Bolder Voices Summer 2017

Congratulations to the Class of 2017!

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 17:01:20 +0000

Congratulations to the Class of 2017! Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/09/2017 - 11:01

On Friday, May 12, 2017, the Department of Women and Gender Studies celebrated the accomplishments of our graduating majors, minors, graduate certificate students, and scholarship and award winners. Joined by their family, friends, and the WGST faculty in the chapel at Old Main, we were proud to confer degrees to 17 majors, 25 minors, and 11 graduate certificate students.

For the Major in
Women & Gender Studies:

Jocelyne Becerra Garcia
Jocelyne is a first-generation Latina double majoring in Psychology and Women and Gender Studies. During her time at CU she worked at the Women's Resource Center and Pre-Collegiate Development Programs. She also volunteered at Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence and will be working with them as a Bilingual Shelter Advocate after graduation. She will forever be thankful to the Women and Gender Studies department for supporting and guiding her on her journey to be bold enough to think that she is capable and worthy of pursuing dreams that seemed impossible.

Savannah Hope Ducharm
Savannah is graduating with a double major in Women and Gender Studies and International Affairs, and the certificate in Global Gender and Sexuality Studies. She is a member of the Gender Justice League, the Triota Honor Society, and a staff member at the Women's Resource Center. She would like to thank her fellow feminists, Professor Montoya, and the staff at the WRC for making her a better feminist. Future plans include growing old and senile in a warm place.

Isabella Marie Fry
Isabella is a double major in Women and Gender Studies and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, with a minor in Creative Writing, and is also getting certificates in LGBTQ Studies and Public Health. Isabella writes, “I am so glad to have found a major that has allowed me to grow so much, and I would like to thank Sam Bullington especially for not only introducing me to feminist and queer theory but for being so affirming and supportive to all his students; his classes changed my perspective on life every time I took one. I would also like to thank my friends for all their support and encouragement throughout the years; I would never have made it without them.”

Caitlin Gortze
Caitlin is graduating with a double major in Political Science and Women and Gender Studies, and a minor in Sociology. She is currently volunteering at Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence as a children's volunteer. She would like to thank her mom for supporting her throughout her time at CU, her friends for helping her become the feminist she is today, and all the sexists of the world for giving her something to fight against. Caitlin's life after graduation will include continuing to work with victims of domestic violence and adopting more cats.

Stephanie Jean Hopkins
Stephanie is graduating with degrees in both Political Science and Women and Gender Studies. She would like to say thank you to her mother and incredible friends for supporting her and helping her through this. Future plans include getting a proper night's sleep for once, attending the University of New Hampshire's political science graduate program to which she has been accepted, and doing her damnedest to make the future a little more caring.

Matthew Thomas Kiriazis
Matthew is graduating with a double major in Anthropology and Women and Gender Studies. He would like to thank his parents for their emotional support, the faculty and staff of the department for their critical and thoughful work, and all friends, comrades, and activists that strive for a better world. He plans to devote his time to activism and further academic participation.

Phoebe Lile
Phoebe is graduating with a double major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Women and Gender Studies, and plans to pursue a certification in clinical lab science. She would like to thank her parents, Renee, the women of Tri Delta, and all of her friends for the support through the years.

Steve Alexander Marcantonio
Steve is graduating with a double degree in Women and Gender Studies and Ethnic Studies, with a minor in Leadership. He has spent the last three years doing sex education activism, and plans on applying for graduate programs this fall. He would like to thank all of his professors for educating him so well. When he came into college he wondered, “what am I?”, and now he wonders, “what is ‘I’, anyway??”

Gena McLaughlin
Gena is graduating with dual degrees in Women and Gender Studies and Political Science. She has been a member of the Gender Justice League, the Gender Studies honor society Triota, a court advocate with the SafeHouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence, and the president of the Gay Straight Alliance. She'd like to thank the family she was born with, and the family she's made here for all the support. Also Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Future plans include becoming a Real Housewife of Boulder County.

Kristen Ashley McNeill
Kristen is graduating with degrees in Women and Gender Studies and Psychology. While at CU, she worked as a resident advisor and served as the Vice President for the Colorado chapter of an international non-profit. After graduation, she is travelling to Egypt to work with Syrian refugees and then plans to attend law school.

Samantha Emelie Miller
Samantha is graduating in the fields of women and gender studies and political science. As president of the Women and Gender Studies honor society, Triota, and member of the Gender Justice League, she is grateful for the friends, mentors, and family who have supported her along the way. Future plans include dismantling white heteronormative male supremacy and chewing gum. Spoiler alert: she's all out of gum.

Katelyn Nagel
Kat graduated in December 2016 with a major in Women and Gender Studies and a minor in Religious Studies, and plans to begin a graduate program in the fall to earn a Masters of Social Work. She received the Lucille Berkeley Buchanan Scholarship, the Jean Dubofsky Scholarship, and cum laude Latin honors in Women and Gender Studies. She served as the President of Triota, the Women Studies honor society, as a member of the Gender Justice League for four semesters, and as a student employee in the cottage for two and a half years. Kat would like to thank Professors Sam Bullington and Celeste Montoya, members of the GJL, guardian angels/administrators Alicia Turchette and Valerie Bhat and especially her mom, her favorite person in the whole world!

