Summer sicknessES
The end of my summer was interrupted by a series of sicknesses - one was COVID, while the others were probably common illnesses of different varieties, maybe strengthened by environmental stimuli in my apartment (something I never determined for certain). Because of these sicknesses, I didn't leave my apartment much or go to many social events out of fear of getting someone else sick, so I felt fairly isolated. As the fall quarter started, unfortunately these illnesses persisted, and it was hard to tell if I was experiencing a continuation of the same illness or a different one. I only missed a few classes because of this, since I assumed I wasn't contagious if I had been ill for so long, but I felt less engaged at the beginning of the quarter and too tired to spend enough time on my homework.
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During this time, I told myself that nothing lasts forever - even if the physical illnesses persisted, my reactions and ability to deal with them would evolve. Thankfully, these illnesses faded over time, probably partially due to the cold medication I started using and I was able to participate in my classes and extra-curricular activities as usual.
the moral weight of war
During the beginning of fall quarter (October 7th), Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups within the Gaza strip launched an attack on Israel, breaching the barrier that symbolizes Palestinians' restriction within what many call the world's largest open-air prison. The attack included verified accounts of targeted killings of Israeli civilians by Hamas-led fighters and evidence of sexual violence - horrific instances of violence which should be investigated as war crimes. Current totals of those killed in the Hamas-led attacks on October 7th is 1,139, 373 of which were security forces, the remainder Israeli civilians and foreigners. Israel responded with indiscriminate bombings of the Gaza strip, a region whose population consists of over 80% refugees (and descendants of refugees) of prior Israeli violence, much of which occurred during the Nakba, an Arabic word meaning "catastrophe", which refers to the violent expulsion of Palestinians at the hands of Zionist militias before and during 1948. As of December 29th, Israeli attacks have killed 21,507 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 8,800 children, and more than 7,000 people are missing. In the Occupied West Bank (where Hamas isn't present), 316 Palestinians have been killed, 79 of whom were children.
As in all tense issues of public concern, disinformation is rampant as many seek to exaggerate the crimes of those they disagree with and downplay or deny the crimes of those they are allied with. Israeli and US government officials have promulgated narratives riddled with inconsistencies or fabrications, such as unproven claims of a Hamas command center under the al-Shifa hospital, a hospital the Israeli military attacked and forced to evacuate. Meanwhile, Hamas leaders have denied wrongdoing, and I have witnessed plenty of commentators in online discussions who are also unwilling to admit that any wrongdoing was committed by Hamas-led fighters on the October 7th attack on Israel. While some things are unclear in the "fog of war", it is clear to me that, as in every other conflict between Israeli and Palestinian fighters, Palestinian casualties far outnumber Israeli casualties. Furthermore, Israel's aims in the Gaza strip amount to ethnic cleansing and genocide, not simply the eradication of Hamas as the Israeli government claims. Here are a few quotes by Israeli officials that make clear their intent: "The emphasis is on damage, not on accuracy", said by the Israel Defense Forces. "It's an entire nation out there that is responsible. This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it's absolutely not true", said by president of Israel Isaac Herzog. A member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right Likud party stated: "Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 1948", referring to the horrific expulsion of Palestinians that was part of the creation of the state of Israel. This genocidal intent is evident in the mass destruction of infrastructure in Gaza - over half of Gaza's homes have been destroyed or damaged since October 7th by Israeli forces, and over 80% of Gaza's population has been internally displaced.
This mass violence brings security and safety to no one, and is only meant to further Israeli control of Palestinians. Israel has long oppressed the Palestinian people by controlling access to water, movement, the flow of goods, electricity, and fuel and destroying Palestinian buildings and farms, both in Gaza and the West Bank. The Israeli occupation of Palestine has been defined as apartheid by many major human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. There will be no just lasting solution to this humanitarian crisis without the fulfillment of the demands of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement - "1. Ending [Israeli] occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall", "2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality", and "3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194." These demands mirror those of the movement for Palestinian liberation in general.
So why did I just write sentences and sentences about geopolitical events across the world from the United States within a reflection on my Fall 2023 quarter at the University of Washington?
I included this since the suffering of the people of Gaza due to the horrific actions of Israel have weighed heavy on my heart this quarter. I've stayed up late many nights reading and listening to commentary on this situation and trying to understand it, and spent a lot of time joining protests against US support for Israeli atrocities (the US remains one of the only UN members to vote against resolutions calling for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza). This crisis is also tied to UW policy - UW has close ties to Boeing, which manufactures weaponry for the Israeli government. I participate in such actions resisting US support for Israeli war crimes not only out of empathy and solidarity with Palestinians suffering under Israeli occupation and bombardment but also out of a desire for a clean conscious, for an end to my indirect complicity in these horrors. My tax dollars as a US citizen fund Israeli war crimes against my own wishes - the Biden administration has continued to fund Israel's regime by the billions even as more and more people define the Israeli onslaught of Gaza as genocide. And the University of Washington continues to accept money from Boeing despite their complicity in war crimes the world over as a major weapons manufacturer. I have almost no control over the actions of any Israeli or Palestinian, nor should I, but I do have power to affect change within the communities and governing bodies I am a part of, and I do what I can to push for a lasting and just peace and an end to continued US support of occupation and genocide.
