Issue 50, September 2012
BROAD
Featured Cover Artist: Elana Maloul
A Feminist & Social Justice Magazine
*Formerly Digest Magazine
Activism & Academia
BROAD
A feminist is a person who answers “yes” to the question, “Are women human?” Feminism is not about whether women are better than, worse than or identical with men. And it’s certainly not about trading personal liberty--abortion, divorce, sexual self-expression-for social protection as wives and mothers, as pro-life feminists adjective propose. It’s about 1 having an ample distance from side to side; wide justice, fairness, 2 covering a large and access to thenumber and wide scope of subjects
range of human experience. It’s about women consulting their own well-being and being judged as individuals rather than as members of a class with one personality, one social function, one road to happiness. It’s about women having intrinsic value as persons rather than contingent value as a means to an end for others: fetuses, children, the “family,” men. ~ Katha Pollitt
broad | brÔd |
BROAD
or areas: a broad range of experience 3 having or incorporating a wide range of meanings range of human experience. It’s about 4 including or coming from many people of many kinds women consulting their 5 general without detail own well-being and 6 (of a regional accent) very noticeable and strong being judged as individuals rather than as members 7 full, complete, clear, bright; she was attacked in broad daylight of a class with one personality, one social noun (informal) a woman.
broad | brÔd |
slang a promiscuous woman
function, one road to happiness. It’s about women having intrinsic value as persons rather than contingent value as a means to an end for others: fetuses, children, the “family,” men. ~ Katha Pollitt
phrases broad in the beam: with wide hips or large buttocks in broad daylight: during the day, when it is light, and surprising for this reason have broad shoulders: ability to cope with unpleasant responsibilities or to accept criticism City of broad shoulders: Chicago
BROAD BROAD Mission: Mission:
Broad’s mission is to connect the WSGS program with communities of students, faculty, Broad’s mission is to connect the WSGS program with communities of students, and staff at Loyola and beyond, continuing and extending the program’s mission. We faculty, and staff Loyolaforand beyond, continuing extending the program’s provide space and at support a variety of voices while and bridging communities of scholars, mission. We provide space and support for a variety of voices while bridging artists, and activists. Our editorial mission is to provoke thought and debate in an open communities of scholars, artists, activists. Our editorial mission is to provoke forum characterized by respect andand civility.
thought and debate in an open forum characterized by respect and civility.
WSGS Mission: WSGS Mission: Founded in 1979, Loyola’s Women’s Studies Program is the first women’s studies
Founded ina1979, Women’s StudiesasProgram is the first women’s studies program at Jesuit Loyola’s institution and has served a model for women’s studies programs program at a Jesuit institution and hasOur served as aismodel for women’s studies at other Jesuit and Catholic universities. mission to introduce students to feminist programs atacross otherthe Jesuit and Catholic mission is to introduce scholarship disciplines and theuniversities. professional Our schools; to provide innovative, students to feminist scholarship acrosstothe disciplines the professional schools; challenging, and thoughtful approaches learning; and toand promote social justice. to provide innovative, challenging, and thoughtful approaches to learning; and to promote social justice.
Activism and Academia: This special themed issue on Activism & Academia explores: how activism and academia Activism and Academia: are related, whether or not they are compatible, what it means to be a part of the academy, what types of education are lacking from academic disciplines, access and to This special themed issue on Activism & Academia explores: how activism education and to education, to the what real world, if there academia are rights related, whether orhow notacademia they are relates compatible, it means to is a disconnect between universities and society at large,are andlacking how wefrom can make what we be a part of the academy, what types of education academic learn matter.access Look for [A&A] symbol for contributions onhow our theme! disciplines, to the education and rights to education, academia relates to the real world, if there is a disconnect between universities and society at large, and how we can make what we learn matter. Look for the [A&A] symbol for contributions on our theme!
BROAD People:
BROAD People: Karolyne Carloss
Abi Wilberding
Junior Editor Technology & Administration
Junior Editor Publicity & Outreach
Jenn Miller
broad | brÔd |
Senior Editor
synonyms see: wide, extensive, ample, vast, liberal, open, all-embracing synonyms
see wide, extensive, ample, vast, liberal, open
antonyms see: narrow, constricted, limited, subtle, slight, closed
antonyms narrow, constricted, limited, subtle, slight, closed see also broadside (n.) historical: a common form of printed material, especially for poetry
Brandie Madrid Consulting Editor
Julia DeLuca
WSGS/WLA/Gannon Coordinator
Natalie Beck
Archives & Website Coordinator
J. Curtis Main Consulting Editor
Table of Contents
A feminist is a person who answers “yes” to the question, “Are women human?” Feminism is not about whether women are better than, worse than or identical with men. And it’s certainly not about trading personal liberty--abortion, divorce, sexual self-expression-for social protection as wives and mothers, as pro-life feminists propose. It’s about justice, fairness, and access to the
CONTENTS Broad magazine is interactive- click titles to jump
BROAD MAGAZINE: ACTIVISM & ACADEMIA ISSUE FROM YOUR EDITOR by Jenn Miller
EDUCATED GUESS
Visual Thoughts by Abi Wilberding
FEMINIST FIRES Ileana JIménez
Education by Emily Thompson
WORDS ARE USELESS I Beg You by Jeremy Van Cleef
FACULTY FEED Conversations Along the Not so Straight and
Far Too Narrow
Path to Social Justice in Eduation by Dr. Marlon C. James
On Activism, Academics, & the Seemingly Unbridgeable Gap by Jess Nesbitt
WORDS ARE USELESS The Ivory Tower by Elana Maloul
[A&A]
Grande Activism with Academia on the Side by Natalie Beck
[A&A]
Striking for the Bigger Picture by Emma Holli-Arcus
WLA RE-ANIMATED [A&A]
CPS Strike and Quotes Compiled by Abi Wilberding
[A&A]
Untitled
by Tiim “Toaster” Henderson
INSIDE R OUT
Taking a Step Back to Move Forward? by Curtis Main
QUOTE CORNER Feminist Perspectives on Social Research, Part 1
[A&A] “Bringing Feminist Thought into Something that’s Traditionally Not Feminist:” Bridging Women’s Studies/Gender Studies and Professional Development by Jenn Miller and Stephanie Williams
SCREEN/PLAY
Visual Thoughts
by Brandie Madrid
[A&A]
Striking a Balance
by Meg Helming
QUOTE CORNER bell hooks MADADS [A&A]
Too High Fashion For Justice
Both/And: The Fallacy of the Academia/Activism Divide
by Allison Pilatsky
[A&A]
An Invisible Divide?
by Sophia Rodriguez
EX BIBLIOTHECIS
University Libraries Want your Activism
by Jane Currie
VOLUNTEER VOICES by Emily Thompson
Young Women’s Leadership Charter School
Table of Contents
[A&A]
[A&A] Moving from the Private to the Public Sector: A Different View on Activism/
CONTENTScontinued CON/SCIENCE
NEXT ISSUE AD ANCHOR
The Scientific Activist by Brandon Haydon
BROADSIDE
The Political Poem that was Bulled Out of Me by Molly Meacham
[A&A]
Community-School Partnerships by Anna Lees
[A&A]
Loyola: A Gated or Gateway Community of Rogers Park? by Stephanie Willard-Worrell
QUOTE CORNER [A&A]
Feminist Perspectives on Social Research, Part 2
The Museum’s Pedagogical Transformation, or, Who Might Be by Holly Shackelford
Alum Alert [A&A]
Bernadette Raspante
Culture Shock: The Testament of a Practitioner Turned Full-Time Student by Daniel Camacho
Feminist Perspectives on Social Research
[BROADER PERSPECTIVE]
Raising the (Coffee) Bar: A woman’s experience in the coffee industry Emma Steiber
CONTRIBUTOR GUIDELINES
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BOOKMARK HERE
We also set out to re-design and re-format the magazine to better fit the diverse needs of our content and contributors; we think we have successfully met this goal with the introduction of BROAD magazine! Our Technology and Administration Junior Editor, Karolyne Carloss, has been an extremely valuable voice in collaborating for the new aesthetics of our publication, and her work will continue to enhance our use of technology and online formatting as BROAD magazine continues to grow and define itself.
Dear Readers, Welcome to BROAD Magazine! Our team has been hard at work this month breathing new life into what was formerly The Weekly Digest Magazine, and as you can see, we’ve made quite a few changes. We wanted to create a publication for our readers that was minimal, easy to read, and exciting to view; our aim was to combine an aesthetically compelling design with a simple and readable viewing experience, the combination of which would become the vehicle for presenting a BROAD range of ideas related to social justice and feminism. The issues and topics that we cover in BROAD are already complex, challenging, inspirational, and sometimes radical. We want that content to be our focus and we’ve allowed it to guide our design, so that our readers are gripped by the union of ideas they encounter in the text and the images they see on the page.
We are also constantly striving to enhance the quality and diversity of our content through a dedication to community engagement and a participatory and mutual relationship with our contributors. We hope to actively join with our readers and contributors through conversations, encouragement, critical thinking, and feedback. Together, we will pose questions and seek answers (or maybe more questions!) in order to provide the most balanced, diverse, rich, revealing, creative, and cutting-edge content possible.
In regard to our new design, I simply must recognize our magazine’s founder and consulting editor, Curtis Main, for his tremendous support, encouragement, technical assistance, belief in our new vision, and trust in us as a team. In so many ways, the magazine you are now viewing would not exist (in its current form or any form) without the hard work and dedication of this amazing individual. He has truly been instrumental in the continued growth of this magazine!
And finally, we aim to adhere to the original mission of “The Weekly Digest” which reads as follows: 1. Connect the WSGS program with communities of students, faculty, and staff at Loyola and beyond, continuing and extending the program’s mission. 2. Provide space and support for a variety of voices while bridging communities of scholars, artists, and activists. Our editorial mission is to provoke thought and debate in an open forum characterized by respect and civility.
As we officially kick off the year, I want to give you all an overview of what the team’s goals for this publication are, all of which we hope will be better met with our new aesthetic. As a team, we hope to extend the visibility of the magazine and engagement of contributors and readers both inside and outside of the Loyola community. We hope that in adopting a cohesive and consistent brand for BROAD, we will be more recognizable, and thereby increase awareness
That brings me to the theme of this issue: Activism and Academia. BROAD Magazine is not an academic journal, although it is situated within an academic department at a university. This is an intentional choice. We strive for quality of content, while not pressuring contributors to write with any particular (academic) style or format. As a part of our goal of drawing in readers and contributors from outside the university setting so that our publication can be
enjoyed by the BROADer community (sorry, I had to), we are attempting to become more inclusive of nonacademic voices. Some of the content that, in the past, has been very specific to Loyola (Alum Alert, Faculty Feed), will now strive to feature more individuals from outside the academic community. Is BROAD Magazine an activist magazine? Absolutely. We are radically aiming to reclaim and reconstitute the word “BROAD.” We are pushing the boundaries of what one typically can expect to see in a studentrun, university-situated publication. We encourage the submission of (radical) ideas and opinions that challenge hegemonic ideals. We are raising awareness about issues of social justice, feminism, human rights, racism, sexism, class oppression, body issues, media messages, cultural considerations, and where all of these things (and more) intersect. This is what activism from within academia looks like for BROAD Magazine. And as you read through these pages, you’ll gain an understanding of what it means to our contributors. Just take a look at our Table of Contents and you’ll see what a BROAD range of opinions this issue covers! We hope you’ll find your reading experience to be enhanced by the quality and diversity of our thoughtprovoking contributions, columns, and regular sections, and the minimal style of our new design. BROADly speaking, we aim to serve you: our readers! We hope you will see the changes we’ve made and the goals we’ve outlined as improvements and we welcome your feedback! In solidarity, Jenn Miller P.S. If you or someone you know would like to be involved in BROAD Magazine, please email me at: jmiller13@luc.edu
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From Your Editor
of the magazine and develop a greater presence in the community. Our Outreach and Publicity Junior Editor, Abi Wilberding, has been hard at work in promoting our magazine in new areas and fields, reaching out to potential contributors, and forming relationships with valuable contacts in the community. I believe her work in this capacity will ultimately connect us with more individuals, groups and organizations, expanding our readership, diversity, inclusiveness, and accessibility.
Asking How, Why, and What the Hell?
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by Abi Wilberding
Educated Guess
Feminist Fires The Feminist Teacher, Ileana Jiménez
Major Achievements:
Founder of the New York Independent Schools LGBT Educators Group, 2005 Named one of the 40 Feminist under 40 by the Feminist Press, 2010 Recepient of the Distinguished Fulbright Award in Teaching, 2010-2011 Recepient of the Susan B. Anthony Award from NOW-NYC, 2012
Inspired By:
Chicana lesbian feminist theorist, Cherrie Moraga who helped her reclaim and merge her Latina, queer, and feminist identities; social justice education; LGBT Mexican youth; inclusive schools; and educating girls and women Activists and academics alike who are inspired by her ability to teach feminism and activism at the high school level. Countless students whom she has inspired to advocate for domestic sex trafficking, street harrasment, and the sexualization of girls
Personal Life:
Jiménez is currently a high school teacher at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School in NYC, where she offers courses on feminism, Latina/o literature, and LGBT literature. She is also the founder and sole blogger of Feminist Teacher
Importance to Feminism:
A leader in the field of social justice education, Jiménez has been a model for teaching feminist and LGBT literature at the primary and secondary level.
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Is An Inspiration to:
Activism & Academia Contributions on our theme
On Activism, Academics & the Seemingly Unbridgeable Gap By Jess Nesbitt
incorporating the seemingly distant fields of activism and academia, but I can’t and won’t within the course of this article. Maybe by the end of the semester we’ll have dubiously bridged that gap entirely and can make recommendations to the rest of the activist scholars and academic activists who are seeking compromise.
Accustomed to radical campaigns weaving interminably throughout our campus, my colleagues and I didn’t even blink when our professor became caught up in passionate debate and admitted to us how she felt about student loans and subsequent debt, To begin a discussion on this fissure asking us outright to spark a revolution. between activism and academics, let’s Frustration in front of the classroom is set some working (and incredibly broad) far too common in the District, but such definitions of candid passion? We are not Perhaps we can begin to both. Activism is always comfortable stepping categorized as a out from behind our theories re-conceptualize what it policy or action that and into the visceral realm. means to be an activist, seeks to bring about We are all activists, but we and allow different forms political or social are shrouded in language change, while that keeps us a few feet away of action (whether it be academia refers to from action. Or so I thought. research or protests) to the environment carry nuanced – yet imthat encourages Brett Williams, an education, research anthropology professor at perative – meanings. and scholarship. American University, and Academia, as a socio-cultural concept, activist, has begun a bit of an experiment. seems contained to universities and Always passionate and ready to discuss Ivory Towers, separated from daily life social justice, she has been incorporating and “reality”. Activism, ostensibly in and inspiring activism in her classes contrast, seeks to incorporate action into through sheer excitement about issues, but daily life and out of the theoretical realm. this semester is different. Organizing for Historically, academia and activism are a New Economy, an edgy undergraduate presented as dichotomous: they exist class, seems to take on the role of both in metaphorically separate spheres, academics and activism. While critiquing but also quite often in literally separated capitalism and pretentiously invoking spaces. Marx, we are also seeking new ways to define and understand our economy, I see this proposed phenomenon as on our own terms, through the context stemming from an ideological approach of social organizing. But how does this to academics that condones passion but work? Is it effective? I wish I could tell seeks to restrict emotional attachment to you and outline a neat, fool-proof plan for
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“I can’t wait for all of you to not pay back your student debt.”
