5 Questions with Ollin Rodriguez Lopez
With graduation just around the corner, we’re excited to feature one of our graduating students, Ollin Rodriguez Lopez who will be speaking at our BPATS Recognition Ceremony next week.
What brought you to The New School? the BPATS program?
The New School’s BPATS program provided the mentorship, flexibility, resources, and connections I needed as an educator, writer, and community organizer. After taking a 6-year college gap doing food justice, LGBTQ liberation, and youth organizing work, I was encouraged to utilize my experiences in my academic work and explore other opportunities at The New School. Because of the courses that BPATS program offered on Race, Ethnicity, Performance and Queer Studies, I had a change of heart in my career path. I am now focused on supporting community responses to the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis and the historical discussion of queer arts, culture, and activism.
What were some of your favorite classes/instructors during your time with the BPATS program?
My favorite classes in the program were Tracyann Williams’s Reading Toni Morrison, Passing, and Narratives of Black Women, and Ricardo Montez’s Queer New York, Debates in Race & Ethnicity, & Queer Art and the Legacy of AIDS course.
What are you looking forward to most upon graduating?
My post-graduation plans are experimenting with fruit and veggie fermentation/pickling, making agua frescas, reading Sci-Fi books, coordinating picnics with friends at Riis Beach’s Queer Beach, and planning a trip to Puerto Rico.
What projects (work, hobbies, passion projects, etc) are you currently working on?
I will be working full-time as an Operations Associate with the National Domestic Workers Alliance Labs, get more involved with the collective What Would an HIV Doula Do?, and keep the momentum going on research and writing my book on Two-Spirit, Cultural Appropriation, and Decolonization.
What’s one of your favorite NYC moments, places, or memories?
My favorite places in NYC are in Brooklyn because I am deeply committed to it! To view performances and film series, I love going to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, journaling and tea time at the Green Grape Annex, supporting the queer burlesque group brASS (Brown RadicalAss) Burlesque’s monthly queer Cabaret Show at Starr Bar, and meditation class and other the sliding-slide holistic health services at Third Root Community Center.
Come hear Ollin and our other speakers, Melanie Quiroz, Dennis Stewart, and Mica Le John at our Bachelor’s Program for Adults and Transfer Students Recognition Ceremony on May 15, 2019, 6:30-8PM in the Auditorium at 66 W 12th St. We will also be having a reception following the ceremony.
For more information, click here and if you would like to join us virtually, check out the livestream of the event.
Don’t forget to celebrate with all the graduating seniors at Commencement next Friday, May 17, 2019 at 11:30AM. More info here.