BE 405 – Nehemiah initiative studio
This quarter, I used my one opportunity to take a non-landscape studio class to take the Nehemiah Initiative Studio, an interdisciplinary studio with students from four of the five of College of Built Environments disciplines - architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and real estate. The Nehemiah Initiative is an organization that works with Black faith-based organizations "to disrupt the displacement of the African American community from urban centers... through the development of affordable homes, community spaces and business places on the underutilized property owned by those organizations". This studio consisted of three groups of students each creating a design for future development on a different site owned by a faith-based organization. I chose the Christ Spirit Church site, a church in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle, since it had a fairly large landscape and the clergy and church community members we met were very fun and friendly.
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This studio was (generally) a great experience of the inter-disciplinary world of design. I learned a lot about the economic realities of real estate that dictate the sorts of developments that are constructed in cities. I also learned more about zoning requirements and how they limit the sorts of designs that can be realized in various neighborhoods. This broadened my understanding of how design happens and the factors that influence designs, and gave me a taste of what interdisciplinary collaboration looks like, for better and for worse. The class collaboration was mostly fine, except at the end of the quarter when one group member showed a surprising lack of willingness to collaborate, which made the final presentation frustrating. Thankfully, everything worked out fine in the end.
One nice thing about doing a group project was that the workload was lower than my previous studios which were solo efforts. However, I also had less of my own work to show for it, since the other two design students in my group created most of the final graphics. I enjoyed researching solar energy and water harvesting for the final presentation, and contributing to research or the design process in various parts of the project, although I didn't make many of the 'final products'.
L ARCH 432 - Materials, craft, and construction
My favorite class I took this quarter was L ARCH 432 – Materials, Craft, and Construction. Like the previous installment of the more technical landscape course series, I found the more detailed aspects of this course and the focus on landscape construction interesting and fulfilling. In this course, we went on fun walks examining failed landscape assemblies - various part of built landscapes that were falling apart for different reasons - and talked about why they had failed. However, most of this course consisted of digitally drafting design details (drawings used to clarify specific elements of a landscape's construction), an important skill for future landscape architects. Our longest project consisted of creating packets of comparisons between conventional and innovative detail methods with a construction detail of each method and a 3D comparison with text about the difference between the methods.
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The course provided a good deal of flexibility - the techniques of representation were set, but we had a good amount of flexibility in deciding what we would represent. I used the assignments in this course to explore materials I had been interested in for years, such as decomposed granite paths and gabion retaining walls. I also used the final project to depict a design I hope to construct with my parents - a trellis that supports a hardy kiwi vine, which can shade the house in the hot summer months. All in all, this class was a rewarding chance to strengthen my skills and explore an interesting sub-topic within landscape architecture.
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burke museum research: my 2nd experiential learning activity
I was able to apply the work I did this quarter for the Burke Meadow project to my second experiential learning project requirement for the UW Honors program. I have been involved in this project since the start of 2022, but I became more deeply involved in the research aspect of this project in summer of 2023. I continued the same research activities I began in the summer this fall, collecting data on the species composition within the Burke Meadow. Outside of the more obviously 'research' aspects of the project, I considered the best approaches for meadow management and worked to organize a large work party in the fall, in which we planted many camas bulbs and a few other species into the meadow with a large volunteer group from Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center. This project was a rewarding opportunity to go outside and an interesting and engaging project, and provided more opportunities to work alongside people I respect and whose company I enjoy, as well as opportunities to meet more people involved in similar work.
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deepening my ecological knowledge
Beyond the Burke Meadow, I deepened my ecological knowledge this quarter through various gardening projects, including planting more plants in my apartment garden, weaving with local woody material, and growing plants on my rooftop. I also was able to join the design firm I worked with over the summer, Rutheo Designs, in installing a design I had done that summer, which was fun and rewarding. I hope the next summer will present more opportunities to deepen my ecological knowledge even when the plants are asleep for the winter.
how do you live?
At the end of this quarter, I experienced the joy of watching the latest Hayao Miyazaki film, alternatively titled The Boy and the Heron and How Do You Live?, with my friends. My friends and I agreed that How Do You Live? was the more fitting title for the film, as it touches this deep thematic root of the story. I won't give away any plot points of the movie - I recommend you watch it for yourself - but I will touch on why the film was so moving to me. The film deals with the struggles of grief in life, and how one finds strength to keep going in a world with so much violence, conflict, and trauma. I mirror the answer I think the story provides - friends and the beauty of the natural world keep us going through hard times and make life worth living. Looking ahead to my next quarter, I am anxious about interpersonal situations and my job, but I know that I have my friends and family by my side and the joy of being part of complex and beautiful systems of life is something that will always be with me.