A reflection from Women’s Center Director, Jess Myers

Last week, the Women’s Center staff completed spring training. As with all of our training days, we took the opportunity to explore our social identities in the spirit of self-exploration, team building, and a commitment to critical social justice. It’s something I look forward to each training knowing I always learn more about my fellow team members and myself.

This semester we did the Power of Assumptions activity which I’ve facilitated several times before at UMBC. It can be a great low-risk activity to get students considering their personal identities and those of others for the first time. It prompts students to consider how their identities have impacted their life experiences while also calling them to face assumptions and stereotypes they might have of others. With a student staff well versed in social justice 101, though, I wanted to take this activity to a new level, and conveniently the finding of bags full of yarn as we’ve been cleaning out the Women’s Center put me in the creative mood to do just that. Now, students would be asked to take a ball of yarn with them and leave a marker on each identity they visited throughout the exercise. As we were promoted with statements such as “This identity brings me the most joy,” This part of my identity is the most invisible,” “This part of my identity I have to defend the most,” and so forth, we moved around the Women’s Center leaving behind a paths of yarn that quickly took the shape of interesting tangled webs.

Our intersecting identities creating a web in the Women’s Center lounge

As I moved about the room, I quickly realized what a challenge it was to get to my next location as I walked over or under the yarn of my staff members. Suddenly, the yarn wasn’t just yarn but also the lived experiences and lives of the five others sharing the space with me. I wanted to be gentle in my steps. I wanted to take extra care in moving the yarn up or down as I weaved in and out across the room. Half way through the activity, I almost contemplated staying at the identity I already was because the thought of crossing back across the room through the web of those meaningful identities and stories and my staff members seemed really complicated and messy.

And, then I paused as my mind flashed back to the first time I did this activity as a participant when I was in grad school. I was just beginning the journey of coming out and navigating what being a queer women felt like and meant for me. I was doing this in space that didn’t always feel safe for me and during a time when my cohort didn’t always trust each other. I remember the panic of having to pick which identities I would move to after each prompt. What did that mean for me? What would my classmates think? I rarely moved from sexual orientation throughout that activity. It was such a salient identity for me at the time. It took all of my brain power and heart beats and waking hours for me to understand what being queer meant. I didn’t have the space or capacity to consider my other identities and how they intersected with this new understanding of what sexual orientation meant and would be for me. How different and freeing it was to be able to move around the room again some six years later!

With this in mind, I began thinking in new ways about the activity we were doing and what it now meant for me. My yarn trail began to form into new analogies for me. It continued to stay a web that represented my intersecting identities but it also took the shape a trail a plane leaves in the sky as it flies to its destination. Sometimes as the sun is setting, I think how pretty the wispy streaks of white clouds look in the pink sky until I remember they’re just left over fumes of pollution (womp womp). Carbon foot prints. What did all this yarn I was tracing throughout the room, in and out, and over and under, others trails of yarn mean in terms of the space I take up and the impact I leave with others in the wake of all my intersecting identities? While it was freeing to move around the room, what does this movement call me to consider in regards to my privilege? In what ways can I be gentler with myself and others to reduce the negative impact of oppression?

Of course we think a lot about gender in the Women’s Center!

As we debriefed the activity as a staff, one of the first comments to what the experience felt like was “messy.” As we continued to debrief, though, it became apparent that the others didn’t have the same first-time experience I had. They shared feeling safe in being vulnerable with each other even during some of the more challenging parts of the activity for them. The idea of feeling safe even while taking the risk to be vulnerable calls to the importance of creating brave spaces which is a practice we first learned about in the reflection discussion at last year’s Critical Social Justice (CSJ). It comes from a chapter written by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens called From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces: A New Way to Frame Dialogue Around Diversity and Social Justice and it resonated with us so much, it became the inspiration for this year’s CSJ. So all year long our staff has been exploring what creating brave spaces means for us in theory and practice. How can we foster learning environments that support the challenging work of authentic engagement when we’re talking about issues related to identity, oppression, power, and privilege? How do we meet individuals where they are at, take care to be gentle, and still push to go deeper? How can taking a risk feel both safe and brave at the same time? Aroa and Clemens lay out a great set of guidelines in their chapter that have helped us explore these questions and more. We also put together our own set of brave space guidelines we’re introducing to our Women’s Center community and groups this spring. We plan on also using them as a road map for our events, roundtables, and discussions in hopes to call attention to all of our intersecting webs and “carbon footprints” whether we can visibly see them or not.