Expression and Commentary through Guest Artists
The Ivory Tower
Jess Nesbitt is an activist and undergrad student at American University in Washington, DC, studying anthropology with research interests in queer linguistics and human rights. She currently works at Amnesty International as a Women’s Advocacy Intern, and also holds positions at the National Abortion Federation and RAINN (Rape Abuse and Incest National Network). Biography: Elana Maloul is a sophomore at Loyola. She is an English and Psychology major with minors in Studio Art and Philosophy. She has a wingspan of 5’ 7” and her favorite animal is a griffin. Contact her via email at ekmaloul@gmail.com. Medium: Ink and Paper
[A&A]
Link: http://laapstudio.blogspot.com/2010/11/elana-maloul-at-open-studio.html
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If we indeed bring our experiences into all that we do, then I do not see why academics are an exception, and why we must necessarily demand a separation between our activism and our studies. What may be lacking is a public discussion and dialogue about the ways in which the two interact and how we are constrained by each. And thus, I’d ask that you begin to see the classroom as a birthplace of action and begin to bring these discussions into your own realms of activism, academics, and action.
Words Are Useless Featured Cover Artist: Elana Maloul
This is something that I am grappling with: there seems to be a lot of attention that presumes this gap exists, that posits academics and activism as irreconcilable and stuck in separate realms. Some scholars even suggest that we need a third space to engage our activism and our academics. Aren’t we doing this, though, when we bring our passion to the classroom and interrupt class discussion? When we study and publish studies that seek to understand, rather than presuppose, that which we are passionate about? Can our academic interests be an impetus for change? Perhaps we can begin to reconceptualize what it means to be an activist, and allow different forms of action (whether it be research or protests) to carry nuanced – yet imperative – meanings. Perhaps what we need is to allow the space for genuine and comprehensive dialogue, and for academics to relinquish our erudite speech and for activists to practice
patience. Perhaps this is all simply negligence on my part, because I am lucky to have an academic program that is rooted in social justice and a campus (though not an administration) that conflates social justice and academia.
the subjects. This stereotype dictates that, when emotional or overly involved in the outcome of research or studies, we are capable of bias and have the potential to skew data, or even falsify facts to allow for our passions to be sated. Activists, on the other hand, can sometimes appear to be drowning in the visceral reactions to causes, angered to the point of action. Of course, these are serious stereotypes and generalizations, and there will always be exceptions. But these generalizations help to give us an idea of where this fissure may originate.
Activism & Academia Contributions on our theme
Grande Activism with Academia on the Side By Natalie Beck
Every few blocks, it is hard to avoid the red shirts and picket signs of Chicago’s public school teachers striking. Arbitration updates are relayed every night on the news, as the teachers duke it out with Mayor Emmanuel and the
Chicago Public School system. However, under the radar of the media is another movement arising, asking for better working conditions. The faithful employees of Peet’s Coffee and Tea are asking for more with their coffee.
In addition to a living wage relative to the standards of living in Chicago, the Workers are requesting appropriate raises, pay that reflects their level of expertise, compensation for onsite work injuries, and sick days. This detailed list of needs was first brought to the attention of the manager at Peet’s Coffee and Tea Store #403 on September 3rd, but was not given proper attention. Since that date, their survival list has worked its way up the corporate ladder. Just last week, they were contacted by a corporate executive of Peet’s Coffee and Tea in California, but the Workers do not believe this is a good sign. Many, including an anonymous barista activist and graduate student known for his role as catalyst for this cause, believe the executive’s visit is an attempt to break up their effort as other corporate members have in the past. The Workers have begun to organize demonstrations to show their commitment to this cause and to remind the big bosses that many patrons support these Workers. But it isn’t just community members and Workers who believe in a fair wage for these coffee artisans. Professors from DePaul and Loyola have voiced their support of this cause. As the professors see it, this is not just a fight for those who brew for a living, but the opportunity to take a stand for the right of workers to support themselves as they pour 39 hours a week. Peet’s
Workers request for a living wage is about math. 39 hours at $8.50 does not pay rent and put food on the table. Hopefully this logic coupled with determination will guide the executives at Peet’s Coffee and Tea to sharpen their pencils and reconsider their math. I will continue to follow the Worker’s cause in Broad magazine. Until our next edition, follow them on Facebook and read up on Peet’s Workers Group on their blog, which includes their letter to management: www.facebook.com/peetsworkersgroup http://peetsworkersgroup.blogspot. com/2012/09/LaborDayLetter.html
[A&A]
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In a letter addressed to management, Peet’s Workers, as the group calls themselves, outlined their lists of needs. At the top of the list is the request for a living wage. Currently, Peet’s employees can expect to make around $8.50 per hour, even for those employees who work up to 39 hours. In Chicago, the low end of a living wage is considered $11 and that’s exactly what Peet’s Workers are asking for. The bare minimum. The minimum amount they need to pay their rent, feed themselves, and survive city life without the need of government funding. They are asking for the rest of their boot straps that Peet’s Coffee and Tea has not fully provided them.
Activism & Academia Contributions on our theme
Striking for the Bigger Picture by Emma Holli-Arcus
The latter statement is far from the truth. While in the immediate future kids are out of school and will have to make up the school days because of it, there is a larger picture at stake. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) seems to have started to finally push back against administrations that have been making unsound choices for this city’s schools. Across the nation, schools have been slowly pushed to act more like businesses than places where children are educated. In Chicago, the largest point of contention for the CTU is the way in which teachers are evaluated and paid. CPS and mayor Rahm Emanuel have proposed that teacher evaluations be strongly based on student performance on standardized assessments. In practice, this forces teachers to “teach the test” (a phenomena commonly seen in the wake of No Child Left Behind) because their jobs depend on it. Regardless of where a student comes from or what happens outside school, a teacher has to make sure that their students do well on that year’s exam. The social justice implications with this decision are huge. Research has shown that the following factors can poorly effect student performance on standardized assessments: low socioeconomic
status, volatile living situations, minority status, English as a second language, preexisting health conditions, cognitive disabilities or other exceptionalities. While the underlying issues are various, the concern of teachers is that the needs of these students are not being met either in or out of school. When a principal or evaluator is forced to look at a teacher’s success based on one kind of data that is collected by the tests, it fails to consider any of a myriad of conditions that could have affected that teacher’s success in reaching students. This is a condition that CTU has refused to accept. Because achievement can be affected by many different factors, and most of them are out of the control of teachers, punishing teachers by refusing raises or firing them for a single data point does not help them to become more effective educators. It does nothing to help close the achievement gap between minority and white students. Putting teachers under more stress leads to higher levels of burn-out and less effective teaching practices. In addition to basing teacher evaluations largely on student growth, CPS also wants to implement teacher observations. While teacher observations can provide adequate ideas of a teachers overall performance, CTU has objected to the way in which they are implemented. Observations will be implemented solely by a schools principal, which leaves teachers open to unfair evaluations. CTU has suggested that the observations include the principal as well as a peer teacher to serve as a checkpoint for the principal evaluations. The reasoning for pushing the significance of student success on standardized test scores teacher evaluation comes from the push to treat schools as a business. Beginning in 1995 with Paul Vallas, CPS has been headed by CEO’s that have continuously tried to privatize public education by turning over the management of schools outside for-profits, nonprofits and universities through charter schools. Schools have also been closed or “turned around”, largely under Arnie Duncan (current US Secretary of Education), because of repeated failure to meet state expectations. As
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The first days of school for any student are exciting: filled with new friends, teachers, and experiences. But in Chicago, many students have had this process interrupted by the first teachers strike in 25 years. In a city well known for corruption, racism, segregation, violence, and inequitable services in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), teachers want more money as well as better ways to evaluate effective teachers. There are more specific points of contention as well:, teachers are being asked to teach a longer school day (increasing the day to 7 hours for elementary teachers and 7.5 hours for high school students), accept lower quality health benefits and be subjected to an evaluation system that comes straight from the business world. Comments from interested parties have ranged from, “Teachers are heroes!”, to “Teachers (and their union) are thugs and don’t care about the children.”
a business model, this could work. However, in schools things become more complicated. Charter schools have an unstable history of success and some fail their students entirely. Additionally, charter schools have a higher turnover rate of young, White teachers that leads to a lack of successful role models for minority students. Closing It is important to underperforming schools forces students to new remember that the schools that can often result teachers are working in long commutes, crossing conflicting gang lines and for a larger picture that being in the same classes as could change the face of rival gang members.
WLA Re-Animated Artifacts from the vaults of the Women’s & Leadership Archives
1965: “Selma March photo” Description: A black and white photograph of Mundelein students at a march in Selma, Mississippi
education in Chicago as well as across the nation.
Questions: Do you think Loyola needs a Catholic Interracial Council today? Are students at Loyola engaging in protest and activism like Mundelein students were almost 40 years ago?
Born in Norway and raised in the Chicagoland area, Emma recently completed her Bachelors of Science in Biology and Masters in Education at Loyola University Chicago. Still living and working in Chicago, she loves interacting with the city’s youth through work, and going on long bike rides.
[A&A]
WLA Mission Statement: Established in 1994, the Women and Leadership Archives (WLA) collects, preserves, organizes, describes, and makes available materials of enduring value to researches studying women’s contributions to society.
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The current concern for students during the teacher strike in Chicago is entirely valid. Not only are they losing valuable days that could be spent learning, students and their families are being forced to find alternate arrangements for childcare, adding more stress to families during an already stressful economic climate. However, it is important to remember that the teachers are working for a larger picture that could change the face of education in Chicago as well as across the nation. In a city where history has been made by people as stubborn as mules, the stand the that CTU is taking could turn the conversation away from what teachers are doing wrong to what can be done to positively impact students. If Chicago Public Schools ever wants to rid themselves of the title “worst in the nation” (given by William Bennett in 1987) it needs to begin listening to its students and teachers and give less credit to the business men that have been chosen by elected officials to run the education of this city.
“As a point against the strike, reporters say that the average salary of teachers is quite high. Average is a poor measure of anything. You can have one foot in an ice bucket and one foot in a flame and have an average temperature of warm... I see very little relation between standardized testing and the effectiveness of teachers. Using tests to evaluate teachers is the work of the devil.” -Steve Miller, retired Wall Street trader.
“The CTU strike surrounds a lot of complicated issues. Hopefully, it will further open up conversation around the contentious educational policies undertaken in Chicago in recent years. More than compensation, the strike is about who determines the direction of educational policies and and how to maintain democratically controlled public schools.” -Beth Wright; PhD Student, Cultural and Educational Policy Studies.
“I am in favor of collective bargaining, but in this case the CTU has hijacked the educational future of Chicago. This situation had no intention of ever being settled beforehand; you can’t make this many red t-shirts and placards in 12 hours. This strike was orchestrated, there was no intention of settling -Loyola Instructor (anonymity requested).
Sounding off: the CPS Strike I understand that teachers are seeking this raise because they have not had one in several years but in this economy they should consider themselves lucky to have a job and making far more than the average person at that. I am not naïve in knowing that part of this raise is being sought after because of longer school days and increase in teaching but it doesn’t make economic sense. Perhaps I could be a little bit more understanding and sympathetic to the teacher’s desires IF they actually produced results. It’s common knowledge that Chicago Public Schools drastically underperform and its students test scores are far behind the rest of the state and nation. Yes, I know that a large proportion of students in Chicago are low income and there is a large achievement gap but teachers HAVE to be held accountable for student performance. That is my biggest hope and result that I would like to see come out of this debacle is that principals are given the power to actually hire the teachers that are best for their students. The city of Chicago needs to understand this is a local situation with national ramifications- education reform is drastically needed in America and it might as well start with Chicago. Drastic changes need to be made in education and teachers need to agree and be a part of those changes and reforms.” -Kellie Slappey, J.D./M.A. Student; Cultural and Educational Policy Studies.
“I worked in CPS for many years and I really can’t believe that they are striking. There is more at stake here than what is valuable for teachers; the most important thing in CPS is the student population. [Students] are being delayed in their academic programs and this is what CPS is based on. So many students in CPS are already so far behind, days without instruction are totally inappropriate.” -Tonika Terrell; Ed.D Student, Teaching and Learning
“Education has become too political. The bottom line--the kids--isn’t even being discussed at these talks. I understand that to be a teacher is to know a teacher and conditions do matter in terms of your comfort on the job. However, our city’s schooling system is already facing a deficit: where is that money going to come from? The longer school day needs to be proven effective with more research and teachers on the ground should be more involved and consulted when these decisions are made by policy makers.” -Jennifer Shah, Ed.D Student Curriculum and Instruction, Adjunct Professor, previously teacher at North Park Elementary.
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“The strike with the Chicago Teachers Union started off being about salary increases. The Union was looking for a 30% raise despite the fact that the average Chicago teacher makes $71,000 per year while the average family in Chicago only makes $47,000 per year. (sources: http://iirc.niu.edu/District. aspx?districtid=15016299025, http://www.illinoispolicy.org/blog/blog.asp?ArticleSource=4685).
“They’ve been discussing this for over a year and I think that the Mayor’s hardline attitude contributed to the failure to reach an agreement without closing schools.” -Lisa Lewis, Loyola employee and CPS parent.
“The Chicago teachers strike is exciting and exhilarating to see. We have had nothing like this in thirty years. It really is significant and its going to wake up young people and empower union workers. The weakening of the labor movement explains, more than anything else, the gap between the middle class and the rich” -Tom Roddy, retired journalist. “Unions serve a purpose in education: to advocate for teachers so that they can better serve their students. I did my classroom teaching in Arizona, a right-to-work state where workers and unions have little to no power. My mom and sister teach in Wisconsin, where the teachers’ unions has recently been decimated. Where there is no union presence, teachers receive scant pay, benefits, and respect; classrooms sizes grow, while resources decrease.” -Amy Heineke; Assistant Professor, School of Education
“I can see both sides of the situation. I can see how teachers are frustrated with classroom size and teaching to standardized testing; however, I am wary of teachers getting automatic 4% raises every year regardless of performance.” -Ben Correia; PhD Student, Higher Education
“So as far as the CPS strike goes, I honestly feel overwhelmed and uneducated on the whole thing. I have been hearing really negative comments and I feel that teachers are getting a really bad rep. I like to think that the majority of the teachers striking are doing so with good intentions and for the main purpose of improving education and learning environments for CPS students. However, I think that CPS teachers are being misrepresented and misunderstood in the media and things are in turn getting out of hand. Everyday I see someone call CPS teachers greedy and lazy. As a future teacher, this concerns and disheartens me, as well as embarrasses me. I know I do not know all the facts, and I should certainly read up on it, but I just really hope the issues get resolved and the outcome is positive for both the teachers AND the students.” -Nikki Rodio, Undergraduate Student in the School of Education
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Sounding off: the CPS Strike
Contributions on our theme
The first time I went to jail for someone else, I was definitely guilty. I didn’t realize how drunk I was until the heater crept through the patrol car divider. A receptionist came into my interrogation room to ask me how it’d feel if he “sprayed me in the throat with my own spray paint.” I told him that it would probably hurt.
“Untitled” By TIm Toaster Henderson I spent a lot of time drawing when I was told not to. I realized at a very young age, that ADHD was hard to teach. A fidgety, overjoyed, exponentially excited fourth grader learns quickly how difficult it is to please faculty. Sketching was the only thing that kept my pencil from becoming drum sticks The first time I saw bubble letters, I told the fifth grade girl in front of me that I would never be her friend again if she didn’t show me how to make them. The day my teacher told me my notebooks were
filled with gang graffiti, was the last time my teachers knew anything. The first day I skipped high school I heard they were arresting kids I knew, for markers I had. It took me 9 years to graduate. I was familiar with handcuffs by the time I was 16. The first time I went painting, the world disintegrated in my collar bones. I was writing on a school in my neighborhood with a can of white field paint we’d found in our friend’s basement. To my friends, we discovered a treasure chest. To me, it was the last moment I’d spend as a law abiding citizen.
That was the first time I ever enjoyed peeing on someone else’s handcuffs. That day also held the third time I heard a police officer use racial slurs in uniform. They told me that they felt entitled to use these words because to them, all they saw were people wearing blue uniforms and people who weren’t.
I told her that the first thing she had to do, was ask herself “what is the most important thing she could tell anyone.” “What did you write?” she asked. “Do what you must, not what they demand.”
