Chicken butchering at grandparents’ farm 2009.
From Mom’s garden.
From Mom’s garden.
Embrace
Muzaila Tshisola, Lubumbashi, Congo, DRC - Nursing (2008)
In January of 2004, I had just landed from sunny hot Africa, to cold Minnesota. Everything was covered in snow, it looked amazing, I was seeing snow for the first time in my life. Unfortunately the cold was terrible, my face, my eyes, my ears were frozen. I laughed !!! Then came time to eat, I went to the cafeteria, the food looked so good but I could not eat it because I was not used to that taste. Another thing that hit me was “loneliness” I had no friends, everybody I ever knew was left behind in Africa, my parents, my brothers and sisters, the neighbors, etc. I had to start my life over. After that, when I started meeting people, everybody was very nice, very friendly, but I had to catch up with my English, my first language is French.
Adnan Nazeer - Chicago, IL – Public Relations (2008)
I have always known that I was gay since I was little. The funny thing is I have always been okay with it, but others were not. I have and still do have times where I completly feel alone and that no one else feels the same. I do feel very isolated at times because I am not part of the “norm.” There are three things that I have made me love myself and help me proud of who I am. They our God, Mariah Carey, and my Mom.
Gifty Amarteifil – Oakdale, MN – Political Science (2008)
I came from a town and have always attended schools that were very diverse, so attending Winona State which has a population of about 1% African Americans is a big change for me. Its sometimes hard to comprehend that there are about 8,000 undergrads here, yet each and every time I step foot onto campus a sense of isolation sets in. No matter how many things I have in common with the students here, the idea of race bond so many people together and sets me apart from so many of them.
Rajashree Subramanian – Mumbai, India – Finance (2008)
Initially when I had come I used to feel different and I could feel the discomfort, not in my classes, but when i would approach people for work or people in general. So it took a lot of determination and hard work and required me to be pro-active and initiate instead of waiting for things to happen. Having said that, I think it is easy in this country to open up because people are very friendly and are used to foreigners but I do meet people who are very prejudiced and biased, they make me uncomfortable for sometime but I don’t take anything too personally anymore.
Kim Streblow – Horicon, WI – Photojournalism (2008)
I grew up in a very conservative, Catholic family in a very small, white populated town and was sheltered from a lot of things. Before coming to Winona, I always felt like the last person to know something, whatever it may be. Somedays it feels like I will always be behind, but it doesn’t stop me from trying; because even though I may still feel lost, for the first time I feel that I finally have the opportunities, resources and friends to help me find my way.
Learning from the Masters
Classical Beauty (2008). Horst P. Horst inspired photo.
Shadows (2008). Richard Avedon inspired photo.
Ely, MN
Ely - a.k.a "Brown Dog"
I wanted to work on using aperture in my photography. I feel that I gained the feel that I was looking for. I also captured great texture in the dog’s fur.
Kawishiwi Falls
One day I hiked out to Kawishiwi Falls with some friends and of course did not have my camera with me. The next time I went out, I was by myself and wanted to work with shutter speed. This is one of my favorite photos of the falls, even though it is only a very small part of them.