Women’s Center staff members weaving in and out of our identities. See how “messy” it can get?!

So yes, social justice can be messy. But that’s okay! The mess is part of the growing, exploring, and striving to cultivate change. Where do you need brave spaces in your life? How will you create brave spaces for yourself and others?

Learn more by participating in the full week of CSJ events from February 16-20th.

A Post from Women’s Center staff member, Dan. 

It’s a new semester and I gotta say– I’m torn. Sure, it’s nice to be forced to exit my cave, shower, and see everyone again, but that requires pants. And if you know me, you know exactly how I feel about pants. I spent the entire winter break being the absolute laziest person ever. I dropped my class and NBC’s Friends came on Netflix. It was great.

But now it’s Monday and I’m on my third cup of coffee and, regrettably, wearing those dreaded pants so I guess it’s time to start being a productive student again. Wah.

Now, we all know how fun it is to hang out in the Women’s Center between class, see friends, eat lunch…and get absolutely no work done. I’m certainly guilty of sitting with my laptop and completely ignoring the six tabs of readings I have open for the entire duration of my stay in the center so I’m pretty excited about our new set-up. I’m the kind of person who needs to be around people but not distracted by them when I work and our new quiet study space is perfect for me. I can see what’s happening in the lounge with the added bonus that (hopefully) nobody will talk to me. It’s a win-win.

I’m also super stoked for our new Brave Space Guidelines. I find myself applying the guidelines to my life outside the center, especially in my personal relationships. Learning to be vulnerable and speak thoughtfully is a difficult but worthwhile endeavor no matter what you’re doing with your life. My conversations are richer and I learn more from everyone I meet because I seek to understand as many perspectives as I can. I’m not perfect at it and my new skills still need some practice, but I think I’m on my way. Now, if only there was a way to discretely send the guidelines to some of my Facebook friends…

Critical Social Justice 2015 is quickly approaching and we’re looking for art submissions to add to the CSJ 2015 Art Gallery! This year’s CSJ theme is Creating Brave Spaces and we’re asking for art submissions that explore and/or address what it means to create brave spaces.

Last year’s CSJ art gallery located on the Mezzanine of The Commons.

CSJ invites different types of activists — students, teachers, artists, musicians, doctors, and more — to talk critically about social justice and how they are creating change in their own unique ways. In addition to our discussions, keynotes, and reflections, the CSJ Art Gallery is intended to give another kind of voice and experience to the conversations we’re having on campus about social justice.

All UMBC community members are invited to submit their work by Wednesday, February 4th at 4pm Sunday, February 8th. Artists are asked to complete this form and email a jpg image of their artwork to womens.center@umbc.edu. 

Deadline extended until Sunday, February 8th!!!

Accepted artwork must be dropped off to the Women’s Center no later than Wednesday, February 11th at 5pm to ensure timely installation. Additional information will be provided once your artwork has been submitted and confirmed for inclusion in the gallery.

The Critical Social Justice 2015 Art Gallery will be on display from February 16th-20th in The Commons Mezzanine Gallery. For more on last year’s art gallery, check out former student staff member Kelly Martin Broderick’s reflection about art and activism.

For additional questions, contact the Women’s Center staff at womens.center@umbc.edu or 410-455-2714.

UMBC Women Who Rock is a new blog series I’m working on throughout the 2014-15 academic year. In my role as Women’s Center director, I have some of the best opportunities to become acquainted with some of UMBC’s best and brightest women on campus. I admire the ways they live authentic lives unapologetically that challenge the stereotypes and assumptions that are often assigned to women. By debunking these stereotypes and forcing us to check our assumptions, they allow us to expand our notion of what a woman is and can be.

-Jess

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UMBC Women Who Rock!
Jahia Knobloch, UMBC First-Year Student

I love when I meet people and get that instant feel-good-feeling. The feeling of wanting to get to know the person more. The feeling of knowing this person is going places. The feeling of excitement of knowing this person is going to bring good conversations, good reflections, good challenges into your own life. I got that feeling before I even met Jahia earlier this semester while we were communicating over email. While Jahia probably doesn’t want me to share with the internet worlds that she missed our first meeting, she did… and she wrote me an apology saying that her recent hunger strike had left her exhausted and preoccupied. Oh, I’m sorry, come again? Students miss meetings with me on a regular basis but never because of hunger strikes. I instantly wanted to know more about this new student at UMBC.

