What's the Tea with Ministry?
Welcome to What’s the Tea with Ministry!
Where we spill the tea on the Jesuit and Mercy mission at the University of Detroit Mercy! Bringing you mission-centered conversation through storytelling, reflection, and community connection all over a cup of tea.
What's the Tea with Ministry?
Titan Dreamers: Navigating Higher Education and Advocacy at Detroit Mercy
Can you imagine navigating higher education while carrying the weight of uncertain immigration status? Marina Mahmoud and Brenda Bravo Villaruel have not only faced these challenges head-on but have also championed support for others in similar situations through the Titan Dreamers organization at the University of Detroit Mercy. Join us as Marina, a DACA recipient and recent graduate, reveals her inspiring journey, including the critical support she received from Sister Erin McDonald. Brenda, a current student passionate about advocacy, brings her unique perspective as the first in her large family to pursue higher education.
Dive into the heart of Titan Dreamers, a group Marina co-founded in 2019 to create a supportive community for students with varying immigration status. Hear firsthand accounts of the complexities of the DACA program, and the ongoing challenges for those seeking a clear path to citizenship. Learn about the inception of the Undocu Student Network during the pandemic, and the powerful impact of their annual summit dedicated to advocacy and community building. Brenda's involvement with the Ignatian Solidarity Network sheds light on her dedication to environmental advocacy, further showcasing the diverse efforts of these inspiring young leaders.
Reflect with us on the cherished memories from Titan Dreamers' events, especially the vibrant UndocuWeek, which fosters unity and support within the Detroit Mercy community. Through it all, we underscore the vital importance of compassion and listening to one another's struggles, reinforcing the core values that make Detroit Mercy's community so resilient.
Welcome to what's the Tea with Ministry where we spill the tea.
Speaker 2:On the Jesuit and Mercy mission at the University of Detroit Mercy.
Speaker 1:Bringing you mission-centered conversation through storytelling, reflection and community connection. All over a cup of tea.
Speaker 2:Hosted by University Ministry and a student co-host, that's us.
Speaker 1:I'm Anna Lawler, university Minister, and I'm Margo.
Speaker 2:Ewell, your student co-host.
Speaker 1:Today we'll be talking with Marina Mahmoud and Brenda Brava-Villera. Marina Mahmoud has been a DACA recipient since 2012 from Israel and Ukraine. She is also a recent business administration graduate from the University of Detroit, mercy and the co-founder of the Titan Dreamers, a student-led organization on campus focusing on immigration advocacy and community. She has also been a core committee member of the Undocu Network, a nationwide immigration advocacy group by the Ignatian Solidarity Network, with an undergraduate and alumni students from Jesuit universities. A fun fact about her is that she loves to go to concerts and I think she said she's been to maybe over a hundred.
Speaker 2:Brenda Bravo Villaruel is a student at the University of Detroit, mercy, studying business administration with a concentration in marketing and minoring in leadership. She enjoys advocating for migration and ecological issues. She recently was a marketing intern at ISN, working alongside Kim Coleman, and she's also a research assistant working alongside Dr Diego Arias. She enjoys painting and spending time with her dog, chucha, and she enjoys plants and eating. So, let's talk with Brenda and Marina.
Speaker 1:So welcome to you both. We're so excited to have you here on the what's the Tea with Ministry podcast. I have the unfortunate news for our regular listeners that today our water heater wasn't working for our tea, so I wasn't able to offer all of our guests a cup of tea, so we're drinking the beverages we brought with us rather than the tea I usually supply. The reason I mentioned that is because, if you haven't heard our podcast before, we hold something called the tea segment on our podcast and it's to honor a bit of our Mercy tradition. So when Catherine Macaulay, the founders of the Sisters of Mercy, was dying, she was on her deathbed. She told one of the sisters in her community to make sure that the sisters that were remaining sat down to have a comfortable cup of tea in the afternoons. And even though we're here recording the podcast in the morning, we want to keep that tradition alive of sharing a cup of tea, of sharing community with one another.
Speaker 1:And even though we don't have our tea today, what I'm going to ask our guests who are here is what is your favorite drink? What's your favorite drink, whether it's a hot beverage, a cold beverage, favorite thing to drink that you just enjoy and makes your day a little bit happier. So I'll share first. I can't get through the day without coffee and I typically will aim or go for iced coffee. I have my iced coffee right next to me right now, marina. What about you? What's your favorite drink?
Speaker 3:Um, right now in the cold months, it's definitely going to be the honey citrus mint tea from Starbucks.
Speaker 1:Delicious Brenda. What about you? What's your favorite thing to drink?
