Want to find out more about the Northern Slant team? Every week we put 10 questions to our community of contributors – about them, their interests and hopes for Northern Ireland’s future. This week’s interviewee is Alina Utrata. You can follow Alina on Twitter @alinautrata.

 

1. Tell us about yourself, and why you got involved with Northern Slant.

I’m born and bred California girl. I grew up just outside of San Francisco, and did my undergraduate degree in History at Stanford University. My studies focused on how international criminal justice mechanisms impacted societies emerging from conflict. I was really lucky that I’ve been able to research all around the world from Sarajevo, to Phnom Penh, to The Hague—I was definitely bit by the travel bug at a young age! Now I’m an M.A. student at Queen’s University studying Conflict Transformation and Social Justice.

I was lucky to be introduced to Northern Slant‘s Jamie Pow when I moved to Belfast in September, and quickly became a junkie of the site. I’ve never been able to resist writing rants about whatever current events are frustrating me; Jamie was kind enough to offer me a platform that would allow me to reach more than just whichever friend I had tricked into reading my work this week.

 

2. Describe Northern Ireland in 5 words.

Breath-taking, close, communities, good craic.

 

3. What makes you proud to be here?

I love being in Belfast because it is so different from home. I grew up in Silicon Valley, where everyone is obsessed with technology and start-ups. Being here is so lovely because it is a place that is at once part of the modern world, but in many ways still feels like a tight-knit community that is friendly, takes care of each other, and really cares about local politics. Even though this makes for a complicated past, I think it is also something that can be really positive.

 

4. Are you hopeful for the future?

Yes, definitely! I am always struck my something that my History professor once said about why Franklin D. Roosevelt was such a great American president: because he recognized that every crisis is an opportunity.

So, even though the world seems like it’s falling apart sometimes, I think the sense of crisis and urgency means that we have the potential to make some really radical and long-lasting changes—the trick is making sure that they’re positive changes!

 

5. If you could change one thing about Northern Ireland, what would it be? 

I would try to change how voter preferences are expressed. Talking to people here, I feel like everyone has such nuanced and thoughtful opinions about how they think this region should be run—but they feel like they have no outlet to communicate this to their elected representatives or that they are trapped in their political parties. I think using online platforms for people to express their specific policy preferences or engage in deliberative democracy could have a huge impact on how politics operate. (Or, of course, citizens’ assemblies!)

 

6. Favourite NI celebrity? 

Kenneth Branagh. I must have watched his and Emma Thompson’s rendition of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ about a million times as a child.

 

 

7. Politician you most admire, from outside Northern Ireland? 

Eleanor Roosevelt. She was the wife of an American president with a huge personality, but she created her own distinct role and legacy for herself. She never got lost in the trappings of wealth and prestige, or forgot about the people she was fighting for. And, of course, her greatest legacy—drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—is still impacting the world for the better today.

 

8. Favourite place to bring a visitor?

St George’s Market! I love how their eyes pop open and, mouth drooling, they go, “Oh my! So much cheese!”

 

9. Potato bread or soda bread?

Soda bread. Yum.

 

10. Snow Patrol or Van Morrison?

I’m going to go rouge here, and say I love the Cranberries as an adopted Northern Ireland artist because of how amazing and heart-breaking that last episode of Derry Girls was.

 

Also published on Medium.