Toaster is an artist out of Chicago, Illinois. A poet, mural artist, and musician, Toaster uses a kaleidoscope of artistic vision to create, express and teach.Before leaving Chicago, He has been featured on National Public Radio, at the legendary Green Mill, and at the largest youth poetry festival, “Louder Than A Bomb.” In 20112012 Toaster moved to the Bay to build a name for himself. Featuring in various venues, schools and festivals across Northern California including: The Art Murmur in Oakland, The University of San Francisco and The Berkeley Slam. He is also a successful competitor, recently becoming the “Berkeley Slam” Individual World Slam Poetry representative for 2012. You can find Toaster’s work, on: TVOAG.COM, youtube.com and at facebook.com/timtoasterhenderson.
As the brown man handcuffed to the wall, I could tell my blue jeans weren’t uniform enough. The first poetry workshop I taught was in a room full of law abiding middle school geniuses. Except for three of them (theft was popular there). One of them saw me doodling as they free wrote. She stopped and said “Are you the one who writes on all those trains?” “No.” “Can you show me?” There was a gerbil made of chocolate and lemon juice melting inside my heart. If I didn’t teach this little girl how to paint bubble letters, I would die trying to tell her no.
[A&A]
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Activism & Academia
The first time someone went to jail for me, I outran the only Olympian I know. We were running from a sixty year old man. He had a cane. One police officer pulled my friend from underneath a car and handcuffed him to my other friend. The other police officer threatened to forcibly extract my testicles before handcuffing me to a gate. By the end of the lineup, the man with the cane couldn’t remember who I was. He did know I was innocent. I had just finished cleaning the blue from my hands. They took everyone else away.
by J. Curtis Main
Inside R Out? White? Male? Feminist? YES.
Decades ago and still today, anti-oppressive efforts and ideas find safer, more stable and constant homes in universities, colleges, and academics as a whole. The ebb and flow of ground-roots, collective activism can be quite ephemeral and hard to manage and move forward into coming years. But if a university or college can house activist stories, intentions, hopes, and struggles, then maybe the activism and effort will be more stable. The black civil rights movements, feminist movements, and LGBTQ movements, to name the more common efforts housed in American academics, have found alternative homes to grassroots by “living” in African, African-American, and Black World Studies, women’s and gender studies, and sexuality and trans studies. Does this make them inherently part of the issue, though, when they align with and “live” in many of the same institutions they are protesting and trying to change? Some say yes, some say no, and many say it is necessary.
Taking a step back, to Move forward? It is with positive reflection and apprehension that I approach this special themed issue’s topic of “Activism and Academia.” While the romantic in me wants to believe that they have an intensely warm and symbiotic relationship, I am reminded of the dangers of activisms being enveloped in academic webs. Academics can be sticky with strong threads tied to privileges in dominant politics, religions, wealth,
ideologies, and people. Yet I should not begin this column with two assumptions- that activism involves only just and progressive movement or that academics are entirely power-laden energies. This first official issue of Broad magazine and first issue of the year for what was once Digest magazine serve as an excellent “case study,” if you will, for this
The dilemna can be simplified (and unfortunately in ways, minimized) into two directions. On the one hand we, as activists and hopeful agents for positive change, can work as much as possible outside of hegemonies to change them. Protests, demonstrations, boycotting, building separate subcultures and organizations, influencing the inside from the outside, and so on, are ways of trying to invoke change as a player that is not involved internally. On the other hand, in order to gain some access and agencies within circles of power, we as activists may make sacrifices in our methods, goals, and approaches in order to make change from within. Even the simple but at times challenging effort to communicate in another person or group’s language is an acceptance of the “other’s” power structure. It is a step, though, a compromise in power shifting. I am not here to argue that one of these methods is better than the other. One might say that the former is radical and revolutionary while the other is liberal and compromising. Both approaches have their gains
and sacrifices. Women’s Studies, among other “antioppression” fields as I like to call them, more often falls into the latter category of playing by the rules in order to make change from within. Even though feminism and activism do often take place in academics, specific inroads, or rules, must be followed to gain some existence as a “player” in the game of academics. Feminism and Womanism, for example, in academic form, are called something different: Women’s and/or Gender Studies. The terms feminist and womanist just might have been too much for inclusion into academic worlds upon their entrance. Black Power Studies is more often named African-American studies. Taming seems to occur when radical movements are moved into academic institutions. Which makes sense, right? An academic department, office, or center must have a mission that fits into the mission of the academic institution way more often than the other way around. So what might be sacrficied? Take a look at Loyola, for example. In my two years in the Women’s Studies and Gender Studies program as a student and graduate assistant, the three main structures of feminism at Loyola, The Gannon Center for Women and Leadership, the Women and Leadership Archives, and the Women’s Studies and Gender Studies Program consisted of 5 directors- all white women over the age of 35, many Catholic. Does this limitation in diversity automatically imply that these efforts are bad or wrong? No, but it does show that the dynamics and politics of Loyola as a whole are demonstrated in the structures of its smaller parts. This sacrifice is one of many- that the more dominant academic institution has more say in hiring practices and campus culture than any of its smaller parts. One of these directors, Janet Sisler, a fascinating and vibrant leader of the Gannon Center, guest lectured in my Women in Higher Educaiton course today. Janet illuminated this push and pull between tradition and change. She reflected on Mundelein College’s legacy as the last all-women’s college in Illinois that for over five decades offered women access to higher education in a country that more often than not limited its girls and women into predefined and constricted roles. Mundelein allowed women a campus and academic climate more similar to the open field of possibility men enjoyed. Women students could
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conversation. For at this very moment that I am typing, I am disengaging the immediate world around me of the CTA Armitage bus and engaging who? A handful of feminists? If anyone? Myself? Who does my writing serve beyond my immediate self? I do know, indeed, that writing serves as a form of release and expression for me. But for others who come across it? This is up for debate; an inner ongoing debate as I pour a third year of energy into this magazine.
racism, classism, and sexism of Loyola University Chicago, in a manner that pitted Braod “against” Loyola, Broad magazine may be shut down, as it is a part of Loyola rather than independent of Loyola.
Due to lowering admission Does this mean these rates, Mundelein closed its potential campaigns or If Broad magazine doors in the early 90s and topics are not deserving desires to push for became “affiliated” with of attention, scholarship, Loyola. Janet revealed that and publicity? Not at change, the people the feminist and social justice all. It does demonstrate, spirit and application did however, that if Broad behind the magazine not fade with Mundelein’s magazine desires to push must understand departure, but rather lives for change, the people on in Mundelein alumnae. behind the magazine must their insider/outsider Now, Janet Sisler, as Director understand their insider/ relationship to the larger outsider of the Gannon Center of relationship Women and Leadership, to the larger academic academic institution. which partly serves as institution. Mundelein’s living legacy at Loyola, is tasked with negotiating Mundelein’s But how much possibility for positive social feminist legacies with a private, Jesuit Catholic change does Broad magazine have, seriously? institution. An academic institution that, keep in As with many academic activist efforts, are the mind, bars women from serving as priests. There efforts lost in waves of privilege? Is writing about are over 20,000 Jesuit priests in the world, all something and maybe having others read it who men. Janet must, while working inside the system are already privileged going to lead to changes? of Loyola University Chicago, understand how It depends, but I would like to say that a written to keep alive Mundelein’s legacy AND Loyola’s article probably leads to a lot less change than mission. They may not completely agree with ground level active change. I could write all day one another. However, as Janet is quite crafty and about Chicago’s gang violence and how terrible brilliant in working with others, she will find ways our society has allowed social conditions to to show that Mundelein’s legacy and intents can remain. Or I could actively volunteer or work in help move Loyola into a better and brighter future, the areas most affected by gangs to make change, for men AND women, indeed, for people. such as demanding more government intervention in lessening unemployment and increasing access I ought to return to my “case study” of Broad to resources. magazine. Like the Gannon Center, Broad magazine must negotiate its “home” of Women’s That seems to be the biggest dilemma, then, in Studies and Gender Studies and Loyola University trying to pair activism and academia. Academia Chicago while at the same time pushing back very often involves people taking a step back and on these academic powers. Just how much, studying, analyzing, and theorizing the world, though, this magazine pushes against Loyola’s and then sharing their findings with other people hold on many traditions can be a question of doing similarly. Activism, put simply, involves Broad’s future. For example, if Broad magazine acting. How does one both step back and act were to have an issue dedicated to pornography simultaneously? This is the paradox this theme and abortion, there is a good chance Loyola’s uproots for me, and I very much look forward to powerful leadership might step in and question other people’s responses so that maybe many of the “importance” of these topics to the missions of us can step back IN and act, somehow, someway, the University. Or, for example, if Broad magazine somewhere. led a very public campaign questioning the white
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Quote Corner Feminist Perspectives on Social Research
...Parts of their lives “disappear” because they are not included in the language of the account. In order to “recover” these parts of women’s lives, researchers must develop methods for listening around and beyond words. - Marjorie L. DeVault
The feminist researcher must not ignore the power that is inherent in her own assumption of ability to grant voice to the “othered.” This speaking to requires the feminist researcher to be a represented presence within the research endeavor...
- Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Denise Leckenby
Intersections of difference provide feminist research with a densely complex view of the world and the shifting environments that can be seen from within the research process.
- Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Denise Leckenby
What researchers can do is to take responsibility for recognizing how the concepts we have learned as sociologists may distort women’s accounts. - Marjorie L. DeVault
Feminist researchers often engage in an attempt to communicate how things are done within their published works, explaining and consequently examining the process of cocreation of knowledge, and the experiences of the research setting itself. This expression of experience and openness to the messy issues that arise when DOING methods is an important part of many feminist accounts of their research practices. - Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Denise Leckenby
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become scientists, compete in athletics (they even played football), learn marks(woman)ship, and have access to many other options that most of the country barred them from.
Activism & Academia Contributions on our theme
Two years prior to this “crazy” decision, I graduated from the College of Business of a Big Ten University with a degree in Accountancy. Armed with a shiny new diploma and a boatload of ambition, I applied for positions in the consulting industry, a sector which at the time seemed to offer the best of everything—a variety of responsibility, an anti”9 to 5” schedule (exciting!), the promise of travel to new places, and the perks of a corporate card. As luck would have it, I was offered a well-paying analyst position at a large, private consulting firm. I couldn’t have been more thrilled.
Moving from the Private to the Public Sector: A Different View on Activism/
Education by Emliy Thompson
I stuck with that job for two years, regularly clocking in more than twelve hours per day, tinkering with PowerPoint presentations until I was blue in the face. Nonetheless, I gained an incredible amount of professional experience and technical skills along the way, all of which I am absolutely grateful for. However, the more time I spent working there, the more I began to question what I was doing. What was the purpose? On paper, I was “helping clients improve business efficiency and effectiveness”, “delivering value”, and “creating synergies”. In reality, I was doing bullshit. Thus, in the midst of my second year, I began my quest for a new career—one that would bring true, measurable value to not only me, but also to the organization itself, and to the community and clients it served. I ached for work that would be rewarding in a more personal sense, but also work that would continue to utilize my professional
and financial skills. Oh, and work that would also allow me to have a personal life. That would be nice too. I realize that all of these desires might come across as extremely demanding. How is it at all feasible for one to ask for a job with reasonable working hours AND enjoyable responsibilities? In this economy, beggars can’t be choosers. And besides, work is just a means to earn a living. You’re not supposed to like it. These are the voices from the private sector speaking. Work hard, play hard. Crush the competition. Climb the corporate ladder. The inherent goals of private sector work—growth and profitability—reinforces these messages. That’s not to say that everyone who works in the private sector believes in them, but in general, this has been my experience. The vast majority of my consulting colleagues complained daily about how much they disliked the work, the extensive hours, and hassles of travel. They seemed to persist with the job only because of the sizable paycheck and the notable reputation of the firm. In other words, they weren’t in it for love of PowerPoint presentations. I know I certainly wasn’t. In contrast, the public sector exudes an extremely different tone, especially when it comes to public education. Essential, mission-driven, and “for the greater good” are just some of the phrases that come to mind to describe the sector. However, there is also bureaucracy, inefficiency, slowgrowth, lack of opportunity, lower-pay, and bureaucracy. Did I mention bureaucracy? Thus, in comparison to the more dynamic and lucrative reputation of private sector job, the public sector looks like yesterday’s leftovers. This is where my supposed “craziness” comes in. As evidenced by the skeptical stares and muffled well wishes, my private sector colleagues do not seem to fully understand why one would voluntarily move to the alternative sector. It seems like an incredibly large sacrifice to make just
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They raise their eyebrows. Scratch their heads and nod, slowly. “Best of luck” they say, followed by an immediate shift of the eyes in the other direction, avoiding eye contact. This passionless reaction is not the result of something awkward I said, or because my face is horribly disfigured, or because I have a massive wad of toilet paper stuck to my shoe and don’t notice it. It is because I have announced that I have accepted a new position at the Central Office of Chicago Public Schools. And I am excited about it. Apparently this implies that I am a little bit crazy.
Words Are Useless
Artist: Jeremy Van Cleef
I Beg You
Having only been at my new position at Chicago Public Schools for a few short weeks, it is impossible for me to know if a career in public education it is indeed my calling. However, I can say that I am excited for the opportunity to find out.
[A&A]
Jeremy Van Cleef is an Art Director/ Designer working in advertising. This specific piece was originally a screen print that he created for a S.O.A. protest and took part in two years ago. To sum it up it was a protest to close the school of Americas due to its involvement in many Latin American human rights issues. It was very important to Jeremy to choose a specific figure or incident and the story of Oscar Romero summed it up pretty well. He originally screen printed the work but this later rendition was digital to give a visual reference to these opposing forces. He graduated from the Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago
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for the potential to gain “personal fulfillment” The fact that she truly and “work-life balance”. believed that leaving the In discussing my decision with my coworkers, firm was not a feasible one of my youngest option, particularly in colleagues who had only been with the firm the early stages of her for about 9 months career, speaks volumes exclaimed incredulously, “I didn’t even think it about how young was an option!” The fact professionals perceive that she truly believed that leaving the firm was corporate culture today. not a feasible option, Emily Thompson is a particularly in the early stages of her career, graduate of the University of Illinois and a speaks volumes about how young professionals Chicago native. In her spare time Emily is perceive corporate culture today. a voracious reader, exuberant runner and collector of old typewriters. She loves exploring Nonetheless, it is a risk I am willing to take. I Chicago, volunteering, and strawberries. think that work experience in both the private sector and the public sector is worth exploring, in spite of the bad-mouthing from either side. Each sector has unique values to offer, whether it’s a particular technical skill or the satisfaction of providing an essential service. Moreover, busting (or confirming) the myths around each sector reveals just how much the work is truly intertwined. For instance, who knew that an extensive knowledge of project management and Excel was required for the procurement of school supplies for a district?
Connect with Loyola University Chicago’s inctructors & professors
Conversations Along the Not so Straight and Far Too Narrow Path to Social Justice in Education By Dr. Marlon C. James
Assistant Professor School of Education Loyola University Chicago
The highlight of my work week as a faculty member in the School of Education is the rich conversations with students concerning matters of social justice education. If you are uncertain, confused or at a loss concerning how your life, studies and work intersect with social justice, take comfort you are in the company of many. Some may consider me an expert of sorts on the subject matter, for the record; I am a student with many more perplexing questions than concrete answers. I am certain that life is a great teacher, and what I
have gleaned thus far is that the paths to becoming a social justice educator are not so straight and far too narrow. As an undergraduate, I was introduced to the idea of social justice by Dr. William Smith (we called him Brother-Professor), and our conversations opened my eyes to a world of social inequality and the long history of workers fighting for a more just world. By the end of my freshmen year in 1994, I dedicated my life to acquiring the knowledge,
To close, honestly, these are not easy to live out, I fail more often than I succeed in their application, but here are two continuous practices that I use to develop and maintain the habits of mind, heart and hand as I persist in service of social justice.
