By Dionna Murray

In a country where baseless hate is automatically directed at people, ideas, and cultures considered foreign, Rutgers-Camden’s newest podcast, Voices of Immigration, gets personal to address the pain and struggle of those at the brunt of such discrimination. 

On February 18, 2021, co-hosts Tania Martinez and Sandra Benjamin released the first episode through the Digital Studies Center (DiSC). For their pilot episode, the two hosts felt they should share their own immigrant stories before diving into their goal of contextualizing immigrant stories and capturing the experience and struggles of ones living in America. 

Both Martinez and Benjamin are first-generation Americans. Benjamin’s family moved from Egypt before she was born by winning the diversity lottery. The family is part of the Coptic Orthodox Christian population from Egypt. As she describes her childhood and background, Benjamin recounts the discrimination her family faced for their religion. In Egypt, Coptics are not allowed to play for the country’s competitive sports teams and may not be able to get certain jobs. At one point, Benjamin’s family’s safety was threatened by an Egyptian political party, The Freedom and Justice Party, which even listed the Coptics’ church in New Jersey as a bombing target. There have been occurrences of Coptic churches bombed during major holidays.

“People hate nothing more than a language they don’t understand, than a culture they don’t understand, than people making light of stupid situations at their expense,” said Benjamin when speaking about the effects of ignorance and racism in America. 

During a trip to the social security office, Benjamin recalls her father being treated as if he were simple-minded by a security guard because he was an immigrant. As a form of retaliation, she and her mother began speaking loudly in Arabic to make a point that they understood the guard and were making fun of his attempt to embarrass her father. 

In contrast to her co-host, Martinez revealed that her parents arrived in America as undocumented immigrants from Mexico. Risking their lives, her parents crossed the Rio Grande river between the U.S. and Mexico, which many have died from drowning because of its strong current. Although her parents later gained documentation, her brothers and aunt are in Guatemala and have been repeatedly denied access to America. Due to these circumstances, Martinez was inspired to fight for change. Her efforts have led to her founding a democratic club in her high school, interning at a law and advocacy firm, as well as advocating with the Define American organization.

“I wanted to tell stories of immigrants and give them a voice that is often taken from them,” said Martinez when Benjamin asked about her reason for starting Voices of Immigration. Such an empowering and positive mentality is needed in a time that is plagued by xenophobia and racism. 

In future episodes, Martinez and Benjamin will feature other students’ stories from campus and bring in guests to share their immigrant experiences. Voices of Immigration can be listened to on streaming platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. 

The podcast can be found here: https://digitalstudies.camden.rutgers.edu/voices-of-immigration/.

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By Dionna Murray

Managing Editor and staff writer, Dionna Murray, shares with us how she managed to cope with and survive the transition to online courses while working part-time and struggling to stay motivated. 

For the safety of our community at Rutgers, the fall 2020 semester adopted an almost entirely remote learning format to decrease and prevent the spread of COVID-19. While the circumstances that inspired this adjustment were not ideal for anyone, the protection and health of fellow students and staff are given the utmost importance and I appreciate the efforts Rutgers has done so far to ensure our safety.

Pre-COVID, I made an effort to take only in-person classes throughout my first three years of college. Although I had never taken any online classes before, I knew I would fare far better actually going to class than working from home. I know myself. I become easily distracted when left without a set schedule and routine. Moreover, the temptation to procrastinate is ten times greater when I’m at home than when I’m on campus.

When I learned that all my classes for the fall semester were being taught remotely and online, I was simultaneously relieved that I didn’t have to risk my safety commuting to campus but worried about how I would manage taking five classes, working part-time, and taking care of my other responsibilities. I faced similar worries when commuting to campus during previous years, but since I wasn’t bound to my home most of the time, my motivation to complete these tasks wasn’t as affected as it is now.

Honestly, it’s been a rough semester and a tough year in general. Out of my five courses, only one meets regularly over Zoom and that is for one day a week. Three of my classes have recorded lectures or videos for me to watch and then homework due at certain points throughout the week. One class is strictly assignment-based with minimal interaction from my professor. While these aren’t issues themselves, meeting over Zoom or on another broadcasting platform mimics going to class for me. On my Zoom days, getting ready to meet for class prepares my mindset to actually do something. I feel more inspired and motivated to do my work when I know that I have “actual” class instead of just assignments due. Additionally, I tend to feel more accomplished and actually do more on my Zoom days than on the days that I don’t. Not to say that I don’t complete my work, but the feeling is different when interacting with my professors in real-time (albeit through a screen) than through emails.

Something that has really helped me be more motivated has been to create a week by week To-Do List. Planning out exactly which assignments to complete on certain days and seeing how my schedule is laid out forces me to accomplish what I need to do, and not to procrastinate. Beyond my own personal steps taken, most of my professors have expressed understanding during times when I may need extra time to complete certain assignments. I truly appreciate their flexibility and effort in making sure students don’t encounter any additional pressures during these difficult and stressful times.

Despite battles with low motivation and maintaining my mental health as a student during COVID, I can say that I’m grateful for even having the ability to continue my education and hopefully, graduate this coming spring. Being a full-time student and working part-time amidst a global pandemic is by no means easy, but checking off the small things that I could do every day has made coping with it a bit more bearable.

