2008 New Leaders Fellows
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Dominic Lowell
Hometown:
Age: 22
School: Swarthmore College
Interests: New York Times crossword puzzles, recreational running, political activism
Placement: Democracy Alliance
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Dominic recently graduated from Swarthmore College as a Sociology/Anthropology major and Women's Studies minor. He combined his interest in gender, sexuality, and the power of social spaces to write his senior thesis on how college students use Facebook and the exchange of power inherent in online representation. |
"I want to discover how to make the transition from campus leader and small-scale progressive activist to someone capable of leading a national progressive movement capable of immense positive change."
- Dominic Lowell,
2008 New Leaders Fellow |
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| More about Dominic |
What particular experience has contributed to your desire to work with a progressive organization and participate in the NLP? What do you hope to gain from participating?
While I have always been a progressive in name, the diversity of Swarthmore helped raise my political and social consciousness to a level that now compels me to work through the political process for progressive change. I knew that growing up with a single mother who sometimes struggled financially was not an experience that everyone shared, but I always thought it was something everyone understood. Getting to Swarthmore, though, and talking with my first year roommate from Manhattan, I realized this was not the case. Even among progressives, there remained a distinct lack of understanding about all issues of social justice and, in this case, issues of class and privilege. I spent the better part of that year learning from my roommate’s different experiences and teaching him about my own. Because of that year and the conversations my roommate and I shared, I began to see the struggle for social justice being one that required more than just a liberal political worldview; I saw it as also requiring time, understanding, and, most importantly, education. Now that I understand the global importance of always educating others about classism, racism, sexism, heteronormativity, etc., I feel compelled to work with a progressive organization so that I can learn the most effective way to engage with and educate others. I want to discover how to make the transition from campus leader and small-scale progressive activist to someone capable of leading a national progressive movement capable of immense positive change.
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