Carrds You Should Care About

July 30, 2020 by Elysia Chang

Carrd is a free platform for building simple, fully responsive one-page sites for pretty much anything. I’ve been obsessed with them recently because they’re super accessible, trendy & a great way to share important information. Today, I’ve compiled some of my favorite Carrds that I’ve been accessing on the daily. They all have really great graphic designs & the information flow is extremely convenient and useful! I hope you can use it to forward information around to loved ones & help educate one another about topics that are happening around the world that need to be talked about and addressed.

Specific Carrds

Afghanistan: https://helpafghanistan.carrd.co/

Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

Hong Kong: https://standwithhongkong.carrd.co/

ICE: https://abolishicemovement.carrd.co/

Palestine: https://savepalestine.carrd.co/

Papau: https://weneedtotalkaboutpapua.carrd.co/

The Philippines: https://junkterrorbill.carrd.co/

Yemen Crisis: https://yemencrisis.carrd.co/

General Carrds

Around the World (Part 1): https://the2020world.carrd.co/

Around the World (Part 2): https://more2020world.carrd.co/

Educate Yourself: https://educateurself.carrd.co/

Get Informed: https://getinformed.carrd.co/

Issues Going On In The World: https://issuesintheworld.carrd.co/

If there are any more Carrds that I missed out & should add to the list, please private message me on social media and/or email! I would love to add it to this list. It is a working document. Stay safe & happy reading!

Get To Know Me: Engineering Edition!

June 12, 2020 by Elysia Chang

In this short interview style post, I answer some frequently asked questions! Read more about my favorite engineering memory/experience, my favorite extracurricular activity on campus, my favorite spots on campus, and my must have tool at Tufts. Happy reading!

International Students: How Can You Help

May 31, 2020 by Elysia Chang

I’m sure by now you’ve heard the news.

With so much going on around the world, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed & lost.

I wrote this blog post with my international community in mind. For many of us, we are half the world away from America. This distance can create an extremely helpless feeling, but it does not excuse you from acknowledging and acting upon this issue.

For many of us international students, America is our second home. Whether you are a dual citizen with the United States or you currently attend college/university there, America has offered us countless opportunities & experiences.

To my fellow international students still in High School, many of you plan on attending colleges in the US… Just because it isn’t your home yet, doesn’t mean it’s not your problem now.

My intention for this blog post is to compile a list of active ways you can help. These are some of the things that my family & I have been doing from Singapore, and I strongly encourage all of you to do the same. The very least I expect from you is to donate and/or sign a petition. Most of us are in a position where we can afford to donate, and all of us have working wifi to be able to sign a petition. Please do your part.

Donate

Northstar Health Collective: northstarhealthcollective.org
Reclaim The Block: reclaimtheblock.org
National Bail Out Fund: nationalbailout.org
Massachusett’s Bail Fund: massbailfund.org
Assata’s Daughters: assatasdaughters.org
Black Visions Collective: blackvisionsmn.org
NYC Aid Society: legalaidnyc.org
Minnesota Freedom Fund: minnesotafreedomfund.org
George Floyd Memorial Fund: gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
Black Lives Matter: blacklivesmatter.com

Sign A Petition

Justice For George Floyd: change.org
Black Lives Matter: blacklivesmatters.carrd.co (this is a useful site that has compiled petitions, places to donate, and resources for further reading)

Read A Book

Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
Beloved by Toni Morrison
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oulo
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Watch A Movie/TV Show

13th (Netflix)
When They See Us (Netflix)
Dear White People (Netflix)
The Hate U Give (Hulu)
Hidden Figures (Apple TV)

Follow These Organizations

Color of Change (@colorofchange)
NAACP (@naacp)
United We Dream (@unitedwedream)
The Conscious Kid (@theconsciouskid)

Questions To Ask Yourself

Who taught you about race & culture?
What can you do to support POC in your community?
What are you committed to doing outside of social media to end racial discrimination and systematic oppression?
What do you want to learn more about?
What information could you teach people?

Action Items

Register to vote (to all of my dual citizen friends). Politicians have enormous influence, not only through legislation and legal justice but also in shaping community sentiments and civilian behavior.
Check in on Black friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances.
Educate yourself. It is your job to learn about racial injustices and what you can do to help.
Read the news and pay attention to social media.
Choose action over inaction. Attend protests (if you can) and share your #BlackLivesMatter posts online, regardless of your follower count. Your voice is powerful.

