Steph Scaglia is a contributor to On Magnolia Square.
Alive Vibe (formerly known as Count Me In) is a platform that strives to connect people throughout the world by hosting virtual events. Ali Debow, the creator of Alive Vibe, is an incoming freshman at NYU Shanghai. Ali shared with OCA her process in creating this platform, as well as where she hopes to take it.
Lethal Mobb Entertainment, a record label based out of Philadelphia, PA, was started by Chris Johnson, a rising senior. OCA asked Chris about his company including his inspirations, challenges, and other potential problems young entrepreneurs face.
With new momentum behind the Black Lives Matter movement, many students, including Kyle Lok ‘22, started Instagram accounts, small businesses, and other various initiatives to fundraise for BLM aligned organizations.
Many NYU Shanghai club presidents have concerns for this coming semester. In-person meetings will not be feasible, club engagement last semester was low, planning ahead is extremely difficult, there will be obstacles to connecting with freshmen, and ensuring balanced group dynamics between Chinese and international students will presumably pose challenges.
After Vice Chancellor Lehman’s email, “Update Concerning Fall 2020 Semester,” many in the international student community were left disappointed and full of concerns (which are outlined in Isabella Cuellar's article "NYU Shanghai's International Sdents Face Uncertainty for Fall 2020"). OCA reached out to the Vice Chancellor in order to gain clarification on several of these issues, and asked him several of these pressing questions.
Since March 20, Cinny Lin has been documenting the COVID-19 situation in various countries. On her instagram, "@coronavirus_country", she covers a new country each day, and provides details regarding either local and international headlines. In this interview, OCA sought to better understand Cinny’s daily motivations as well as how her project is evolving.
In the United States, the White House recently released a recommendation that anyone who has been in New York should self-quarantine for 14 days. Much of NYU’s student population has left New York City in the past two weeks, as NYU transitions to remote instruction. Currently, New York has the highest amount of cases in the US and continues to grow at an exponential rate. OCA asked 3 NYU Shanghai students about their thoughts regarding this recommendation.
NYU Shanghai students have been dispersed all over the world due to COVID-19. Today, we focus on 4 students living in states within the US that have recently captured much of the nation’s attention. Brandon, Olivia Nico, and Anna.
International Women's Day, March 8, 2020, was celebrated all over the world with rallies, protests, marches, and more. At NYUSH, however, we celebrated with a Zoom Online Panel hosted by Joyce Tan of Diversity Initiatives. This panel, “Women in the Time of the Coronavirus,” featured Alex (Feifan) Li of BiedeGirls/别的女孩, Sakura Chan of GirlsUpShanghai, and our very own Jing Wang, a post-doc fellow at NYU Shanghai. All three of these women were not only impacted by COVID-19, but took this opportunity to stand up against gender bias and racism. Their acknowledgment of the behind-the-scenes efforts of women on the front lines of the battle against the coronavirus raises awareness regarding questions of gender identity and the portrayal of women in social media.