Chabot College’s 13th Annual Poetry Reading took place on Apr. 27 in building 100 from noon — 2 p.m. The reading was in celebration of National Poetry Month and welcomed the talented author and poet, Anthony Fangary as the guest speaker.
The poetry was presented by The Chabot College Library and English Department, originally started in 2010 by instructors Landon Smith, Homeria Foth and Librarian Pedro Reynoso. Foth said, “One day Pedro and I were just talking about how it would be a great idea to bring poets on campus. Students need to experience this.”
Fangary is a writer and an artist who resides in San Francisco. His poetry has appeared in a couple literary journals, received backing from several institutions, and he is even the author of HARAM, a poetry book published in 2019. HARAM, Etched Press 2019 is available on Amazon, with a total of 44 pages that brings a certain intensity regarding discrimination and religion.
Fangary read a total of 13 poems at the event, many of which had relations to his Coptic background. A Copt is an adherent of the Coptic Orthodox Church, an early Christian community originating in Egypt with a predominantly Egyptian ethnic background.
His poem titled “The Liquor Store,” talked about the pros and cons of Copts owning or working in a liquor store. “Europe,” depicted Fangary’s experience in how Europeans mistreat the Coptic people. As well as “Harem,” which talked about colorism in the Coptic community as well as religion, plus more.
The reading was smooth and the delivery was delicate, the audience seemed to enjoy the number of poems read, and a Q&A session was held after the reading on Fangary’s inspiration, dedication, and overall mindset while writing.
“One of the things that motivates me to write is working out questions I’ve had since I was younger. It’s been a lifelong exploration on what it means to be here with the circumstances in which they are prevalent.” Fangary stated. He also noted several poets that have and continue to inspire him; Joy Pries, Solmaz Sharif, and Dorothy Chan.
Fangary’s poems touched many attendees’ hearts, one of them being Chabot instructor Tobey Kaplian, “His poetry was personal and political. Poetry is not about expressing. Poetry is about discovering, and he shared that with us, in which I was very moved by.”
This is the first time since the pandemic that students gathered in person for the poetry reading in the Chabot library. Student Michelle commented, “His poems were captivating. I love his poems and I also believe in coming out and supporting poets.”
On May 3 the Chabot College wind symphony held a music festival conducted by Timothy Harris, Director of Bands and Music Department Coordinator at Chabot College, with clarinetist Duy Tran and the Mt. Eden high school orchestra as special guests.
The show began with a performance by the Mount Eden High School orchestra and was followed by three performances by Chabot’s wind symphony, one of which featured a solo by Chabot student and pharmacist Dr. Duy Tran. Dr. Tran’s solo during a piece composed by renowned American music composer, Johnathan Leshnoff, highlighted his amazing breath control and skill while demonstrating why, “He is one of the finest clarinetists here at Chabot,” according to Harris.
After Dr. Tran’s performance, the wind symphony performed “Variations on America” which was composed by Charles Ives. This piece was specifically chosen for this performance, according to Harris, because the composer was only seventeen at the time that he wrote it – around the same age as the Mount Eden students in the audience, giving them something to relate to.
For their final performance, the Chabot students performed a Spanish opera titled “El Gato Montes” written by Manuel Penella about the love affair between a bull fighter and the woman he loves. This dramatic piece is well known throughout the musical world as it was the inspiration for many other march composers like John Philip Sousa who wrote the national march, “The Stars and Stripes Forever.”
The students in both the Mount Eden orchestra and the Chabot wind symphony showed incredible talent and skill during their performances and that could be seen by how well they were received by the audience. Applause could be heard before and after every piece and audience members whispered about their approval throughout the performances.
After the festival was over a lot of the audience members spoke about how much they enjoyed the performances, with most being supportive family members of both the Chabot and Mount Eden ensembles. First year Chabot student Natalie Munoz attended the show after seeing the flier on Chabot’s website and said that she really enjoyed all the performances, stating: “I was in the orchestra at my high school, so it was cool to see high school students and college students play at the same level.”
This spring semester, Chabot College performed their version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the comedy was originally written by William Shakespeare somewhere between 1594 to 1596. The play, although set in ancient Athens, GR, is re-imagined through Shakespeare’s eyes nearly 2,000 years after the era.
The performance was held in building 1100 and directed by Dov Hassan, who is the head of Theatre Arts. The money that was used to purchase the tickets went toward funding the Chabot Theatre Department.