Jahia at her high school graduation with her mom.

When Jahia and I finally had the chance to meet, she filled my office with such positive energy. We talked about her interests in social justice, feminism, and activism. I learned more about her hunger strike which also included an art performance that took place in a campus residence hall lobby. In later meet ups, Jahia went on the share more about her childhood and upbringing. She holds dual citizenship in Germany and the U.S. and very early on her parents instilled in her the importance of travel. She described herself as an adventurous spirit and reflected on how traveling allowed her to recognize her privileges. When she was eight years old, Jahia was diagnosed with childhood rheumatoid arthritis and spent a great deal of time in physical suffering until her body was able to respond to medication. She remembers feeling what it was like not to be able to do what others could easily do and understanding what it means to desperately want something. These formative feelings and understanding of life, ability, and disability shaped her into becoming the young woman she is today. Jahia’s adventurous spirit is also complemented by a deep awareness and commitment to civil rights and activism. Her mom is a civil rights lawyer and she joined in marches with her family to include protesting the war in Iraq and marching in support of voting rights. She is actively involved in the protests in Baltimore and UMBC related to the events around Ferguson, Eric Garner, and the Black Lives Matter movement. At UMBC, Jahia is a Gender + Women’s Studies major and is involved with Critical Social Justice and serves on the CSJ Student Advisory Board (check her out in the SAB’s newest CSJ video on brave spaces).

Jahia with her friend Jessie attending a protest in Baltimore.

For those of you who have been reading my UMBC Women Who Rock series, you know by now that I use the space not only to highlight awesome women but also to unpack some of my own assumptions and stereotypical narratives I have about gender and being a woman. As I reflected on what assumptions I might be able to explore something Jahia said to me in our last conversation stood out to me. She said, “I want to inject courage in every girl here.” She shared this bold statement in the context of how often she finds women in her life feeling afraid to make waves and ensuring their actions won’t make others mad. Jahia explains that she can’t be that kind of woman and how she wishes other women would have the courage to life unafraid. This is a narrative I know all too well in my own life.

Through not only the lens of gender but also the intersections of my whiteness and being raised Catholic, courage and I have a complicated relationship. Being a white Catholic woman means a lot of things for me. It included being socialized to be “nice,” to follow the rules, to sacrifice, and leave things uncomplicated. All very non-courageous things (to me at least). It wasn’t until I was in graduate school that I really allowed myself to explore my voice, to stand up for myself, and find the courage to be bold, say no… and say yes. Perhaps that’s why I am so unapologetic about my fandom over the Hunger Games and Divergent series. Katniss and Tris have a courage that speaks to me and leaves my heart aching with desire to be bold. They, and most certainly, Jahia, create a counter-narrative that beckons me, and other women to be brave, recognize their own importance, and consider pathways that exist outside of others expectations.

I wish I could have had a Jahia walking down the hallways of high school with me and in my classes in college, injecting courage into my voice, my values, and my understanding of myself. UMBC is lucky that we have Jahia and that it’s just the beginning of her journey her with us. As we were wrapping up our conversation, Jahia told me, “I’m not afraid of anyone… I’m not afraid to stand up.” And, that’s why Jahia Knobloch is a UMBC Woman Who Rocks!

Jahia’s adventurous spirit took her to Savage River Farm last summer as a WWOOF (work exchange on organic farms) volunteer. Here she is feeding an orphaned baby bunny.

Who are the UMBC women in your life that inspire you to think outside your expectations and assumptions? What are the counter narrative stories they’re sharing with us allowing UMBC and our greater community to be more of exactly who we want to be? Comment below and maybe you’ll just find them featured in a future UMBC Women Who Rock post.

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Check out other UMBC Women Who Rock:
Amanda Knapp (featured August 2014)
Susan Dumont (featured October 2014)

Rebuilding Manhood Applications are now available! 

What do you enjoy about being a man? What do you wish was different?
What does it mean to be a man? When and how did you learn to become a man? 

All undergraduate students who identify as men are encouraged to apply. 

Apply online at: http://womenscenter.umbc.edu/rebuilding-manhood/

We’re excited to share our very first alumni post! The reflection below was written by Cassandra Morales (UMBC Class of 2013) who worked in the Women’s Center from 2012-2013.