1. Seek Justice in Cognitive Push & Pull – Put yourself in situations, conversations, and settings that promote your personal, professional and spiritual growth. It is shortsighted to rely on critical dialogue in culturally homogenous settings and spaces for your only source of cognitive push and I was far from an atheist but uninspired by the pull. You should seek constant balance of critique whitewashing of Christianity, and unwilling to and collaboration from the very populations you embrace the toxic worldview of the Nation of hope to advocate for or I fear that your brand Islam. I had to continue to ask of social justice may to receive, and to seek in order become too elitist to find my path to God. For me, to make a practical It is shortsighted to rely this occurred through religious difference. Yes, this on critical dialogue in discussions hosted by various means as you develop student groups, and debates plans to work with culturally homogenous (most times heated) on the merits diverse communities, settings and spaces of various religions to redressing seek open and honest conditions limiting advancement critique from community for your only source of of the Black community, and members whom cognitive push and pull. humanity as a whole. These you have developed conversations fueled my private relationships with. If studies of both Christianity and they critique your work Islam, yielding an appreciation of both faiths’ (lesson plans, service project) it is an act of love for central tenets: Love for God, Love for Self and Love you in the best interests of their communities. for Others. 2. Seek Justice in Intimacy – Love in full measure An issue remained not with these faiths, but is achieved through active relationships, not with how people organized religion in ways that impersonal intellectual commitments to social contradicts this call to love, hence justice. I came causes. Jesus was often recorded socializing with to believe that justice is love actualized and God those considered “sinners” and “unclean”. Why is love. Yet, I had not encountered an example did he do so? Perhaps, even with the potential, of such love untainted by human variations of preparation, passion and power to serve others, hate and self interest. A second look at scriptures intimacy or sustained quality relationships are rather than theology revealed the love-centered required to truly understand the depth of human life of Jesus. My walk with Jesus has tethering my need, agency and appropriate ways to serve. Yes, faith with reason in service of social justice in the this means maintaining peer relationships with following four ways: culturally, economically, and religiously diverse 1. We cannot seek justice with unjust practices; individuals, if you hope to be effective in urban 2. We cannot heal social ills with hate only love; classrooms. 3. We cannot strive for justice in convenient riskless situations only; 4. It is always appropriate to love one another so Sincerely, the time to seek justice is now. Marlon C. James, PhD
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experiences, education and wisdom to make a difference. Committed yet perplexed, I pleaded with Brother-Professor to show me “the way”, but he insisted that I could not walk his path to justice. A year of courses with Dr. Smith revealed that social justice was not only an intellectual field of a study, but required (at least for me) a personal spiritual journey, an encounter with God. He believed that God, through life would direct my paths and develop in me the necessary skills and character.
Contributions on our theme
“Bringing Feminist Thought into Something that’s Traditionally Not Feminist”: Bridging Women’s Studies/ Gender Studies and Professional Development an Independent Study Research Report by Jenn Miller and Stephanie Williams
...in relation to their career plans, there is a need to assist students in taking the guesswork out of their Women’s Studies enrollment decisions, particularly as it appears more than likely that our students are not able to see how their Women’s Studies majors may fit them for the world of work, because it is not being specifically addressed in the courses we teach...by addressing in a serious and informed way their post-graduation aspirations, we may open productive avenues for dialogue between the academy and the world beyond it, something that has been centrally important to the development of Women’s Studies programs and their relationships with larger feminist movements and projects. (Dever, Cuthbert, and Pollak 337) Historically, Women’s Studies as an academic field developed partially through the formation of women’s organizations and conferences that sought to spread the word of this growing academic field and legitimize the study of “women’s issues.” In the early years, WSGS professional associations
were seen as a way to bridge the perceived gap between academic concerns and advocacy (Boxer 14). To this day, the National Women’s Studies Association “embodies the continuing commitment of women’s studies to advocacy - that is, to political action in the interest of women...the NWSA takes as its mission feminist education at all levels and in all settings” (Boxer 14). However, since the position of WSGS in academia has gained credibility after participating in the higher education institution for nearly 40 years, professional associations’ perceived former usefulness in validating women’s studies scholarship and providing a space for discourse about how to constitute and develop this new academic field, has waned. While this particular discourse is no longer at the forefront of WSGS discussion and research interests, the importance of creating a space for further WSGS discourse and presentation of research is, however, still vital to student and program success in academia and beyond. For this reason, we wanted to explore how WSGS programs can reconcile feminist theory with professional development and academia using a feminist methodological standpoint. Additionally, we hoped to identify strategic methods for WSGS programs to enhance their curriculum by enriching the learning experience of their students and preparing them for professional paths, while also benefiting WSGS programs through increased visibility and credibility. Ultimately, we sought to discover what potential benefits WSGS communities could gain from professional development experiences and how those experiences would fit within the WSGS framework. While there is no clear solution for reconciling traditional professional development avenues with the feminist principles of WSGS, our research still shows a need and desire for this type of programming for WSGS students. Based on our findings and research, we feel there are a number of effective strategies for adjusting professional development to WSGS in order to support
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Activism & Academia
At its inception, women’s studies was developed as the “academic arm” of the women’s liberation movement (Boxer 163) and “grew out of the women’s movement at its early spontaneous and energetic phase, bringing together political commitment and scholarship” (Calderwood qtd. in McDermott 80). While Women’s Studies/ Gender Studies (WSGS) continues as an academic field and strives to contribute to the greater body of academic knowledge while promoting feminist activism, changes within higher education have created a greater demand from students for professional guidance and vocational potential within and outside of the academy (Moss and Richter; Dever, Cuthbert, and Pollak). In a study of Women’s Studies graduates and the labor market, Dever, Cuthbert, and Pollak found that the choice to pursue a WSGS degree is not often motivated by the prospect of obtaining gainful employment as a direct result; it is more often a personal choice that students have difficulty connecting to their future career plans. Due to these findings, the researchers propose:
accessibility, affordability, and inclusiveness. Secondly, we address the demonstrated need for greater emphasis on the role of faculty and First, we offer some practical ways to make university culture in orienting students towards professional development more accessible and professional development. While we know that inclusive. As Laden suggested, there is a need to faculty members are already under immense make these opportunities more locally available pressure to publish their own research while also and affordable. This could be accomplished in managing their course-loads, and we understand a variety of ways such as offering sliding scale that forming a productive mentor relationship with fees, scholarship and grant opportunities for lowstudents is time-consuming, we are advocating income community members, and even free for a change in university culture that will validate events or workshops that are open to the public. and encourage these pursuits, as suggested by Offering these types of opportunities locally Park. A shift toward rewarding faculty for more eliminates travel costs, interpersonal work with their as well. Student and students would encourage and A shift toward rewarding faculty collaborations support faculty participation in would be one way the professional development faculty for more these types of events of students. interpersonal work with could be organized, while also fostering a One way that support and their students would mentor relationship and guidance can be shown encourage and support validating one another’s to students is through the situated knowledge. development of a curriculum faculty particpation that addresses the need in the professional In terms of increasing for professional skills. One inclusiveness, a variety development of students. example of this type of of strategies could be curricular change could implemented as well. be an elective course that Opening events to non-academic participants specifically addresses students’ post-graduation will eliminate the perception that professional aspirations. This type of course would guide development events are exclusive to those in students to applicable conferences and the academy and thereby increase the diversity professional associations that will allow them to of participants and knowledge-bases. Ways to form professional networks, mentor relationships, achieve this include marketing and promoting and gain presentation experience, in addition to the event in non-academic places, inviting the many other potential benefits of professional community leaders from a variety of fields to association membership. Additionally, students present or lead panels, and allowing other ways could be encouraged to present at conferences if of knowing to be present such as songs, poems, submitting a proposal were included as a course film, art, and performance. Changing the nature of requirement or granted them extra credit points. professional development workshops and events Even further, faculty and community members in these ways works to develop programs that could collaborate to share their knowledge are feminist in their methods, as well as effective with students through an optional professional in providing the skills and experience needed development series that examines topics such as to participate in our increasingly competitive the conference experience, writing an abstract, economy. A feminist version of professional publishing a research paper, and connecting development would necessarily collaborate with students with local professional associations, as the broader community using strategies to improve suggested by Desmond and Symens.
Finally, to truly be feminist, professional development (or its WSGS iteration) must lend itself towards the empowerment of those who participate in it. The feminist principles of situatedness and co-creation of knowledge provide an effective framework for developing collaborative relationships in which confidence and professional skills can be cultivated. These mentor relationships can be empowering for students, faculty, and community members alike. As Mizrahi, Devos, and Speizer have shown, mentor relationships across generations and within cohorts can foster a sense of connection, uniting women to support one another in their work while providing a model of feminist relationships for future professionals. Additional ways for WSGS faculty and students to collaborate within the empowerment framework include: student associations that are operated with non-hierarchical leadership to give students experience in feminist organizational practices; student-run, peer-edited journals to allow students greater opportunities for publishing and editing research; and student-organized campus conferences and symposiums in order to gain presentation experience and build a professional student network. In each of these suggested approaches, faculty can be a source of support and mentorship while encouraging students to self-organize. A perfect model for integrating professional development activities into feminist ideologies may not be fully realized, as there is still a need for further research in this area. However, the implementation of feminist methods and strategies to promote inclusiveness, accessibility, faculty and university guidance, and student empowerment begins to bridge the perceived gap between WSGS and traditional modes of professional development. WSGS students should not be deprived of the potential benefits of student professional development due to existing differences in methodologies between feminism and conventional professional development means; rather, professional development should be reconstituted within the field of WSGS in order
to remain consistent with the feminist ideologies informing this interdisciplinary field, allowing students to take active participation in the realization of their post-graduation aspirations. It is incumbent upon the feminist community, in academia and beyond, to equip WSGS graduates with the necessary skills and experiences to advance feminist goals as they emerge from academia into the workforce; therefore, we must identify and implement creative approaches to reconciling the professional development of WSGS students and their commitment to feminist ethos.
This excerpt is from a larger research study of the same title borne of a feminist partnership between Stephanie Williams and Jenn Miller during the Fall of 2011 and Spring of 2012. Extensive research was undertaken under the guidance of Dr. Prudence Moylan, former director of the Women’s Studies & Gender Studies Graduate Program at Loyola. The research study included a focus group of students at Loyola who had experience in professional development activities. To read the complete study, please email the authors at: swilliams7@luc.edu or jmiller13@luc.edu Stephanie Williams and Jenn Miller are both current graduate students at Loyola University Chicago, pursuing dual Master’s Degrees in Women’s Studies & Gender Studies and Social Work. Both are interested in professional development activities, feminist partnerships and work environments, and the possibilities for their intersection. Stephanie is a current Graduate Assistant in the Women’s Studies & Gender Studies department at Loyola and a social work intern at Sarah’s Circle. Jennis a current Graduate Assistant in the Office of Sustainability at Loyola and a social work intern at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
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students’ vocational goals while remaining true to feminist ideologies.
by Brandie Rae Madrid
SCREEN/PLAY SCREENing films for entertainment value and diversity to decide whether or not to press PLAY.
Most films that you have ever watched were directed by men unless you have otherwise made an extremely diligent effort for which you should be most sincerely congratulated. For most, it is difficult to come up with a list of even three female directors. As a longtime film clerk, I can list Sofia Coppola, Jane Campion, Agnés Varda, that director who used to be married to James Cameron, the one who made Frida, and Sally Potter. I might be able to scrounge up a few more, but that’s pretty much it.
Conversely, I could sit here typing for several minutes to list not just male directors but highly acclaimed, award-winning, household-name directors. As in many prominent positions, men outnumber women. Furthermore, I might add that few directors on my list, of any gender, would be people of color. Film is mostly about white males behind cameras, in front of cameras and, of course, the male gaze. And I write this in a year when the Cannes Film Festival’s winner will have to be male because no female directors are up for the prize.
that Aura embodies. She is as nebulous as her name, a person who the viewer can’t quite pin down but who is clearly affecting everything on screen. In the DVD insert for the Criterion release of Tiny Furniture, Phillip Lopate argues that the film is about the mother-daughter relationship, which is certainly a fantastic way to read this story and which makes sense considering it stars Dunham’s actual mother. In the film, as Lopate points out, Aura needs her mother, but conversely portrays her mother as needing her.
The content of the film itself is bold. So bold that at first What is more interesting to me for the purposes of this I thought I might not really like themed issue is the textual it much at all. I thought it wasn’t and metatextual discussion of Her thick, uncurvy really about anything. But Academia and the development maybe that’s because it’s about of anybody, let alone young body, pimpled face, and a young woman, post-college, women (which can be included bedraggled hair are figuring herself out. How often in Lopate’s argument if you is this sort of character the consider the university to be on display both in her subject of a film, let alone dealt in loco parentis). My argument videos and in the film. The with outside of the immediate is that Aura’s time at college members of her household context of dating-towardhas not prepared her for much mating? of anything, although the fact seem painfully unaware that Dunham made such a that she shuffles around the Tiny Furniture might come brilliant, acclaimed, successful across as boring for some, but house in her underwear like (biographical) film would say that is partly because postotherwise. Aura cannot hold a debilitated, aging hermit. college life is boring: finding a basic job as a hostess with a job, figuring out a living no one to host, but her realsituation, dealing with that life counterpart can create a struggle between independence and longing for the work of art that is both an homage to and a refreshing guidance of your parents, deciding who you are and departure from the work of the infamous Woody Allen. who you are not, the details of moving forward when the path is not clear. These can all be tedious and tricky What is Dunham saying? Is she showing us where she and embarrassing, especially when you do not choose has risen from or rather what she feels like despite her well-worn paths to an office job and/or a traditional abilities? Is she saying that women devalue themselves family life. even when they are very valuable indeed or just that we all go through that self-conscious floundering at some And the protagonist Aura is certainly not a traditional point, and there is nothing to be embarrassed about young woman, let alone a traditional film character. She after all? is an artist—the daughter of an artist, in fact—who makes exhibitionist videos that are often seen as unappealing. Although I cannot easily recommend this film to any Her thick, uncurvy body, pimpled face, and bedraggled random person, I would definitely recommend it to hair are on display both in her videos and in the film. college-age intellectuals who aren’t quite sure where to The members of her household seem painfully unaware go next. that she shuffles around the house in her underwear like a debilitated, aging hermit. She is not necessarily likeable, but the viewer can sympathize with that Where to Find It: Streaming on Netflix and on DVD at desperate, discomfiting shamble of directionlessness Specialty Video and Facets Multimedia.
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So when I see a great film by a female director, I am elated that it even got made, let alone well-received. Such was the case with Tiny Furniture (2010) by director, writer, and star Lena Dunham. Not only did the 24-year-old play such a big role in her debut film (with a $50,000 budget), but she effectively cast her sister and mother in their respective supporting roles in the film, won an array of awards, and got her film released directly to Criterion. It’s astounding. But these details do not speak to what makes this film more than a just a step in the right direction for women.
Activism & Academia Contributions on our theme
I wasn’t excited about phone banking. Hell, I didn’t even know what phone banking was. I had never been involved in a campaign of any sort, and I didn’t really know anyone that had. I grew up in a family of drastically differing political and social views, so we all avoided talking about any of it in an effort to keep the peace. But as president of the Civil Rights Team, I felt like I had to at least give it a shot. To keep a long story short, I fell in love. I was immediately drawn to the energy of the campaign. I was amazed by—and jealous of—the conviction of the staff and volunteers. As a teenager on the cusp of the college search, I frequently felt overwhelmed by the impending changes in my life and the lack of surety about my future. Here, though, I saw only a strong sense of purpose and an unwavering belief in a common mission.