Sydney Blair Rich
Sydney is graduating with a degree in Women and Gender Studies and has also served as a member in the Student Association of Pre-Health Professionals. She has plans to attend nursing school in the near future and is confident that she will maintain a dedication to women's health throughout her career. Sydney would like to thank her parents and grandparents for providing her with the opportunity and means to receive a college education, as well as her professors and classmates for the chance to grow and learn from such inspiring individuals. She would like to especially thank her older sister, Jordan, for the endless support and unconditional love she has given her throughout her college experience. Without all of you, none of this would be possible!

Garrett Matthew Rose
Garrett is graduating with degrees in Women and Gender Studies and English Literature with a certificate in LGBTQ Studies. During his time at CU, he acted as the president of the Gay Straight Alliance, and worked at the Gender and Sexuality Center on campus. Garrett's been extremely lucky to receive the Positive Future's scholarship for his work with HIV/AIDS, the S. Antoinette Bigelow scholarship through the Women and Gender Studies department, and the Trotsky Writing scholarship from the English Department. He'd like to thank his Mother for supporting him through it all, Scarlet Bowen for being a wonderful mentor through his four years, and all of his friends and fellow graduates that have made it such an enjoyable experience. His future plans include moving into his Mother's basement and adopting at least three more cats, but he's hoping for more.

Erica Claire Zwahlen
Erica is graduating with degrees in Sociology and Women and Gender Studies. She spent two years in the Gender Justice League and is immensely grateful to the Women and Gender Studies department for providing a supportive community in which to grow and thrive for the past four years. She would like to thank her parents for their endless love and encouragement and her fellow graduates for their constant friendship and inspiration.

Video: 2017 WGST Commencement

www.youtube.com/WGSTatCU

View the entire ceremony

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhyq4FY1AAg]Video: 2017 WGST Commencement

Congratulations Class of 2017!

2017 WGST Majors

2017 WGST Minors

2017 Graduate Certificate Students

WGST Faculty

Congratulations Class of 2017!

Processing to Old Main

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YDNOSI2LXM]VIDEO: Jocelyne Becerra Garcia begins the ceremony with a poem

Erica Zwahlen introduces Dr. Misri

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyH37CyruYk]VIDEO: Savannah Ducharm presents a
Student Commencement Address

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ICT1W6d2cU]VIDEO: Sammie Miller presents her
Student Commencement Address

Heraa Hashmi wins the
Excellence in Inclusion Award

Oriana Richmond is presented the
Jean Dubofsky Scholarship

Katie Wallace receiving the
Andermarch Cicogna Scholarship

Jacqueline Tillman is presented with the
Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Scholarship

Savannah Ducharm receives the
Joanne E. Arnold Outstanding Senior Award

For the Minor in
Women & Gender Studies:

Kat Baiardi
Kat Baiardi is graduating in three years with a double major in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Women and Gender Studies. Kat has received the Chancellor's Scholarship for the duration of their time here and has been a member of the Gender Justice League and a Peer Leader for the Gender and Sexuality Center. Kat would like to thank all of the other members of the Gender Justice League, as well as some amazing professors for helping them along their feminist activist journey. Kat would specifically like to thank Professor Montoya, Professor David and Professor Misri for continually expanding their understanding and commitment to social justice and intersectional feminism.

James Danahey
James is graduating magna cum laude in Classics, with a second major in Biochemistry, and minors in Leadership and Women and Gender Studies. He is a four-year rower for CU's crew team, and will be pursuing a career in medicine after graduation. He appreciates how WGST contributed to his other academic fields, and is very grateful for his family's support.

Emma Nicole Easterly
Emma is double majoring in Psychology and Neuroscience with a minor in Women and Gender Studies. She is planning on going to graduate school and studying social neuroscience.

Ashlyn Ellingson
Ashlyn is a first generation graduate with degrees in English Literature and Women and Gender studies. She plans on pursuing a master's in Gender Studies and becoming a professor.

Laura Mae Goldstein
Laura Goldstein is graduating with a major in Sociology and a minor in Women and Gender Studies. Laura is graduating with distinction, after making the dean's list each semester, and being involved in various groups and activities including Triota Honors society, Collegiate Scholars, and more. She would like to thank her friends, family and the women and gender studies staff members for all that they have helped her with.

Nichole Rae Hagen
Nichole is majoring in Environmental Design with minors in Business as well as Women and Gender Studies. She would like to thank her Mom for providing her with support throughout her college experience, writing “I would not have been able to do it without her”. She will be traveling to Ecuador on a volunteer trip to rebuild houses for families that have been affected by earthquakes.

Ayako Itoi
Ayako is graduating with a degree in journalism and a minor in Women and Gender Studies. She also completed an internship at the Women’s Resource Center, which develops leadership and public speaking skills, as well as an opportunity to understand and engage in gender equity and social justice work.

Audrey Nicole Lenker
Audrey is thrilled to be receiving a bachelor’s in Sociology with a minor in Women and Gender Studies. During her time at CU, she acted as co-president of Triota, the Women and Gender Studies honor society, and performed in The Vagina Monologues, through which her admiration of women and their strength grew tremendously. Audrey spent her final semester studying Swedish culture at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. She wants to thank her mom, dad, brother, and Karl Marx for making her the woman she is today.