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By Dionna Murray

No one expected how this year would turn out. The outbreak of COVID forced the Rutgers community into remote learning halfway through the spring semester. Major adjustments were suddenly made and both students and staff were thrown into uncertainty amidst such unprecedented times.

While the fall semester is similarly remote with a select few classes meeting in-person, there is a level of preparedness for the situation since the pandemic has been prevalent for over nine months. 

To understand how students are feeling regarding remote learning and online classes, I interviewed close peers of mine to share their opinions and experiences during this unusual semester. 

What are your general feelings about this semester?

Amy Lopez (English Major, Junior): The online semester has been going well so far and my professors have been pretty understanding and aren’t giving too much work, so I’ve pretty much been keeping myself organized and finishing all my assignments as they come in.

R Dillon (Senior, English Major, and History Minor): My general summation of this semester, in one word, would be: disappointing. When I registered back in spring, I was holding on to the hope that classes in the fall would be in-person. I sign up for lecture-style courses because I often have issues with self-motivation with no outside reinforcement from teachers or engagement with peers. Disappointing, and just sad.

Mary Hutchings (Senior, English Major, and Political Science Minor): Honestly, I do not like online classes. For me, I learn much better and have more motivation in person. I also at times feel like the quality of education is worse with online classes than in-person.

Michael Giangreco (Freshman, Nursing Major): Going into this semester, I was worried that it would be a big change from what I was used to. But I was still grateful that we were having school at all.

Do you think you have been able to focus more on your classes now or has it been more challenging?

Amy: I have definitely been able to focus on my classes more this semester because I have more time to sit down and actually do my work.

R: It has definitely been much more challenging. I knew going into this semester that I would naturally have issues as I don’t fare well with online courses, but I am glad to have any semblance of regular life at all. 

Mary: I’ve had a harder time focusing, but it has been okay so far. There isn’t too much work for me to handle. I can usually focus enough to get it done.

Michael: I think it has been more challenging because now it is all on us to divide up our work and choose when to read PowerPoints and watch videos. If you choose to instead watch Netflix or play on your phone, you will never get the work done. The temptation to procrastinate is greater because we are all home. 

How have your professors been during this semester? Are they easier to reach? Do they express concern and understanding? Are they more lenient? 

Amy: My professors are very easy to reach this semester and are actually very understanding and lenient. They make remote learning not as stressful as people would think.

R: I have been incredibly lucky to have the professors that I do. In general, all of my professors have been excellent with understanding that circumstances are not the best and have become somewhat more lenient but do expect work to be done. Deadlines are slightly lax, especially if you reach out to your professors with any concerns or life updates, which I find incredibly refreshing lately. 

Mary: I think my professors are about the same with communication (emailing them with questions, etc.). I haven’t necessarily experienced more leniency yet but they have all been understanding.

Michael: My professors are awesome, even though they are not dealing with ideal circumstances, they still are trying to reach the students. Yes, all of my professors have been easy to reach. They have some understanding but now that we are past the first couple of weeks, they expect you to have everything figured out yourself. And no, I wouldn’t say that they are more lenient. 

Are there elements of this semester that you like? Are there any that you would change for the better?

Amy: I like the fact that most of the assignments are due during one day of the week that way I don’t have to rush to do my work or turn in assignments. I would change the fact that some professors try to make the work more difficult as we go because I know people are losing determination and focus so I don’t think it’s fair for them.

R: I do like zoom for the most part, because I physically see people if only the teacher themselves. I’m the kind of student who automatically turns on their camera, so the teacher doesn’t feel alone. If I am being honest, the main thing I would change about this semester is to make it in-person, but I understand that it is just not possible yet. I’m holding out hope for the spring.

Mary: Since I live about 45 minutes away from campus, it is nice to not have to commute, but I would definitely choose in-person classes over online. I think something I would change about this semester is that out of 4 classes that were meant to be in person, only two of them meet virtually at the time the class was supposed to be. The other two classes just upload material and short recorded lectures for us to go through ourselves. I find it much easier for me to focus and learn if I can at least attend virtual lectures. 

Michael: I like that I don’t have to drive to my classes, giving me more time to study. And no, I think that if we were to go all online, the way it is set up now would be ideal, but nothing beats going in-person. 

How has homework been? Do you think you are receiving more than when you were attending in-person classes or is it actually more manageable?

Amy: I think I had more homework when it was in-person learning. For remote learning, I just have one homework assignment per week mostly.

R: I have received significantly less homework than what was expected in-person, though at this point academically, homework was often replaced with drafting for a larger paper. I have, however, had an increase in reading, but without the homework backing it, I actually find it a lot more manageable, and I feel I am engaging with all my class materials rather than prioritizing homework for one class over the readings for another. 

Mary: I think I’ve actually been receiving less homework than when I had in-person classes. It is very manageable.

Michael: Homework has been weekly and mostly from my online textbooks. No, because even if we were in-person, we would have to use our online textbooks and do the homework on them. I experienced this with my other classes that had similar textbooks. The homework was always take-home and online. I believe that it is the same amount of manageability. 

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