Striking a Balance By Meg Helming
Over the course of the remaining two months of the campaign, I logged countless hours phone banking and canvassing. I volunteered three or four nights a week. I debated peers and teachers on the need for laws to protect minority rights. On Election Day, I skipped half the school day to phone bank for eight hours and then went straight to the campaign’s Election Night watch party. And we won. The vote was closer than my young, idealist self had hoped (43% of my fellow Mainers didn’t believe in equality?!), but I accepted a victory as a victory. My college search and subsequent transition were
just as overwhelming as I thought they’d be, but I eventually managed to settle down and find my niche at Smith College in Western Massachusetts. When I began looking for internships following my sophomore year I learned that EqualityMaine was gearing up again, this time to protect the same-sex marriage legislation that had been passed earlier that year. I eagerly joined the campaign as a field organizer intern. Over the course of three months, I felt the fire in my belly grow increasingly hotter. I was participating in the civil rights movement of this century; why wasn’t everyone as fired up as I was? I reluctantly left the campaign in the fall to begin my junior year abroad in Spain. From there, I watched the campaign rev up over the course of September and October and into November. The day after the vote, I cried as I read about our crushing defeat. I was lost. I grieved. I felt personally attacked by the voters in my state. I’ve been asked many times how I got involved in the gay rights movement in Maine, and why I got so involved before I could even vote. As for how, I always say that I stumbled upon the opportunity and got hooked; the question of ‘why’ always confuses me, because the answer is obvious. I didn’t have to be 18 to recognize a fellow human’s right to fairness and equality. My vote—or lack thereof—was not and is not the only way I can express myself and make a difference. There is an aspect of my activism, though, that I hadn’t much considered until recently: the timing. While many have remarked about my involvement at an early age, I now see that this wasn’t necessarily special or admirable; it was convenient. As a student with no significant responsibilities beyond furthering my education, I had the flexibility and time in my schedule to adopt a new project. As a teenager, I had the sunny optimism and excitable temperament that made me an ideal candidate for enjoying the campaign experience. I was also in my tenth year of school; I found myself growing bored of the routine. I was on an inevitable path toward higher education. I knew I was going to college but I
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“As the sixteen year old president of my high school’s Civil Rights Team, I was approached by an organizer from an LGBT rights campaign looking for youth volunteers. Maine’s leading LGBT organization, EqualityMaine, was defending a law that protected gays and lesbians from discrimination in education, employment, housing, and other public accommodations and services. This anti-discrimination law had been in effect for years but was hotly contested by an organization called the Maine Christian Civic League. Mainers would vote on whether or not to retain this law in November 2005.
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Quote Corner
Personal testimony, personal experience, is such fertile ground for the production of liberatory feminist theory because it usually forms the base of our theory making. ~Teaching to Transgress
I am passionate about everything in my life--first and foremost, passionate about ideas. And that’s a dangerous person to be in this society, not just because I’m a woman, but because it’s such a fundamentally antiintellectual, anti-critical thinking society. ~Teaching to Transgress
To be changed by ideas was pure pleasure. But to learn ideas that ran counter to values and beliefs learned at home was to place oneself at risk, to enter the danger zone. Home was the place where I was forced to conform to someone else’s image of who and what I should be. School was the place where I could forget that self and, through ideas, reinvent myself.”
bell hooks
No black woman writer in this culture can write “too much”. Indeed, no woman writer can write “too much”... No woman has ever written enough. ~Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work
Feminist education-the feminist classroomis and should be a placewhere there is a sense of struggle, where there is a visible acknowledgement of the union of theory and practice, where we work together as teachers and students to overcome the estrangement and alienation that have become so much the norm in the contemporary university. ~Talking Back
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didn’t know where, and I wasn’t convinced of history. The knowledge I’ve gained reminds the value of this significant change. The 2005 me of this while helping to ease the pain and campaign, however, provided me with the frustration of setbacks; I can recognize progress perfect opportunity to try something different, and, based on historical evidence, rest assured stretch my independence, and reach a concrete that there is hope in the future. goal by an established deadline. I felt in control, ”My” movement is I credit my activism with I felt empowered, and I helping me discover and clearly not mine alone, felt a calling. develop my passions; I see my academic rather it is one thread I felt much the same career as broadening in a vast fabric of way before interning on my perspective and the same-sex marriage encouraging me to look shared national and campaign in 2009. I had beyond the immediate. international social and excelled academically Furthermore, the skills my first two years I cultivated within my cultural history. at Smith, but I was academic environment struggling to get excited about my schoolwork. have provided me with the tools to clearly What was I preparing for? Again, I felt I was on articulate my thoughts and defend my an inexorable path toward…what? Something arguments. I now recognize that I could not be big and scary. The “real world”? I’m sure I’m a good activist without my academic base, and not the only one to feel like my world of ivyI could not have maintained momentum in my covered brick buildings was far, far removed studies without my activism connecting me to a from the world that I expected to be a part of community beyond my academic environment. when I graduated. Thanks to these two complementary forces in my life, I have purpose and perspective; I am But I owe a lot to that ivy-covered institution, a stronger activist and academic because I am and my public school education leading up to both. it. My passion for the gay rights movement, left unchecked, had the potential to consume my Meg Helming currently lives in Boston, attention and energy entirely. My excitable, Massachusetts where she works at a statewide impatient, young-adult activist self was going association of nonprofits. She grew up in mad trying—and failing—to understand Portland, Maine, and attended Smith College why so many people thought that their peers in Western Massachusetts. should be forced to live as second-class citizens. When we lost the same-sex marriage vote in 2009, I was shocked. Thankfully, my studies grounded me; they taught me about other social movements, other struggles, and the historical context of ‘my’ movement. The perspective I gained from my formal education continues to provide a rational balance to my inevitably emotional knee-jerk reactions to developments within the gay rights movement. ‘My’ movement is clearly not mine alone, rather it is one thread in a vast fabric of shared national and international social and cultural
Busted Advertising, Bustling Economy
Too High Fashion For Justice Does this series of photos from Vogue seem to be their own form of protest or are they criticizing those who stand up for their beliefs? Do these photos push boundaries with animal rights? Or do they also push boundaries with the objectification of women’s bodies, using them as coat hangers and mannequins for the fur they so desperately defend? How do race and class enter into these depictions? Do these ads suggest that animal rights activism is by and for white people? How is the depiction of women’s bodies parallel to the treatment of animals in our societies? What do you think? Send your thoughts and opinions to: vogue.com/contact/
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MADADS
Activism & Academia
The particularities of the faculty in our department notwithstanding, the liaison group was dominated by women who framed themselves as activists, and although I could gain some traction in my defense of theory and life in the academy, it was slow going. While I discussed the intellectual challenge that comes with reading Foucault, my fellow liaisons talked about the importance of translating academic work into their communities and participating in grassroots organizing. We continued in this vein for a while and finally veered off to make a decision in regards to the candidate we would support, but the conversation continued to come up over the course of the semester. We didn’t realize that we were all advocating for the same thing.
Contributions on our theme
Both/And: The Fallacy of the Academia/ Activism Divide By Allison Pilatsky
Two years ago, as one of the liaisons to my undergraduate Women and Gender Studies department, I found myself participating in the search and hiring process for a new professor. Presented with four candidates, my classmates and I attended talks, asked questions, and ate meals with the potential hires. We learned about their intellectual
investments, what they thought mattered in the teaching process, and what formed the basis of their methodologies. After all four visits, the liaisons came together as a group to discuss who would be the best fit for our department in preparation for presenting the candidates to the search committee. Instead, we found ourselves engaged in a
Activism and the academy are inseparable and always have been, and to separate the two into discrete realms is both facile and false. First, there are many people who are explicitly academics and activists, who write and publish and teach, but are also community organizers. One of my undergraduate professors built community organizing into her curriculum, teaching theory alongside trips to low-income housing rallies, for example. On a grander scale, academia and activism feed each other, functioning reciprocally to expand both social movements and academic fields. The historic trajectory of feminism follows this pattern of interaction; the fight for the franchise was a social movement, as was the reproductive rights movement of the 1960s and 70s. In the last few decades, however, feminism has been institutionalized as an academic discipline, but still the activism/academia division finds its edges blurred. Many people in feminist non-profit organizing have Women’s Studies degrees, as do lawyers, social workers, and other people in fields more focused on outreach than intellectualized introspection. In that original liaison conversation, I advocated for the theory side of this oft imagined split. Since then, however, I have realized that as an academic, I couldn’t do the work that I am engaged in without activists and without framing my own work as a form of activism. In focusing on the intersections of queer and disability studies, I am listening to what those communities are saying and am paying attention to any organizing that is happening by people with those identities. Moreover, I am part of the queer and disabled communities, and my academic work reflects a world that I both experience as real and hope to change. As such, when I talk about selective abortion of
fetuses with disabilities in the classroom, it is not merely an academic exercise. Rather, it is about examining the issues to produce policy change, to ensure the continued existence of disabled communities. As aware as I have become of the fluid boundaries between activism and the academy, I still often find myself aligning with academia. It’s a gut response, and I think it’s a reasonable one for me to have as a graduate student. Further, time in the classroom tends to emphasize the existence of this divide rather than downplay it or demonstrate the relationship between activism and academia. In the classroom, we speak a different language, analyze problems without necessarily seeking solutions, apply critical theoretical perspectives to academic and popular texts. Often we work alone. These things are distinctly other from the evident characteristics of community organizing and activism. As an academic, it is easy to see protests on the news or hear about people organizing letter-writing campaigns and to categorize those things as activism without thinking about their relationship to your writing, or to the wider concept of activism. I will admit to doing this. But when I return to my work, I see pages of writing detailing new imaginings of interdependence between disabled and able-bodied communities, writing that considers new possible alliances and different manifestations of these interactions. When I return to my academic work, I see the activism that I forget is always and already there. It isn’t easy to give up the division between the academy and activism, or rather, to relinquish our hold on that idea. There is, in fact, nothing to give up. Both worlds would stagnate without the other, and that is what often gets forgotten or lost when we pursue what is framed as an academic or activist goal. It is always an ‘or’ question, rather than ‘both/and,’ and that is the error in this conception. When my classmates advocated for an activist professor rather than what they saw as my notion of the staunch academic, none of us realized we could have been talking about the same person, envisioned through our own critical biases. What we saw in those candidates had less to do with their experience as activists or teachers and much more to do with the fallacy of the activism/ academia divide in which we had all invested. Allison Pilatsky is a first year PhD student in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work focuses on the intersections of queer theory and disability studies, with an emphasis on radical conceptions of community and interdependence.
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debate over the relative merits and presence of activism versus more theory based academic perspectives in our department, as well as on a larger scale.
Activism & Academia Contributions on our theme
Thus far I have found it a difficult line to tread— this pursuit of social justice and the limits or walls—heavy, concrete ones—of academia. While I am not walking the picket lines with Chicago Public School teachers, as a former New York City public school teacher, I recognize their work for justice and hope their actions demonstrate to urban cities across the nation the importance of standing up for kids. These comments here reflect solely my impressions of the status of the relationship between activism and academia. While I think pockets of what could be construed as activist research exist, I do not think that activist research is the “norm,” or part of the dominant discourse in education research.
An Invisible Divide?: Challenges of doing social justice research in academia By Sophia Rodriguez
I came to academia because I believe in kids and want to represent the richness and authenticity of their experience through research even if that experience meant exposing unequal childhoods, unequal systems, and the “impoverished view of educational research” (Berliner, 2007). But that belief can and does often get muddled as scholars vie for publications, and navigate the politics of various departments in education programs. In this brief post, I consider the kinds of social justice research we might pursue through engaged, education research along with the challenges that we may face in pursuit of this “activist” research. Exploring the current wave of education reform, and its influence in national discourse, we find
terms like “accountability,” “value-add,” “schools as organizations” drive hungry academics who desire a chance to pursue what they deem is “cutting edge research.” However, this motive often overlooks other issues that may be more closely aligned with a social justice approach. What constitutes a social justice approach, or activist lens in academia? I don’t believe it’s sufficient to say, “Oh yes, I believe in social justice.” Can you really say the opposite? I do think it is interesting to consider the research that “counts” as social justice-minded or activist and how this research is often attributed to a specific group of scholars around specific issues. That is to say, I think, that talk of social justice issues in research usually means talk of poverty, low-income neighborhoods and other systemic issues that policy-makers may not want to address. When it comes down to systemic issues of poverty and its impact on schools, few scholars actually stand out. Scholars that get a mention and a knowing-nod from people might include, Anyon, Ayers, Kozol, McClaren, Orfield. Berliner (2007) among them argues, “It seems that in a rush to improve student achievement through accountability systems relying on high-stakes tests, our policy makers and citizens forgot, or cannot understand, or deliberately avoid the fact that our children live in nested lives [. . . ] that poverty constitutes the 600-pound gorilla that most affects American education today” (Berliner, 2007, p. 488). Berliner and others (Anyon, 1995) raise the issue of poverty as a way into thinking about the tasks of educational researchers. These scholars argue that when most educational researchers talk about schooling and society, or school reform, they assume that research and research can and need to only happen within the confines of buildings. That approach is insufficient. The task of a social justice researcher actually demands that we consider factors outside of, or beyond, the school walls, e.g. what factors impact students’ experiences in schooling?, What institutional
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With Chicago Public School teachers walking the picket line; local and national media churning out pieces that support or refute either or both sides of the negotiations; and city dwellers of all shapes and sizes debating the merits of the strike, I find it timely to explore the relationship between activism and academia. I straddle the two worlds, walking a precarious and somewhat invisible line. I came to academia with hopes of pursuing research that tends to issues of social justice, particularly at a Jesuit institution like Loyola.
is: who cares? Let’s return to issues that matter, such as the experience of immigrant children in our schools; or how nearly 80% of Chicago Public Schools students include those whose native language is not English but are required to Sadly, with increasing the number of charter take standardized tests that are culturally biased; schools and the expansion of privatization at or that the poverty rates in urban districts across the top of the lists for corporate reformers, the the country are rapidly increasing; or the rampant task of an education researcher studying social inequalities that students face in economically justice is confounded because the “reform” devastated and abandoned neighborhoods discourse gains currency by offering up a way in some of our largest urban centers. Having out for poor kids in large, urban districts by giving witnessed such poverty and devastation as a them “the choice” to go elsewhere for a better public school teacher in the South Bronx and opportunity to learn, as a curriculum consultant e.g. a charter school. in Chicago’s Englewood Instead of talking about It seems as though the neighborhood, I am curious dominant discourse in why so few education our ethical role as academia, then, mirrors researchers talk about these education researchers, the public discourse on spaces, these areas where American education kids walk to school every let’s live by an ethic with many studies day. These seem to me the of promoting justice on “accountability more pressing issues related measures,” “teacher through engaged, to social justice. Instead of effectiveness” research, about our ethical role transformative research. talking and “value-add” models. as education researchers, let’s Even the studies in live by an ethic of promoting education research that justice through engaged, attempt to combat the transformative research. dominant education discourse do not do more than affirm that a neoliberal agenda persists in A protestor at heart, I hope to offer alternative this corporate reform movement. The attempts points of view with education research that is by some education researchers who attempt to rigorously designed and attentive to issues in stand up against the corporate reform agenda local communities. I’m hopeful that academic by labeling it a neoliberal agenda merely do research can be more relevant and reflective their research at the discourse level. However, of the realities faced by students and schools the task of a social justice-minded researcher, it across the county. I have been lucky to find seems then, is to engage in deeper, meaningful clusters of what is perceived “activist” research investigations at the local, community level particularly scholars like William Ayers, Peter where these discursive policy debates actually McClaren, George Noblit, Pauline Lipman and have effects. It is in local realities that researchers their disciples. These scholars, and many others, can engage with issues such as systemic inspire me because they raise issues that I feel poverty, institutionalized racism, neighborhood I am too timid to raise especially as merely a segregation, and culturally irrelevant testing student. However, I think their needs to be a mechanisms, from the perspective of the people greater push in education research to consider who experience these things. what social justice research means and how to conduct it without referencing or relying upon My response to this trend in academic research the usual theoretical perspectives related to
“critical” theory or “Freire-ian” pedagogy. This means, researchers shouldn’t risk being labeled a Marxist, neo-Marist, or something worse because they want to talk about marginalization, poverty or other challenging issues in education. That is, we can open up dialogue in meaningful ways and work toward representing the authenticity of groups whose voices and experiences may otherwise go unheard. A sadness befalls me when I think of what I may need to do or say in order to receive a degree or get a publication. But, I came here to ask tough questions, and push against that perhaps invisible divide between activism and academia by investigating the realities of inequality and injustice that persist in the educational experiences of some of our most hidden populations. Alas, this year’s American Educational Research Association’s Annual conference theme is “Education and Poverty: Theory, Research, Policy and Praxis,” so maybe the tide will turn.