Jessica Marie Mazzuca
Jessica is graduating with a degree in psychology and minor in women and gender studies. After her first women and gender studies course, Jessica writes that it became clear that it was absolutely necessary to continue with these classes. They provided her the emotional support and the vocabulary she needed to understand the issues she faces every day. Jessica would like to say thank you to all her professors who nourished her education and encouraged her thinking, and thank you to her family and friends for all their love and support.

Olivia Wells
Olivia is an Integrative Physiology major and a Women and Gender Studies minor. She would like to thank her parents for their support throughout her academic career—and says she couldn't have done this without them. The women and gender studies department has taught her more than she could ever imagine and she is forever thankful to be a part of such a loving, inclusive, and intelligent community.

Also completing the Minor in Women and Gender Studies, but not in attendance:
Camille N. Anderson
Sierra L. Barnes
Megan Bettenberg
Mary McHugh Boyd
Molly F. Dignan
Danielle Flashner
Isabella Gonzalez Jatar
Vanessa Klosterman
Brianna Jean Norbury
Danielle Sarah Pinkus
Carolina Ramirez
Sona Seligova
Anna Shoemaker
Nichol Marie Walloch
Caitlyn Marie Willard

Completing the
Graduate Certificate in
Women & Gender Studies:

Cassandra Mary Frances Gonzalez
Cassy is graduating with a master’s degree in Sociology and a graduate certificate in Women and Gender Studies, with her thesis “Race, Gender, and Domestic Human Trafficking: An Intersectional Description of Human Trafficking Cases at the State Level.” Cassy notes that the WGST Certificate has provided her with a knowledge of how to conduct feminist-based research wherein issues of gender that are interconnected are analyzed, rather than simply "adding women" to the research, and how to use inclusive methodological approaches.

Patrick Michael Johnson
Patrick has completed his graduate certificate along with a PhD in Media Studies with his dissertation “Digital Coming Out: The Politics of LGBTQ Culture in Social Media”. He notes that he graduate certificate has been incredibly influential in informing both the theoretical framing and methodology for his dissertation, as well as helped him to decide to ensure that there is a public scholarship portion of the project to help the LGBTQ community.

Kathleen M. Kryczka
Kathleen completed her bachelors in Film Studies and master’s degree in Art & Art History this past December, with a thesis on Iranian cinema. Kathleen notes that the Women and Gender Studies certificate has contributed to her scholarship in viewing all cinemas with a feminist lens as a primary focus.

Olivia Henderson Meikle
Olivia has completed her graduate certificate along with a master’s degree in English. Her research area is the writing of British and American women living and traveling in China in the early 20th century. Olivia notes that the WGST graduate certificate has been the most important part of her degree. She says it has been absolutely crucial in her endeavor to bring more women's voices and women's lives to the light, and she hopes to teach women's studies at the college level herself next year.

Shannon Eileen Marie O'Sullivan
Shannon is graduating with our graduate certificate and a PhD in Media studies with her dissertation “Frontiersmen Are the “Real Men” in Trump’s America: Hegemonic Masculinity at Work on U.S. Cable’s Version of Blue-Collar Reality”. Shannon notes that the WGST graduate certificate has been foundational to the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of her dissertation and wider interdisciplinary research agenda.

Heather Marie Stewart
Heather is receiving her master's in Philosophy along with a graduate certificate in Women and Gender Studies. Her research areas are primarily bioethics, social and political philosophy, and feminist philosophy. Her thesis, advised by Dr. Alison Jaggar, was titled: "Institutional Uptake: Extending Theories of Uptake Beyond the Interpersonal." Heather says that completing the WGST certificate has helped expand her familiarity with more diverse approaches to feminist methodologies and theories, which she can bring to bear on her philosophical work moving forward. Specifically, it allowed her to dive further issues to the gendered dimensions of global justice, an area of personal philosophical interest.

Also completing the Graduate Certificate in Women and Gender Studies, but not in attendance:
Jared Bahir Browsh
Rachel Dodson
Elizabeth K. Eger
Leah Holz
Meryleen Mena

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Excellence in Inclusion Award Winners 2017

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 17:10:11 +0000

Excellence in Inclusion Award Winners 2017 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/08/2017 - 11:10

The Women and Gender Studies Excellence in Inclusion Award recognizes outstanding student projects (research or creative works) that explore issues pertaining to diversity and inclusion at �� or in the U.S. more generally. This award is designed to help foster an inclusive and welcoming campus climate at �� for students of all backgrounds, including first-generation students, minority students, women, LGBTQ, and other historically underrepresented groups in the field of education. This year we awarded the prize to two outstanding students: Heraa Hashmi and Toluwanimi Obiwole.

Heraa Hashmi was given the Excellence in Inclusion Award for her video project, "Building the (difficult) Bridges." Heraa is a student in molecular biology and has served as the president of the Muslim Student Association. In her video, she talks about her identity as a Muslim American, woman, immigrant, and student. She describes the pressure she often feels to represent the entire Muslim community. After an experience in the classroom where a fellow student asked her “why Muslims are so violent,” she created an online resource of 5600 cited instances of Muslims condemning violence. This went viral and became the website MuslimsCondemn.com, an ongoing initiative to fight Islamophobia. These projects and Heraa’s continuing efforts to engage her fellow students in difficult conversations are making an important difference in our campus community, and beyond.

