queer Harvard and other events

[hermionesviolin]

On Thursday, hedy told me that http://www.calltodutytour.org was gonna be at the Kennedy School this Tuesday.  Googling it to get an exact time/location, I found "the website of the Harvard Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance (more commonly, and succinctly, known as the BGLTSA)".  The first line after that self-descriptor was: "Since our initial bathroom study, the number of gender non-specific bathrooms on campus has gone from approximately 40 to approximately 91. See a list of all of the Gender Non-specific Bathrooms around Harvard!"  Oh so Smith.

I took home the Harvard University Gazette on Friday and read some it, including the calendar [I am very excited to have found an online listing], on the train ride home and oh so very reminiscent of Smith -- lots of evening lectures, many of which conflict with each other, plus lots of ones around 4pm or noon/1pm which of course I can't go to.  And my mom's on the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum mailing list, so she forwarded me the most recent e-mail.

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[BGLTSA site]
February 16
8:30pm-10:00pm
        Discussion: Perceptions of Bisexuality
Location: Eliot Memorial Room

Why is the Facebook.com the easiest way to come out as bi to your friends, and how does it effect people of either gender who would be interested? Why do girls who post "bisexual" on their profiles at .com love-match websites get 7 billion more hits than girls who post just lesbian? Why do people think that bisexuality is a "just a phase" and how are women and men who are bisexual but who marry a member of the opposite sex later in life perceived? Is someone bisexual if they think they are, or only if they are dating both men and women, and if so, do you have to be dating a man and a woman at the same time? When a bisexual is dating a man, is he perceived as gay, until he dates a woman, at which point he is heterosexual?

If you're interested in tackling these questions and other funny and frustrating misconceptions, come to the "Perceptions of Bisexuality" discussion!

***

[BGLTSA site]
February 19
7:00pm-8:30pm
        Discussion: I Don't Like the Word "Bisexual"
Location: Adams UCR

Got beef with "bi"? Whether you think it's too inclusive, not inclusive enough, outdated, misunderstood, or just right, come discuss the word that has changed our generation's perspective of sexual orientation. We hope to see all viewpoints represented in this discussion, from people of all genders and orientations.

These both made me think of conversation I've been having recently with lunabee34 about terminology -- including the formative-for-me Lauren Martin essay and the round table discussion Spectrum had some years ago.

I didn't get to go the Thursday one, obviously, and am debating whether the Sunday one would be worth going to.

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[BGLTSA site]
February 21
7:00pm
        "Call to Duty" Tour
Location: Starr Auditorium, KSG

The Kennedy School is hosting speakers from the "Call To Duty" tour. The individuals who will be speaking are gay ex-military servicemembers who have recently completed their military service. They will be speaking about their personal experiences in the armed forces, and how difficult the "don`t ask, don`t tell" law has made their lives, and the performance of their duties. Harvard is the first stop on a national speaking tour.

[Harvard University Gazette]
Tue., Feb. 21-"'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' in the Post 9/11 World." (KSG) Congressman Marty Meehan (D-MA) and Rear Admiral Alan Steinman (Ret.), as well as veterans of Operation Iraqi freedom, current and former members of the U.S. Intelligence Community, and discharged gay service members. Starr Auditorium, KSG, 7 p.m. Free and open to the public.

***

[Harvard University Gazette]
Tue., Feb. 21-"Body Image, Culture & the Media: Voices of Today." (GSE/Harris Center/MGH) 10th Annual Public Forum features Stacy London, TLC's "What Not To Wear"; Marya Hornbacher, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author; and others. Moderated by Robin Young, host, WBUR's "Here and Now." Gutman Conference Center, GSE, 6 Appian Way, 7-9 p.m. Free and open to the public.

***

[Harvard University Gazette]
'Fashion and Film,' a selection of films from acclaimed director Won Kar-wair, through Feb. 28.  These films seek to explore the common language between film and fashion.
ABOVE: Wong Karw-wai's '2046' screens at the HFA Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. See film, page 20.

The film listings say almost nothing about the films.  The online calendar has a similar blurb:

The Harvard Film Archive and the Thread Counts Project present a selection of films from acclaimed director Wong Kar-wai: Fashion and Film. Wong Kar-wai, one of the most celebrated filmmakers to emerge from Hong Kong, has explored romantic longing, desire and nostalgia with a unique and visually stunning style, most famously represented in his award-winning film 'In the Mood for Love' and its follow-up, '2046,' both of which are part of this series. See the Arts section for details.

The Arts section listing is the same near-useless listing as the print version has.

[iop.harvard.edu e-mail]
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2006, 6:00 PM
THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD CARTOON CONTROVERSY
A Panel Discussion With:
*        SHAHAB AHMED
        Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, Department of Near Eastern
Languages and Civilizations; Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard
University
*        JOCELYNE CESARI
        Visiting Associate Professor of Islamic Studies, Harvard Divinity
School; Research Associate, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard
University
*        FATHER J. BRYAN HEHIR
        Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life, Kennedy School
of Government; President, Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of Boston
*        FREDERICK SCHAUER
        Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment, Kennedy School of
Government
*        JOSEPH S. NYE, JR. (Moderator)
        University Distinguished Professor and Sultan of Oman Professor of
International Relations, Kennedy School of Government

I e-mailed Nicole asking if she wanted to go to the Call To Duty thing, but then I saw the "Body Image, Culture & the Media" listing.  Given that I already agree that "don't ask, don't tell" is a bad policy, I'm not sure there's great point to my going to the Call to Duty event.  But then my mom sent me the cartoon controversy one and I feel like I should go to that one more.