The play provides the “love is in the air” feeling, first starting out with a four-person love square where Egeus, an Athenian nobleman prepares for his daughter, Herima, to marry a man named Demetrius. But while Demetrius loves Hermia, she loves a man named Lysander. Although Helena, Hermia’s friend, still loves Demetrius after being previously engaged to him. Eventually, Hermia and Lysander sneak into the woods, hoping to run away. However, Demetrius follows and Helena isn’t too far behind. In the woods, there are two very different groups in very different situations. First, we have the faeries, with Oberon, the King of faeries, and his Queen, Titania. The two are currently at odds after returning from a trip. The second group are Athenian Mechanicals or craftsmen, who are arranging a play they wish to put on for Theseus, the duke of Athens and his bride, Hippolyta. The three groups of characters get caught up in silly situations that ultimately lead to them all being connected.
As the play featured comedy and drama, and while the stories were portrayed well, it got a bit confusing to keep up with at times. The acting and set design made up for it.
The play, being very well produced and directed, started out with a bang, literally starting out with a jumpscare before going into a routine and choreographed dance, with green and purple lights on the main stage. The opening scene was very captivating, it had me and the audience hooked from the start.
In an interview with Tarin Smith, who plays Flute, A Mechanical forced into playing the part of a woman in the play for the rich. “If I didn’t get a laugh at the end, I’m doing a lot wrong.” he stated “There’s been shows where we’ve done something, and people are like, “Oh my God!“. And honestly, like the reactions fuel us. Like it gives us fire to, like, do really good. So crowd energy is really good for us.”
Overall, the audience and I really enjoyed the play. It had drama, romance, and a ton of humor. I hope to see more plays like this in the future.
The Chabot College Art Gallery’s opening night was on March 14, and closed on March 31. The gallery featured many different students’ works, such as paintings, photography, and sculptures. It was held in building 1100 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and featured many different works.
Six photos of photographer in portrait, each picture in a different hue.
The area was spacious enough to hold everyone’s work, and light refreshments for the guests made for an enjoyable experience. On the walls, there were photos and paintings, and there were about 4-6 items on each side of one wall (with the exception of bigger works), with a sculpture or two in between.
Green, blue, black, and yellow acrylic paint on canvas in circular shapes.
Many of the talented artists who submitted their work to the gallery attended with their loved ones to view all of their hard work on opening night. The artists who were in attendance seemed satisfied with how the setup of the gallery went, both the process and the finished result. The process of setting up the gallery took a couple of weeks, but the finished product was beyond worth it.
Handmade sculpture figurine of a bird wearing a victorian style dress with it’s a feet showcasing in the front.
Overall, the gallery was beautiful. The art submitted was very well done and obviously had a lot of thought and heart put into it. The gallery was open for some time after, however, the first day attracted the most people. They were excited to see what was in store for them.
Handmade sculptures of three individuals, two women, one man, in a bust style. Various textures layered to showcase the variations in hair textures and styles. Handmade sculpture of Native American chief wearing a feather head piece, painted in a variety of glaze colors ranging from red, oranges, and blues. The sculpture is reaching out to what appears to be his reflection water.
Selena Quintanilla was the subject for this year’s paint night at Chabot College in honor of Women’s History Month. The event took place on Mar. 23 in hopes of raising donations for Ruby’s Place, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, and violent crimes.
One of the world’s most influential and iconic female artists, Selena Quintanilla, still holds a large influence on women today even 27 years after her death. Though she began her career in Tejano music, earning the 1994 Grammy for Best Mexican American Album, her fifth and final album Dreaming of You, incorporated both English and Spanish songs.
Dreaming of You was released in July 1995, four months after Selena’s passing, and at the time was the second highest selling album in a week by a female artist, and the first album from a Latin artist to reach number one on the Billboard 200s.
The host of paint night, Monica Olmedo, Hispanic Serving Institute and El Centro Coordinator, understood her connection to the late singer wasn’t exclusive, “How do make sense of a brown girl living in a white world?” Olmedo stated she has always felt seen by Selena, a third-generation Mexican American girl chasing after her dreams.
Student members of El Centro, Puente, and Lunas were in attendance to assist participants in checking in and providing supplies. The painting of the Selena silhouette was led by Graphics Technician Sara Flores, with Philomena Franco, Fiscal Coordinator, Special Programs and Grants, as co-MC for the session. The night was filled with light stories, encouragement to fellow painters, and Selena fun facts.
