1. To me, universal love and peace, means ex-
tending love and peace to every individual re-
gardless of their background, race, religion,
political views, and way of life. It means dis-
regarding any sense of prejudice, preconceived
notions about a certain group or person, and/or
discriminatory inklings. In addition, I believe
this to mean valuing the welfare of others as
much as our own, extending care to those in
our world who are disenfranchised and mar-
ginalized, and ensuring equality for all so that
we may each have the means to live a healthy,
stable, prosperous life. I believe that one of the
major powers of this world is love. Men and
women all over the world have risked their
lives for it. Some have even built great buildings
in honor of their loved ones (ex: Taj Mahal).
Whether big or small gestures, we have all ex-
perienced and reciprocated love. We crave it,
we need it, we search for it. However, the fact of
the matter is that regardless of the existence of
love in our world, we are faced with inequality,
violence, racism, social justice issues, etc.. This
to me does not fit into my definition of universal
love and peace.
In my ideal world, none of this corruption and
darkness would exist. Love, happiness, peace,
and equal rights for all would prevail. This is my
dream. My dream is that we would trade nega-
tivity for positivity, violence for peace, hate for
love, selfishness for selflessness, inequality for
equality, and social justice for all not a select
few. The list can go on. But I want to live in a
world where I am not afraid or disheartened to
raise children in. I want to live in a world where
I tune into the news and see success stories, aca-
demic accomplishments, uplifting stories, sport
successes, and things that exude positivity and
love. The world I live in today is far from this
vision and the sad truth is that this vision may
never come to fruition. But maybe I can do my
part in transferring love and peace to anyone
and everything that comes my way, in hopes
that I can lead by example and make a little dif-
ference in our world.
Art Drawn by Lisa Ramos
Final AssignmentsChange in the
community
Love
By Brittany Boyd
By Brianna Sharma
There are dreams that we all have that are
dreams of wonder and fascination, dreams that
hold within their blurred lines the hopes and
yearnings of youth, of pain, of a world where
things are better. Where things move forward in
the darkening of images and the sharpening of
eyes, intent, focused on the steps that life takes
around us, keeping up, chasing, understanding
that there was a sadness we all felt in know-
ing that we’d just be left alone if we couldn’t
make the mark, but also sensing that there was
a solemn joy in knowing that we could keep up
if we wanted to, that we could take control of
our lives, that we could be masters of our own
fate. But what if those dreams never knew the
movement of time, had never felt the passing
and changing and shaping of an existence that
knew the breathlessness of life? What if all I had
ever known was the lack of these dreams? What
if there were no blurred lines? Just empty walls
dividing me and all the dreams that might exist
behind them. I have dreamed of the gentleness
that might come with a touch devoid of motive,
the strength that might come with the lightening
of burdens, the laughter that might come with
the building of trust. I have dreamed of the dark-
ening of hearts and the sharpening of teeth, pal-
pable, absolute in their division. I have dreamed
of placing my feet, slowly, one in front of the
other in the heat of the sun, on the other side of
the wall, on the other side of concrete lines, a
life that that steps across my pupils, slowly, one
moment in front of the other until I can’t keep
up. I can’t chase after you. I can’t understand. I
can’t see out of the night that covers me.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
My name is ******. My name is not what
matters, though a name is what defines you, is
what marks you with identity. My identity is not
what matters, though an identity is what makes
you an individual, is what draws the lines be-
tween you and the world. What matters are those
lines, the vibrating strings that connect you and
me and the person sitting next to you and the
person in the world behind you, the drawing taut
of those lines across each other until each bond
grows real, until each seam steps from dream
into life, solid, substantial. But I have no name.
I have no identity. I have no hand in which to
draw those lines across the pale expanses of my
body.
I remember one of the earliest dreams that
would wake me at night, sleeping in the darkest
of rooms. He told me to come to the city. The
lights. The sounds. The silence that seemed to
stretch from my house to his face to my heart
and back. I didn’t know why he was leaving
then. I still don’t know why he is leaving now.
Leaving over and over again, sleeping in the
darkest of rooms. I don’t know you. I don’t
know where I am. Is he coming back for me?
I felt myself turn inside out with the pain, rip-
ping apart at the seams until I collapsed all over
the floor. There were no lights. No sounds. The
noise that filled the emptiness of perpetually
stagnant moments. I looked around me then. I
know now that what I saw was the glass around
me, the empty walls starting to rise. My brain
grew colder and colder until I shattered into a
million silent pieces, none of them loud enough
to cry aloud.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Years later I met a dream. A dream that came
to me with gentle smiles and quiet gestures. A
dream that promised the movement of time, a
step forward. But dreams do not take your hand
and lead you away. Dreams do not take away
your voice, your ability to stand and walk and
run and jump over those blurred lines into a life
real and palpable. He was just the same image
that I had seen flickering past me. I had found
hope in the blank spaces that hovered in the
turning of images, vague shapes seen on my
peripherals, dreams that could take any form
as long as they dissipated in the garish light of
reality. To be sold over and over again. To not
only be treated as property but to feel it and un-
derstand it in the way that every step forward
was a step backwards. I never took my own
steps. I forgot how to walk because I was told I
couldn’t. I forgot how to live because I knew I
couldn’t. There was a strength that I found in its
absence, an empty construction that only existed
on my side of the empty walls, on my side of the
glass. I wrapped myself tighter and tighter until
I could feel myself again, the gaps in between
my tears growing smaller until I could feel the
growing of a light deep inside me. I could see
beyond.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
My name is ******. I am still out here, behind
all the glass, behind all the empty walls, behind
all the blurred lines and the concrete lines. I
have a life, a name, an identity. But I also have
a dream. And in that dream, I am the master of
my fate. I am the captain of my soul.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate
Unformed stories: thoughts on human trafficking
By Jonathan So
Page Number 4 Publications Department
ULAP
To me, the term universal love and peace is
hard to define and rare to find in the world I live
in. The reason being is that I believe this term
to mean equality, love, and peace for all and the
sad truth is that this is not portrayed in the real-
ity of today. Due to my upbringing and external
factors of love and peace, I have come to realize
that people are very selfish. However, this re-
alization has allowed me to challenge the sta-
tus quo and work against the selfishness, hate,
racism, and corruption. I have learned how to
live a life that does not express these attributes.
Instead, I seek to be a walking example of self-
love that I believe the world should prioritize.
My hope is that I can lead by example, and have
an effect on others to live a life like this as well.
I am a firm believer that to experience universal
love and peace on must show people love, teach
them how to love themselves, and therefore they
can follow and the cycle will continue.
My dream and vision for the world that sur-
rounds me is that one day everyone could live
freely without being judged for who they are,
what they wear, where they come from, etc..
Another aspiration (on a more personal level),
pertains to the African American community.
My dream for women in the African Ameri-
can community is that we can live in a world
in which we are not intimidated or threatened
by one another. Instead, we can be more open
to acceptance and love for each other. As for
the men in the African American community,
my dream is that they would learn to work with
each other as opposed to against and not only
when something tragic happens to our cmmu-
nity.
Art Drawn by Shalina Patel