Speaker 4:I love um boba tea, always, always. When it's cold hot, I'll take it any day love it.
Speaker 1:Margo, what's your favorite? I don't think I know.
Speaker 2:I don't do well with anything hot and coffee, so if I really want to feel good, I'll have like a small karma macchiato, but if not, besides that, I just drink water but is it an iced one, or is it? Yes, it's warm, it has to be iced. Hot coffee is for the birds. You guys got it love it.
Speaker 1:Love it so much so we're so excited to have you here today. Like I said, um, the reason we invited both of you is to talk a little bit about titan dreamers, your involvement with the, the student group. For those that don't know, we have this wonderful group on our campus. It's a student-led organization called Titan Dreamers. We're going to hear more about what it is, what they do, what they advocate for, in a few minutes, but we're just really excited to have you both here. Can you take a moment to just briefly introduce yourself? Briefly introduce yourself. Say your name, what year you are in school, if you are still in school, and maybe something special like a fun fact about yourself. I'll say your major too. Oh yeah, what'd you study? That's important. That's why we're here, right, brenda? Would you like to go first?
Speaker 4:Yes, my name is Brenda Nayeli Bravo Villaruel and I'm a business major here at the University of Mercy and I'm concentrating in marketing, and I have a minor in leadership and one yeah, one fun fact one fun fact would be I am the youngest out of 11.
Speaker 2:Wow and.
Speaker 4:I'm the first person in my entire family to graduate high school and attend college. That's amazing.
Speaker 1:You deserve a round of applause.
Speaker 2:Thank, you Good job.
Speaker 1:Marina, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me on. My name is Marina Mahmoud. I just graduated, in December of 2023, with a bachelor's in business, and I did a double concentration in sports management and finance. I am also the co-founder of the Titan Dreamers on campus that started. The dream started in early 2019 and it was fully accomplished about summer of 2020.
Speaker 1:Amazing, wonderful. So that kind of leads perfectly into our first question is just tell us a bit about Titan Dreamers. Marina, I'm going to snowball that to you first. As someone who you just mentioned, you're the co-founder of Titan Dreamers. Can you tell me a little bit about what Titan Dreamers is?
Speaker 3:Yes, so Titan Dreamers is a student-led organization on campus Kind of have two parts of the way that I've always described it is it's two halves. One half is about advocacy on campus and the other half is about community and support on campus for immigrants.
Speaker 1:Great, amazing, wonderful.
Speaker 2:How are each of you involved within Titan Dreamers? We'll start with you, Brenda. How are each of you involved in Titan Dreamers?
Speaker 4:We'll start with you, brenda. When I arrived here at Detroit Mercy, I transferred from community college, and so I think the first group that felt like I could connect to it made me feel more comfortable around campus was Titan Dreamers. I attended one of the meetings and I was like I thought to myself hey, there's other people who are struggling with the same issues that I am struggling with, and so I started joining the meetings and being part of it, getting to meet other people. So it was really, really nice to get the chance to have that community as a Marine.
Speaker 1:Awesome, I'm just curious to know. So, sharing a little bit about what Titan Dreamers is. Who are some of the people that are involved in Titan Dreamers? Obviously, the two of you are, but what does the landscape of people involved in Titan Dreamers look like? Could you share a little bit about some of the community and what you all are about?
Speaker 3:So who's involved in Titan Dreamers? We are not an exclusive organization. Anyone's allowed to join, anyone's able to join, anyone who has an immigration status themselves or in a mixed legal status, family meaning, if you have a different status than other family members or even just allies of people who are far removed from the situation but are supportive of immigrants. We also have faculty and staff that you know attend, who attend meetings, who attend any events that we do on campus, along with a university ministry who helped with the creation of Titan Dreamers.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Yeah, I can't take any credit. Just so people know, titan Dreamers was founded long before I came and I give most of the credit to my colleague, sister Erin McDonald, who I know is a big part of helping getting Titan Dreamers off the ground. I'd love to ask Marina if you could share a little bit about what motivated you and your co-founder to start Titan Dreamers. Thank you.
Speaker 3:It started in the fall of 2019. That's when I started college here at the University of Detroit, mercy, and during PTV, the event for freshmen, I was walking around with Sister Erin McDonald and I saw that there was an event for immigration and that being the trip to El Paso, texas, to go work on the border. When I had told her my status as a DACA recipient, she was kind of like, oh my goodness, wait, you're DACA. And I was like, yeah, oh my goodness, like wait, you're DACA. And I was like, yeah, and that was the first time I had said it, because only a few months prior was when I found out my true status, because my parents had kept it from me because they were afraid of me going and telling people and god forbid, something had happened to my family or I. So it was a scary thing to say out loud, but sister Erin was so supportive and it was nice to be able to be like there's nothing wrong with my status, there's nothing wrong with me saying this is who I am. She then told me about the opportunity in Washington DC, the Ignatian Family Teaching for Justice, which is organized by the Ignatian Solidarity Network, a nonprofit organization outside of Cleveland Ohio. She said that they focus on.