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[BGLTSA site]
February 22
6:30pm-8:00pm
        Staff and Faculty Dinner
Location: Lowell Small Dining Room

A reprise of last year's stunningly sucessful event, the staff and faculty dinner promises to be a great opportunity to meet and mingle with staff and faculty from Harvard who are interested in discussing BGLTQ issues. Come learn about queer issues at Harvard from a non-undergrad perspective - invited guests include professors, administrators, health professionals, and other employees of Harvard's many schools.

I'm staff.  And they even say "Harvard's many schools," so it's clearly not just a main/undergrad campus event.  I'm conflicted, though, because FCCN's "Beginnings" session 2 is that night (I already skipped Session 1 to go to Crash with Isabel).

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[BGLTSA site]
February 23
8:30pm-10:00pm
        Bisexuals in General, Bi Men in Particular: A discussion with Pete Chvany
Location: Eliot JCR

Pete Chvany (Harvard '85) has been an activist in the bi and GLBT communities since 1997. His collection of essays by and about bisexual men, "Bi Men: Coming Out Every Which Way," co-edited with noted queer author Ron Jackson Suresha, was just released by the Harrington Park/Haworth Press. He lives in Somerville with his chosen family and is on staff at Harvard Law School.

***

[Harvard University Gazette]
Thu., Feb. 23-"Socialism is Much Better Than Capitalism, and Communism Will be a Far Better World." (Set the Record Straight) Raymond Lotta, Maoist political economist and author. Room 105, Emerson Hall, 6 p.m.

I have a sick desire to go to the Socialism/Communism talk, but the bi men is pretty much no contest.

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[Harvard University Gazette]
Tue., Feb. 28-"When There Are No Good Choices: Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam/Great Society Connection." (American Academy of Arts and Sciences) Francis M. Bator, emeritus, KSG. Introduction by Ernest R. May, Harvard University. The House of the Academy, 5:15 p.m. Reception to follow.

[Harvard University Gazette]
Tue., Feb. 28-"New England Local Histories as Replacement Narratives." (Committee on Ethnic Studies, Harvard University Native American Program, Native Voices, Native Homelands Series) Jean O'Brien, University of Minnesota. Thompson Room, Barker Center, 7 p.m. Free.

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[Harvard University Gazette]
Tue., March 7-"Words Worth Teaching and Where They Came From." (Jeanne S. Chall Lecture/GSE) Andrew Biemiller, former director, Master's Program in Child Study and Education, University of Toronto. Reception and presentation of the Jeanne S. Chall Doctoral Student Research Award to Margaret Pierce will follow. Introduction by Kathleen McCartney, acting dean, GSE. Gutman Conference Center, GSE, 6 Appian Way, 5:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.

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[Harvard University Gazette]
Thu., March 9-"Herodes Atticus, Polydeukion, Antinoos, and the Love of Men." (History of Art) Natalie Boymel Kampen, Barnard College. Room 318, Sackler Museum, 6 p.m. Free and open to the public.

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[BGLTSA site]
May 11
6:30pm-10:00pm
        GenderCrash Outing!
Location: Harvard Square T-Stop

For poets/ spoken wordsters/ literary geeks/ journal writers/ queers/ transgender/ gender queers

Gender Crash is a spoken word event held the 2nd Thursday of every month in Jamaica Plain.

We'll meet at the T Stop in the Square at 6:30pm and will leave promptly at 6:45pm.

*there is a suggested donation of $5-10*

The feature reader this week is Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, a U.S. raised, Toronto-based queer Sri Lankan writer, spoken word artist and arts educator. Her writing has been published in the anthologies Colonize This!, Dangerous Families, With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn, the Lambda Award-nominated Brazen Femme, Without a Net, Geeks, Misfits and Outlaws and A Girl’s Guide To Taking Over the World. A frequent contributor to Colorlines and Bitch magazines, she has performed her work throughout the United States and Canada, from gigs at Yale University, Oberlin College, Louder Arts and The Loft to benefits for queer youth resource centers, queer Muslim conferences and in front of picket lines and antiwar protests. She teaches writing to LGBT youth at Supporting Our Youth Toronto, for which she won the City of Toronto Community Service to Youth Award in 2004, and is one of the organizers of the Asian Arts Freedom School, a writing, performance and activist education program for Asian/Pacific Islander youth. She believes in the power of creativity to empower, heal and decolonize, by any means necessary. More info about Leah can be found at www.brownstargirl.com

There were a bunch of other GenderCrash events, but this was the only one with real information about the featured performer -- who made me think of polymexina :)

Comments

[hedy.livejournal.com]

I'd go to the staff dinner (btw http://hglc.org/index.shtml). And maybe to Don't Ask don't tell, because it's a big thing (or maybe not because it's a big thing).
PS-Dean Spade is teaching at the law school this semester, so keep an ear out for him.

[lunabee34.livejournal.com]

If you do go to the one on Sunday, let me know what you hear. I'll be interested. :)