In the midst of Quadmania headlines and spring break plans, it is easy to oversee the hidden talent that lives right under our noses. With her sensual sound and revolutionary mission, Gurleen Kaur Ahuja is braving the music industry one SoundCloud post at a time.

Gurleen, who goes by the stage name Gurl, sought out music to channel the poetry and emotion in Sikhism. At eight years old, playing the harmonium helped her to express the universal truthfulness of her religion for family and friends. The poetic language of scripture paved a way for songwriting which only grew over time. New Gurl has put in countless studio hours inside and outside of school to expand her network of DJ’s, producers, singers and musicians of all backgrounds. Meeting new people and making friends while recording is “the best part of the work,” she disclosed. “I don’t connect with the sound engineers in separate booths. When there’s no wall, just a mic and our equipment, I can work freely,” she shared.

Inspired by icons Kendrick Lamar and Russ, Gurl intends to build a fan base by tapping into the differences that make us not only human, but connected. “I’m not interested in making music for my own pleasure,” Gurleen stated. “I want my songs to be meaningful.”

This is seen in “Guarded Tree,” a song that examined the dual life of a college student living with epilepsy. As a person who suffers from epilepsy herself, Gurl challenges the need to stay guarded “in a world where everyone will push you to follow the norm.” By singing about the rooted integrity of trees, she empowers all her listeners to realize their capability of living full and vibrant lives — no matter their struggles.

As a junior double majoring in global studies and pre-nursing, stress has its way of creeping into her life. “I spend my day committed to classes so my nights are open to work on new music,” she says. “I like to stay organized.” On one hand, she’s involved in organizations such as Students Helping Honduras, an international non-governmental organization volunteer program that provides fundamental human needs to impoverished families in Honduras. On the other hand, her next musical project will illustrate the effects of war in Syria and need to improve global diplomacy.

When asked about how she balances music with political activism Gurl responded, “With extremely humble roots, my father and his family moved from New Delhi India to the U.S at age eleven and he worked hard to make sure my sister,brother, and I could make a life for ourselves. It is my duty to tell the stories of the unspoken, but also to understand my privilege and work to use it to other’s advantages.”

There’s no doubt that Gurl is on her way to making a mark in music — if she has not already. After school, she plans to take a gap year dedicated to creating songs and possibly moving her work to New York. Just days ago, Gurl dropped a new single called “My Body.” While discussing the meaning behind “My Body,” Gurl shared that it connected to her aim to establish a resource center for “gurls” that suffer sexual and domestic abuse. It is clear that Gurl is tackling issues one guitar string at a time. “I have to see it happen,” she emphasized. “My push is time.”

In her new show, “All She Must Possess,” UMBC assistant professor Susan McCully explores the lives of Baltimore’s Cone sisters, Etta and Claribel, who together built an impressive collection of more than 3,000 pieces of art, including 500 by Henri Matisse. The show, which recently closed out its world premiere at The Rep Stage in Columbia, MD, was part of the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival.

UMBC senior theatre design and production major Isabelle Tabet interviewed McCully about the genesis of “All She Must Possess,” and what it was like to watch her play take shape on the stage.

Click here to watch the interview.

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UMBC’s library showcased an eclectic art gallery presenting works on behalf of the Peace Corps from Feb. 26 – March 2. This art gallery is a collection of photographs, drawings and writing pieces provided by real Peace Corps volunteers and provides spectators with insight into the perspective of an honorable volunteer.

The Peace Corps is a U.S. government-run organization that aims to help people in need internationally. Since its start in 1961, Peace Corps has been accepting volunteers and helping communities abroad.

The Peace Corps works toward world peace by providing assistance to communities in need, educating members of American culture and educating Americans about other cultures. The organization aims to develop a sense of empathy and understanding toward other ways of life.

Volunteers have a variety of tasks including teaching classes of children, promoting grassroots efforts and environmental protection, educating on health and disease prevention among many other missions. To apply to become a volunteer, you must be over 18, be a U.S. citizen, have intrinsic motivation and an altruistic heart.