Did you know Selena’s favorite food was pizza? Some fans may remember the infamous pizza scene in the 1997 film Selena. Selena (portrayed by Jennifer Lopez) and her husband Chris (portrayed by Jon Seda) bond over pizza as Chris dumps hot sauce all over the food. Chris quickly spits it out after it starts burning his tongue, with them erupting in laughter.
Students in progress painting of Selena
Also in attendance was Patricia Molina, Dean of Special Programs and Services, and founder of Luna. In 2017 Molina noticed a wide variety of clubs offered at Chabot, Striving Black Brothers, My Sister’s Keeper, and more. With a growing population of female students, Molina was inspired to create a club for Latinas to be able to network and support one another.
The Lunitas, as they call themselves, are more than just a group, “A sisterhood, una hermandad, united to support one another!” Luna welcomes all who identify with hermandad so they can work together toward achieving their academic goals. Some services provided by Luna include specialized counseling, mentoring, financial aid support, and more.
Philomena Franco (far left) Patricia Molina (right of Franco) standing with the Lunitas holding up their portrait pantings of Selena.
Lending help to other sisters in need outside of the Chabot community was the other focus of the night. Ruby’s Place is based in Castro Valley, with its main focus being to support and rehabilitate survivors of domestic abuse, human trafficking, and violent crimes.
“Domestic violence is, unfortunately, a common issue in our society, and giving information about Ruby’s place allows students to either get services themselves or refer someone they know.” Chabot student Angela Tafur commented on the benefits of having this nonprofit highlighted on campus. “Awareness of places like Ruby’s Place helps students not only contribute to a good cause but also learn about resources the Hayward community offers.”
With the success of the first paint night in Spring 2022, and the even larger turnout this year, Olmedo and the entire El Centro faculty and friends are ecstatic to have brought together the group to celebrate and honor Women’s History Month.
In honor of Black History Month, clubs geared toward students of color hosted events during February.
Most of these events were virtual, like the screening of Black Voices from the Ivory Tower that Dr. Khalid White presented on Feb. 3 and a Zoom discussion on the impact of violence on the mental health of African American college students on Feb. 9. The discussion, which was held by Pathway to Wellness, took place earlier in the month.
On Feb. 15, the Umoja Community, named after the Swahili word for unity and one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, hosted a day carnival from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. where students were encouraged to come and celebrate with food, music, and prizes. At the end of the month, there was a Black Scholars Family Night in which Black students that earned a 3.0 GPA or higher in the Fall semester of 2022 were honored and awarded. These events took place in the Event Center in the 700 building and were open to all students.
If students were unable to attend any of these events or are interested in celebrating Black culture outside of Black History month, the Chabot community provides opportunities to do so throughout the year. The Black Cultural Resource Center, located in room 136 of the 100 building, hosts cultural events and workshops all year long and provides a space for students who identify as Black, African American, and Afro-Latinx to get the support they need.
This support goes beyond academics as the Black Cultural Resource Center offers services like mental wellness counseling, career counseling, transfer resources, and basic needs support.
Along with the Black Cultural Resource Center — special programs like Umoja, Striving Black Brothers, and My Sister’s Keeper aim to create a space for Black students to thrive by focusing on African American history, literature, and culture.
By providing the core four courses as well as multiple other transferable courses, Umoja strives to support Black students with their academic goals by promoting “togetherness,” — as described by sophomore Christian Green. Besides their cohort classes, the Umoja program also provides personal counseling for all of their students. Umoja counselor and coordinator Tommy Reed says, “Their ability to build a connection with students and their timely responses are a large part of what makes the program so useful.”
Outside of academics, Umoja promotes community outreach by hosting events on campus throughout the semester. While they have done less since the pandemic, whereas before, they used to host three to four events per semester, Umoja regularly hosts open mics and partners with the Black Cultural Resource Center to host Chop it Up Tuesdays — in which students are encouraged to come to the Black Cultural Resource Center and discuss whatever topics are on their minds.
If you are interested in joining Umoja or the other groups on campus that are geared toward Black students, you only need to reach out to the individual programs through the Chabot website and apply. Umoja has no GPA requirement, and all students are welcome to apply.
Russell City was once a thriving unincorporated town with homes, churches, jobs, schools, farms, and clubs. Russell City was a town located in Hayward. Before it was an Industrial Park It was the pinnacle for various migrants and immigrant groups like Spaniards, Danes, Germans, Italians, African Americans, and Mexicans.