Sophia Rodriguez is a PhD candidate in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies with specializations in the history and the sociology of education. Her research interests include urban education, racial and ethnic identity formation and social theory. She has taught grades 7-12 in urban schools as well as at the university level. She also serves as the Chair of the Foucault and Contemporary Theory SIG through the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Other professional memberships include: American Educational Studies Association (AESA), and Comparative and International Education Society (CIES).
Suggested References: Anyon, J. (1997). Ghetto schooling: A political economy of urban educational reform. New York: Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University. Ayers, W., Quinn, T., & Stovall, D. (2009). Handbook of social justice in education. New York: Routledge. Berliner, D. (2007). Our Impoverished View of Educational Reform (p. 487-166) in Sadovnik, Alan (ed). Sociology of Education: a Critical Reader. New York: Taylor & Francis Group. Kozol, J. (1991). Savage inequalities: Children in America’s schools. New York: Crown Pub. Lipman, P. (2011). The new political economy of urban education: Neoliberalism, race, and the right to the city. New York: Routledge. Lipman, P. (2004). High stakes education: Inequality, globalization, and urban school reform. New York: RoutledgeFalmer. McClaren, P., & Carspecken, P. F. (January 01, 1997). Critical Ethnography in Educational, Research: A Theoretical And Practical Guide. Teachers College Record, 99, 2, 418. Orfield, G. (2004). Dropouts in America: Confronting the graduation rate crisis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Orfield, G., & Kornhaber, M. L. (2001). Raising standards or raising barriers?: Inequality and high-stakes testing in public education. New York: Century Foundation Press.
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barriers persist?, What do local communities perceive to be the pressing issues?, How are minority students perceiving and negotiating the conditions in which they learn?
Volunteer Voices
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Stories from those who serve freely
Emily Thompson Young Women’s Leadership Charter School of Chicago Location of Organization: 2641 S. Calumet Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616 (in the heart of the Bronzeville neighborhood) Organization Website: www.ywlcs.org Volunteer Position Title: Volunteer & Engagement Committee Chair for the YWLCS Associate Board
University Libraries Want your Activism Activism is change-seeking. Users of Loyola’s libraries who have sought change have seen their ideas acted upon. University Libraries seeks the reactions and ideas of students, faculty, and staff throughout the year. I encourage you to use our Comments & Suggestions form to express yours. Completing such a form may not feel like activism but it is! We also seek your input on new items for the collection. If there’s a book or dvd that you think we ought to add, complete our Purchase Request form. It will be directed to the appropriate librarian for due consideration.
Discover what the library is acquiring by scrolling through the continuously updated new books list and some of the changes we’ve made thanks to suggestions received from users. Remember that help is always available. Visit our Ask a Librarian page to learn all of the ways you can receive assistance this year. Welcome back to campus, and to University Libraries.
Nature of Volunteer Position: The position is highly structured, with specific responsibilities and deadlines. Generally, it involves meeting with the Associate Board (a team of about 20 women) and a small committee (4-5 people) about once a month to discuss new ideas and plan events. Overall, it is a fun position with plenty of opportunity to interact with ambitious, professional women and students! Mission of Organization (What does YWLCS or the Board do?): The Young Women’s Leadership Charter School of Chicago inspires urban girls to engage in rigorous college preparatory learning in a small school focused on math, science and technology that nurtures their self-confidence and challenges them to achieve. Vision of Organization (What does YWLCS/the Board hope to do?): YWLCS envisions a world where all young women have the skills, tools, and opportunities to develop as ethical leaders shaping their lives and the world.
Story (How did you get involved? How has this impacted what you do? How can others help?): I initially got involved at YWLCS because of a corporate volunteer event. Four times a year, my company sent a group of employees to the school to conduct workshops for the 12th grade students, assisting them with their senior year “Capstone Project”. After attending the school a couple of times, I found that I absolutely loved working with the girls and wanted to get more involved. I spoke with the Volunteer Programs Coordinator and the rest is history. Since then, I have served as a mentor for a 9th grade student, critiqued resumes, attended fundraisers, and joined the Associate Board. Currently, I serve as the head of the Volunteer & Engagement Committee for the Board, helping to plan new YWLCS volunteer events and increase volunteer membership. If you are interested in giving your time to YWLCS or joining the Associate Board, please contact Cassandra DiPrizio at cdiprizio@ ywlcs.org. Also, to read more about the Associate Board specifically, check out the brochure.
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by Jane P. Currie
Ex Bibliothecis
Explorations of feminist space in the vessel of skeptical wonder
Science is the prime interface between our principle human advantage of intelligent adaptability and our environment. The empirical referents of our value orientations, when qualified through scientific methodology, describe our responsibility to our environment, our resources, our governances, and to one another. When I witness injustice, something stirs within me, turns my psychoemotional guts and spurns me to motion. This I identify as the “spirit” of activism. Whatever action I follow that with, manifested in research, informed speech, selective consumption, petition, and protest is what I identify as the “voice” of activism, as muted or vociferous as I choose. From the lair of my angst emerges the gruelling procession of questions: “How did this injustice come to pass?” “What about our established systems rewards this injustice?” “How does an understanding of the planet as an intradependent macroorganism and a biospychosocial approach to human development speak to this?”
The Scientific Activist “The life of a scientist is about understanding nature and communicating findings, which should naturally lend itself to engaging the public as well. There is an important role in society for those who search out information and broadcast it to the public, and only if people have access to the truth in all of its stunning complexity do they stand a chance of making the best decisions, for them and for society in general.” - Nick Anthis, The Scientific Activist
Activism and Academia have something of an umbilical relationship with the scientific body of knowledge. Science is one of the oldest disciplines associated with classic Academia, contending only with siblings Mathematics & Philosophy and their progeny, History. While easily viewed as a neutral, staid and partitioned department of thought, its tenets of empirical research and evidence-based
We may see activism as being the conscious and deliberate agency of change, particularly defined by opposition to dominant or preceding value systems that do not accommodate developing human needs. I would define activism further as the continuous work toward the synchronization of our scientific understandings of the world with our socio-political motions. Now, this is not to say that the scientific community is impervious to politicking, discrimination, collusion with dubious economic interests, even stagnancy -there are an unfortunate many in the history of the scientific community- but that is a story for another time. Besides, that is more an evaluation of the people situated within a field, and the challenges of measuring and implementing scientific progress within cultures and economies that often function under very different, and at times contrary, mechanisms of success. What I am advocating for in this piece is the
precedence of an organizing framework within which we empower ourselves to more readily evaluate and resolve issues in a rational, ever emergent way. Activism can be idealized as an actualization of theories, and advocacy for their practice. Theories are integral to the scientific process of discerning our world and better harnessing our powers within it. Scientific progress, namely made manifest through technological advancements, is the result of such vulnerable discipline. To what end those advancements serve us is socioeconomically malleable, shaped by culture, and catalyzed by activism. Scientific discernment of and approach to the factors of iniquity provide more tangible considerations for action than appealing to parochial views of self-determination, reliance, willpower, and moral constitution. Therefore, the prerogative of attending to our reality with scientifically responsible approaches is paramount. I’m...unsure if we should yet herald ourselves as the harbingers of a new Age of Reason, but there is a growing ethos recognizing that the only tangible solutions to our mounting civil disparities are technical and may be scientifically resolved. The strongest example of activism led by scientific imperatives I have discovered is The Zeitgeist Movement (www.thezeitgeistmovement.com), an international sustainability and advocacy organization. Founding member Peter Joseph offers the overarching perspective of the Movement as “the application of the scientific method to social concern.” That is, they recognize that the vast and varying social injustices and corruptions are sourced in essentially technical, scientifically viable issues. As a graduate student of social work, the most riveting initial correlation I made between The Zeitgeist Movement (TZM) and social work is in the concept of the biopsychosocial perspective as the most accurate, inclusive and broadly conscious approach to assessing human phenomena and intervening on behalf of their development. A concept I’d first heard about, in a lecture presentation by Peter Joseph, years before my first social work course. Through this lens, social justice is established as a
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by Brandon Haydon
Con/Science
relationships have informed numerous activist movements from civil and women’s rights to environmental initiatives to space exploration. This relationship may not be readily apparent. While the activist and scientist may be more distinct in their foci and spheres of action and emphasize different characteristics of operative success, they function in an integrated manner towards human progress.
of our knowledge, the precision of our intuition, that dresses and sets our body of consciousness so that when we heal, we are more healthy and mobile than before. In his introduction to The Zeitgeist Movement orientation manual, Peter Joseph asks “What is relevant? What are the near-empirical aspects of nature and what do these understandings teach us about how we should govern our conduct on this planet?” Activism, if it is intended toward sustainable and empirically tenable goals, must be a sentient demand for the implementation of those understandings into our socio-cultural value systems.
atoms to ascertain new particles and properties of energy, so too may we consider activism within the human experiment... we may see our values as the atoms of civilization. The structures of society, biology, ecology, etc., form our collider. Global awareness, technological advancement, and powers of communication are the illuminated settings of our control panel; adjusted a little differently every time. Forces of imbalance propel us into the velocity of activism, and with every new collision of atomic values, we exist within a unique instant, a showering of particles, the motes of truth that comprise our very moment in revelation. Will we recognize them?
The role of media, legislature and politics must then be to translate our scientific understandings into social policy and cultural mechanisms. One effort on behalf of this hails from the blogosphere: Rallied under a banner of “culture as science, science as culture,” ScienceBlogs (www.scienceblogs.com) is a forum of varying authors with myriad backgrounds and credentials in chemistry, anthropology, physics, astronomy, social sciences, etc. who provide an opportunity for the average individual to glimpse many aspects of everyday world through scientists’ eyes. In this digital space, scientists write about topics of common interest such as politics, humanities, education, and technology from the angle of their training. Indeed, a comparative analysis of the violent qualities of each U.S. political party through the lens of a biological anthropologist can be both uniquely fascinating and grounding. For the most part, the content is intended for public consumption and thus written in layperson’s parlance, unencumbered by techno-jargon. Scientific prerogatives in our endeavors to address biopsychosocial stressors, insecurities, and inconsistencies have revealed the grand, cavernous landscapes of discovery that have long lied beneath the dark waters of ignorance. Science is hardly a business of laconic, self-referencing circles of labcoats. In its full aspect, science is a passionate affair, the medium between our emanant wonder and the boundless majesty of the cosmos. I’ll attempt a favorite analogy of mine that I’m sure is more effective in my mind: Just as the large hadron collider at CERN smashes
We are scientists so we may know more about our world today than we did yesterday; we are activists so we may live in a more just world tomorrow than we do today.
Sources: Anthis, N. (2006, January 11) What is a scientific activist? [The scientific activist] Retrieved from: http://scientificactivist.blogspot. com/2006/01/what-is-scientific-activist.html The Zeitgeist Movement. Retrieved from http://www. thezeitgeistmovement.com/mission-statement
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natural result of scientific literacy, approach to perspective and scientific methodology, we are economy, infrastructure, resource management, and better equipped to recognize and scrutinize the design. According to its posted Mission Statement, systemic forces and institutions of stagnancy and the movement oppression in our civilization. recognizes that issues such as poverty, corruption, collapse, homelessness, The full Zeitgeist activist war, starvation and the like Activism is a mechanism orientation video endeavors appear to be “Symptoms” well to put our manyfold of progress, but only born out of an outdated global issues and injustices social structure. While to scientific and technical insofar as it continues to intermediate Reform steps scrutiny, and identify expand our awareness, and temporal Community humanity’s responsibility to Support are of interest to the implications unfurled. and thus place our local The Movement, the defining (embed video here: http:// goal here is the installation or immediate efforts into video.google.com/videoplay?d of a new socioeconomic ocid=3932487043163636261 better context and with model based upon technically responsible Activism is a state of motion, greater respect to the Resource Management, between social, political, chain of consquence. Allocation and Distribution and economic inertias. I through what would be find the lasting power of considered The Scientific activism comes from not only Method of reasoning problems and finding the reverberation of its fervor, but rather from its optimized solutions. The Movement is loyal to a alignment to Natural Law; in how it aligns us to the train of thought, not figures or institutions. In other laws of nature, the guiding forces that surround and words, the view held is that through the use of comprise us. Activism is a mechanism of progress, socially targeted research and tested understandings but only insofar as it continues to expand our in Science and Technology, we are now able to awareness, and thus place our local or immediate logically arrive at societal applications which could efforts into better context and with greater respect to be profoundly more effective in meeting the needs the chain of consequence. The empirical referents of the human population. In fact, so much so, that of our value orientations, when qualified through there is little reason to assume war, poverty, most scientific methodology, describe our responsibility crimes and many other money-based scarcity effects to our environment, our resources, our governances, common in our current model cannot be resolved and to one another. In this way, activism is the vigilant over time. interposition between our growing knowledge base and our social development. Although this statement may lack in the inciting tones and fire-tongued toil of roiling activism, it can Whether it’s exposing the brazen disregard for be no less riveting. In fact, I find immense power the ecosystem by corporations seeking “cost in its sober anchorage; something as pervasive efficiencies” in loopholes of pollution regulations, and crippling as poverty, while biopschyosocial in questioning the rationality of lobbyism as a its impact, is a technical problem. With technical legitimate political force, or scrutinizing the grossly solutions. Solutions that could be implemented ignorant blunderings of political pundits about immediately were they not limited by divisionary “legitimate rape,” people gather to address the notions such as nations, borders, politics, even logical remissions they identify as perpetuating money. To that end, activism must not only be our harms or threatening the possibilities of their needs motion to secure our sentiments of justice, but being met. And so we commiserate and inflame, cry demand the most sustainable, efficient, and fulfilling out and vilify. But reactionary vitriol, while perhaps use of the earth’s resources, the common heritage warranted at times, is merely the lancing of the boil, of all life on this planet. With a biopsychosocial the breaking of the ill-fused bones; it is the hygiene
The Political Poem That Was Bullied Out Of Me
Expressions in Poetry via Street Literature Style
I had never been small until I heard how evil I am for being a teacher. With the lie levels rising in newspapers, emails, interviews, announcements, the steady flood of antiteacher propaganda dissolves dignity past patience until I am invisible and taste of salt. Me— the frightening muse of room 202 is this incredible shrinking violet. I’ve often told students to absorb environment and squeeze it into writing, but I, hypocrite, cannot check my mail without earplugs and blinders now. There is always a top story that burns my cheeks ashen, and I am scattered by breath. But there’s no headline for me or for colleagues who’ve sold houses, who’ve taken on loans and grey-streaked temples to brace for the fight. These headlines are about these politicians, their pockets, and their pride. Articles full of double speak and forked tongue hissing. The mayor and the board deal students as playing cards in stacked decks.
They know nothing of the kids themselves: Her grammar jokes, his zombie impression. That he’s afraid his father is never getting out of jail and his mom has breast cancer. That she is the first in her family to go to college and got a full ride. That he came out of the closet, and his mother is praying for evil to cease its possession. That she reinvents the world on the page and then stages it. These kids swirl in cutbacks, media overload, starved affections, and poetry. They swear and swagger and smile metal. The fact these kids are alive and breathing knowledge in deadly communities is more miracle than Lazarus rising. And they do—they baptize their papers in ink and wash drafts clean with red. They highlight, spotlight, moonwalk. I mean, they are teenagers…there are mad dashes through the halls, too many tardies and dress code violations. But they are green and sprouting: dandelions and dahlias, ivy, wisteria, and willows. I am a simple gardener, tilling with words, preparing the ground— loam, sand, silt, clay. The clay models itself into familiarity. Into the expression of understanding that’s unique to each child. The board wants me to see only numbers, to measure the kids with percentages, to see them as payment and value-added. But I am an English teacher. Numbers have never been my thing.
I see that their learning is the shape of a yellow raft on a green river. We are the river dwellers. There is no salt in our water. It feels wrong to hate politicians who have never met me, but they made us feel miniscule—buzzing winged things like gnats or mosquitoes—for being teachers. It makes me hunger for Biblical retribution. So I will be an insect… in a plague of cicadas. We will be dressed as a river of blood, a torrent of chant and noise. There is no poem for this fight, for watching the mild mannered lose their voices from screaming chants, feet raw with marching. Hands, callused for chalk, will be rubbed with new blisters from holding signs. If we are faceless, let us be the drought, the blight, the salt in this freshwater city so our students will not be nameless, faceless scores in a city that hunts them for statistics. We will be living the politics. Not writing a poem. I invite you (and ask you) to stand with me, for them.
