Angela Davis

I apologize for the brief inactivity! It's been an incredibly busy week, between all the final projects and everything else.

Yesterday, for instance, I had the privilege of seeing Angela Davis speak at UCLA! The gist of the talk centered on feminism and prison reform, and how they can benefit each other. I was so blown away by Angela's presence; physically, she's not very big or imposing, but she commands an enormous amount of power, and I think part of that may come from the easy eloquence she has even when speaking to a room packed with hundreds of people. There's even a certain cadence to her voice, like she's reading poetry instead of a lecture-style speech on prison reform. She's also unexpectedly hilarious, with a very dry sort of wit. It was super interesting to witness.

After her lecture, her and a panel of UCLA professors-- mainly from the gender studies department-- had a 

short discussion, which was genuinely amazing. I kind of want to go to UCLA now, but I don't want to live in the area. Tough decisions.

Afterwards, my friend who goes to UCLA showed me around the sort of downtown area of Westwood, and took me to get Persian ice cream and Lebanese food. I'd never had either before, but now I'm compulsively scouring Yelp for Lebanese bakeries closer to where I live (which, there are actually a LOT).

I went on a college tour of UCLA once before, when I was a high school senior, but I think your perspective on school changes a lot once you've actually been to a university. So in a way, I'm grateful for the experience I had with UCSD, because now I know what to look for in schools.

Stay classy,
Caitlin.