International Day Event

Today, November 19, I went to the International event in the Engineering building. After Jillian and I going to the wrong building, we finally made it and saw cake and punch on a table in front. There were also a few different display tables with different art works being displayed. The first table that caught our eye was a table with many different fabric greeting cards. I thought they were really cool and actually bought one for my dad. We asked the lady behind the display to explain to us about the cards. She told us that their cards cater to everyone, which she further explained that they have cards for many different cultures and cards that have different countries on them. On the cards that she was making while we were there had thank you stitched on them in different languages. One card had thank you written in Gana’s language, one was in Hawaiian, one was it in Indian, and the last one we saw was written in Japanese. 

            The next table that we went to was a table with artwork done by African American artist Julian K. Van Dyke. His work was beautiful and incorporated different cultures but mainly his own African American culture. After talking with Julian for a little my attention was then directed to a lady dressed in what I learned was called a bubu. The lady wearing it explained to us that it would be a type of dress that a wedding participant would wear, such as a grandmother or mother of the groom. The lady’s name was Maggie Blair-Ramsey, and after talking with her more, we found out that she was actually in charge of the international day celebration. She told us what she loved most about the day, “everyone gets to see the best of each others culture, and people get to see what other people are most proud of”. Also she was quoted in the brochure handout saying, “International Day helps focus our attention on our many diverse gifts and cultures, while reminding us of how very much we are alike.”

            I really enjoyed going to this celebration and being able to learn more about some different cultures. I also love that I got to come away with a piece of artwork created by Julian Van Dyke and a card made by Sandra James. My eyes were opened to cultures that I did not know that much about thanks to the wonderful insiders that explained and showed me theirs. 

image from:http://nycgrind.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/international-culture.png