I grew up deeply influenced by my mother, who studied fashion design. I, too, have been extremely interested in the field of fashion and art. I chose Strategic Design & Management because I would pursue my interest in fashion while using my creative and analytical skills. Although studying in the States is a new experience for me since I’ve attended high school in Taiwan, the past four months at Parsons is beyond my expectation. In addition, not just the students and faculty at The New School, people in New York City are what keeping my passion for art and fashion alive. I can see different people from all around the world dressing in their very own unique style that nobody can ever take away. “This is what I want to get from this city and the school,” I remind myself everyday.

                 This semester in studio class we are asked to create a zine based on one of the social justice issues in the movie “The Hunger Games” after watching the movie. I’ve always loved discussing and debating about any topic related to social justice. I start off by searching articles about the society in Hunger Games and end up with “The Hunger Games As Dystopian Fiction”, an article written by Rena Nyman. The article pointed out many interesting points such as how the world in the movie is very similar to the one we are living in: it seems like we are watching The Hunger Games just like how the people living in Capitol do. Eventually the topic “women’s role” grabbed my attention. Nyman discusses how “value movie heroines for their looks rather than their political voices” (excerpted from the original article. Rena Nyman, “The Hunger Games as Dystopian Fiction.” Northeastern Education). Moreover, it is very clear that most people focus on Katniss’s relationship with both Peeta and Gale instead of the effort she makes to survive and rebel. I am surprised and shocked that myself is influenced by this concept as well. With the influence of the massive media in this generation, I’ve always linked women and men together (not exactly in a sexual way). And I am terrified by this because many people probably don’t know that their point of views are silently affected by the media, just like me. This is also why it’s so difficult to reach “gender equality”.

                 After doing some reading I am certain that I’d base my zine on how women are always linked to men and how the audiences, or the entire society, apparently enjoys it. However, the subject “zine” troubled me. Our professor Mylo introduced zine to us and brought many examples for reference. These include the ones she bought, the ones she received, and the ones that are created by her previous students. After looking though each of the zines I began to brainstorm how I can make a zine that contains artistic elements but is powerful at the same time. Finally I decide to use pictures with subtitles to build a path that will lead the audience to eventually realize the fact that women are constantly put in a position that they don’t enjoy to be in. In my zine there are several actual pictures from movie scenes while the others are modified into cartoonish and pinkish digital drawings. The original ones represent the victims themselves while the modified ones represent people who are supporting the unfair treatment toward women, whether subconsciously or not.

                 Later our seminar professor assigned a research project that will develop into a haiku collection. I decided to use the same topic but expand it to the real world while narrowing it down to where I come from, Asia. Hence I broaden my research area and discovered many fascinating articles, including one that says many Chinese believes that women are naturally weaker than men according to the law to yin and yang. I construct my haiku collection on the stereotypes that are carved in the brain of many Asians, not only men but also women themselves.

                 With the semester coming to an end, I found out what I enjoy doing the most through the projects I did in seminar and studio. I find myself most attracted to vintage cartoons, movies, and cute elements. As a result of exploring in the two classes, I adore producing colorful projects the best because to me it is just so appealing to the eye and attention grabbing. In addition, Feminism seems to be a big topic nowadays but is actually still suppressed by the conservativeness of many Asians or even people around the world. By the end of the two projects I am more determined to put effort into proving the status of female in this world. I want to continue to search any other power that is stopping us from achieving gender equality. This also connects to my initial intention- discovering who I am and what I can provide to this city as it gives me countless opportunities to do so.