Tag Archives: college

KCRep Hosts Free Future Perfect Project Workshop – Oct 21 2018

I received an email with information on an exciting opportunity for LGBTQ+ youth and their allies.  I’m quoting the whole of the email below to give everyone the full information they need to register.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre is proud to host
The Future Perfect Project Workshop
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Noon to 5 pm
In Rehearsal Hall —  Room 119
Olson Performing Arts Center
Located on the UMKC campus
This is a free creative workshop for high school and early college-aged youth.
The workshop team is led by the writer of the film Trevor which won an Academy Award and inspired the founding of the nationally renowned Trevor Project.
To learn more about this terrific opportunity, please visit https://www.thefutureperfectproject.com/
Please RSVP to the contacts below.
 
For many queer youth, finding a safe space is an ordeal.   Even in today’s seemingly progressive world, LGBTQ+ youth are often dismissed, bullied, and cornered into making a life for themselves on the sidelines.  As a young person, you can see into the future.  You can see a world more in-line with the values of your generation, which is perhaps too difficult for older generations to perceive right away.  Thus, we have a gap.   Through autobiographical live performance, and more specifically live music, we are able to express that vision back to our community wholeheartedly and begin to close that gap.  We believe that queer & alternative youth hold the creative keys to closing that gap, and we invite you all to join us in a storytelling & songwriting workshop to learn more ways of expressing your vision out to your community.
The workshop provides young people with prompts and ideas to further your reflection on LGBTQ+ life and on topics you want to address head-on. You will be offered the tools to transform your reflections into creative expression, and ultimately into a collaborative songwriting exercise. The workshop succeeds in creating pathways for self-discovery, not only for each of you, but also within the larger world in which you function.
Join us and  share, support and create.  Share your voices with each other and beyond.
No need to be a performer, although – if you are, that’s great! All input is valued and writing is as powerful as the songs we will create.  Your thoughts and experiences are what will propel us into the heart of the workshop.
Please RSVP KCRep by emailing Melinda at mccrarym@kcrep.org  or Lydia at fuqual@kcrep.org   and we will save a spot for you.

 

Who Are Women’s Colleges For?

FinneyBoylansm
This is an interesting and fact-filled essay from the New York Times, which discusses the growing problem of women’s colleges who refuse to admit transgender women – but who allow transgender men to attend their classes. Their selective discrimination has now been highlighted by the recent announcement from the Department of Education, ruling that transgender students are protected under Title IX.

In short, the essay makes a strong case for ending the discrimination against all transgender persons, and is worth a read.

Who Are Women’s Colleges For? – NYTimes.com.

Transgender Student Inspires in All-Girl Pageant

There’s so much to like about this story. I wish that it could be repeated in so many more places.

A Chapman University senior became the first transgender contestant in the university’s annual all-woman pageant Wednesday night, winning the title of Miss Congeniality.

Addie Vincent, 21, faced off against 15 other competitors for the title of Miss Delta Queen, a competition organized by the university’s Greek system. The pageant’s winner was Alexandria Kessinger.

“Tonight was so awesome,” Vincent said after the pageant. “The fact that I was just able to compete was so amazing on its own.”

Throughout the contest, many of the 500 students and audience members whooped and hollered every time Vincent took the stage at Memorial Hall.

Following the poem, students shouted, “We love you Addie!” and gave Vincent the night’s only standing ovation.

“Addie has inspired so many people,” said Lauren Chouinard, a friend and former pageant contestant. “Addie sent a message so many people needed to hear.”

Each contestant was nominated by a campus fraternity or sorority. The Alpha Delta Phi fraternity chose Vincent with a 20-0 vote, with fraternity members saying they nominated the senior to show support for the transgender community.

I’m a little troubled by the fact that she had to be nominated by her fraternity, but that may just be a necessary incongruence.

Transgender student inspires at Chapman pageant – The Orange County Register.