Speaker 3:It's a weekend-long conference focused on two issues one environmental and two immigration issues. I was like, yes, I'm in, I love Washington DC and I love immigration. When I had gone, I had then met amazing people from Jesuit universities and high schools across the country. When I met with some CERN universities, such as Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, they had told me about everything they had on campus between having like a dream center for immigrants. They had professors who were trained in immigration who you could go to confidentially. They had therapists for immigrants on campus, they had scholarships for full rides for anyone who has immigration status or is transferring, and I just was really mind to start something and have a support system for immigrants on campus, because it's a hard thing to kind of live with at times in a very small community and I think that that should be brought more to light. So that's a long story of why I wanted to start the Titan Dreamers.
Speaker 1:No, that's amazing and I appreciate you sharing it.
Speaker 1:Just for our listeners who don't know and both of you feel free to correct me if any of this is incorrect um, I want to explain a little bit what daca is for people who don't know. Um, it stands, it's a, it's an acronym, it stands for deferred action for childhood arrivals and it is a status given to children who are brought to the united states um by their families, um, and have you know, family. Their family status is mixed legal family status. That process basically allows people who receive DACA or who are granted DACA, able to have social security cards, be able to have work visas, be able to have an easier process of going throughout life in the United States. However, it is not a perfect system and I'm not here to say that it is or to criticize the pieces about it that I don't maybe personally agree with in our larger complex immigration system in the United States, but just to share with our listeners what that is. Is there something in that that I maybe missed or didn't explain well that either of you would like to share?
Speaker 3:I was going to say so. Yes, as Anna explained, DACA allows us to have a social security card and employment authorization in the US for two years. However, the biggest thing about DACA is that it's not a pathway to citizenship, which I think a lot of people might get confused compared to. You know, once you have a green card, you have five years you can apply for citizenship. However, DACA is a continuously renewal thing every two years and it's just. It's kind of what we have have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's the complex reality that we don't have a clear pathway to citizenship. If people are familiar with the dreamers act and and other elements of immigration reform and justice that are still attempting to be created in the United States, this is a piece of that story, of that larger story for many immigrants in the United States.
Speaker 4:And I was going to say too it also feels like you're kind of stuck, you can't move forward, and it's very depressing and's very um hard on everyone, and a lot of us still seem to be like the foundation of our family. So it's always a constant like will it get removed, will it stay? And it's always a fear that a lot of DACA recipients have, and and I feel like it's just something I just wanted to add- yeah, no, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:I think that's very true. You know, that's the reality and I can't, as a person who has citizenship, understand that reality. I can empathize as best as I can, but I also recognize my limitations in knowing that. I don't know that experience. But I can imagine that that's really hard and I just want to validate that that's hard and I'm sorry that that is a reality that we're working, uh, with at the current time. Um, one of the things we want to ask is why is it important, uh, for the Detroit Mercy community to be aware of Titan Dreamers?
Speaker 4:I would say because we value immigration, walking with the young, with the outcast, and I think that it's important for the University of Detroit Mercy to acknowledge and help people who struggle with immigration status, with fear, and I really, really am happy that the University of Tremorsy has shown to accept and work on it.
Speaker 2:Has being a part of Titan Dreamers, at least emotionally and support-wise, has it made you feel much better? Has it made going to school easier for you?
Speaker 4:100, 100 and I thank Marina for creating this group. I feel like it really has created a sense of community and I'm not alone. I know it's like it sounds like. I know that there's other people here with me who are struggling, but we're pushing, pushing through, we're getting these degrees and we're going to better ourselves.
Speaker 3:I think one of the other things about why it's so important for Tiny Dreamers to be on the campus and for the community to be aware of is that, as Brenda mentioned, community is the biggest thing. There's not that many of us and we face a lot of the same. We have a lot of the same understandings that other people may not, as Anna was just saying, that you can empathize but you might not be exactly able to understand. You know, a lot of us haven't seen our family since we left. You know very hard examples of that. One of the other realities is, even with affording university, we, as DACA recipients, we don't get access to federal aid, even though we've been here since we were little and only have gone through American education. So that is another thing where one of the situations that the Titan Dreamers want to create is having some sort of scholarship help in easing the cost of attending university.