On top of all of that, please stop using racial slurs, please be brave enough to correct your family & friends, and please use your platform. It’s easy to remain silent. It’s easy to not take action. It’s easy to stand back and watch. But just because it’s easy, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

We can all be better & do better. This doesn’t go away once the topic stops “trending”. Please do your part & I hope that we can see a change soon.

Note: I just wanted to say a huge thank you and give credit to some of the accounts that have inspired me to write this post. @apelcrib, @goodgoodgoodco, @silvykhoucasian, @njhsdems, @asiangirlsunited, @homefromcollege, @pastemagazine, @domrobxrts, @bluntedboss, @blklivesmatter, @nytimes.

Why I Started An Online Gratitude Journal

April 17, 2020 by Elysia Chang

It’s officially been one month of quarantine.

With COVID-19 shutting down schools all around the world, I packed up everything I knew in my tiny little dorm room to move back to Singapore. The quick move was a culture shock, and I wasn’t expecting it to be so hard to adjust back to “normal life” back at home (even though there was nothing normal about the situation all of us were in).

The first two weeks were the hardest because I had to self-quarantine in isolation. Although I was lucky to have my phone & my computer to call people, it never felt the same as being physically in the room holding a conversation with someone else. I was restless, and I wanted to leave the room. Above all, I missed my daily routine. Mentally, I knew I wasn’t holding up as well as I had hoped, so I began an online gratitude journal in hopes of staying afloat & spreading positivity. It was by far the best decision I made.

A Typical Tufts Thursday In My Life

March 09, 2020 by Elysia Chang

9:04AM: *Cue iPhone Alarm Radar Sound*... Snooze Count: 1

9:15AM: *Cue iPhone Alarm Radar Sound*... Snooze Count: 2

9:23AM: *Cue iPhone Alarm Radar Sound*... This time, I don’t snooze my alarm. I quietly sit up and enjoy the last extra minutes in my comfortable bed before rolling off and landing on my fuzzy grey carpet. Sighing, I contemplate the pros and cons of getting back into bed and sleeping for a little longer before accepting the fact that I will never be a morning person. The cons usually outweigh the pros, and I begin to get ready for the day.

Being An Engineer!... In A Painting Class?

February 12, 2020 by Elysia Chang

Peaceful. Stimulating. Lively. These are just a few words I would use to describe my Introduction to Painting class during my first semester of freshman year in college. To be honest, I never would have imagined myself in a painting class in a million years. I am an engineer. Painting isn’t exactly my forte. Or, at least, I never quite imagined it could be.

Let's Talk About Homesickness

January 14, 2020 by Elysia Chang

I’ll be honest with you… coming back to Tufts for my second semester was tough. In fact, my first few weeks back on campus were beautifully painful in its own way.

Let me explain.

For a while, I’ve had this empty feeling in my chest. It feels like someone carved a hole in my heart and ripped out a piece of me. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it feels a little bit like hurt, pain, grief and longing for something to happen all jumbled up together in one big mess. I feel like there’s something wrong with me, and worst of all, I feel guilty for feeling this way.

For the longest time, I repressed this feeling. I decided to wear a mask and pretend this “hurt” I was experiencing was simply a symptom of moving overseas for a long time. More than ever, I refused to believe it was homesickness. I viewed homesickness as a sign of weakness; a sign that I wasn’t capable of being away from my parents, my home, my sister, or my friends; a sign that I wasn’t ready to leave the glory years of high school behind yet; a sign that I was not ready to grow up.

But, the more I hid my homesickness behind a smiling face, the more I tried to cover it up because I didn’t want to feel weak, the more it hurt. The hole in my chest only got bigger and bigger, and like all things on Earth when under immense pressure, I cracked.

Thankful Thoughts At Tufts

November 15, 2019 by Elysia Chang

November marks the beginning of the season of joy, celebration and reunion. As people gather around with family and friends around a table to celebrate Thanksgiving, we are reminded to pause, stop and look around at what we have in life. Thanksgiving inspires all of us to thoughtfully reflect and give thanks to the people, events and circumstances that have helped shape us.

As a first year, this will be my first Thanksgiving away from home, and by home, I mean Singapore (some 9,394 miles). While it’s definitely WAY too far for me to fly back home in the short span of 5 days, I’m thankful I have the opportunity to fly to California this year to escape some of Boston’s cold and reunite with family friends on the other side of the country. Although I won’t be drinking cider and enjoying turkey with gravy and mashed potatoes with my mom, my dad & my sister, I do want to continue a family tradition that we play every year around the dinner table: Thankful Thoughts.

