Clara Weinstock

• Hometown: Barrington, Rhode Island
• Major: Hispanic studies, Biology, or Psychology
• Email: cweinstock@macalester.edu

• I am from Rhode Island - Barrington, Rhode Island (about 10 minutes outside of Providence). And I really like it there because there is a lot of water. I like water skiing, and canooing, and swimming, and all that good stuff.

I've been to Chile - Renga, Chile - during the summer 2002, I went as an exchange student and stayed with a host family. And I went to school there but didn't have to do anything because I was way slacker. I mean, I spent the time interacting with the people and learning the language and the culture. Learning it with the kindergardeners. It was a seven week-program. I've been to in Australia, which was really cool - I got to ride a camel, pat a kangaroo, and had my picture taken with a Koala. And I really wanna learn Spanish and be good at it, and I want to apply while I'm in Chile, and I'm going back this summer so that I can have another opportunity to be immersed in the language.

My "academic interests" are in Span.. Hispanic Studies, and Biology, and Psychology. So I'll probably major in one, or two, of those, and minor in the rest of them. I'm pretty undecided - I kind of like everything, and I enojy reading the course catalogs. You don't have to include that because everyone will think I'm a dork (Yongho: oh no! people will relate to the experience!) I don't think it is everyone's..

Anyways I am interested with learning Spanish theme, and not sounding like a gringo, which is kind of unavoidable, but it's somewhat avoidable.. gringa, I meant to say. So I tutor ESL at the Centro de las Américas. And I go to intercambios culturales on saturdays.

Another theme, I am in STARSA - I'm going to be the co-chair next year. I'm kind of into like abused-women's-rights. I interned in a battered women's shelter - the Women's Center in Rhode Island - for a year. And for my senior thesis in high school on the cycles of domestic violence and how it influences children. It was a very good learning experience and very secure; very different from the battered women's shelters in Minnesota, in the amount of security that it has, and how open it is. I did a lot of community service but can't think of them right now..

Yongho: do you know Casa de Esperanza? They deal with battered womens' issues.. and they are here in Minneapolis [corrected: in Saint Paul] and have a crisis line.. Clara: I saw their website and they looked like a good organization.. so is it a battered women's shelter for spanish speaking people? They probably need someone who speaks better spanish than me. Y: well I wouldn't be so sure.. [gossip about "spanish-speaking" workers]

C: I am in STARSA on campus but I haven't done any work with any organzations off campus. Although Neely Crane-Smith, who is the other co-chair of STARSA, has done extensive work and she has many contacts - such as the people that work for Outfront Minnesota and do a lot of work around Sexual Assault and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender communities. She had them come and give a talk about that - and I think it may have been once each semester. She also had Kristin Direking come, who is a great survivor and read a lot of her poetry that she had written about the issue and led a discussion afterwards. So Neely is full of contacts and I can get you them if you'd like.

And well.. I know Irma Rodríguez Merfeld [from the intercambios] but not very well. I could introduce you to her, though. I see Irma at the intercambios, and she asked me to come help with class registration once. She's nice and I've had brief 5-minute conversations with her.

I know Teresa Ortiz - she is the coordinator for the volunteers as ESL tutors and I am a volunteer ESL tutor. She hooked me up to get me started. I called her, and she eventually called me back [laugh] about the classes.

I might want to be a nurse, or work at Public Health somehow, and I'm just very interested in knowing how the body works and.. people are always talking about health; it's just something very relevant to life. And I'd like to knowledgeable to things that I care about. And help people.. I really like working with people - you can help people doing a lot of behind-the-scenes thing, but I'd rather interact with people that I'm helping, so that I see where the work is going. And I think it would be more rewarding - I would rather work in a summer camp than in a office job - and in the long run, I can see myself doing [public health]. I have an advisor, Lin Anonsen, for that [pre-nurse]. My advisor is Tim Watkins.

I'm in WISM, which is Women and Science and Math. I helped organize the student-alumni dinner for them. They hook you up with a mentor, and with an advisor. And you go to a meeting at the beginning of the year, and they give you an advisor, and you talk to them throughout the semester. If I did a research-based career, I would be more interested in epidemiology, and collecting data by talking to people..

Y: oh you should take medical anthropology..it's all about going out and talking to people about ...

C: Well I don't have a clue what I want to do.. if I decide to major in Hispanic Studies, what can I do with it? Be a teacher? I could do that, I like people..

• Clara Weinstock is ¡Adelante!'s 2004/05 Co-Secretary.