The second Excellence in Inclusion Award winner is Toluwanimi Obiwole. Toluwanimi is an Ethnic Studies major, and in 2015 was named the inaugural Denver Youth Poet Laureate. She received this award for her poetry collection, “On Those Who Shapeshift to Survive.” Her poetry speaks to her own struggle trying to "blend in" to American culture while still maintaining her African cultural identity. With these poems, she hopes to speak to the many other students who struggle with these issues and to reach out to those who have never considered them.

Poetry collection: “On Those Who Shapeshift to Survive” by Toluwanimi Obiwole

passport

every year I must journey to the registrar’s office, blue American passport in hand
like a white flag
and I must prove to them that I am in fact a U.S. citizen
this clerical error however small always reminds me of one thing:
I am still not welcome here
suddenly, the glances weigh heavier
it irritates me just a little more when they mispronounce my name
kicking the o’s l’s and u’s around like magnet letters on a fridge, they rearrange my identity until they
are comfortable breathing the foreign vowels
my name and my teeth read like the storybooks they had as children, they spell: poverty, refugee,
non-English speaker, why can’t you just go back to your country?
I long to reply: where I’m from, we do not run, we root our families in whatever piece of earth we
find ourselves on and we do not run.
so this is for those who have planted their feet on soil that does not welcome them but have turned
their legs into deep rooted flower stems anyway
when they ask you where you are “really” from
tell them a collection of pillars that have held up and seen to the destruction of empires
when they tell you your beauty is savagery
when they mark your nation as the face of poverty
reply that your heart does not need their permission to beat
Dear western savior Africa does not need your pity like our problems only matter when you televise
them
Africa is a loaded gun and they are too often standing on the wrong side of the barrel
She Africa, this fall bride, winter matriarch well versed in the language of trust and betrayal
still slitting her wrists to show her oppressors she bleeds the same, red, but all they see is gold
they don’t see the starshine on her fingertips
the bloodred beneath the earth brown of her cheeks
Her streets paved gold with the footprints of travelers on the road to ife, accra, batouri, cairo,
benghazi, dakar,
they call us developing like it’s a dirty word,
the Africa I know is the warm bath of mother’s love, arms like an aspen grove holding her children
wherever they are, a bustling Ghanaian airport, dirt lots in Lagos, Nigeria that the children have
turned into kingdoms
Africa, this fall bride, winter matriarch knows the foreign soil, I her daughter stand in is a nation of
earth patches integrated in like puzzle pieces,
America, a land of immigrants, disassembled bodies still breaking open,ghostdancing with
citizenship and visas
singing, take me home, spirit and all
so you sons and daughters with your flower stem legs
when they tell you, you don’t belong
remember where you’re from
and let your roots spread where you have planted them until they choke the hatred from every
sentence
and do not run.

french guiana/enigmatic womyn blues

black girl, french maid, thick rope lips wrapped around future, fortune between thunder thighs, swol breasts,
sassy favorite accountant, colony in jordan river mississippi pool eyes, your favorite one night mistake, wifey
fuh real, pussy in a jar, red lipstick engineer, blood on veneer, blood on canvas, cinnamon stick blushing, the
one who stayed, big belly gold womb, panther aesthetic, gap teef swallow ya whole lyfe, position power,
queen bitch honor thesis, fetish for the meat of it, the sweetest meal is the one you have killed yourself,
resistance makes my body a spear, they will still try to eat the knife of me, for the beauty of it, love how I
make em bleed, nails in they skin and they still call me a delicacy, eat me, eat we, eat us, crack teeth on this
skin, sour to the colonizer’s stomach,
this is how the world tried to write a biological biography, they still can’t finish, still can’t consume
completely, won’t emancipate what they can’t understand,try to gaslight us like the fire won’t take them too,
still think they got some semblance of control, i smile like fresh waters and demise, cackle in they faces, ask
black hole questions, they’ll call us crazy, what’s a gyal to do?

sestina in the key of conscious self

i am driving 50 miles an hour across an icy highway just to teach myself who God is
i am scraping the bottom of the pot to teach myself how to be hungry
i am eating my own gut to relearn how to be unsettled
my guitar is really a shelf for six knives made of wire
and i am plucking the strings broken so they prick and stab me into something that still bleeds
and my mother is an annotated Bible holding my spine straight
so i meditate 30 minutes a day with the sunlight like a gun to my temple
i am becoming light just to watch myself break into particle

i am becoming a sort of science, chaotic storm in one particle
My father tells me he knows who God is
the Bible told my story: i am the whore, the resurrected daughter, and the temple
and he has had dinner with God for 30 years just to still be hungry
the year i turned 21 i walked the world like i was dancing on a wire
i prayed for the fall and was praised for having the grace not to: a grand production unsettled
this is how a goddess bleeds
demi-divine, blood soaked smile, always spine straight