Due to racial discrimination in Alameda County, there weren’t many areas for minorities to live and call their home. There were only a few neighborhoods: Fillmore (in San Francisco), West Oakland, Palo Alto, and Russell City (Hayward).
Russell City mural in Downtown Hayward
Many minorities set up businesses to make a living. Aisha Knowles’ grandfather used to own an automotive shop in Russell City; she stated, “I hear the stories from people who lived there, who had business there, and about what the town meant to them and how special of a place it was,” said Knowles.
On Saturday nights in the 1940’s and 50’s, Russell City was the place to be. People would be dressed in their finest suits and clothes, dancing it up on the dance floor to some of the greatest R&B and Blues musicians, such as; Grammy award-winners Ray Charles, B.B. King, and other artists like Lowell Fulson and Dottie Ivory. People from all over the bay came to hear them perform. There were two clubs in Russell City: the Russell City country club and Miss Alva’s Club.
Russell City Country Club is one of the two clubs that includes live performances for music venues. Russell City Country Club (Photo courtesy of Hayward Historical Society and Dr. María Ochoa)
Dr. Maria Ochoa, Ph. D., is the author of the book Images of America Russell City. She is also a San José State University Professor Emerita of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. The book is based on the history of and dedicated to the people of Russell City. She mentions how great the well-being of a community in Russell City once was. “I lived in Hayward across the street from Chabot when it was all fields. I remember going to Mass in Russell City as a little girl. I remember it being a place where my parents made friends with Latinos, African Americans, and Whites. The community was together as a whole,” said Dr. Ochoa.
Russell City public school was located just five miles away from downtown Hayward. The book described Russell High School as a valuable three-story high school with iconic Greek architecture and the nation’s most elegant school. The book also described Russell City public school from the 1st grade to the 8th. Before the high school in Russell City was built, students who wanted to continue their education had to go to Oakland High.
The classroom experience sometimes included manual labor, and sometimes teachers would take their classes into the fields. Dr. Ochoa stated, “There were cows and chickens in the streets. People had school gardens which were orchards, and vegetables were growing. It was all agricultural.”
Russell City itself was an agricultural town. Gardens were common in residents’ homes. There were a lot of orchards and vegetable gardens. The town had dairies and a pig farm. The smell of hogs was horrible, as described in the book.
Four stores in Russell City supplied food, cigarettes, aspirin, and other things. There were restaurants in that town that weren’t segregated. The money always went back into Russell City.
Alameda County never provided services like water, electricity, and sanitation. “It was a difficult situation. They had no roads, no indoor plumbing, and they had no utilities like electricity. People living in Russell City had to get Car Batteries to bring electricity into their homes, schools, and businesses.” Says Dr. Ochoa.
So, what happened to Russell City? What happened to this thriving minority town? For one: it was an unincorporated town. Two: the residents were still interested in bettering their town. It was that they were denied the opportunity by the government, the county, and by Hayward. Both the county and the city devised a plan to turn Russell City into the industrial park you see today. Residents were forced to move, and businesses were forced to close.
By the late 1950s, the town was in turmoil. Residents were forced to move, and arsonists burned properties to the ground. When the town was expanded to Hayward, the city used eminent domain to remove the last of the residents in 1966 for the industrial park.
“Many who lived in Russell City are in their 70’s and 80s. talking about it can be painful because they remember what they lost when it was destroyed,” said Knowles. Russell City now is a question of “What it could have become” since 1964.
The residents of the once-forgotten community weren’t willing to let Russell City fade in their memories and let it be unknown. Ruby Tolefree-Echols and Henry “Billy” Garron, two former Russell City residents, founded an annual reunion picnic. Echols died in 2002; unfortunately, Mr. Billy Garron passed away some years ago.
“The reunion picnic was held in 2022 after being suspended during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. It is unclear if the picnic will continue as the people who lived and worked in Russell City are few in number now, largely due to the passing of so many. The people who now come to the picnic have not necessarily lived or worked in Russell City. They have heard stories from their elders and want to learn more,” said Dr. Ochoa.
Russell City Reunion Picnic participants are looking at a handmade community map. (Photo courtesy of Dr. María Ochoa)
There are tributes to Russell City in Hayward. Russell City is commemorated in the downtown Mural where Hayward had officially apologized. On Nov. 16, 2021, the Hayward City Council voted unanimously to issue a formal apology for the City’s historical role in and the perpetuation of racial discrimination and racially disparate impacts of its past actions and inactions. The property of Russell City today is worth millions.
