I get to meet a lot of very cool alumni at my job. Last week, I met Farah Emeka, class of ‘97, and we had a lovely conversation about Oberlin over the years.
Tell me about your Oberlin journey.
My time at Oberlin was awesome. I didn’t know it would be so great when I first arrived in this small town surrounded by cornfields. But once I was on campus, it was a very tight-knit community, very friendly with lots of support. I had a great education in dance and chemistry, worked a couple of jobs, and built a very strong, lasting community. Once I graduated I spent a year doing Americorp, then went to law school in Washington state.
When I came out of law school I had the opportunity to be a prosecutor. I was able to do a lot of good in that position. After eight years away, we moved back to Oberlin for my husband’s job. I eventually got the opportunity to serve as prosecutor for Oberlin. It was always important to me to serve in the community where I live. It’s a heavy charge, you take it seriously when you know you could see people walking on the street. I wanted to take that responsibility on and do a good job with it, and that’s what I am up to in Oberlin now.
What do you think has changed about Oberlin from your time as a student here?
When I was a student, everybody would just kind of speak to each other on the streets, whether or not they knew each other. I liked that about Oberlin, and it doesn’t happen so much anymore. It used to be that just anyone would stop and chat, but that seems to have fallen away.
Another difference is that it seems like all the different personalities and identities aren’t so separate anymore, it seems a lot more blended. When I was a student, it was like the athletes had their group, they stayed on north campus and wore polos and jeans, and the people with green hair were over somewhere else, and now it seems like everyone is just mushed up all together. I think this is very true to what I love about Oberlin and how it brings people of all kinds of interests together. Oberlin combines all types of areas in terms of learning, you have people who are super science-y but also a music minor, or a poet who is a math major, and that is still very much the case. Even the curriculum has started to blend them together more, there are more structured options from the college itself.
Any advice for current students?
The thing that has worked best for me in my career and in life in general is that I am genuinely myself. People are able to recognize that I am sincere and that they are meeting the real me. The great thing is that being yourself is the easiest thing you can do, and also the most effective.
Young people, especially right now, are really challenged with how to continue to engage in the political process in a time when our system of government and our laws are being distorted and dismantled. People have lost faith. Obies are so smart and informed that we see through stuff, and that’s important, but at the same time you still have to be engaged. You still have to participate because if you don’t your voice is not there. If you don’t say it, no one will see it. Folks need to vote and voice your opinion, do both. It’s ‘yes, and’ and not ‘either, or.’ Continue to exercise that right that you have, it comes with a great deal of power. People don’t realize that by dropping out of the system you give that up. Stay engaged!
