that initial stage of terror, the awesomeness of the situation began to present itself. My floormates and I had conversations until all hours of the night about our incredibly different lives. I remember one of the first weekends at Cal, walking around Berkeley at night and just talking about the different religions we all practiced.

In that single conversation, I learned about eating kosher and Ramadan. During the ensuing weeks, I began to understand what it's like to live in NorCal and SoCal (yes, the divide can be bridged) and in states and countries all over the place. I discovered Ethiopian food. I came to better understand the hardships people had undergone. I was amazed at the number of languages people spoke. I befriended people who both loved Emo and despised it. I also spent a lot of time educating my friends about the wonder that is Minnesota. What I quickly found out is that people are so different from one another at Berkeley that they all have something to teach and a lot of opportunity to learn.

In the process of learning all about other people, I have also learned so much about myself. Coming into Berkeley, I would have identified myself as a white girl from the suburbs. I didn't recognize much of interest in my life or my personality. Because of all the different people here, I've become more interested in my Swedish and Danish heritage. I realized that I care so much about learning about different cultures that it influenced my major choice. And I no longer mumble and look at my shoes when people dismiss Minnesota as another one of those states between California and New York.

When I had the opportunity to work on a project as an RA (residence hall assistant) my sophomore year, I was able to learn more about other people and myself. The project I worked on was an exhibit in the residence halls called the Tunnel of Oppression, which colleges nationwide participate in. There were different rooms dedicated to different forms of oppression, like sexism, classism, ablism and racism.

My experience of working on the Tunnel was pretty representative of my whole experience here at Berkeley. There were Muslims, Vietnamese Americans, African Americans, gays, straights, Caucasians, males and females working on the project. We began by meeting every week and just talking about ways that we had participated in oppression or been subjects of oppression. It was just a very open and honest atmosphere for all of us to talk about our experiences with diversity in Berkeley and the world.

Our discussions were pretty intense, and some of the thoughts people expressed were pretty hard to swallow. For some of us, it was the first time we'd said any of these thoughts out loud. As someone who grew up surrounded by mostly white people, I was embarrassed about, but shared, my ignorance of people of other races. Throughout the discussions, the people in my group shared their experiences as people of different races. I was able to let go of stereotypes because I now knew them to be false.

The end product was pretty great, I thought. People who viewed the Tunnel of Oppression came away knowing more, and some were incensed about some of the things they'd seen. I hope at the very least it helped everyone, like it helped all of us who worked on the Tunnel, just to think a little bit more, and maybe talk a little bit more, about their place in Berkeley and a diverse world.

The diversity in Berkeley offers an educational opportunity that no other place in the world can offer. With all of these different people working, going to class, studying, eating-what have you-next to each other, there is a tremendous chance for talking to each other and learning from each other. Professors aren't the only ones who are able to teach the students here. Wherever you're from and wherever you're going, you have something to contribute to the discussion, and something that you can gain from the discussion.

--Sylvia Ewald, Junior, Peace and Conflict Studies Major
From White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Postscript Fall 2006 Stories
Welcome to Cal! | Peer Education: GenEq Resource Center | I "heart" consent | Writer's block: a Berkeley tutor's experience | Campus Politics: the ASUC and me | Community Service: Hurricane Katrina

Postscript Fall 2005 Stories
Dear incoming freshmen | Diversity in Berkeley | Drinking 101 | Research: Expand your undergraduate experience | Paris, France: Fall 2003