i sing the lowest notes of the blues just to feel my vocal chords unsettled
i want to know the retaliating, painful stroke of Frida Kahlo when they tried to stretch her straight
if God is an electric storm let my heart be a 12 foot wire
i’m getting to know who light is
how constant illumination makes you hungry
light will bite and fill your memory till all the color bleeds
make the last place you died a sanctuary, your mother’s temple
rippling your “innocence” into particle

we were taught innocence is measured by how the wound bleeds
an innocent mind is never unsettled
is worthy to be saved from the omniscient power of hungry
only knows the path to heaven that is straight
always knows where righteous is
i was innocent until innocent became a lynch wire
i prayed the prayer of jezebel until my knees reduced to particle
my wounded faith broke ground for a new temple

everytime i fall in love i break a bone and now my skeleton is twisted wire
maybe only God knows how to make an ocean when the heart bleeds
to only pour out beautiful and silent,yes i know what silence is
to hold in my magic for fear it will leave my family unsettled
mama speaks in scripture to sanctify my mind straight
i don’t tell her that sometimes i leave church limping and hungry

i tell her spirit fills and ritual leaves me hungry
i greet the elders in church my smile sewn like barbed wire
they stare intently like they’re trying to get my story straight
they want to know if this is how a pure heart bleeds
being both depressed and in love with a merciful God somehow makes them unsettled
you can’t know this kind of purification without knowing what your pain is

i know my pain like a lover it knows how to bleed me unsettle until i crawl back to my temple hungry and
ready to know what whole is

sugarcane

we look within before we name our children
for they will bear our bones
precious
that is what my mother at a tender fourteen named her unborn child
not knowing who would come first
boy or girl
          just knowing it would be precious.
but that is just one name embedded like a pillow to cushion the blow from the bullets that fly from the pistols
that are my names.
toluwanimi
precious
oluwafunmilayo
olajumoke
ariwa
          toluwanimi is a lightening bolt
          means to God i belong because my mother fought in labor nearly a month wrestling and shooting
          prayers like arrows from her mouth a the demons whom she would not allow to have her child.
oluwafunmilayo: is honey in your mouth, means God has given me joy. the kind of joy that has the strength
to endure two miscarriages and still come home to breastfeed a baby whom she hopes will grow up to speak
english like the best of them. even now she will sigh, say “i once knew this language, i don't know where it
went” , and i long to wrap her in the womb of my arms tell her “mama, who needs english when you speak
the language of heavenly love”
          olajumoke is a family heirloom, means wealth valued together, becomes a place of rest for weary
          men. i hide it behind my teeth so no one gets too comfortable.
ariwa: is a legacy means beautiful daughter of the beautiful one. my mothers first name is a runaway slave she
fled the chains of christiana for the royal history of adetola she knew she couldn't bare a name that would
mean one thing to her colonisers and nothing to her tribe
once i gave my name to a boy.
          he returned it mangled and ugly
so i ran home begging to exchange it for something he could love
call me ana call me sarah
anything but this i was choking on the cup of poison
i had drunk from a country that told me
          adaptation meant renaming yourself “redefine yourself in America”.
two neat slaps across the face was all the cpr i needed. she said
          “TOLUWA”
do not reject gifts from God
your name may not be refined like sugar
that slips through the cracks of your fingers
but it is in fact
          the sugarcane
          that men must break their teeth on
          before being rewarded with the sweetness
your name holds weight
every syllable is a
beat
from the talking drum that your ancestors danced to
though
you are so much more than your name
it is your crown
so wear it

Amerikkkana

On September 11th I was 7 years old holding a bowl of carrots. I had gotten a detention slip that day and the
biggest worry was how hard the back of my father’s hand would be when he saw it.
My father doesn’t look at anyone when the telly is on. He becomes a vortex at best. A frightened Hillary
Clinton type runs into the camera as smoke sinks its soft teeth into everything around her. A week ago I had
read about Jeanne Claude and Christo covering skyscrapers and bridges with miles of silk. I wondered if
magicians flew planes , if everyone inside had really just tumbled into a velvet sack, if giant white rabbits
would line the streets of New York when the grey cleared. I thought about the concrete bungalows and
permanently water-stained apartment buildings in Lagos. No plane would waste its time kissing the walls like
that. The glass was much harder back home. My father turned to me unprompted “You ok?” he asked. I put
the slip behind my back.

At school they taught us a new word. “Terrorism” bends through the lips so softly you’d hardly know the
meaning the first time. Mr. O said it during morning chapel and it sounded like the flu. The next week, they
told us about jihad and the end of times. I packed myself nice lunches, it was an exceptionally beautiful
September. I won the science fair the next month and we started doing bomb drills. I didn’t try to tell my
father about our daily lectures on terrorism, there were too many syllables and he really only wanted to know
my maths score. What does terrorism even mean to a man who knows his colonizer’s anthem better than his
father’s eulogy? Or a girl with two passports and an oil-rich allowance?