Speaker 3:A lot of immigrants also are not able to attend certain universities because of their status. They might get charged more as an international student. There are a lot of issues in terms of that. I also think that it's really important for the creation of Titan Dreamers because everyone we are still the same, in a way of that we still exist, we're still on campus, of that we still exist, we're still on campus, and that we shouldn't be looked at differently. But it should be known that the person sitting next to you might be undocumented, the person next to you might have their family in removal proceedings, and so I think it's really important to recognize that it might look a little bit different on the outside, but on the inside it's a little bit different on the outside, but on the inside it's a little bit different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what are some of the injustices that you have encountered related to your immigration experience?
Speaker 1:share whatever you're comfortable with, of course and you don't necessarily have to share you. You could also like marina, you were just providing examples of like lack of access to federal aid, like it doesn't have to be. It could be more generalized that these are experiences that many people have. It doesn't have to be your personal story if you're not comfortable sharing that right now.
Speaker 3:I've been always really open with my immigration experience. I think it's important to recognize it, especially because, with my family kind of keeping it from me, not wanting me to talk about it, now that I've gone through this for the last few years, I really love sharing my story and my family's story because I think they're so strong and that I'm so strong. You know, one of the we came here seeking asylum into the States. Originally, we came Christmas Eve of 2004. My mother is Ukrainian, dad Syrian, and they faced a lot of backlash for being in interracial marriage back in Israel. My sister is 11 1⁄2 years older than me and when we were living in Israel, she was severely bullied and kids at school did not like her because she was the product of an interracial marriage. Um, my family's house was broken into a year before we moved and my parents were dragged out of their beds and hospitalized simply by my dad's neighborhood community just because they were the product of an interracial marriage.
Speaker 3:We had had no choice but to get out. We came to the United States with quite literally nothing and when we came here, we applied for asylum. We actually came on a work visa, we overstayed and then we applied for asylum and we went through the court system for years and years only to be denied. Even with hospital records, even with all of everything that we had. We had people who came and testified for us. It wasn't enough. They didn't give us asylum and eventually we were left with nothing and we were undocumented, four of us living in a two bedroom apartment just trying to make ends meet. So I think that the immigration system in general is broken, the asylum system's broken, um, but that is one of those situations that I think is really important when it comes to my story. Just asylum and being denied. You know, a lot of people do come here assuming that the United States will help them, but a lot more cases get denied than they are approved the United States will help them, but a lot more cases get denied than they are approved.
Speaker 4:I think some of the injustices that I currently recently have encountered was about a year ago. I had to go to the hospital and I didn't have insurance and I and I wasn't sure how I was going to pay for all these things. And then I tried to apply but a lot I couldn't, I didn't qualify, and I think that was really really tough on me because I thought to myself well, well, here dang I. You know, I work here, I'm a good person, I go to school and yet, like I can't afford this, and that was really really tough.
Speaker 4:Also, you know, talking about family, I all of my siblings, you know, are very hardworking and there's always a sense of when I attend school, I always wish, like I wish my siblings would be able to have this same opportunity to attend school and get their education. And I feel as though there's some sort of guilt as well, and I'm not sure you know a lot of people call it first generation guilt. Or you know, you're, it seems like you're kind of moving up, but you're not, because you're DACA, and then you see your family and you just want to, you just want to make sure everybody moves up yeah well.
Speaker 1:Thank you both for sharing um both pieces of your stories, of the things you've dealt with, I think. I think there are elements, like we've said, not everybody is going to understand your experience, but there are elements, like we've said, not everybody is going to understand your experience, but there are elements of truth, I mean, I think for myself I can share. I was in the hospital earlier I guess it was last year, really now and I, you know, was able to have insurance and was able to go into that process and there was still a lot of concerns on whether or not I was going to be able to pay some of those medical bills. And so I can't imagine the further issue, you know, the further injustices of not having access to something that should make things easier, and my own personal belief that everyone should be able to have access to insurance and certainly to medical care that is affordable, another issue of injustice that the United States could also work on.
Speaker 2:Don't get us started the struggles.
Speaker 1:The struggles are real. One of the other things we really wanted to chat with both of you about is, uh, the wider network that titan dreamers is a part of. I know ignatian solidarity network is a big part of our connection to titan dreamers, not only because they helped to create the undocu student network, but a lot of their work in general is advocating for immigration, reform and change and using the basis of our Catholic social teaching which is certainly a part of our mission and identity here at Detroit Mercy to lift up communities of people who don't have access, who are restricted in the resources they have or don't have. So could each of you share I know each of you are involved a little bit differently with ISN, which is short form for the Ignatian Solidarity Network Could you just share a little bit about your experiences, marina, maybe a little bit about being a part of the UndocuStudent Network? Remind me again the position you hold there.
