About fifty students and a few administrators gathered Sunday evening for an open mic and dinner that marked the convocation for Arab/Arab-American, Asian/Asian-American, and Queer Awareness month.
“April is a month for celebrating and recognizing the independent and interconnected identities, experience and histories of Arab/Arab American, Asian/Asian American, and Queer/LGBTQ…peoples,” read the mission statement prepared by the planning committee for the month’s activities.
Many convocation speakers recited original poetry while others read prepared speeches of varying gravity.
Sarah Gunther ’06 and Lily Haskell ’04 gave the opening remarks for the planning committee, which consisted of about fifteen students representing each of the identity groups. Haskell said that she was glad that the three identity groups decided to collaborate again this year.
The content of the poems included reflections on Wesleyan, thoughts on being queer and declarations against violence. Beck Straley ’07 discussed the difficulties of explaining gender.
“You ask me if I want to change my body and I say ‘No, I want to change your mind,’” Straley said.
Angela Saad ’04 read excerpts from a book by Palestinian advocate Edward Said. She spoke against the Israeli military response against Palestinians and about the image of Arabs in the media.
“I ask everyone to think about how Arabs are perceived both in politics and on this campus,” Saad said.
Zach Strassburger ’06 presented jokes about popular conceptions of gender and talked about his difficulty filling out a job application that required him to choose a gender.
“I told the New York Times a couple of weeks ago that my gender was post-modern,” Strassburger said.
Una Osato ’04 and Kendra Ing ’04 performed a kind of charades using words like “Wesleyan,” “hegemony,” and “the Administration.” In their portrayal of the Administration, Osato put her hands over her ears as Ing, representing a student, demanded attention. Osato and Ing, whose performance drew a lot of applause, also took suggestions from audience members for words to act out and pulled people out of the audience to act alongside them.
From audience suggestions, Osato and Ing poked fun at President Doug Bennet and Professor of History Vera Schwarcz.
The joke was the first of two instances in which Schwarcz was at the receiving end of a punchline that evening. Schwarcz had exchanged several Wespeaks with Students for Free Palestine, one of the month’s sponsoring student groups, over an activism conference they had held that she said hosted anti-Semitic speakers.
The second time Schwarcz got mentioned came during the presentation given by Joe Fischel ’04, who read a list of statements he said to have been chalked prior to the ban.
“Queer Entrance” near a door to a building, “Fudge-PACing” outside the PAC building, “Beta boys suck cock,” outside the fraternity house for Beta Theta Pi, and “Vera Schwarcz makes me wet,” were among his chalkings that Fischel read.
Gretchen Krebs ’04 shared her experiences growing up in Salt Lake City where her school district opposed the creation of a gay-straight alliance club. Krebs said that she believed her school district’s actions against homosexuality contributed to the suicide of a classmate.
The open mic was followed by a dinner courtesy of Udupi Bhauan, an Indian vegetarian restaurant located in Middletown.
Those in attendance applauded for the speakers and said that they enjoyed the convocation.
“It was great. I liked all of it,” said Fatima Ahmed ’04. “This was a little more chill and less structured [than previous years]. It was fun.”
“I thought it was really good. I really enjoyed the poems and people talking about their identity,” said Alexandra Early ’07, who joined Osato and Ing in their performance.
“I thought it was a really, really good beginning for the month,” said Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) Administrator Cari MacDermott. “I’ve always thought that Wesleyan students are special and talented and this proves it.”
The month is sponsored by the Office of Affirmative Action, the Dean’s Office, Student Activities, the WSA Student Budget Committee, and a number of student groups including Fusion, Trans/Gender Group, Spectrum, Students for a Free Palestine, and Salaam.
“I think it was really successful and we were happy to see such a broad audience, especially from the class of ’04,” Haskell said. “I hope all of our other events will be similarly well-attended.”
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