In the car, I vocalize along with Fela, my hips bumping on beat against the seat belt constraints, my fingers
dancing on the dial to turn it up. Uncle perks up, reclines his chair forward. “Wow, Tolu, you know this?!” I
smile and continue singing. “But you can’t know what it means?” I falter a little, the blow strikes between my
neck and ear. I explain that I do , that I speak the language and love it. He gives a small smile, the same one
the tour guide gives when the whitefolk start to list their African friends and nannies, asking if he knows one
of the three million Tayo’s in the world. I hate feeling like a fisherman in my own blood. America swims into
my lungs, I cough up border fences and visas. Dual citizenship molds my clothes, I am never on dry land.

One night, my cousins and I roam the streets of Lagos. The vendors draw soup from their pots, we argue
over prices. I drool over a golden pile of jollof rice, peppered and garnished with bitter leaf. After picking up
a few drinks, we wander home in a parade of gas street lamps, sweltering music, and the thick smell of maggi
in everything. My cousins speak only English to me, bending their r’s around a western parody accent. They
give me the biggest piece of meat and bottled water. I want to scrub my entire education from my tongue,
give only talking drum parties when I speak. I want to be African without two sugars and cream, I want to be
black without betrayal.

on the bad days

my mother asks me why my poems are so abrasive
i tell her that the words do what i cannot
i was taught to be polite and good
black girl is too dangerous otherwise
give them something they can digest
pretty decibels
soft hands
a body folded over and over into itself
but i’m out of space
i am angry and not trying to be
i am crazy but braiding down my hair
i am seven different kinds of unbuttoned but
damn if i don’t know where the safety pins are
fuck if i still don’t know how to pray
shit, on the bad days, i smile while the blood fills my mouth
i let my lips become an open frame in a kissing booth
taking in everyone
i know how to cry quietly in church
they tell me “you can survive if you’re quiet enough”
i am beautiful because they cannot pronounce my name
i followed the rules
turned on the good girl so well i became her
now pretty is a death sentence
i don’t understand what folded hands are supposed to do
against all these men and all this world
and all this black hole of me
my mother asks when i became so vulgar
i show her the “fuck you” hiding next to the hallelujah under my tongue
who i become when the bitch is showing
when my mean bone is popping out
i don’t wanna scare anyone
i’m not allowed to
girls like me live safer dressed in apology
everyone wants to keep you
everyone thinks they’re allowed to have you
would they still love me
smile at me
let me stay in their classrooms
if they knew of the harpy growing in me
if they knew my ribs were talons
me. black womyn . dark skin. savage
mama, in this body polite means colonizing my ugly
making these brick brown hands into something a white god could forgive
do you know how hard it is to be a girl with so much power but too kind to strike
i want to consume these weak parts of me so you know how much stone i’m made of
this anger is a self cleansing knife
i want to rip out my tongue and use that vascular machete
to collect the splintered bones of the boys who thought i needed them
let my lipstick be louder than every drunk frat boy looking for a bed to slide his shame into
the well meaning men hunting for the beauty of exotic without the bite of it
i know nice guys who think 400 years of screaming
can be swallowed with a blowjob and good manners
i write to spit the fire back in their faces
mama i let these words crack skulls for me
until the fight escapes my body

The Day We Started Praying in English

Lips clenched around the same vowels the whip would later make us sing
We ate the food of foreign feast days
Their god sent gifts in the form of
A one export economy
We burned our farmland
With shiny rubber pipelines
And sang glory be

In the beginning
there was war

We were carried out in new suits
Body bags for assimilation
They said bring us your gold
We said
Bring us your milk
Your swiss garments
Your women
Your patriarchy
Let us become god too
They said only for your soul
We said
Hell is already here
They said our sword is righteous
We said
Amen

WE ARE BECAUSE I AM

This is for the students in the front of the room ten minutes before class
wearing everything they have to prove on their skin
For the ones in the back with the 15 minute late stride
Sweat from running for an hour late bus
For the ones with three jobs and no scholarships
Fighting to honor parents whom America has turned into shadows
The black fish without expensive lives
Or trust fund voices
The ones the institution will put on their brochures
Then grind into silent pavement after
The ones who are followed home
Mistaken and mistreated as campus workers
The last ones to leave the library
the first to have their work questioned
Double consciousness got us scrubbing the accents and ebonics from our tongues
MLK visions more jail cell Birmingham burning than “I have a dream”
For the ones who find home in every
hijab
head nod
dap up
spanglish whisper across the hall
Clutching our traditions close beneath football jerseys
While our cultures are worn as costumes year after year
Our bodies washed white
Then displayed so clean for demographic reports
Diversity
Has become a gavel of a word
Smacked down for extra funding
We are more than numbers
We are more than what some say our hands are good for
Our hands know what it means to keep reaching even past
Those who see your breath as nuisance
Desperate to live like a human ladder towards heaven
A hope for those who died with
fingers still inching towards the sky
I know I am my grandmother’s dream come true because I am alive
Because I am here
Because we are here
This heartbeat is a collective effort

I am because Assata
I am because Lalo
I am because Malcolm
I am because Amadou Diallo
I am because Tamir Rice
I am because Renisha McBride
I am because Philandro Castille
I am because Rekia Boyd
I am because Emmett Till
And the promise of hope
The anticipation of victorious joy even when statistics
Point to obituary and not degree
I am because the history of this country is the steel fiber i rip my throat to breathe every morning
I breathe in a classroom that would rather me be invisible
I am visible on a campus with a privilege crowbar
And i have not succumbed to the beatings
I am every brown body having to defend themselves in a history lecture
I am every ignored upraised hand in the STEM field that refuses to give up
And ain’t that a miracle?
Ain’t that something to sing about
Our ancestors proudly rising through us
A cavalcade against the backdrop of the flatirons
Ain’t that the relentless love poem of the century
We are because
I
Am

Click the title to read each poem.
All poems written by Toluwanimi Obiwole.