Many of the volunteers chose to capture their virtuous experience with photographs. One photograph depicts a young girl peeking over a blue fence. In an excerpt under the photo, it is explained that the little girl was from Fiji and, although she and the volunteer could not verbally communicate thoroughly, they shared a conversation of gestures.

No matter from what country, we are all human. As humans, we have an innate tendency to communicate, and despite language barriers and accentual differences, we always find a way to understand one another. The Peace Corps emphasizes this capacity for human understanding and connection.

One watercolor painting is of a sweeping Comorian woman titled “Fighting Red Dust.” Although the image depicted an activity quite lackluster and average, the colors are bright and intense. This adds a new beauty to a normalized custom. It depicts how something common to one viewer may be memorable to another.

This seems to be a common theme throughout the gallery. Peace Corps encourages viewers to find beauty in what one person may find different and odd, whilst another may view normally. It is important to embrace and respect all cultures whilst emphasizing their individual beauties.

Another volunteer had drawn a picture of a girl jump roping using a scarf. The volunteer had expressed that this drawing was inspired by a young girl in Moroni who, in order to escape boredom, created her own joy using a scarf.

The drawing is simplistic and straightforward. The colors are dull like the young girl’s mood before inventing her own enjoyment. The drawing has a very child-like flair, keeping the integrity of the young girl’s innocence and imagination.

This gallery presents sights a person may see as a Peace Corps volunteer. All of these images show a discovered beauty in life overseas and show how rewarding it can be to devote your life to benefit others. The gallery will be available for viewing only for a week, but its art may just make you consider joining a corporation that could benefit you and others for a lifetime.

During Peace Corps week, master’s students who completed their two-year service tour of a developing country compiled their experiences into a short video about the lessons they learned. The videos were shared with the UMBC community during the Screening Digital Stories event, evoking conversation about the actions the volunteers took, the obstacles they faced and the rewards of the experience. The stories were deeply personal and extremely relatable, which made the event such an intimate moment for the attendees.

While the room chosen for the event seemed too spacious for the actual audience, there was no distance between the presenters and the observers. Attendees connected with the ex-volunteers and soaked up all the information about the logistics of Peace Corps, the content of the video, and the personal anecdotes of the presenters. At one point, the audience and Peace Corps members engaged in a game of “What Would You Do?” during the videos.

The nature of the videos intended to pique the interest of the viewers. They answered the prompt, “When did you know you were in the Peace Corps?” Some volunteers indicated that they felt they were in the Peace Corps when something went extremely wrong. For someone else, it was when they received their invitation to the service site.

The videos indicated the transformative nature of the Peace Corps volunteer experience. Much like in college, no one left their host country or host family, unchanged. For some, they could find themselves halfway across the world in Indonesia. For others, they experienced their identities in different ways. Two videos, “Identity” by Morgan Bowers and “Ndi Umunyamerika” by Ciara Christian, emphasized the experience of being labeled an “Other” in a country of people who look like you.

Through the vastly different and incredibly similar stories of the people who had volunteered in Peace Corps, there was an essential moral: one is unable to learn about others until they learn about themselves. In each experience, the volunteer was required to immerse themselves in the culture of their host country and tackle very specific limitations of being an immigrant for two years. The volunteers, without fail, had to stop, take a step back and address their personal limitations and how their perspectives influenced their problems.

Another video, “Life’s Little Blessings” by Ross Dione, centered on his encounters with a Jamaican religious leader. The leader would climb onto the bus and repeatedly begin, “Who God bless…” and the bus riders would respond with, “… No man shall curse.” Dione’s video explored his rejection of the practice and his initial irritation with the quirk. However, as time progressed, he addressed his irritation as a deficit that prevented him from being wholly connected in the experience.

The stories of those who participated in the Peace Corps flawlessly aligned with UMBC’s mantra, “be your best self.” While the volunteers expressed their frustration with the lack of change they could incite, or internally feuded with Jamaican pastors, they opened themselves to the unique experience of serving in foreign countries. They learned their best selves and brought them back to the States.