On Monday, March 21, Diversitas kicked off on the MacArthur Campus. The diversity week, sponsored by the campus’s Inter-Club Council and the University Wide Council, faced a torrential rainfall during the opening ceremonies. Nonetheless, at any one time, at least 45 students, faculty, and staff were in attendance, feasting on Latin American and Caribbean food provided by La Casa. Additional entertainment included belly dancing and a salsa band, as well as the Calypso Connection (a troupe of entertainers that featured dancing), a flaming limbo bar and a contortionist.
By Tuesday afternoon, at least 50 flags of different countries were fluttering along the Breezeway to greet the Tibetan Lamas of Drepung Loseling Monastery. The monks spent the week in the Student Resources atrium, devoting at least 20 hours in order to create a mandala, which is an intricate piece of art made entirely of sand.
Tuesday night featured “Breaking Down Gender Norms-What a Drag,” sponsored by the Feminist Student Union and Spectrum. Keynote speaker Heather Wright discussed the difficulty of living as a pre-op transsexual and her adjustment to living as the woman she believes she was meant to be. Student band Pink Panzer provided music for the evening, with all members except one dressed in drag, followed by performances by drag queens Deja and Foxy, as well as a drag show competition amongst the MacArthur students. Dr. Harrawood, Wilkes Honors College professor of British Literature, emceed the procession of aspiring drag queens as they competed to out-dance, out-catwalk, and out-perform each other for the full house in attendance. Dr. Wairimu Njambi, professor of women’s studies, acted as judge.
As Wednesday and Thursday arrived and passed BSU’s African History event took place, transporting the students to a Nubian culture event. Also, an open-mike night at the Abacoa Barnie’s Coffeeshop offered students a chance to express themselves through poetry.
The week culminated to its pinnacle event on its final day, Friday, as the closing ceremony of the Tibetan mandala took place. Over four days, the monks filled in a previously sketched design with sand, grain by grain, until they had created an intricate pattern of color, texture, and depth.
Nevertheless, on Friday, all of the beautiful, vibrant colors and intricate patterns became a mush of piled sand as the monks, after a ceremony of chanting and throat singing, took a paintbrush and swept up the sand in a big pile in the center of the table. The purpose was to show the impermanence of life and how one must value the spiritual rather than the physical because the physical will not last forever. Following the ceremony, the monks, along with a group of students, drove to Juno Beach to release the sand into the ocean for planetary healing. Drawing a huge Good Friday crowd on the beach, the monks, wearing their burgundy robes and gold headdresses, stood at the edge of the water and introduced the crowd to a striking and rich culture with a final chant as one monk poured the sand onto the creeping tide.