Watch Toluwanimi's spoken word performance:[video:video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBYLRx7TRbg&t=1s]

In her application, Toluwanimi writes,

"my form of activism is creating art (poetry in particular) that speaks to both mine and the collective experience of (specifically African) students who struggle with trying to assimilate and "blend in" to American culture while having to maintain their traditional cultural identity in the home. Often, students like myself feel that we must perform multiple identities in order to survive which takes a toll on us that seems invisible to everyone but us. Through great favor and work, I have been able to not only produce poems that bring these stories to life, but perform them in front of crowds that have probably never had to consider these issues nor heard stories like mine before. However, what makes my art really worthwhile is performing my poems for people who identify like me and face the same struggles. I love being able to help them understand that they are not alone."

The Women and Gender Studies faculty recognized these two students at our annual Commencement ceremony on May 12, 2017 in Old Main. For more information on this award, and to view last year's winner, please see www.colorado.edu/wgst/inclusion-award.

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Montoya wins Best Should Teach Gold Award

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 15:39:59 +0000

Montoya wins Best Should Teach Gold Award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/07/2017 - 09:39

Celeste Montoya, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies, has been chosen as one of this year’s winners of the Best Should Teach Gold Award for excellence in teaching and outstanding contributions to improving higher education at the ��. Dr. Montoya was given this honor for her dedication to teaching and mentoring in the Department of Women and Gender Studies, as well as her valuable service as director of the Miramontes Arts & Sciences Program, one of the most successful undergraduate learning communities at CU.

The Best Should Teach initiative was established in 1996 and is managed by the Graduate Teacher Program in coordination with the School of Education, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate School at the ��. The Gold Awards are presented at the annual Best Should Teach lecture, which will be held on August 31. This year's lecture will feature a keynote speech by Thomas Cech, Nobel Laureate, Distinguished Professor, and Director of CU's BioFrontiers Institute, titled "How I stopped worrying and learned to love the classroom." For more information on this event, and to register, see colorado.edu/GTP/BestShouldTeach.

"To those to come, I leave the flame! Hold it as high as you can reach.
If a better world is your aim, all must agree the best should teach."

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2017 Scholarship & Award Winners

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 17:51:09 +0000

2017 Scholarship & Award Winners Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/05/2017 - 11:51

The Department of Women and Gender Studies is proud to offer several scholarships and award recognitions to our students each year, which were presented at our annual Commencement ceremony in Old Main on Friday, May 12th. The event's emcee, Dr. Emmanuel David, remarked "as a longtime member of the awards committee, I can say that our pool of applicants is always fierce and inspiring. This year was no different, a testament to the excellence of today’s recipients who rose to the top." Dr. David was assisted in presenting the awards by Dr. Alison Jaggar, Professor of Distinction in Women and Gender Studies and Philosophy, and Dr. Robert Wyrod, Assistant Professor in Women and Gender Studies and International Affairs.

Jacqueline Tillman is presented with the
Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Scholarship

The Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Scholarship
2017 recipient: Jacqueline Tillman

Named in honor of the first black female graduate of the University of Colorado, this scholarship is awarded to a student who demonstrates a commitment to social justice and who may be the first generation in their family to attend college.

This year's award was given to a student whose work embodies the spirit of the Lucile Berkeley Buchanan award, Women and Gender Studies major Jacqueline Tillman. The committee was greatly impressed by Jacqueline’s deep and unwavering commitment to feminist movements that are intersectional from the bottom up. In particular, Jacqueline’s advocacy has brought much needed attention to the issue of sexual assault in society. In her extensive volunteer work at numerous community organizations, she has supported rape survivors, answered calls at 24-hour rape-crisis hotlines, and advocated for Spanish speakers and the need for bilingual volunteer-operated hotlines.

Oriana Richmond is presented the
Jean Dubofsky Scholarship

The Jean Dubofsky Scholarship
2017 recipient: Oriana Richmond

This scholarship is given in honor of Jean Dubofsky, the first woman to serve on the Colorado Supreme Court and a Boulder attorney who has worked tirelessly on civil rights issues. It was generously funded by the late Dr. Joanne E. Arnold, professor emerita in Journalism. Jean was unable to join us for Commencement this year, but we very much appreciate her long-standing involvement and support of our department. This award is given to a Women and Gender studies major and is based on academic record, education and career goals, community and campus service, and a demonstrated commitment to raising awareness of the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, class and nationality.

This year, the award goes to Oriana Richmond. Oriana is a passionate advocate of access to reproductive healthcare, and is currently majoring in Women and Gender Studies and minoring in both Sociology and Spanish. Locally, she helped found the student group called Buffs for Reproductive Justice, an organization dedicated to providing students with an inclusive, intersectional, and pro-choice environment in which to cultivate activism and community. Recently she flew to Washington with Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains to participate in national level advocacy for these urgent issues of reproductive justice.