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by Molly Meacham
BroadSide
Activism & Academia
Because of this explicit commitment to social justice and professional preparation, the School of Education is in a unique position to prepare teachers to meet the needs of a diverse student population. We can take initiative to change. We can move beyond course readings and discussions and truly prepare teacher candidates to raise the achievement of the diverse student body residing in Chicago’s schools. Our candidates can know what needs to be done to close the achievement gap and what teaching diverse students really means. We can expose pre-service teachers to real experiences so that they are prepared for real teaching. To do this, teacher candidates must spend time off campus and in communities experiencing the lives and cultures of their future students.
Contributions on our theme
Community-School Partnerships By Anna Lees
At Loyola University Chicago we believe in social justice. The School of Education is committed to serving humanity and preparing teachers, administrators, psychologists, and researchers to enter their field ready to promote the principles of
social justice that are embedded in our school’s mission. The conceptual framework explicitly conveys the School of Education’s dedication to service and the faculty members embed these principles in the development of courses to
Experiencing the culture of a community does not mean taking notes. It does not mean asking a set of interview questions and returning to campus. And it does not mean doing a charity project that we decide is important. Experiencing the culture of a community means working with that community. It means commitment from both the university and the community organizations. And it means taking time to develop deep, mutually beneficial relationships. Mutually beneficial relationships require that both partners have a voice. We must collaborate with the community organizations to learn what issues are important to them and how our teacher candidates can be a part of enhancing those issues. In this way, the relationship between the university and the community can be sustainable. We can continue with organizations over time; allowing teacher candidates to engage in authentic experiences in the community while also supporting the community needs over time. If the university develops and maintains strong community partnerships, not only will community organizations benefit from our involvement, but also our teacher candidates will have a
richer, more authentic pre-service education. Collaborating with community organizations and their members will educate teacher candidates about the teaching and learning that happens outside of the classroom. They will know that students come to the classroom with a knowledge set that is specific to their context. And they will know how to integrate that knowledge into classroom teaching. They will know this because both community members and university faculty will facilitate their community experiences. This cooperation between content experts and community experts will benefit the achievement of students, teacher candidates, communities, and the School of Education. Teachers will exit Loyola soundly prepared to enter a diverse school setting. They will have knowledge about how students experience teaching and learning outside of the classroom and this will, ultimately, increase student achievement. The ability to genuinely interact with families and community members and utilizing the culture of the students in classroom happenings will enable beginning teachers to develop relationships with their students, parents, and community members. These relationships are what will make a difference in student achievement and ultimately eliminate the achievement gap between minority students and their white peers. Anna Lees is a second year doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction. She previously spent five years teaching preschool through first grade in rural and international settings. Anna is interested in culturally responsive teaching for increased literacy achievement within the Native American population. When she is not studying or researching, Anna loves taking her puppy on long walks through Chicago neighborhoods.
[A&A]
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ensure that Loyola students are exposed to the school’s mission.
Activism & Academia
At 8:30 am those obnoxiously red with yellow embossed letters in all caps piss me off. They are blaring words that stir an internal reaction - yes, a rather strong (but warranted) irritation that evokes jealousy within me toward “the one” who impulsively graffitied over this imposing signage. I think about the intersecting points of where this message is displayed: Loyola Station and Roger’s Park. I think about the messenger and the messaged. If this add were an oldfashioned letter, it would read: <<To: Roger’s Park, From: Loyola. We want you. Now go away.>> How curious. How appropriate. How out-of-place. How maddening. Let me explain.
Contributions on our theme
Loyola: a Gated or Gateway Community of Roger’s Park? by Stephanie W. Worrell
Loyola is literally and symbolically the cornerstone of Rogers Park. Yet, the relationship between these two worlds is perplexing. Over the years, Rogers Park has been a point-of-entry community for those seeking refuge from upheaval in their home country. Rogers Park can best be characterized as a smaller snapshot of Chicago itself, where cultural and linguistic diversity abounds. Statistically speaking, the 2000 census states that of the 63,484 residents in Rogers Park, 46.4% are White, 30.2% are Black, 27.8% are Hispanic or Latino, 0.06% are American Indian, 6.5% are Asian, 0.1% are Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 10.8% are another race, and 5.5% are more than two races (as cited in Mooney-Melvin, 2005). These numbers severely simplify the depth of Rogers Park’s diversity, a community with approximately 40 languages spoken that represent over 80 nationalities (Howard Area Community Center). The established momand-pop Japanese, Thai, Belizean, Mexican, Peruvian, Jamaican, Chinese (and the list goes on) restaurants are testaments to the areas eclectic cultural mix. Equally, localarea schools continually experience an evolving ethnic landscape as one community school-board member notes, “When I first moved to the neighborhood (2003) people from the former Yugoslavia were an apparent group in the neighborhood, as our war in Iraq continued we seemed to have many Iraqis in the community along with Nigerians, and now we have a number of people from Bhutan and Nepal” (R. Fuller, personal communication about Eugene Field Elementary, July 16, 2012). Needless to say, anyone who has taken a stroll off-campus through Rogers Park’s neighborhoods will observe that Loyola is situated in one of Chicago’s most diverse areas. On one hand, this unique ethnically, culturally, linguistically diverse neighborhood (which deserves much more research attention than is currently available) presents
a fascinating perspective into a truly global community; on the other, lack of economic and educational opportunity for marginalized immigrants marks a polarized reality. With the average household making a middle-class income of $39,482 per a year, it is a surprising note that 47% of Rogers Park children under five live at or below the poverty level (HACC, 2012). Educational statistics reflect the same contradictory dynamics: 39% of community members over 25 possess a bachelor’s degree or higher (Paral, 2010), and yet 23% of the adult population does not have a high school diploma - many of which have less than a 9th grade education (HACC, 2012). Sullivan High School in Rogers Park mirrors these same economic and educational disparities, where 95.0% of students are low income, and in 2011 it was ranked as one of the lowest performing schools in the Chicago Public School District (SY2011 School Progress Report, 2012). Local area community centers, such as the Howard Area Community Center and the Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago (ECAC), confront these stark conditions by offering a host of services for incoming immigrants and refugees that include after school educational programs for children, ESL classes and vocational training for adults. Loyola’s allusions of travel abroad to gain a global perspective in the “WE WANT YOU. NOW GO AWAY” campaign presents a fine mixture of irony and taunt in the Rogers Park context. Irony lies in the rich and authentic global perspective that surrounds Loyola. The taunt – do I really need to be explicit? especially when considering Loyola’s demographics are such a sharp contrast to that of its larger community. As one of Chicago’s priciest universities - costing approximately $33, 300 a year – students are typically admitted with average ACT score of 26.9 (Loyola OIR, 2012) and a 3.73 high school GPA (Erdman, p. 12). The truth is that Loyola’s ethnic and cultural diversity do not reflect that of its surrounding community with 63% of the student body and 87% of the faculty considered “white”. Additionally, Loyola’s application process considers rigor of secondary school education, class rank, academic GPA, standardized test scores, quality of application essay, recommendations, extracurricular activities, volunteer work and personal qualities as “important” or “very important” (Erdman, p. 9). This is not to say that Loyola should not maintain their standards or tone it down on admitting “white” people in the application process, but it is to point out that these demographics exclude many in the surrounding community, simply because their literacy skills, academic achievement or economic situation impedes them from fulfilling these requirements. Despite the fact that Loyola offers the majority of its students financial aid packages
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“WE WANT YOU. NOW GO AWAY.” This is the Loyola add I stand in front of daily at my Roger’s Park bus stop.
relationship with our own community? Essentially, are we a gateway or gated community of Rogers Park? Loyola sits in a cultural epicenter – 80 nationalities and 40 languages are at its doorstep with endless opportunities for community exchanges that would enrich the lives of our students as well as better support our local community. Social activism doesn’t begin with action. It begins with dialogue that turns into action. We don’t have to just send our students abroad to partake in this global dialogue, fortunately for us, an exclusive global perspective lies right at our feet.
As the cornerstone of Roger’s Park, shouldn’t Loyola clearly be a social activist on behalf of its local community? Shouldn’t this be in the heart and soul of Loyola’s initiatives?
In writing this, I acknowledge that Loyola has community outreach programs – nobly spearheaded by students and faculty. Two wonderful programs come to mind: The Loyola Refugee Outreach Program, a student-run organization established in 2009 that aims to aid refugees resettle in Rogers Park. This program is a fine example of community outreach and collaboration, as it works with the ECAC to partner Loyola students with refugee families who have recently arrived in the United States and becomes a two-way exchange for immigrant families and Loyola university students. Students aid in the transition process as well as have the chance to learn about a new culture, participate in the community and, by extension, better understand the Rogers Park demographic. The Loyola Literacy Center is another example, supported by Loyola’s Department of English and the College of Arts, in which free tutoring sessions are offered to students and the surrounding community (native and non-native English speakers) for ages 17 and up. The center is run by volunteers from the university as well as the community at large. I imagine that there are other campus-community bridging initiatives, and of course, I should make mention of the socially conscious professors who take learning initiatives to push students beyond the classroom into the community. Thank you. But simply, my question: is this enough?
As the cornerstone of Rogers Park, shouldn’t Loyola clearly be a social activist on behalf of its local community? Shouldn’t this be in the heart and soul of Loyola’s initiatives? Bold claims of social justice are everywhere; yet, are Loyola’s steps bold enough to match its claims? I see our local area community centers and churches “in the trenches” with its community members, but I ask, could we be creating a stronger
Chicago Public Schools Progress Report Cards: 20112012. (2012). Retrieved from: https:// data.cityofchicago.org/Education/Chicago-PublicSchools-Progress-Report-Cards-2011-/9xs2f89t Erdman, B. (2012). 2011-2012 Common Data Set. Office of Institutional Research, Loyola University. Retrieved from: http://www.luc.edu/ir/ CDS/CDS_11-12.pdf Maley, M. and Leachman, M. (1998). Chapter 7: Rogers Park, Edgewater, Uptown, and Chicago Lawn, Chiacgo. Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research, 4 (2), 131-160. Mooney-Melvin, P. (2005). Roger’s Park. Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved from: http:// www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1086.html Official Statistics: 2011-2012. Loyola University Office of Institutional Research. (2012). Retrieved from: http://www.luc.edu/ir/Other%20statistics/Official_Statistics_2011-12.pdf Paral, R. (2010). City Wide Summary. Research and Evaluation for Family and Community Development, Rob Paral and Associates. Retrieved from: http://robparal.com/ ChicagoDemographics2010.html
Stephanie W. Worrell is working on her M.A. in Spanish and M.A. in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies (CEPS) at Loyola. Currently, she is a graduate assistant for the School of Education Cuba Project. If Stephanie could describe her self in a tweet, it would be: “insatiably curious about the world,” which as lead her to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer (2006-07) in rural Costa Rica and an ESL instructor in Busan, South Korea. Stephanie aspires to learn three more languages with absolutely no preference - except, no Klingon and Galactic Basic. Also, besides looking to pursue a PhD in Second Language Acquisition, she would like to become a famous painter under the pseudonym “Annie”.
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Quote Corner Feminist Perspectives on Social Research, Part 2
To study one’s own culture involves a process of making the familiar strange, more the province of the poet or phenomenologist than of fieldworkers traveling abroad to unravel what seems puzzling about other societies. - Kath Weston
These global racial differences in priorities, taken together, suggest that white parents, perhaps more secure about their children’s current status and future success, focus more on their children’s psychological wellbeing and are less concerned about instilling strict conformity in their children. The child-rearing priorities of black parents, however, might be influenced by their perception of greater challenges to success: Controlling, providing for, and educating children become more salient aspects of their parenting work.
The right to study human beings cannot be taken-forgranted by the educated elite . . . research is frequently conducted on a rape model: the researchers take, hit, and run. - Shulamit Reinharz Resistance to the pressures of structured inequality within subordinate group communities can, in fact, be a psychosocial resource that can be used in a collective struggle against oppression and in a personal journey toward self-appreciation and good mental health.
- Shirley A. Hill & Joey Sprague
Feminism throughout history and not limited to its existence within the academy, has always been concerned with action and social change.
- Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Denise Leckenby
- Lynn Weber
Recognition of the history of subordinate group resistance helps to counter the cultural myths and beliefs in the dominant culture that the subordinate place of these groups is a “natural” aspect of society. - Lynn Weber
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(Erdman, p. 23), the makings of an exemplary student qualified for Loyola admittance – high community involvement and academic performance in addition to positive leadership skills that translates into the Loyola context - is a standard that many immigrants, refugees or simply Rogers Park natives do not have access to. “WE WANT YOU. NOW GO AWAY” seems like a mean joke.
Activism & Academia Contributions on our theme
The popularity of the Internet, evolving communication devices, and touchscreen technology all point to one conclusion: across all cultures, all languages, and all economic backgrounds, humans want to know and interact.
The Museum’s Pedagogical Transformation, or, Who Might Be By Holly Shackelford The days of museum-as-omnipotent-viewing-repository are gone. The archetypal museum has always been responsible for preservation and presentation. However, with the
advent of the Internet and information’s sudden and relentless accessibility, this simplified model faces obsolescence. The knowledge traditionally available to some is now available to many. Geographical distance no longer inhibits communication. Even
The paradigm and practice of the museum is in the midst of a dramatic and dynamic shift. Museums now are introducing more and more interactive components, creating dialogue and interfacing opportunities for and with its audiences. No longer can the museum experience remain passively a silent presentation. It must create avenues for internal reflection--it must speak up and ask the observer, “What do you think?”. The museum of today recognizes its responsibility to provide content and context with audience consideration—to think not only of the dominant majority and who is the “most likely” viewer, but ask “who might be?” The museum is, in the 21st century, a place for all, not just for those who can afford it. The explanation and display of human made things becomes a two-way street and demonstrative of how great work and social issues transcend age, time, and viewer background. In any modern science, art, or cultural museum, experiential components are provided. Audiences asked for interactivity, and the museum has responded. Guests touch object and examine objects, explore and move within an exhibit in new ways. One can easily feel like a child again--adults are encouraged to play. The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in Seattle has perfected this model. The exhibit, Fashion: Workroom to Runway, features a wardrobe designed by an Asian-American Seattle based designer. Guests are encouraged to model the clothes in front of the 3 way mirror and
take a photo with the camera built into the exhibit. There is a table with paper and croquises (a kind of fashion drawing template), colored pencils, and tape to display the finished designs on the wall. But if you looked behind a black curtain, you would find a hidden exhibit on sweatshops, displayed in a narrow, claustrophobic hallway. The voices of AsianAmerican designers speaking out against sweatshops were projected through speakers in the hallway. The high walls were decorated with clothes hanging from clothing lines. Despite all this possibility for whimsy, the museum must acknowledge the moral responsibility to tell the whole story, no matter how potentially disturbing, to an audience who may be adverse to hearing it. The museum considers what is revealed and how it is explained--creating cultural and historical context becomes an ethical and political query: how to tell difficult stories, even abhorrent ones, so the greatest number and variety of people will respond. The museum’s acquisition of work also falls under the category of moral and political responsibility. This is not a new conversation, and remains a turbulent one. Museums around the world (The Cloisters in NY, The Hunterian in London, The Philidelphia Museum, etc) contain works obtained by questionable means, or in outright defiance of the original owner’s wishes. Does transparency absolve these transgressions? Does the museum have a responsibility to disclose, not only to the governing forces of the institution, but to the public, the ways and means of acquisition? What level of disclosure is “necessary”? This ongoing debate on legal and moral obligation with regard to acquisition of work remains clouded at best, but also one of incredible,weighty import. While the museum may no longer be a curio cabinet of the past, it’s new mission as medium for questioning where we have been, where we are going, and how we will get there is a compelling one. The pedagogical model of “hands-on” learning has gained more and more recognition for it’s efficacy. Let’s see if we are better for it. Holly Shackelford is an artist, activist, and academic. She works with children, travels the world, and practices butoh.
