To Be VISIBLE
Cathy
Timeline
September: information gathering stage. Focus mainly on the Gabby Petito case.
October: Start looking for native women missing cases. Gather information.
November: analyze social media influence and coverage on those cases.
December: Start writing about individual cases and plan my monthly updates.
January: 1st monthly update
February: 2nd monthly update
March: 3rd monthly update
April: 4th monthly update
Autobiography
Hello, my name is Cathy. I am from Beijing China and I am a junior at Emma Willard. My project title is "To be VISIBLE" and I want to raise awareness about missing Native American women as well as the lack of media coverage on those cases.
October Post
Status Update:Â
I have started the process of gathering casesÂ
Challenges:Â
Lack of information: There aren’t that many cases on the internet. I have found a few but they don’t have that much information.
November Post
Update:Â
I have finished gathering cases and I am organizing them into categories. I am currently going through what I have and choosing the good cases that I want to keep.Â
Challenge:
I need to start creating my separate website since I need to make my first post next month.
December Post
Update:Â
I have already started working on my own website. I was able to find separate resources that I could use to build my website.Â
Challenges:Â
didn't have any!
January Post
In January, I first did some formatting changes to my website. Then I uploaded the cases for my January post. I am also planning on reaching out to some already existing organization and hope that I could conduct an interview with them. I am considering working with the affinity groups at Emma and starting a new club to raising aware of MMIWG.
Challenges:
I started considering how to promote and share my project with more people.
January Post
In my last January post I wrote about my new ideas on expanding my project and introducing it more people. After that, I have also done some more brainstorming and I decided that I want to reach out to some of the existing organizations such as Missing and Murder Indigenous Women USA and ask for an opportunity to interview some of the members. Besides this, I have also reached out to a Law Professor at Amherst who I worked with two years ago during a law-related summer program. I met with him via zoom and we discussed about some of the issues that could be involved in this issue. The meetings was really helpful because I was able to learn about how the laws and the way they are structured can also make an influence. In addition, he gave me some really valuable insights on how to find the best resources for my project, how to make sure the data I use is precise.
Challenges:
I had a lot of new ideas for my project popping out this month. Although it could exciting seeing all of my ideas at first, I quickly realized that I need to find the ones that are most suitable and doable for my project.
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February Post
I have several goals I need to focus on for February. First, I have already found a partner for my podcast, but I need to start writing my script. I want to have a completed podcast script before I go talk to communications about filming and recording. Second, I will be doing my regular website update. I will be making my second post on my separate website with case updates, and I am also considering adding 2 to 3 state policies regarding MMIW because I want to show readers some of the existing policies and laws the society is making in order to help those women and girls.Â
Challenges:
The main challenge of the month is writing the script for the podcast challenge. Since my partner and I are doing Q&A style, I need to think about how to use meaningful questions in order to introduce the information I want to discuss, and potentially the cases I would use as examples. It also will be a very long process since I would definitely be going over the script multiple times to make changes to the questions.
Sharing Activity
Within my group, people shared about challenges they are facing in their projects. Tina talked about her philosophy project. The challenge Tina was facing was about how to define tolerance. She says since the idea of tolerance is such as broad concept, it is very hard to really understand what it truly means. She's currently working with Ms.Bendall on the topic of tolerance.Â
The second member in my group, Mitsuki, shared that she is currently organizing the data she found but the process is very difficult. The challenges that I shared with my group members were that I wanted to draft a thoughtful and in-depth draft for the podcast challenge, and I was having a hard time thinking about questions I can ask during the podcast. Another challenge I mentioned was I felt a bit ov
February Post
By February, I am already halfway through my project. I have been following my timeline and making posts on a regular basis. The main focus of February is to work on the podcast challenge and finish the script. In order to finish my script, I have been doing more online research on the background of human trafficking in North America and gathering related data that I can incorporate into my script. I was having some trouble deciding the questions I want to discuss in my podcast, so I reached out to a law professor at Amherst College and asked him for advice. We discussed the online resources that I can use for my project as well as how to consider this issue from a legal perspective.Â
Challenges:Â
The main challenge is definitely about writing a thoughtful and educational script within the deadline. Because I have to finish recording by Spring Break, and I also have other exams I am working on, I need to make sure I can spare enough time to work on my project.
NPR Podcast
One important goal of my project is expanding its influence, and since the beginning of my project, I have been looking for opportunities to share my project with more people. Thus, the NPR podcast challenge was a great opportunity. I started writing my script a month in advance to make sure I cover all of the information I want to mention. I did extensive research and read many scholarly articles which focus on the issue of violence and crimes against indigenous women.Â
I gained many more insights from these sources. Important terms they mentioned, such as "the missing white-girl syndrome," helped me to gain a much deeper understanding of my topic and I was able to expand my arguments.Â
Through my podcast, I hope to introduce this "often ignored" issue to more people and raise awareness on how we can protect these women from malicious crimes and how can we help the victims to received their deserved justice.