Katie Wallace receiving the
Andermarch Cicogna Scholarship

Andermarch Cicogna Scholarship
2017 recipient: MaryKate Wallace

We were excited to introduce a new scholarship offering this year, the Andermarch Cicogna Scholarship, established just this year by Italian department faculty members Giorgio Corda and Valerio Ferme. Together they established this new award to acknowledge the important role that their mothers, Renata Andermarch and Patricia Cicogna, played in their lives. In the spirit of compassion, understanding, social justice, and academic pursuit, the scholarship will be awarded annually to support a student in the Italian or Women and Gender Studies departments at ��.

The first student to be awarded this scholarship is Women and Gender Studies major, Katie Wallace. Katie’s work in gender and politics demonstrates the true power of civic engagement and academic inquiry. She has worked as a legislative aide in the Colorado state House of Representatives and was involved in the drafting of several bills that exemplify feminist values. She has volunteered at MESA (Moving to End Sexual Assault) and at the Safe House Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence. In her application materials, Katie wrote, “Women’s studies by its very existence is social change; and progressive social change necessitates the equity and criticality prompted and promoted through women’s studies. There is no degree better suited to this work and I am honored to participate in this department.”

Savannah Ducharm receives the Joanne E. Arnold Outstanding Senior Award

Joanne Easley Arnold Outstanding Senior Award
2017 recipient: Savannah Ducharm

The Joanne Easley Arnold Outstanding Senior Award, is named in honor of a professor emerita of CU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, for her long-term support of our program. This very special award is given to a graduating Women and Gender Studies student for outstanding leadership and service to Women and Gender Studies specifically. It is to be awarded to someone that the faculty and staff have admired for their commitment to the program, and for whom there may not yet have been any formal recognition through one of our scholarships or award nominations.

This year the Outstanding Senior Award goes to Savannah Ducharm, who goes above and beyond in everything she sets out to do. She is a scholar, an artist, and an activist, and she has used all of those characteristics and talents in her contributions to the Women and Gender Studies Department and beyond. Professors who have had in her in class note that she is the ideal student. She comes to class prepared and engaged, raising important and challenging questions about course material. Through her active membership in the Gender Justice League and her work at both the Dennis Small Cultural Center and the Women's Resource Center, she has taken a leading role in planning numerous intersectional feminist and social justice oriented events on this campus. She has inspired many of our students, our staff, and our faculty.

Heraa Hashmi receiving the
Excellence in Inclusion Award

Women & Gender Studies Excellence in Inclusion Award
2017 recipients: Heraa Hashmi & Toluwanimi Obiwole

This award recognizes outstanding student projects that explore issues pertaining to diversity and inclusion, and is designed to help foster an inclusive and welcoming campus climate at CU-Boulder for students of all backgrounds, including first generation students, minority students, women, LGBTQ, and other historically underrepresented groups in the field of education.

Heraa Hashmi was given the Excellence in Inclusion Award for her video project, “Building the (difficult) Bridges.” Heraa is a student in molecular biology and has served as the president of the Muslim Student Association. In her video, she talks about her identity as a Muslim American, woman, immigrant, and student. She describes the pressure she often feels to represent the entire Muslim community. After an experience in the classroom where a fellow student asked her “why Muslims are so violent,” she created an online resource of 5600 cited instances of Muslims condemning violence. This went viral and became the website MuslimsCondemn.com, an ongoing initiative to fight Islamophobia. These projects and Heraa’s continuing efforts to engage her fellow students in difficult conversations are making an important difference in our campus community, and beyond.

Their winning projects can be viewed at: www.colorado.edu/wgst/excellence-inclusion-2017

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Bolder Voices Summer 2017

Congratulations to the Class of 2017!

For the Major inWomen & Gender Studies:

For the Minor inWomen & Gender Studies:

Completing theGraduate Certificate inWomen & Gender Studies:

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Excellence in Inclusion Award Winners 2017

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Montoya wins Best Should Teach Gold Award

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2017 Scholarship & Award Winners

The Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Scholarship 2017 recipient: Jacqueline Tillman

The Jean Dubofsky Scholarship 2017 recipient: Oriana Richmond

Andermarch Cicogna Scholarship 2017 recipient: MaryKate Wallace

Joanne Easley Arnold Outstanding Senior Award 2017 recipient: Savannah Ducharm

Women & Gender Studies Excellence in Inclusion Award 2017 recipients: Heraa Hashmi & Toluwanimi Obiwole

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For the Major in
Women & Gender Studies:

For the Minor in
Women & Gender Studies:

Completing the
Graduate Certificate in
Women & Gender Studies:

The Lucile Berkeley Buchanan Scholarship
2017 recipient: Jacqueline Tillman

The Jean Dubofsky Scholarship
2017 recipient: Oriana Richmond

Andermarch Cicogna Scholarship
2017 recipient: MaryKate Wallace

Joanne Easley Arnold Outstanding Senior Award
2017 recipient: Savannah Ducharm

Women & Gender Studies Excellence in Inclusion Award
2017 recipients: Heraa Hashmi & Toluwanimi Obiwole