News

With support from our Lyon's Pride Fellowship, Judy Tan '03 is making it easier for HIV-positive people to track their health care needs. 

Read all about it here: http://alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/blog/judy-tan-03-improves-care-among-hiv-positive-people/

MHC student Melina Baron-Deutsch is putting together a collaborative zine about identity in relation to gender and sexuality at MHC and would really appreciate your input.

What's a zine? "Zines are cheaply made printed forms of expression on any subject. They are like mini-magazines or home-made comic books about favorite bands, funny stories, sub-cultures, personal collections, comix anthologies, diary entries, pathetic report cards, chain restaurants, and anything else."  

- from Whatcha Mean, What’s a Zine? by Mark Todd and Ether Pearl Watson

What to submit:
Any Mount Holyoke student, past or present, is welcomed to submit to this zine about campus identities related to gender and sexuality. Your submission may include a mini-essay, a comic, a piece of art, a collage, a doodle,poetry, random written thoughts or any other visual form of self-expression in relation to gender and sexuality.

Submissions would ideally be a half-size of a normal sheet of print paper--please use pen so it's dark enough to print and keep in mind that about a centimeter of the margins may be cut off due to printing.

Some possible prompts include: Is there anything inherently "feminist" about attending a women's college? How do the intersections of your race and/or class effect your gender and/or sexuality? Do you practice consent? Why or why not? How? Do you think "queer privilege" exists on our campus? Does your performance of gender and sexuality ever conflict with how you identify? How does identity (in)visibility on campus manifest in your perspective? Do gender roles fit into your dating life? If so, how? How do you relate to your gender, sexuality, race, class and/or ability at Mount Holyoke compared to at home? What would your ideal porn be like? How does class effect queerness?

How to submit:
Send your submissions to zineclubmhc@gmail.com
for questions/concerns/comments, please contact Melina at baron24m@mtholyoke.edu
**Please indicate whether or not you would like to have your name included next to your submission**
***SUBMIT BY OCTOBER 30th***
This will be organized, assembled, and distributed before Thanksgiving break!

The Mount Holyoke student organization called True Colors has been disbanded and reformed as OUTreach, a name that better fits their values and direction, and their intention to reach out to the campus community and beyond:

OUTreach is a student-run organization that strives to offer a safe, inclusive, and supportive space for students who identify as sexual and/or gender minorities and allies. OUTreach coordinates and collaborates with other LGBTQ-identified organizations at Mount Holyoke, within the five college consortium, and within the greater community to organize various social events as well as activist projects.

A letter went out to the True Colors mailing list in September, stating in part: "We want to help create and foster a safe and inclusive queer community on campus that cultivates healthy relationships amongst one another. We are committing ourselves to value and respect the diversity within our community, including diversity of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, faith, and so on. We pledge to cultivate a space in which all members are equally respected, valued, and protected."

Open Gates' mission is to advocate for the full inclusion of trans women on the Mount Holyoke College campus and beyond. With the recent admission policy changes, Open Gates is working to educate and create space for constructive dialogue regarding trans identities, especially the violent exclusion so many trans women and non binary transfeminine people face in spaces like MHC. Open Gates was established in the spring of 2014 and they are active and visible on campus and in the media.

Email address: opengatesmhc@gmail.com
Website: http://opengatesmhc.tumblr.com/

Born in Cuba, Bessy Reyna ’72 MA, ’82 JD immigrated with her family to Panama before the revolution. Curious and intellectual, she rebelled against the traditional roles expected of women in Latin American society.

Today, Reyna is an award-winning, bilingual poet; an activist and opinion columnist who writes on issues of gender, ethnicity, and equality; and a sought-after lecturer and guest artist. She is the author of two bilingual books of poetry: The Battlefield of Your Body (Hill-Stead Museum, 2005) and Memoirs of the Unfaithful Lover/ Memorias de la amante infiel (tunAstral, A.C., 2010, Toluca Mexico). In 2010, she was one of 10 women honored by the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.

Read full article here: http://today.uconn.edu/blog/2014/05/portraits-of-strength-bessy-reyna-72-ma-82-jd/

Cornell University's LGBT alum network (CUGALA) is exploring the possibility of organizing an intercollegiate alumni/ae event during Gay Games 9 for alums from schools participating in Ivy Plus/Seven Sisters network, and will keep us up to date on the plans. Al Cowger is a Cornell alum in Cleveland, Ohio (the site of this year's games) and general counsel to the Gay Games, so he has arranged the discount code for LGBT alumni/ae to register. If you live in the Cleveland area and would be interested in helping out, contact CUGALA president Emanuel Tsourounis, et29@cornell.edu.

Learn more about an interesting Mount Holyoke alum, Justin Tanis '87: 

OutFront Minnesota profiled Marcus Waterbury on their website. He mentions he is a Mount Holyoke alum in the profile. Here's the link: http://www.outfront.org/news/spotlight/marcuswaterbury

Cornell University's GALA (LGBT alum assoc) is helping to publicize a job opening at Cornell for the director position at their LGBT Resource Center. The link for the position description is here:

Joan Biren is an internationally recognized photographer and filmmaker who chronicles gay life. Her photographs are on display in the Library of Congress.