#IU Reflecting LoveNotes

[iambeauchamp]

So, how was Indiana?

Yes, I have a tumblr. Yes, I haven’t posted in like 3 years. Yes, looking through my old posts made me laugh and marvel at how much I have grown. Yes, I plan on writing more now that I have the energy, distance, and perspective to make sense of everything I’ve experienced since 2014.

Over the course of the last month I have been asked “So how was Indiana?” by more people than I can count. Now, I know they ask me in an attempt to begin to understand how this queer Puerto Rican navigated an experience at the complete opposite end of the Americana spectrum, and I trip and stumble over my words and feelings every time I attempt to answer. It wasn’t until yesterday that I realized that I had already written my most honest response to that question before I had even left Bloomington. So, in an attempt to get this answer out to as many people as possible, I am immortalizing it here. Below is the text of the speech I gave at the Latinx Graduation Ceremony. When I was nominated to be the Graduate Student Speaker, I vividly remember thinking “I am not important enough. I have not done enough. I have barely survived this place, so how can I speak kindly about it?” At the encouragement of the Director of La Casa, I still accepted the nomination. A month and a half after writing it, I now realize that this opportunity to speak was never about me being or doing enough to speak on behalf of my community. It was about me reflecting and sharing how I navigated Indiana. While my story is uniquely mine, it does not belong only to me.

And so, without further ado, I present the entire text of my speech. Or, what I personally think of as the only love letter to Indiana University that I will ever write.

May 6, 2017

Buenas tardes a todos, y FELICIDADES CLASS OF 2017! LO HICIMOS!

En este momento despido que me desculpen por el discurso que les voy a presentar a los jovenes hoy dia en Ingles.

For those who do not know me, my name is Alyssa Beauchamp, and, yesterday, I graduated from IU’s Higher Education & Student Affair’s master’s program. Now, for some of you in the room, you know that this program is ranked top 10 in the nation. But, two years ago when I announced to my dear friends and family on the east coast that I was moving to the Midwest, they couldn’t fathom WHY I would do this. For my family in New Jersey to my long time friends in Washington, DC, where I had worked for almost 5 years after graduating from undergrad, I attempted to answer the question “WHY are you you going to Bloomington, Indiana” with facts and figures about this amazing master’s program that I was about to enter. Because, honestly, I had no idea what I would find here.

After two years of blood, sweat, and tears, I know I’ve discovered the true answer to everyone’s question: Why are you moving to Bloomington, Indiana? I moved to Indiana to push myself out of my comfort zone. I moved to Indiana to carve out as much space as this singular voice could for students in my Latino community. I moved to Indiana to challenge students to deconstruct everything they were taught about what it meant to be a leader, and to be vulnerable enough to learn from each other and not just their professors. I moved to Indiana to serve as living proof to IU’s Latino undergrads that, not only was finishing your bachelor’s possible, but that they too were capable of pursuing a graduate degree. I moved to Indiana to grow under the care of outstanding faculty. I moved to Indiana to be inspired by brilliant Latina faculty members, yes I’m talking about Silvia and Mitzi. And, lastly, I moved to Indiana to create community with, probably the greatest gem of all, other Latino graduate students. It has been these phenomenal humans who have helped me get through the days and nights I never thought would end.

The support, care, and fierce love of this tiny community of graduate students helped push me to the finish line. From Willy, literally, making me homemade sopita when I was ill to Jonathan, Patty, and Gabe always being down for a “study” party to Stephanie and Gionni never letting me miss a Salsa night at Serendipity, and to my co-graduate assistant, Juanita, who has stood side by side with me as I worked through two of the hardest semesters of my life - I have been the recipient of so much love. The kind of love that reminds you that you are not alone. The kind of love that pushes you to reach higher. The kind of love that makes you feel the joy of your friends’ accomplishments in your heart. The kind of love that makes it a gut reaction to protect your familia from the hateful, racist, xenophobic, garbage that the Cheeto in Chief and his minions hurl at us on, what feels like, an almost daily basis. The courage to resist and protect is rooted in love, and, let me tell you, our collective roots run deep.

As Latinos, it is important to us that we honor the legacies of those who came before us. Family members who sacrificed everything to put down roots in new lands - all in the pursuit of a better life for their children. Mami’s, Papi’s, Tia’s, Tio’s, and Abuelitos who did backbreaking labor day in and day out so that we could even dream of this day. We, graduates, are the manifestation of our ancestors wildest dreams. Our accomplishments are not just our own. I did not walk across that stage all alone yesterday. I walked accompanied by my grandparents, Dolores, Francisco, Lula, and Juan, and my parents, Maleni and Jonas. They will all also accompany my brother when he walks across the stage to receive his bachelor’s degree at Virginia Tech next week.

After many years of growing, learning, laughing, and loving in this place, I think I can safely speak for all the graduates in the room, when I say that we will take the very best of IU with us into the next chapters of our lives. Cream and Crimson roots will beautifully intertwine with the legacies of our ancestors to help us grow higher than we ever thought possible. Even after two years, it still amazes this Boricua from Jersey that part of her roots will forever span half of the country. My roots will join the long legacy of other IU Latino graduates whose roots extend deep beneath the prettiest, warmest, and safest house on 7th street.

In closing, to my fellow graduates, as you embark out into the world and enter new spaces where you find yourselves to be the sole representative of your entire community, again, I hope these words by Toni Morrision will remind you how important it is to our community that you are there: “I tell my students, when you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab bag candy game.”

Thank you, and, again, Congratulations Class of 2017.