TWO UC MEMBERS EMBARK ON A MISSION:

BY DeJesus

INSPIRE AND EDUCATE  A GROUP OF YOUNG DOMINICAN STUDENTS  FROM SOME OF AMERICA’S HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTIONS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY IN LESS THAN 36 HRS.

Leopold (Sound of Art) and M.Tony (The Peralta Project) received an invitation from the NATIONAL DOMINICAN STUDENT CONFERENCE  in early 2010 to host a workshop titled, DOMINICANS IN THE ARTS,on April 24th 2010 that was being held at Cornell University.   So these Uptowners accepted the invitation, rented a ZipCar (with a loose flapping bumper that drew attention from their highway vehicular neighbors) and took off on a 4 hr trip to Ithica, NY.  5 some odd hours later (of Krispy Kreme eating, wrong exit taking, only car on the road- what the hell are we doing out here driving?  Damn – There’s a barrier of  deer that just came out of nowhere dodging), they made it and were pleasantly embraced and welcomed by conference organizers.  After scoping out on and off campus grounds, they crashed in their dorm room.

They woke up to the excitement of making a difference in the lives of the future.  They headed to their assigned room where they made their presentation to rotating groups of students, which included students from Cornell, Wesleyan, NYU, Yale, just to name a few; even  a group of High School kids made their way into this workshop.   Another pleasant surprise was that a large portion of the students that attended their workshop were from Uptown.   Leopold and M.Tony educated and inspired the attendees by sharing their knowledge, wisdom and experiences.  It wasn’t all talk, these hungry young minds were treated to pieces from M.Tony Peralta’s collection, which was very well received and embraced.

After lunch and a game of Dominican Networking Bingo they were able to set-up a table at conference “flea market”, where they sold art and apparel to the folks attending the conference.  So between T-shirts, Prints, catalogs, they drew the biggest crowd.  They walked away feeling deeply impressed by these future leaders, movers and shakers…they got in their little starship and took off on another 4 hour journey back Uptown (that actually took them 5 and change).

Much Respect to and Thanks to:

Everyone involved with the National Dominican Student Conference (Jamile Abreu – Founder, Carolina Romero – Cornell Organizer)

Oh yeah, Uptown and the Collective was represented to the fullest!