Last week, members of the Bryn Mawr community participated in the college’s first-ever Community Learning Day. Students, staff, faculty, and administration gathered for a full schedule of panels, workshops, lectures, and events. We didn’t have class, and everyone was given time to actually go to things they wanted to go to.

(The schedule and more information are here: https://www.brynmawr.edu/community-learning)

I missed the opening event, but made my way over to Canaday to hear Whitney Lopez ’15 (another McBride!) talk about the Backtalk exhibit recently put up near special collections. The talk was about the college’s African art collection, and “questions of ownership, representation and both creating and decolonizing knowledge.” It was a really amazing conversation, and it touched on not only curation, but artifacts, art, and meaning across cultures. I was so thankful for the expertise of the other attendees, but primarily super proud of Whitney for doing something so amazing.

(More info on the exhibit, including an ongoing discussion that you can participate in here: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/oneworld/backtalk)

The second panel I went to was “Perspective and Experiences of African American Staff.” Five members of staff from numerous departments came together to talk about their lives both in and outside of Bryn Mawr. I was really into in what they all had to say, and especially taken by the differences in perspective across gender and generational lines.

I had an amazing day, and the conversations were continued well into the evening. I’m really grateful to Kim and the rest of the administration for making this happen- and I hope that it encourages people to actually have more of these talks. It can’t just be one day. Don’t let it stop at one day, mawrtyrs!