Undo

This week I chose to make a list of my ten least favorite NYC moments- (some of them lived by fictional characters, admittedly, but nonetheless very real to me). The one I chose to write about, that was the most compelling was something that happened within a few weeks of me coming here. I was in an unfamiliar space, surrounded by new people and newer ways of doing things. I was tentative, hesitant, unsure of the boundaries of my own body- I remember trying to make myself small so that I wouldn't take up too much space.

I remember the scene vividly- the 14th street subway station, at 5 am, on a Thursday. I was at the platform, willing myself to stay awake. In the periphery, I saw things shift. About half a dozen or so NYPD officers started trickling onto the platform. Within minutes they cornered a homeless man, asked him for documentation, and proceeded to arrest him for jumping the turnstile. I do not know the context or even the laws of this country- but my instinct, my basal reaction was of seeing something unfair happen in front of me. I did not know what to say or do. While coming into the station, I had seen many people do the same. It seemed to me as if the man was being targeted because he was homeless and black. This conflict is something I face every day- having no legal rights in a country stunts you in some ways, robs you of your voice, often denying you an opportunity to act in accordance with your own personal values. This week I created work in response to some of these struggles. The concept of belonging, of home, of self vs other, of love and hatred, and life.

I

I feel poetry and art are very dynamic tools, to resist and reclaim narratives shaped by skewed power dynamics. These are some pieces of blackout poetry that explore the theme. The first is from a 1973 article that Donald Trump wrote about the need to bring back the death penalty and the second is based on a recent TechCrunch article about bias in algorithms.

What has happened, has happened

trust, respect, laugh again

serve, understand, tolerate, lift up

give back, unshackle, risk, save

Life, a human search

humans making decisions

in the process, they often interact with prejudices

the flawed reminders

of their humanness

II

Continuing the series on poetry as a means of dynamic resistance. This past week, there have been clashes between major religious groups back home, which echoes a global sentiment that is increasingly afraid and often hateful of the "other". Code wise, wrote a program where each alphabet corresponds to a symbol.