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language barriers, with translator engines improving more and more dramatically, begin to dissolve. Billions of forums, on all topics imaginable, provide platforms for dialogue and expression. Cell phones, too, have more interactive components than ever thought possible. They are our cameras, our entertainment, our music source, our cultural lifeline. Touchscreen technology creates a directness humans crave and has previously been absent in computer-human interface.
Alum Alert
Bernadette Raspante M.A. May 2012
Re-connect with WSGS Alum
Broad Magazine (BM): Tell us a little about yourself and your time at Loyola. Bernadette Raspante (BR): My name is Bernadette Raspante. I chose to apply to Loyola because of the strength of the Women Studies and Gender Studies Program and the University’s ties to the Jesuit charism. While enrolled, I used my electives to take courses in the Theology department. My research interest is women and women’s issues in religion, primarily within the Roman Catholic tradition.
Most of my favorite memories exist because of the people I was lucky to work with and the friends I made.
BM: How were you connected to WSGS? What are some of your favorite memories from the program? BR: I was part of the WSGS MA program and I participated in the GSA. Most of my favorite memories exist because of the people I was lucky to work with and the friends I made. Being part of the production team of Fefu and Her Friends is full of great memories with some of our WSGS professors. BM: Tell us what you have been up to since graduation? BR: I graduated this past May and am enrolled to begin a second Master’s program in the fall at the Catholic Theological Union. It has been nice to have a more relaxing summer, though I am working on a publication with the theology department still and taking German language classes. BM: Are you currently working anywhere? BR: As I’m still taking classes and working on research this summer and gearing up to hunker down for three more years of the same, I haven’t been part of a search for a full time position. Right now I nanny and babysit to get by day to day and still have some time to get school work done.
Left: Bernadette visits a druid village in South Wales. Below: Bernadette and colleague Erin Hvizdak volunteer at Deborah’s Place
BM: What do you consider the strengths and weaknesses of your education? What has helped you? BR: For me, one of the biggest strengths of the Loyola WSGS program is in the professors and how they provide us with a feminist classroom. We not only discussed the importance of feminism but were taught how to use it as academics. As a student, I felt constantly challenged to think of something a different way and was encouraged to put it into practice. BM: Do you have any suggestions for current Loyola students? What do you miss or what would you have done differently? BR: I know I am going to miss Loyola and my time there, but these past two months it has been nice to have a shorter to-do list! BM: What was your favorite place on campus and why? BR: Having spent only the three semesters on campus that it took to finish the WSGS program, I often felt as if I didn’t know campus. There is a study desk hidden in the stacks in the library that uniquely has a shelf of women’s spirituality books on one side writings of the early church fathers on the other. That was my favorite study spot. It’s those little ironic things that make a difference sometimes. The first floor of Piper Hall will always hold a special place in my heart after having spent so much time living there with Fefu and Her Friends. BM: Why did you decide to go into your current field? BR: Feminist theology is something I have been interested in forever. Growing up Catholic and as a feminist, the first time I read Elizabeth Johnson’s She Who Is, I felt my worlds align. Since then, I have chosen to pursue both fields to encourage change in the Church. Alum Alert contributed by Julia DeLuca
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Broad Magazine caught up with recent Women’s Studies & Gender Studies M.A. grad Bernadette Raspante this summer!
Activism & Academia Contributions on our theme
“Culture Shock”: The testament of a practitioner turned full-time student by Daniel Camacho
Working as an inner-city teacher and academic counselor over the past four years has given me invaluable insight and knowledge. In these positions I was forced to rapidly improve my “multicultural competence” (before I ever actually knew that “multicultural competence” was an academic term) as the “educational leader” of a class of 30 middle school students in Philadelphia. My suburban background was vastly different from the background of my students. In addition to this personal disconnect, I also found that the material I was learning in my M.Ed program were also disconnected from the lives of my students. It is difficult to quantify or describe the knowledge gained as a teacher or a counselor, in part because these practical perspectives are not necessarily respected. While in my second year of teaching, I gained an incredible sense of empowerment when I realized that my students were not only learning science but enjoying it as well. As an academic counselor in a charter school, I witnessed how much standardized tests affected teacher
instruction, school structure, and student psyche. These years were full of challenges for me, but I am grateful for the self-insight that came with the obstacles. By engaging in dynamic dialogue and interactions within practical contexts I have been forced to aggressively push my intrapersonal and professional development. With these experiences as my point of reference, it has been difficult to accustom myself to life within academia. In contrast to consistent and meaningful interaction that characterized my previous four years, the most intensive interaction I experience in a given week within academia occurs in a meeting with fellow students/ professors or while grabbing a quick bite with a friend between classes. My main worries are no longer strategies to directly impact my students but rather how I will be able to complete my readings/written assignments on time or whether I can sustain attention on a computer screen for 3+ hours. I begin to question whether any of my day’s tasks are critically important to anyone other than me. In classes I read and hear about countless articles of theoretical research and quickly grow disinterested if I suspect that translating the research into practice would be empirically ineffective. Conversations about the accomplishments of prominent counseling psychologists are oftentimes centered around being a professional within the discipline—by attending and presenting at other psychological conferences to other professionals and prolifically publishing research (regardless of the practical application of the findings). I find myself missing the practical world in which the sum of my effort and the measure of my effectiveness was my capacity to help another person. My personal process of “student re-enculturation” is challenging but I believe that in time I will fully figure it out. *** The intent of my testament is not to snub my nose at the roles of the career “academic” or devout doctoral student. Nor is my intent to extol the
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“I think I’m experiencing culture shock” were my immediate thoughts in response to a question that had been raised in my 4-person discussion class. In that moment, I was finally able to put words to my oft-experienced feelings of disillusionment during my two weeks of re-immersion as a full-time student and fledgling member of “academia.” During this discussion, I lamented the extent to which research, APA conferences and presentations, and the like had been granted more prestige within the field of counseling psychology than the more directly applied and empirical work of clinicians. I added that oftentimes within the field, certain professors’ research and ideas are reverently valued although their work doesn’t become translated into programs and services that actually help people. My classmates and professor sat momentarily quiet, unsure how to respond. Only now do I understand that my feelings reflected a sense of estrangement. Over the last four years I have worked as a teacher and academic counselor; my transition to university student has proven to be a deep contrast.
[A&A]
First Published: 2004
Bookmark Here
Current Publisher:
Oxford University Press, Inc.
Find your next feminist and social justice texts here.
MSRP: $51.99
Pages 434
Genre:
Feminism, Research,
Topics:
»» Best approaches to research utlizing fair and feminist methods »» Potential dangers and harm in using traditional or single methods »» Useful examples and applications of feminist research
From the back cover:
As feminist scholarship has developed, it has become increasingly evident that the practice of feminist research is interdisciplinary. Yet there are very few books that address the methodological and theoretical issues raised in doing feminist research from an interdisciplinary standpoint. Feminist Perspectives on Social Research addresses this need by focusing on the theory and research methods that feminist scholars use to study women and gender from the humanities and social and behavioral science perspectives. Paying attention to the important link between epistemology, methodology, and methods, the editors have chosen readings from a range of fields--including history, sociology, literature, and philosophy--that have proven to be most useful and accessible to their students. The book is divided into three sections. Each section begins with an original chapter, written by the editors, that discusses the overall theme and integrates the range of articles presented. Part One: Method, Methodology, Epistemology presents the theoretical ideas and arguments surrounding feminist research; it covers the contributions made by feminist research, the debates surrounding objectivity and positivism, and the question of whether or not there is ‘a’ feminist method. Part Two: Issues of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality explains why researchers must pay attention to the variety and plurality of women and women’s experiences, both theoretically and practically. Part Three: Applications and Methods outlines a practical approach to feminist research. Each theoretical reading about a particular method (interviewing, focus groups, survey research, experimental research, field research, and oral history) is paired with research examples using that method. Feminist Perspectives on Social Research is ideal for courses in research methods, feminist methods, qualitative research methods, feminist theory, and women’s studies. It is also an excellent companion volume to Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Patricia Leavy’s Approaches to Qualitative Research (OUP,
Pros:
Whether strictly trained in hard scientific research practices or seasoned in feminist research practices, or even new to research entirely, this collection invites readers to understand not only the nuances and complexities of research that serves both researcher and subject, but the why, how, who, and what of feminist research methods, which are great in number. This is a must read for ANY researcher.
Cons:
While the book has an excellent scope of diverse methods, authors, and subjects, the layout of the collection begins with mostly traditional, white, US feminist dialogue, and then moves “outward” to the fringes as the volume progresses. Many collections do this, but why not start with the fringe? One other issue is that the book could actually be longer and include more methods, as it is so useful.
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virtuous path of direct hold dear. ...I seek to remind service at the expense of the committed people that sometimes researcher, professor, the things that we value and life-long learner. Many professors and and are valued as students are engaged in meaningful and fulfilling members of an academic research endeavors and institution are not teaching from which I necessarily those that are can greatly learn and develop as a professional valued and affect people member of my discipline outside of the university. (I would not have enrolled at Loyola if I did not think I had much to gain). Rather, I seek to remind people that sometimes the things that we value and are valued as members of Daniel Camacho is a first-year doctoral an academic institution are not necessarily student in Loyola’s Counseling Psychology those that are valued and affect people outside PhD program. Aside from having earned his of the university. I appreciatively chuckled the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Education, other day when one of the professors of my Daniel has worked as a middle school teacher PhD program reminded our cohort that there in Philadelphia through Teach for America, as is no such thing as an “academic” emergency. an instructional coach for new TFA teachers, Doses of realism, like this, keep me grounded and as an academic counselor at the Harlem as I navigate the demands of coursework and a Children’s Zone. Aside from enjoying long graduate assistantship. walks on the beach and frozen yogurt, in the future Daniel would like to design and Additionally, I seek to increase the awareness that implement programs within inner-city schools the empirical world is ripe with opportunities, that foster the social, emotional, and academic although oftentimes gritty, to improve one’s growth of their students. practical skills, learn what multiculturalism and social justice means in a real-life scenario. This world provides experiences that can profoundly impact one’s self-development. In accordance with the work of respected social justice scholars, critical self-understanding is best undertaken in the dynamic interaction with people across lines of social and cultural differences. Most importantly, furthering the advocacy work that seeks to strategically serve and empower oppressed populations, and play a part in challenging the systemic structures that have historically oppressed them necessitates someone “rolling up their sleeves.” Thus, a commitment to learning through direct service is critical to the social justice mission we all
And now for something different
Raising the (Coffee) Bar: A woman’s experience in the coffee industry By Emma Steiber
What goes on behind the coffeehouse counter can seem apparent and very much in the public eye. You ring up the order (with added complicated instructions from the customer), make the drink (“Did I say I wanted that extra hot?”), and set it on the counter, ready to make the following customer’s latte. These are the ever-so familiar relations baristas make and re-make with customers and the environment. Yet behind the coffeehouse counter, other relations are created, maintained, and re-created. And this isn’t limited to my own coffee bar counter. It extends to other coffeehouses as you “coffee crawl” (drink espresso after espresso) across the city and make
connections with other baristas, coffeehouse owners, and more. This can be on a business level as an attempt to get a position elsewhere or on a personal level, drinking handcrafted beers after work and listening to records at said-barista’s apartment. This latter activity, which I admittedly partake in sometimes, isn’t just a generalization, but a joked-about observation made over time. As a woman, though, these relations entail something else. It isn’t obvious and doesn’t occur for every female barista, but for a handful of women that I’ve talked to in the coffee industry, it does. Baristas have
[BROAD]
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BROADer Perspective
their own stereotypes, but it seems that stereotypes disorientation and entrapment in women’s gendered and hierarchies are created within the gendered sect (and physical) self. It lingered wherever I went. I of the coffee community as well. Consequentially, noticed customer’s greetings, from “Hey, goodrestrictions become present, both subtle and obvious. looking” to “How are you, sweetie?” My aim to express these violations over myself as a woman isn’t meant to extend to everyone. This is a Shockingly, this devaluation of women was encouraged personal essay and one that deals with experiences, from the female as well. Titled “Confessions of the not generalizations. Yet these Chicago Coffee Wife,” the experiences are meant for us to blog included the thoughts What we, as baristas, question, should this even occur of a woman who learned coffee lovers, and/or in the coffee industry, as well as coffee alongside her in the entire service industry? husband. “This is not the Women and Gender path I chose for myself,” Studies majors, need I started with a passion for coffee she wrote in her blog. that, through this, I found a While her love for coffee to do is weaken and women’s studies outlet to immerse was present, this female eventually purge the myself in. Being a barista is a blog writer had a strict idea smooth step to take after making of the labels given to us. labels of the woman and connections with coffeehouses Contradicting herself, she and its baristas. However, when went from being a “coffee society’s “roles.” asking around for an internship person” with a passionate in roasting coffee, a behind-thebarista for a husband to scenes passion I wanted to get into, I found a different “Coffee Wife,” her gender-labeled self, defined as a view on women. Remaining unnamed, one local woman “just removed enough.” business stated, without knowing my physical stature, just my name, that I wouldn’t be able to lift a certain “I have started to develop my own role in the coffee amount of weight. I had asked to observe and learn community—the Coffee Wife,” stated the blog writer. roasting, though. In response, my male boss stated This is a backwards path to take. What we, as baristas, matter-of-factly, “It’s a boys’ club.” Questioning this coffee lovers, and/or Women and Gender Studies “fact” wasn’t brought up in the conversation. majors, need to do is weaken and eventually purge the labels of the woman and society’s “roles.” A barista is After this, I became more aware of my environment an individual and breaking the gender binaries should in the frontlines of the coffee industry. My male extend into these work environments. For me, the manager set standards on his own, not fully taking in coffee industry is my work environment and more. My my advice, my thoughts, or my knowledge. Agreed label as a woman, whether it is bisexual, homosexual, upon by me and two other female baristas, we found straight, queer, or another term, is irrelevant to my that he sometimes did this subconsciously, telling me knowledge for coffee and where I work. It’s time for I was doing something wrong, but not saying why this idea to be universalized. or taking in my opinion. Contrasting this, my female manager at another coffeehouse worked alongside Emma Steiber has been a barista in the Chicago me and with me, and asked questions we could both coffee industry since 2010. In addition to being a figure out, regardless of her years of experience over coffee enthusiast, she is also a transfer student at mine. Loyola University Chicago, majoring in Women and Gender Studies. On her own time, she writes short Male hierarchy was established between males and fiction and creative non-fiction. Her hopes are to behind women’s backs. Ideas of running an all-male combine her passion for coffee and gender studies shop were joked about. To me, this joke became into a future endeavor she has yet to figure out. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s yellow wallpaper of
We want you to Submit!
Digest Contributor Guidelines BROAD Mission: Broad’s mission is to connect the WSGS program with communities of students, faculty, and staff at Loyola and beyond, continuing and extending the program’s mission. We provide space and support for a variety of voices while bridging i) Feminist Consciousness: communities of scholars, artists, and activists. Our editorial mission is to provoke (a) recognizes all voices and experiences as important, and not in a hierarchical form. thought (b) takes for an the self and does not assume false objectivity. andresponsibility debate in open forum characterized by respect and civility.
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(c) is not absolutist or detached, but rather, is more inclusive and sensitive to others.
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WSGS Mission:
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Founded in 1979, Loyola’s Women’s Studies Program is the first women’s studies iii) Jesuit Social & Effort: program at aJustice JesuitEducation institution and has served as a model for women’s studies (a) promotes justice in openhanded and generous ways to ensure freedom of inquiry, the programs at other Jesuit and Catholic universities. Our mission is to introduce pursuit of truth and care for others. feminist scholarship across the disciplines and the focus professional schools; students (b) is to made possible through value-based leadership that ensures a consistent on to provide personalinnovative, integrity, ethical behavior, and the appropriate balance between justice and fairness. challenging, and thoughtful approaches to learning; and to (c) focuses on global awareness by demonstrating an understanding that the world’s people promote social justice. and societies are interrelated and interdependent.
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