“One of the things that happened with Institutionalized poverty is that people try to survive, and to face some of the challenges requires having a strong sense of community, and I think people there developed that.” Says Dr. Ochoa.
On Feb. 21 many instructors from Chabot College held a zoom meeting discussing ChatGPT—whether it’s beneficial or not to them and their students. ChatGPT is an A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) chatbot established by Open AI and started on Nov. 22.
Instructor Lester Abesamis who led the meeting, stated, “ChatGPT is an artificial intelligent language model designed to generate human-like responses to natural prompts. You can type in any prompt and what ChatGPT draws from its database. It can remove from famous personalities.”
If you ask ChatGPT a question or give it a prompt, it can respond to you like how a celebrity can. “ChatGPT got some adaptability and changed its style as supposed even to the degree that somebody famous enough like comedian George Carlin, but I told it to give me the same information in a style of a George Carlin monologue, and it did.” Says Abesamis.
You can ask ChatGPT anything you want. When do you ask ChatGPT what ChatGPT is? The response is: ChatGPT is an AI language model developed by OpenAI that can engage in natural language conversations with humans. It uses machine learning algorithms and neural networks to generate human-like responses to textual inputs. ChatGPT is pre-trained on a large corpus of text data from the internet and continuously learns and improves with each interaction. It can answer questions, provide information, offer suggestions, and converse on various topics.
ChatGPT writes emails, prompts, and answers questions and essays. You can ask it to write essays in the style you want. “It may not be good for essays where you’re providing textual evidence and specific examples. It may not be able to do that.” Stated Abesamis.
During the meeting, Instructor Michael Thompson questioned the purpose of using ChatGPT by saying, “I’m Curious to see if anybody is interested in realistically, they’re going out into the world where this is more and more likely to replace their jobs they have right now. I went to the canvas sight just to see what they said about it, and they basically are saying, ‘well, you can’t block It. We better figure out how to use it, and as I was doing it, a chat box popped up, and then they were saying, ‘what do you do with it?’ just doesn’t seem to be a nuance to me.”
When you asked ChatGPT about how beneficial they can be to instructors and students, the answer is: As an AI language model, I can help both teachers and students in a variety of ways, such as: Answering theoretical questions: I can provide information and explanations on a wide range of academic topics, including math, science, history, literature, and more, Assisting with homework and assignments Offering study and exam preparation tips, Providing lesson plan ideas and resources, Providing assessment, grading tips. Recommending educational resources. Offering professional development resources Overall, my goal is to provide accurate and helpful information to teachers and students in a timely and efficient manner, so they can achieve their academic goals and succeed in their studies. ChatGPT went into more specific details on how it can help benefit Both Instructors and students.
Cultural appropriation has been in fashion for decades, yet in the past 10 years, cultural appropriation has been brought to the forefront.
Fashion is a form of art that is interrupted as society sees fit. Throughout the decades, fashion has been a statement that one uses to express love, hate, or even misfortune. Inspiration comes from all over the world and many fashion designers use cultural attire to innovate their fashion lines.
Musical artists like Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Iggy Azalea, and Rihanna all have taken an aspect of another culture for music videos.
Jess Gaertner, Cosmopolitan writer states that culture appropriation “in a nutshell, is when people of one culture start using elements of another culture that’s not their own.”
“It can be seen as a violation when these elements are merely used to make a media or fashion statement, or when they’re taken out of context, becoming offensive – for example, when an item of clothing that has deep meaning to culture is used as a fashion accessory flippantly by someone else,” Gaertner states in article Cultural Appropriation: 10 Times Celebs & Fashion Brands Took Things Too Far.
Vogue, Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Givenchy, Balmain, and Gucci are all luxury designers that have had a controversial issue with appropriating culture from Native American headdresses to Japanese geisha-inspired looks.
Heather Brown, a Native American Chabot student, expresses how she’s not very knowledgeable about her culture, but knows when something is wrong and how fashion is sending out an inaccurate message about the history of her culture.
“If you research the attire of Native Americans, each piece of clothing means something … you put a headdress on a white model in nothing but a bikini, what exactly are you trying to sell?” says Brown.
Brown then goes on to say that “the fashion industry is full of people who don’t understand the history behind the fashion and they should educate themselves.”
Another Chabot student, Darion Jurden, doesn’t follow fashion but knows when something is offensive and is on the lines of cultural appropriation.