Speaker 3:With the UndocuStudent Network with Ignatian Solidarity Network. I am one of the core committee members is the correct term for my position. It was started when I mentioned earlier, when I talked to someone from Loyola University back in fall of 2019. Her name is Camila. She is now at UC Berkeley for medical school. Shout out to her and she's incredible, and so she was the one who told me about everything going on at Loyola Marymount and she was genuinely my inspiration for wanting to start the Titan Dreamers and I looked up to her a lot when she came up with the idea of creating the Undocu Student Network she wanted to have.
Speaker 3:It was during COVID times, the pandemic. Everyone's isolated. She wanted to have community at a nationwide level and that's why she started the Undocu Student Network and I was one of the people she asked to be one of the committee board members. So I've been a part of Undocu Student Network since about summer of 2020, so we're going to almost four years now. We do once every year we have an annual summit for anyone who has immigration status or Mexico status, and it is a weekend somewhere in the United States based on learning about advocacy, talking, having community, and it is a really important and incredible weekend that we get to put together. On top of once a month, we have a monthly call where we get to just, you know they have themes. You know one of them might be traveling with immigration status, another one might be a DACA update. We've had, you know, emergency calls just when something major has happened in the courts. However, it is a very big sense of community and advocacy at a nationwide level, which is incredible.
Speaker 1:Great. And then, brenda, I know you have been an intern for the Ignatian Solidarity Network for two summers now, or two years, sorry, I shouldn't just say summers. Can you share a little bit about that experience, even if it's not connected to just the immigration side of ISN?
Speaker 4:So I got the chance to work alongside with Kim Coleman. She was the marketing manager. She is Ignatian for Ignatian Solidarity Network and I had such an amazing time getting to learn what goes behind into planning all these things you know all these events and gaining research and between also the environment, ecological side of it as well. So it was really really nice to work with Jorge as well, and I also wanted to see one of the questions, the connections that I have made. Recently. One of our, my friend, had told me about a film that has come out and it's called the Anormal and it talks about the story of a young lady who's undocumented but also under DACA status, and I wanted to say that had also opened up a connection between people who are actually doing films about this issue.
Speaker 1:Very cool, awesome, love a movie rec. One of the things I'm going to highlight and just I will certainly open it to other opportunities is there's many ways to be involved with with Titan Dreamers, but also in just spaces of learning more about immigration reform and immigration justice, and so I'm going to plug, for anyone listening, that we have a really great opportunity. That happens in the fall out of the Office of University Ministry where we take groups of students to Washington DC for IFTJ, which is the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice. Couldn't remember the name for a moment, but IFTJ is a really great opportunity to learn about a variety of justice issues, including justice reform for immigration. It is a weekend where a lot of high schools and colleges and universities including our own mostly from Jesuit backgrounds, but it's open to all different schools and different charisms, but we come together in Washington DC for a three-day conference. Two days are full of presentations, speakers, speakers. Many of our students have served as speakers, people have been involved in aspects of presentations and there's, like I said, a variety of different justice issues that are talked about. Immigration is certainly a huge one. We also talk a lot about environmental and sustainability. We talk about a variety of different things racial justice, all different justice issues.
Speaker 1:We come together for that weekend to share, to educate, to learn and to grow, and so that's a great opportunity for any students on our campus who might want to learn more and be more involved. And then I just want to share the last day that we're there. We go to Capitol Hill and we advocate for immigration reform and environmental justice. Those are two opportunities that we have an opportunity to sit down with our senators. We make meetings with one of our senators from the state of Michigan and we have an opportunity to share our story, share our background from the University of Detroit Mercy and share the things that we're advocating for. So plug, plug, plug, plug, plug Really encourage you all to consider that. But beyond IFTJ, what are some things that students on our campus can do to be involved with Titan Dreamers or to be involved in immigration reform?
Speaker 3:The Titan Dreamers, along with immigration organizations across campuses, hold an event once a year called UndocuWeek. Undocuweek is a week full of events tailored to immigration, whether it's advocacy, it's workshops, it's any sort of community, and we have done three of them now on university. You know. Our very first one was through Zoom because of the pandemic, and since then we've been in person. This past year we actually raised a little over $500 for an immigrant family through a soccer fundraising event that we had on campus.
Speaker 3:Some of the other events include, you know, workshops, some of them open mics, where we get to share a story, share poems, share anything that we feel called to With UndocuWeek. Ours is usually in the spring and that is a great way to get involved because anyone can come to the events. It's not limited to anyone. You can come to one, you can come to all of them, and that is probably the best way to get involved with Titan Dreamers. And before we hold our own docuseries, we do at least like a one day, like small events, just to fundraise money or bring awareness to Titan Dreamers, and we're always open to anyone and everyone and usually we're on campus. Uh, the new president, sam, is you'll. You'll know her when you see her and she invites everyone in and very welcoming and loves to get anyone's support, and even just coming in buying something or even just saying, hey, I want to sign up for future meetings is a great way to get involved Awesome, thank you.