Binge-watching Netflix is a favorite college past-time that I carried into my post-undergraduate life. There is nothing like the satisfaction of finishing all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or the excitement of the addition of a new season of Call the Midwife. When the third season of Scandal was added, I happily started it. However, out of all the twists and turns, there was one that stood out to me, and one that I continue to think on; when Mellie is raped by her father-in-law, it may not be the most shocking twist, but it is one I feel is worth critique.

For most, the actual experience of rape is not like a bad day at work, but it’s treated in the same light: many of the characters are impacted for a few days and then get over it quickly. The event happens in a vacuum, dealt with and dispensed in only a few episodes. To me, this seems like a highly unrealistic representation and indicative of the fact that it’s not about the victim, but for the story or other characters. The viewer does grasp how far Mellie is willing to go to further her husband’s political career (and therefore her own). What is not explained is how Mellie copes with the trauma, and, much like real-life cases, the focus is not the impact on the victim, but the impact on everyone else.

While writing this, I realized what might be the most frustrating part is that I can say this is not the most shocking twist in Scandal. Inadequate representations of rape are highly prevalent in TV shows nowadays (American Horror Story, Game of Thrones, and The Walking Dead to name a few). While I do think TV shows are a good platform to discuss rape and sexual assault, it does not seem right that it is only portrayed in one way. Sexual assault happens in so many different ways, impacts the victim in different ways*, and that should be reflected in what we watch. I begin to wonder if people who are most able to write about that experience, women specifically, are not well represented among the writers of these shows.

I will not stop watching Scandal, nor for that matter will I stop binge-watching TV on Netflix. However, what I will take away from this experience is the importance of being a conscious consumer. Critiquing a show that you love (or a store, or a sport) does not inherently mean that you must write it off. In fact, it means the opposite. I love watching TV and I am deeply invested in what I watch. As a woman, as well as a feminist, I must ask that my experiences, and the experiences of my peers, be valued in my TV shows because I value them. By critiquing them, I am more aware of what is lacking in my favorite shows. As a result, I am able to create what I want to see in the world. I encounter problematic issues in the places I shop, the music I listen to, and even the books that I read. It is impossible to be without a problematic aspect in your life. Ignoring these issues solves nothing. With my power as a consumer, I am obligated to reflect and critique and ask for more.

*If you know someone who has been sexually assaulted, here’s some important ways you can respond and support. UMBC community members can also receive support and resources through UMBC’s Voices Against Violence Program and offices like the Women’s Center. For more information on resources, visit the Women’s Center website. 

Critical Social Justice week is fast approaching (this February from the 16th to the 20th) and the theme this year is “Creating Brave Spaces”. To unpack and explore this idea, we had the Critical Social Justice Student Alliance tell us what the theme meant to them and how we can use it in our social justice work. Emily Eaglin, incoming president of this new student organization, created this helpful video that documents our conversation and expands upon what brave spaces can be. Check it out below!

We were inspired by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens’ article, “From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces,” and for some highly recommended further reading, you can access it here.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Critical Social Justice campaign, check out our WordPress, like our Facebook page, and/or follow us on Twitter!

The Women's Center is excited to announce that the Returning Women Students Scholarships Application for 2015-2016 is now available. The deadline for submission is Friday, April 3, 2015.

This common application enables eligible students to apply for more than one of the Returning Women Students Scholarships using the same application. The three available scholarships are:

• Charlotte W. Newcombe Scholarship & The UMBC Scholarship for Mature Students
• AEGON Scholarship
• The Richard & Roselyn Bryson Neville Memorial Fund for Returning Women Scholarship

All undergraduate students over the age of 25 and with at least 60 credits may be eligible. You must be completing your first undergraduate degree. 

Each scholarship has additional eligibility requirements which can be found on the common application instructions. 

The application is attached to this announcement. Please be sure to read over the eligibility requirements before applying. 

If you have any questions concerning the application process or the scholars program requirements, please contact Jess at womens.center@umbc.edu. 

We will also be hosting 2 informational sessions related to the application process and scholars program requirements. The information sessions will be held in the Women's Center on Wednesday, February 25th from 12-1pm or Wednesday, March 26th from 4-4:45pm.

Applications are due Friday, April 3rd at 4pm