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Posts tagged ‘MOQA’

Oct 25

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I’m Out.

I’m pretty sure Wednesday at Middlebury College will be a day for a collective sigh of relief.  The Middlebury Open Queer Alliance (MOQA) is spearheading a community-wide “I’m Out” day Wednesday. From their website:

The idea for Midd Out Day is to have everyone participate communally in an event that allows each individual to assert that they are comfortable with their own unique identity. Though the phrase “Coming out” is often referred to within the narrative of sexual orientation, our hope is that we can broaden the context in which this statement can be used. By being ‘OUT’ on Oct 27 individuals have the opportunity to recognize that they have many unique identities.

… With this in mind we encourage everyone who wants to join the movement to wear a T-shirt with “OUT” on the chest on Wednesday Oct 27. We are going to be making the shirts on Proctor terrace from Sunday Oct 24 to Wednesday Oct 27, and would love it if you would come and join us! We will provide the T-shirts, the spray paint, and the music to inspire you- all you need to do is come and you can create your own OUT T-shirt. You may also feel free to bring a shirt you already own and would like to spray paint.

MOQA members have told me that they’re happily running out of shirts, but thanks to sponsorship from all five commons and the Dean of the college, they’ll have some more available tomorrow between 12 and 2 on Proctor terrace.

So stop by and paint either your own shirt or they’ll provide one for you.  And don’t forget to wear your shirt Wednesday.

Finally, I’m proud to say that this blog is now read by an audience outside of the immediate Middlebury College community.  I think this idea of everyone being “out” for a day can and should spread.

I believe everyone should be “out” as someone who respects themself and others regardless of their physical body or their “gender” (the way they assign meaning to their bodies).  As long as people are respecting themselves and others, people have the prerogative to interpret their bodies any way they want.

I also believe everyone should be “out” as a respectful person regardless of where they come from or what they look like.  I think it would be amazing if the t-shirts people at Middlebury will wear Wednesday spring up elsewhere.

Say what you want about “queer theory,” but we are all human beings, and we should all be “out” as tolerant people to ourselves and others.

The one qualification I would offer in this is that being “out” should not belittle how hard it can be to “come out” as a homosexual or whatever else.  If you need support, I hope you can take solace in how very often, it gets better.

 

Sep 29

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Diversity in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning Roundtable

We’ve all been there before. You’re in a beginner language course and your writing assignment for the week: write a composition describing your ideal boyfriend for the girls, and your ideal girlfriend for the guys. Or maybe you have to act out a skit where a husband and a wife are having dinner with their two perfect children. Seems a little too Norman Rockwell-esque yea?

Well a group of Middlebury students certainly thought so last April when a panel discussion sponsored by MOQA on International and Queer issues roused up the idea of diversity in foreign language education. Yesterday this same group of students, joined by some of Middlebury’s foreign language faculty met up in RAJCon for a roundtable discussion on the issues of gender, race, class and disability in the foreign language classroom.

As one who is looking to become a foreign language educator, I found the talk to be fascinating and very insightful. It is great to know that we have faculty member who are dedicated to taking issues of diversity to heart in the classroom. Some Middlebury specific things that were mentioned included:

  • Sensitivity training for faculty members; being able to admit discomfort with a certain topic
  • Giving more opportunities to move past heteronormativity in the classroom
  • Pointing out offenses and out-of-date examples in textbooks (such as the infamous 30 year old French in Action workbook used in beginner French classes)
  • Pre-departure meetings on the issue of being queer and going abroad

The rest of the meeting took a very broad perspective, focusing on how we reach every student in the foreign language classroom; a unique challenge given you are working with the culture of each individual student as well as the culture of the language you are teaching. Linguistic issues were raised as well with the issue of gender and language. Can a language be sexist or is it the culture that is sexist? How do we degender language and begin to break down labels?

Middlebury has always had a knack for languages, and I think discourses between students, faculty and staff, such as this roundtable, will only serve to make our programs in foreign language acquisition even stronger. I personally look forward to more discussions like this in the future.

Oct 17

Coming Out Week and MOQA

National Coming Out Week recently passed and I’d like to send a huge congrats to MOQA and the Queer Studies House on a job well done with their events, activities, and the week in general.  One of their activities, for example, was tabling at Ross and Atwater dining halls.  The tables were just set up to distribute rainbow ribbons in order for anyone who wanted to show support for the queer community or Coming Out Week to do so.  However, it seemed that many students were against the idea of the tabling or Coming Out Week; the reactions and faces given to the table volunteers were not the most welcoming. 

I know that many members of the queer community prefer a more low-key approach to sexuality, which is understable considering that sexuality is an intensely private aspect of an individual’s identity.  The same can be said of many straight people in regards to approach to sexuality.  Does this, perhaps, factor into the reactions that were received by the table volunteers?  Or is there just a general uneasiness surrounding Coming Out Week?  If so, how do you think the queer community can show support for itself and its allies?