Speaker 1:I think at this time we're going to move forward and we're going to move into those mission questions. So everyone on our podcast we try to ask these two questions. You both have articulated wonderfully already some of the ways in which Titan Dreamers is very closely integral to our mission, to the things we value, to the things that Detroit Mercy tries to stand for, and so I'll start by just asking each of you I'll read both of them, but we'll start, we'll just do one at a time to share what your favorite part of the mission of the university is, and this could be connected to the critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy. It could be connected to the UAPs of the Jesuits, which is Universal Apostolic Preferences. It could also be a value that you see as being very true in our community. So, what is your favorite part of the mission?
Speaker 4:And I'll ask Brenda to go first my favorite part of the mission would be compassion towards others who are, in a sense, the outcast. I think walking with people like God would walk with them alongside, alongside people who already, in a sense, have a disadvantage. So I think that's my favorite part of this mission compassion.
Speaker 1:And Marina. What about you?
Speaker 3:I would say my favorite part of the mission, I think, is diversity and inclusion. I think it's really important, especially when we are so closely connected to immigration, and immigration can look very different and it might not look like it on the outside, but definitely on the inside. So I think it's really important to note.
Speaker 2:And then what motivates you to live the mission?
Speaker 4:My family. My family motivates me to live this mission every day. In everything that I do, I always try to be understanding and compassionate to people, even though I might not agree with them or whatever the case is, but I'm always, always, always making sure that I'm kind and understanding of others.
Speaker 2:Shout out to your family.
Speaker 3:Shout out to your family.
Speaker 3:I would also say my family, especially when it comes to diversity and inclusion. As I mentioned, coming from an interracial family, you know personally, I've also been told that you know I might not look a certain, I might not look like my mom, I might not look like my dad, and a lot of people question even my status or my background, question even my status or my background. However, I think also with the backlash that they face from being an interracial marriage, that's where my want for diversity and inclusion to come from, where I don't think you know love or family or anything should be defined to just one religion or one race. I think it should be defined as you love who you love.
Speaker 1:I love that. Thank you. Quote of the day. Quote of the day. Quote of the day. Before we move into our lightning round, I wanted to give each of you an opportunity to share one of your favorite memories from Titan Dreamers. If you could share a story, a moment, one of your favorite experiences at Detroit Mercy with Titan Dreamers thus far, because there's still more to come.
Speaker 3:I would say my favorite Titan Dreamers memory, honestly, was probably one of the very first events we held during UndocuWeek. And I say that because, even though it was through Zoom, as I mentioned, because it was during 2020, we had, if not over a hundred people, we had at least a hundred people join one of our very first Zooms, and that was and I remember just sitting in my room and just being like oh my goodness, like looking at the amount of people joining and the amount of you know, we had comments in the chat of being like this is great, thank you so much for sharing. And I was just, I was blown away because a few months ago there was nothing on campus for immigration and now there's at least a hundred students and faculty who wanted to spend their evening on a Zoom hearing our stories and hearing about what was going on. So I think for me, that was probably one of the most wholesome and just very much like oh my goodness. I'm glad that my dream kind of came true in a way.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool.
Speaker 4:That's cool. One of my favorite events or memories that Tiny Dreamers created was also on UndocuWeek. I was a chance to help Sam and Juan create this event that we had where we had students from other schools come by, that I introduced them to the group and it was really nice having that sense of community and laughter and also finding joy in in the struggle, if that makes sense. Um, so I was really. It was really really nice, were these students?
Speaker 2:high schools or they were also from um universities.
Speaker 4:One of some of them were from the university of michigan cool.
Speaker 1:Before we move to the lightning round, I also wanted to check in. Is there anything that we didn't talk about that either of you would like to make sure gets into this podcast episode?
Speaker 3:oh, one thing I did think about. I didn't say my fun fact during my bio because I remember Brenda did it. My fun fact about me is that I like going to concerts how many have you been to thus far? Oh God, I've lost count. I mean, I know, even in 2023, I'd gone to like 40 just in the last year. So I mean my favorite artist. I've seen them almost 50 times.
Speaker 2:Oh wow.
Speaker 1:And so just you have to name drop who's your favorite artist.
Speaker 3:It is Big Time Rush.
Speaker 2:Big Time Rush. If you are are hearing this, please sponsor my girl.