“It’s hard to not take something from one culture and brand it out. This day and age people don’t pay attention to the content they put out, just the revenue they bring in. They don’t care about the history or how it might make someone feel,” says Jurden.
There is a fine line between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. With social media being this era’s platform to express yourself some might be overly sensitive on how their culture is represented.
Dakari Thomas, a writer for The Guardsman states in the article Cultural Appropriation or Over-Sensitivity? “Among minorities in America, we have become hypersensitive to the idea of our cultures being imitated.”
Even though some might confuse cultural appropriation with appreciation, hypersensitivity can cloud one’s judgment on how someone else chooses to express themselves.
“However, we have to realize as a society that cultural appropriation is present throughout every culture, and it is not frowned upon,” Thomas states.
Cultural appropriation is and will continue to be controversial in the fashion industry due to the belief that some trends commercialize and tarnish the ancient heritage of cultures. There have been debates on whether designers are acknowledging the history behind the attire they are taking from different cultures.
Chabot College will be celebrating Women’s History Month with a series of speakers on Tuesday, March 4. Professor Michelle Cruz Gonzalez will be this year’s keynote speaker. Gonzalez will be speaking from 12-12:50 in the 700 south building.
Michelle Cruz Gonzales reading her book, The Spitboy Rule
Every year since 2008, Chabot College has put on an event to celebrate and educate the public about Women’s History. This year Chabot welcomes Las Positas English Professor Gonzales. She will be reading from her book “The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band.”
Her book goes into the details of growing up in a music world that was dominated by white men as well as her disconnect from her white middle-class band members. During the 80s and 90s, she was a member of three bands, Bi*ch Fight, Spitboy, and Instant Girl.
Gonzalez earned her degrees in English and creative writing at Mills College in 2001 and 2003.
Jane Wolford, a US Women’s History professor at Chabot College, coordinates the event every year. Wolford was first told about Gonzalez by a staff member in Learnings Connection at Chabot, Gonzalez is also known in the English and Puente Community.
Wolford has yet to meet Gonzalez but is very excited, “Her book talks about owning her identity and being proud of who she is. I think she’ll be very inspirational to people.”
Wolford was hired in 1991 and helped to create the first Women’s History class at Chabot. Her class took about a year to develop and was officially offered in the early 90s.
Up until 2008, there wasn’t a solid, organized tradition. Wolford explained that there would be a faculty member speaking or some form of activity, but she felt that it was important to create a tradition. “It was a one-event thing until 2015. We did more events, we had three events that year. It began to grow.”
Diane Zuliani, an Art History professor, and Mayra De Valle, a spoken word artist, joined Wolford in 2015 speaking at this event. The following year there were six speakers. More people wanted to be a part of this event.
In 1987, March was declared as Women’s History month when Congress passed Pub. L.100-9 petitioned by the National Women’s History Project. Women’s History month first started as a week. Women’s History Week was the week of March 8 to correspond with International Women’s Day.
Something that Wolford wants women to understand is that the best way to progress in the world is to work together on their goals. She stated that women have come a tremendous way throughout the decades. Yet, there’s a significant divide between the generations of Women.
“I think young women now are so much better at knowing what they want, knowing what they won’t put up with, and demanding it,” Wolford stated. She argues that while women may be moving forward in some movements, they’re sadly falling behind in others.
Women’s history has had a number of struggles. A common issue is getting women to support other women in matters that don’t particularly concern them. “You’ll find in the Women’s movement the number one reason why we haven’t done better is that we’re judgmental and divided,” Wolford added.
There could be so much more for women if they were more united among all kinds of women. It starts with admitting that women have been excluding other women and being willing to compromise.
At this year’s Women’s History Month event, Gonzalez will tell her story, but that in no way means that people with their own stories, can’t be a part of her message. There will be some food after all the speakers have finished.
There isn’t solely one event. Throughout March, other groups on campus will be hosting Women’s History events.
March 12, from 12-1 p.m. in the Event Center, there will be a woman suffrage centennial panel where Wolford will be speaking alongside her colleagues Kay Fischer and Jessica Gallucci. (700 south building)
March 17, Latinas United N’ Academic (LUNA) will be hosting a Real Talk dedicated to human trafficking and domestic violence. A guest speaker will come from Ruby’s Place, a comprehensive wellness-based program that provides shelter and support to victims of human trafficking and domestic abuse. (500 building: 557)
March 19, from 9 — 11 a.m., a student research exhibit will also be held in the Event Center. (700 south building) The display will be dedicated to women of color.