The concept of the game is simple. There are 30 categories of words and sentence starters to choose from representing the 30 days in November. Growing up in a family of four, each of us used to take turns and say 7-8 things we were thankful for. This year, I’ve decided to put a spin on it and make a “Thankful Thoughts at Tufts” edition. I hope you enjoy it.

Putting The Pieces Together

October 29, 2019 by Elysia Chang

I twirl the puzzle piece in between my fingertips.

“It’s cool to be smart.”

The first five words that my Tufts Information Session Admissions Director, Patrick Gladstone, greeted me with in the summer of 2016.

I take a step back and watch, thinking of possible places where my puzzle piece would fit in the big picture.

On my campus tour around the school, that statement held true.

I overheard students passionately talking about topics from women’s rights to food branding. The campus was brewing with activity, and my tour guide, Allison (part of a dance crew that doesn’t know how to dance), added to the exciting atmosphere.

I put down the puzzle piece, interlocking it with its neighbors.

I knew I had to visit again.

Go Do GO

September 23, 2019 by Elysia Chang

When I was younger, I would spend exactly one week in the month of July participating in a summer camp. Whether it was a tennis camp, a hiking camp or an educational camp, the concept was all the same to me: move in, meet new friends, create memories, and leave with lifelong friendships.

As I got older, I had less and less time for summer camps. High school was busy, and my summers were filled with different experiences: work, internships, family travels, and preparing for standardized tests. While I understood the importance of those experiences, a part of me longed for my youthful summers where I didn’t have a single care in the world. I missed eating an unlimited amount of ice cream, singing songs around a campfire, and playing capture the flag in an open field.

During the summer after my high school graduation, I found myself in a limbo. I was no longer a high school student, but I was also not yet a college student. I was in an uncertain transitional phase where I didn’t really know who I was and where I was heading. I decided to spend my days working as a summer camp counselor. I hoped that it would help me rewind my days and relive my earliest experiences. It was never quite the same though, and right when I thought I would never get to experience those memories again, an opportunity opened up for me at Tufts University.

So here it goes… my Pre-Orientation experience.

Specific Carrds

Afghanistan: https://helpafghanistan.carrd.co/

Black Lives Matter: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

Hong Kong: https://standwithhongkong.carrd.co/

ICE: https://abolishicemovement.carrd.co/

Palestine: https://savepalestine.carrd.co/

Papau: https://weneedtotalkaboutpapua.carrd.co/

The Philippines: https://junkterrorbill.carrd.co/

Yemen Crisis: https://yemencrisis.carrd.co/

General Carrds

Around the World (Part 1): https://the2020world.carrd.co/

Around the World (Part 2): https://more2020world.carrd.co/

Educate Yourself: https://educateurself.carrd.co/

Get Informed: https://getinformed.carrd.co/

Issues Going On In The World: https://issuesintheworld.carrd.co/

Donate

Northstar Health Collective: northstarhealthcollective.org

Reclaim The Block: reclaimtheblock.org

National Bail Out Fund: nationalbailout.org

Massachusett’s Bail Fund: massbailfund.org

Assata’s Daughters: assatasdaughters.org

Black Visions Collective: blackvisionsmn.org

NYC Aid Society: legalaidnyc.org

Minnesota Freedom Fund: minnesotafreedomfund.org

George Floyd Memorial Fund: gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd

Black Lives Matter: blacklivesmatter.com

Sign A Petition

Justice For George Floyd: change.org

Black Lives Matter: blacklivesmatters.carrd.co (this is a useful site that has compiled petitions, places to donate, and resources for further reading)

Read A Book

Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

Beloved by Toni Morrison

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oulo

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Watch A Movie/TV Show

13th (Netflix)

When They See Us (Netflix)

Dear White People (Netflix)

The Hate U Give (Hulu)

Hidden Figures (Apple TV)

Follow These Organizations

Color of Change (@colorofchange)

NAACP (@naacp)

United We Dream (@unitedwedream)

The Conscious Kid (@theconsciouskid)

Questions To Ask Yourself

Who taught you about race & culture?

What can you do to support POC in your community?

What are you committed to doing outside of social media to end racial discrimination and systematic oppression?

What do you want to learn more about?

What information could you teach people?

Action Items

Register to vote (to all of my dual citizen friends). Politicians have enormous influence, not only through legislation and legal justice but also in shaping community sentiments and civilian behavior.

Check in on Black friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances.

Educate yourself. It is your job to learn about racial injustices and what you can do to help.

Read the news and pay attention to social media.

Choose action over inaction. Attend protests (if you can) and share your #BlackLivesMatter posts online, regardless of your follower count. Your voice is powerful.