Speaker 3:Please sponsor my girl, I love it um, and so I'm definitely well over a hundred. Just so many love concerts that's incredible.
Speaker 1:I I also like concerts, but I don't. I don't know if I love them that much. That's a lot.
Speaker 2:I didn't even know Big Time Rush was still having concerts.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, they got back together in 2021.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hey, kendall, biggest fan, Biggest fan, clearly, I love it.
Speaker 4:Fun fact I took sports and entertainment marketing with Marina and I remember her speaking about her love for concerts and I was just shook to how many you've been participating. I'm like that's really cool well in that class.
Speaker 3:Actually, I remember 313 presents is the kind of like management slash marketing thing of Detroit with all the concerts, and what was really cool about this class was that they had people come in who do marketing and work with all these concerts. And one of the days we had, I think, like the head of marketing come in from 313 presents and it was the day that Taylor Swift tickets went on sale and so I was sitting on my computer in class don't do this I was trying.
Speaker 3:So I was waiting in the queue to get to buy tickets for Taylor Swift and like the speaker is there and she's talking about concerts and I was like raise my hand. I was like hey, I'm in the middle of trying to buy Taylor Swift tickets. And I just was like listen, I get it. I love concerts and I feel like if that doesn't speak to who I am, I don't know what does.
Speaker 1:Well, now I have to know did you succeed in getting tickets?
Speaker 3:Those ones I did not. My friend had gotten the invite for the show in Pittsburgh. Um friend had gotten the invite for the show in Pittsburgh. Um, and that was the day that all the madness went down. Or people were waiting over 10 hours to get in to get tickets. However, the week before the Ford Field show in Detroit, they opened the queue for some release tickets and I was able to get literally the first row of the lower bowl. So it was just right there. I got, you know, face value. I yeah, I didn't overpay and it.
Speaker 1:It was incredible way to finesse girl, way to finesse love the talk of concerts, love a lot of, a lot of artists, anything, no, no, it's great and I want. These are the things that are beautiful and organic about the podcast that we love. Um, but is there anything specifically towards immigration reform?
Speaker 4:titan dreamers personal story that you want to make sure gets in, that we maybe didn't share, and if there's not, that's okay, you got something, brenda, I was going to say um, you know, a lot of people could say like this doesn't affect me or I'm not part of this at all. It's always understanding when people say I'm not part of this or I don't have anything to do with this. But the way I see it is, sometimes if your struggle might not be my struggle, but it's always again going back to compassion and being there for each other. I just want to emphasize on that, like just listening to each other, that's what brings us together yeah, no, that's so true.
Speaker 1:I think one of the things we are called to do as students and faculty and staff at Detroit Mercy is to have compassion for one another. I think one of the gifts of higher education is like we're in a space where we're going to be with people who have different life experiences, who have different backgrounds, whether that's different cultural backgrounds, different religious backgrounds, racial backgrounds, sexual orientation. You know, we have the whole gamut of backgrounds and identities here at the university and our job is to create community with everyone, and that means listening, that means trying to understand, even if we can't fully understand something. It's giving yourself space, or, in a student org meeting, there's an opportunity to learn something new and to learn something about someone else that you didn't know previously, and so definitely think that's true.
Speaker 1:I think we're ready to move into the lightning round, the best round of the day round. So the way we typically do this is Margo and I will go back and forth sharing the questions and we'll determine now who wants to answer first. Who's feeling called Marina. It is Okay, marina's going to answer first and then Brenda's going to go, and what we'll do is so I'll ask the question, marina. You'll give me your answer, brenda, you'll give me yours, and then Margo will ask the question. Marina, you'll give me your answer, brenda, you'll give me yours, and then Margaret will ask the next question and we'll just kind of go through it.
Speaker 1:Um, most of them are pretty easy, like one word or a couple sentence answers. Some of them are going to be a little bit longer and need more um context. Even though it is a lightning round, we're trying to move fast. Um, if there's a story attached to one of the answers, like you know, it makes sense. For our final one, what's the best advice you've ever received? There you go, you get a little heads up. That that's the last one, so you can think about it. That usually involves more than just like one word answers. So feel free, don't feel pressured, but we are going to kind of move quickly, if that makes sense. So I'm going to start. Marina, you're going to answer first, brenda, you'll answer second, and then we'll just go through the questions. Do you feel ready? Yes, yes, amazing, okay, here we go. Sweet or salty, salty, salty.
Speaker 2:Okay, favorite class you've taken at Detroit, mercy?
Speaker 4:Leadership with Dr Don.
Speaker 1:Same here, leadership with dr don. Same here, leadership with dr don. Dr don has some favorites. Do you prefer?
