The Dissonance

It was this go-getter mentality and aspiration that has helped shape what Brothers at Bard (BAB) is today. Harry Johnson ’17 and Dariel Vasquez ’17, the founders of BAB, began from humble beginnings as two students of color acclimating to Bard with a unique vision, which has flourished into the intricate, blooming network and organization that BAB is today. Ingenuity seeped out in their responses during my conversation with the pair, who are referred to across Bard as the “dream team.” The title is clearly deserved; they’ve turned various problems they faced at Bard, as well as issues they registered in the community around them, into change. Their insistence on ownership of their own experiences and creation of space for others like them is a dream to witness.

“You know the dream team, it’s the dream to be able to have the ability to control or fix or find solutions for your own problems,” Vasquez said. showing the strength of their dynamism as a pair of close friends and colleagues, Johnson followed up with, “But it’s ownership in the hands of those who are facing the problems and we’re coming at it and fixing those problems. That’s what inclusion is.”