HOW WE FELT:

Before the performance?:

Ashwag Mokbel: In the beginning, I was crazy nervous and scared to bring attention to our performance. I stayed quiet in the beginning hiding behind the large DACA application to avoid eye contact with people.

Azzall Monasser: At first, I was a bit nervous and shy to perform, especially in front of fellow students and classmates that would ignore us. I imagined students wouldn’t care and would be in a rush to even acknowledge to us.

David Valderrabano: As a musician I’m usually not very nervous when it comes to performing in public since I’ve been doing it for quite some time, but this was different for me. This is because I’m used to know exactly what I’m going to do for each performance, but this was a new experience for me since we had to improvise with very few guidelines, so it was a bit out of my comfort zone. 

Jameel Thomas: At first like everyone else I was nervous about performing in front of strangers. I thought people are going to look at us as if we are a bunch of crazy individuals. But it gradually changed as we interacted with people.

Scarlett Ramirez: Before performing in front of everyone, I was feeling anxious and nervous like everyone else in the group. This was going to be my first time performing, and I wanted to come out the most natural as possible. In my opinion, things went great as we were engaging with professors, students, and volunteers who helped us to stay positive and in shape. I was also terrified no one would pay attention to our performance however, I remained calm and positive.

During the performance?:

Ashwag Mokbel: When the performance started we weren’t acknowledged at all in the cafeteria of the Voorhies building. Then Azzall recommended going up to the fourth floor where there are students coming out of classes, elevators, and professors going to their offices. It was a atmosphere where people can’t avoid us even if they tried. Many people stared at us while walking and those are the people we approached. Professors also stopped to ask what we were doing and they even took pictures with us and the props. One professor saw the large DACA application and actually stated he worked in the DACA offices but was not entitled to discuss it with us. To my surprise ALOT of college students were interested. One man actually stopped and took information for his friend who fell into that category and wasn’t fully educated on the topic. Thats when David came in and assisted him to help explain the steps and requirements for his friend. He was very interactive and thankful for the information passed down.

Azzall Monasser: At first, we placed our ephemera on the 2nd floor of V-building, where no one even noticed us. Then we moved up to the 4th floor, the CMCE department -my major- which I’m more familiar with the students and professors. As we located the desk, chair and ephemera, we started to attract people instantly. Having students participate and professors asking questions as we set, made me feel more comfortable. I realized many people were interested in DACA, even one student said he had a friend who wanted to apply for DACA, so he kept asking us questions. One professor who stopped to talk to us, turned out to work for DACA, which was interesting and encouraged us to perform.

David Valderrabano: During the performance I noticed something peculiar. I had the role of an ICE officer, so as I was pushing around Ashwag telling her that she was being deported without listening to reason I felt like an A*%^$%#. This made me realize that maybe actual ICE officers must feel like that when they have to do this type of job, so I wonder why someone would choose to do a job like this. In my opinion it must be taxing your mental health being the one to tell families that they will be separated.

Jameel Thomas: As we started to conduct our performance in the Vorhees Building,more specially the cafeteria (2nd Floor). Many people didn’t really payed us any attention as they were either busy eating or social with their friends. We made the wise decision to take our performace to the CMCE Department on the 4th Floor. There we gathered more intrigue as the people on this floor were coming out of classes or going to classes. They wanted to know what our performance is all about and they wanted to be apart of the performance , then we got them to take part in the performance by taking pictures with us and the signs. Then we decided that this wasn’t enough and we chose to go back to the cafeteria. Now that we are over confident with our performance. We then conducted and interview with college student who’s an immigrant from Haiti. During this interview, the student really wanted to know about DACA, because one of his friend needed DACA and didn’t know how to go about getting the DACA status.

Scarlett Ramirez: As mentioned before, we set up the ephemera on the cafeteria located on the second floor of Voorhees building. No one really noticed us, and the group and I decided to choose another location. This time, Azzall recommended the 4th floor, where the majority of my group felt more comfortable and encouraged to begin our performance. At first, a student volunteered to be part of our performance. I met him last semester from physics class, that’s why he volunteered and was such a relief. Everything was happening at the same time, and I was getting frustrated because I wanted everything to be perfect and useful for our documentation and performance video. On the other hand, the group was feeling the support form students and professors, and that was such an encouragement for us to continue. This experience was totally a success, and every interview and performance went great. We were not expecting all the support and engagement from city tech staff and students.

After the performance?:

Ashwag Mokbel: After the performance , I actually felt like we made a change in a way. Especially with the kid with his friend in need , that was something that made me happy as if I actually contributed to benefiting the future of another student. Towards the end, I got more comfortable and actually put aside the DACA application that covered me and engaged in a little performance. I got rejected however, the whole crowd’s reaction by the door was totally worth it.

Azzall Monasser: I feel like we spread the word about DACA and informed many about it. As a group, I feel as we did a successful and positive performance. Also, as we performed, I realized we all got more comfortable with time and encouraged each other to participate. We were able to interact with people even though we did get rejected, we still managed to go on. I believe our performance was effective and taught us confidence and courageousness.

David Valderrabano: When we finished the performance, I felt good that we had a good interaction with the guy we interview for our video. He had a friend who was having difficulty with DACA due to lack of help, so I’m glad that we were able to point him in the right direction. As someone who had to go through the DACA process I know what his friend feels. The uncertainty of not knowing whether you can keep living your life normally or have start all over again in a place that you don’t really remember, is not something I would wish on someone else. Therefore, I’m very happy to know that we may had a little positive impact on a fellow DREAMER’s life.

Jameel Thomas: After the performance, I felt like we did something really meaningful. Because of all the interest we gathered and people wanting to know what DACA is. To top it off, the student that we interviewed also took pictures of a website that David gave him to get the applications for the DACA status. This experience was really worth it and I would do it again something in the future, Not my imifiate future but soon enough.

Scarlett Ramirez: In conclusion to DACA/IMMIGRATION performance, I think we did great. I felt relieved and accomplished. It excited my expectations and encouraged me, to be more conscious about what’s happening around us. Personally, I would like to be more informed about the topic and be able to help others to be educated and support our people.