Speaker 2:to text or to call your friends on the phone text I love a call conversation. Okay, okay, love it would you rather have the ability to move objects with your mind or be able to read minds, be able to read minds ability to move objects with my mind what is your current favorite song?
Speaker 1:run away with you by logan crosby oh, that's hard um this one favorites are always the hardest, which I say on every podcast. I also hate getting the favorites questions can I look it up? Yeah, okay we've multiple times had people pull out their phones and look it up because they're like I don't remember the name. I'm also terrible with song names, um, artist names. I'll just be like. I just like when you listen to something, you just know it. Maybe that's because I grew up in an age with cds and like random so you really didn't have records.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just, you know whatever was playing in the house on the track yeah, you're like, I like six well, I saw the question earlier and I looked it up earlier, so I had this answer in my mind, did you?
Speaker 4:find it yes, um hasta la raiz by natalia love it.
Speaker 1:Who is your hero?
Speaker 2:my older sister, stacy shout out to her my mom shout out to mom um, what is your favorite word?
Speaker 4:love. I'm gonna say oh gosh, yeah, no, it's hard.
Speaker 2:It could be english or spanish it could be like an exclamation too.
Speaker 4:It doesn't even have to be a word okay, um, I think my favorite word would be coño recently, because I I think it's so funny okay um favorite place that you have visited new orleans new orleans, chicago as a chicago native, I love it.
Speaker 1:Um, if you could have lunch with any famous person, dead or alive, who would you invite?
Speaker 2:selena gomez my grandparents what is your favorite holiday?
Speaker 1:christmas um, let me say halloween okay, and then our last one what's the best advice you've ever received?
Speaker 3:I recently heard this from a friend and it's a saying, but that the rearview mirror is smaller than your windshield I like that.
Speaker 4:I like that um, my favorite advice was from a woman named marnie's roberts and she had told me an opportunity is an opportunity to an opportunity, and that's always stuck with me.
Speaker 1:Love it Great. Well, I just want to thank you both for coming on the podcast today, for sharing bits of your story, for sharing about Titan Dreamers talking to us a bit about the realities of students here on our campus, about the community that's been formed through the establishment of Titan Dreamers, and, yeah, I'm just really thankful. I really appreciate you both sitting down with Margo and I today to talk and to just share a little bit of your story. So thank you for being here, gracias.
Speaker 4:So thank you for being here. Gracias Muchas gracias.
Speaker 1:So today was really great. I had such a wonderful time getting to hear from both Brenda and Marina about their experiences with Titan Dreamers, the areas that they are advocating for in terms of justice, for migration, and ecological issues and ecological issues. What I really loved, though, above all, even with all of the wonderful things they shared was this really strong commitment to community, not only community within Titan Dreamers, but they spoke a lot about the community of their families, and I just think that's so beautiful. I think there's something so wonderful and precious about our families that we, you know, even when family is really difficult which it can be even when your family's struggling with things, even when you have the stresses of as Brenda and Marina shared the stresses of DACA, the stresses of being undocumented what does that uncertainty bring? I think there's something beautiful about the commitment to still being a strong family unit and that love that they share. I mean, they both shared that their families are the people that motivate them to work towards justice, and I think that's just a really beautiful thing.
Speaker 2:I think that their family members have done a good job of just shaping their personal characteristics, especially Brenda. I know that she mentioned being the last born of 11 and being the first one to finish high school and go to college. And, brenda, when you hear this, I just want to give you another personal shout out I am very proud of you. I am sure that your family members are 10 times more proud of you and just take this as encouragement to keep going. Same thing for you, marina. I'm very proud of you Finishing college girl.
Speaker 2:It is not easy, as your fellow alum is trying to tell you, but to the both of you, you guys have inspired many of your Titan Dreamer members. You guys have inspired me as a first gen student to just keep going. So this is just a personal shout out to you guys and just continue being you in everything that you do. Keep showing that compassion that you guys have for other people and keep being a blessing to others, as God has blessed you guys. You've been listening to what's the Tea with Ministry. If you enjoyed listening to us today, be sure to subscribe so that you never miss an episode. Also, be sure to follow us on social media at UDM underscore ministry or check us out at the what's the Tea with Ministry podcast on the Detroit Mercy website.
Speaker 1:Thank you to our guests Marina and Brenda, for being in conversation with us today. Thank you also to all those who have made this podcast possible, especially the Communication Studies Department, our sound engineer, michael Jason, our music composer, dan Gregg, marketing and communications and the whole Detroit Mercy community.
Speaker 2:We look forward to sharing more of the mission with you next time. See you later. Hasta luego.