Yell! Fall 2018 (Volume 5, Issue 1)

Fall 2018 - volume 5, issue 1

YELL!

Women’s and Gender Studies Program Augusta University

Augusta University Women’s and Gender Studies Magazine

contents 3 4 6 7 8 9 10

About & Letter from the Editor Campus Resources Feminist Art: “She is Aware by Dominique Dykes Feminist Art: “Letting Go of Pretty” by Mary Lirette

Featured Art “An Elegy to Childhood Lost” by Madison Brown Feminist Art: “Story of My Body” by Wyatt Jones Feminist Poetry: “The Black Woman” by Kashalah Robinson Feminist Poetry: “Action!” by Kia Barr

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Spring 2019 Class Advertisements Women’s Gender Studies Symposium Call for Proposals for Symposium Triota Honors Society

Meet our contributors Yell! Opportunities Credits

Find the Augusta University Women’s and Gender Studies Department online Website: https://www.augusta.edu/pamplin/womens-gender-studies/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AUGWGST/ Tumblr: http://aug-wgst.tumblr.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AUG_WGST 2

about Yell! • • • “A cheer of support: a rhythmic word or phrase chanted by a group of people to give support or encouragement.” This elementary four-letter word seems so inadequate when put alongside its synonymic counterparts. Bellow. Vociferate. Holler. Exclaim. They all sound so dignified, so regal.

But Yell! is a word of a very different caliber. Yell! describes our mission in a way that its predecessors cannot. To us, Yell! means to reclaim women’s voices, not only on campus but in the community. Yell! means to uplift and galvanize ourselves and everyone we interact with. Yell! is our rallying cry, and we fully intend to embody the vehemence with which it is described here. We are no longer satisfied waiting in the shadows. We will Yell! in solidarity, our mission and our goal.

We are a unified front, ready and willing to step into the line of fire for social justice. We will approach our obstacles with intrepidness and pugnacity, never being afraid to fall. Because what is failure but an opportunity to improve? That is what Yell! means to us here in the AU Women’s Studies Program. It is who we are, and it is what we do. Join us.

Meghan Pugh

letter from the editor • • • This publication is my first semester working with the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and as Editor-in-Chief of Yell! magazine. Working in this program has offered me a new perspective that I didn't have as a student-- I have been given the opportunity to look behind the scenes to truly appreciate how much work and support goes into this program. Both students and staff have shown such bold dedication to the WGST program. I look forward to working with all of you to continue making new and fulfilling relationships. Thanks for letting me yell with you!

Emily Wilson Editor-in-Chief

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campus resources • • • Women’s and Gender Studies Club

The Women's and Gender Studies Club is an official student-run organization. It was formed in 1997 to address women's issues both on and off campus.

The WGSC serves as a forum for all students at Augusta University. The organization participates in the annual Take Back the Night Rally and the Take Back the Day Walk to Prevent Sexual

Lambda Alliance Violence—both events that increase public awareness and prevention of sexual violence. WGSC students are also heavily active in carrying out Love Your Body Week each October, with events that have included film showings, goodie bag distribution, Operation Beautiful notes, and healthy body fitness classes.

Contact: President Courtney Cyr ccyr@augusta.edu

Lambda Alliance is a student led organization whose purpose is to provide a welcoming and supportive environment for LGBTQIA persons of Augusta University and their allies. We strive to educate the student body and the community on LGBTQIA issues and to promote understanding and acceptance on campus and in the community through social and educational events. All are welcomed, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or other factors! No member of Lambda's sexual orientation or gender identity is assumed.

Contact: President Samira Pilgreen spilgreen@augusta.edu

Safe Zone

Equality Clinic

Safe Zone Programs are part of a national initiative dedicated to training faculty, staff, students and support services at colleges and universities in an effort to create safe and inclusive environments for individuals of all sexual and gender identities. The Primary objectives are to promote the emotional and physical safety of AU’s sexually and gender diverse student, faculty, and patient populations, cultivate a supportive environment conducive to educational achievement, professionalism, and overall health and wellbeing., and to train students and faculty as SZ allies and advocates so that they may serve as resources for AU, AU Medical Center, and the broader Augusta area.

We serve as an LGBTQ-friendly space for those in the CSRA community who are under- or uninsured and fall below 200% of the federal poverty level.

We are creating a clinic where patients can receive the care they deserve in a welcoming, open environment.

Wherever you fall on the complex spectrums of gender expression, gender identity, and sexual attraction, you can come to Equality Clinic and discuss your specific health needs without fear of judgment or discrimination.

Contact: equalityclinicaugusta@gmail.com

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• • • campus resources Counseling Center Our services are free of charge, confidential, and available on both the Summerville and Health Sciences Campuses. We understand that students experience a wide range of concerns that impact their overall wellbeing and ability to succeed as a student, and we are here to help.

Our main Counseling Center is located on the Summerville campus in the Central Utilities Building Annex, 2nd floor (CE Building). If you have a physical condition which prevents you from walking up the stairs (unfortunately, there is no elevator at this location), please call us ahead of time so that we can make accommodations for you.

We also have a satellite office on the Health Sciences campus, within the Student Health Center in Pavilion II. The physical address is 1465 Laney Walker Boulevard.

Office Hours Monday-Friday 8 AM - 5 PM Telephone 706-737-1471 Emergency Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) Georgia Crisis & Access Line: 1-800-715-4225

Office of Diversity and Inclusion The Augusta University Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) reports to the Office of the Provost and is the hub for planning and implementing organizational systems and practices to ensure that our enterprise accomplishes its goal of creating a diverse and inclusive environment. Working hand-in-hand with Human Resources, Office of Employment Equity, academic units, Department of Patient Engagement, and senior leadership, and several others, the ODI will build, align and coordinate diversity efforts as a strategic approach that contributes to organizational goals and business performance.

Augusta University Health Sciences Campus 1120 15th Street Augusta, GA 30912 Telephone 706-721-6890

Augusta University Cares Whether a student, staff or faculty, if you or someone you know is in a distressing situation, support is available for you on this website. You will find helpful resources on a variety of issues including emergency or crisis situations and safety concerns, medical concerns, multicultural, psychological and personal issues, and interpersonal conflict both in workplace and amongst students.

FILE A CARE REPORT Title by Student Name

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• • • feminist art SHE IS AWARE

Proverbs 31:25—“She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future."

She is a woman. A beloved creature that holds the most power within her temple. She is courteous. She is kind. She is all things above. She is love.

Women are more than their stripes and curves, their sexuality and prestigiousness. Women are Angels.

Angels that were sent by God himself, to deliver a message and to lead a nation towards its full potential.

Women were born to be leaders.

Women are not here to belittle man. Without man, there would be nothing to lead. Women are simply here to put the stake in the ground and conjure up the lightning force that withholds from their sword. Women are here to support and protect. That is our mission.

As a woman with the power of every mythological deity, a strong woman is a powerful woman. A powerful woman acknowledges her strength and her control. She understands that in a world where man is believed to be the ruler, her gift and influence is what will keep the world afloat. She is aware of her presence—and you should to.

Dominique Dykes

English, Secondary Education 6

feminist art • • • LETTING GO OF PRETTY A free verse poem for those also longing for freedom Society consumed by our mask Ate up our cosmetics Smudged through the silent cries of a former being within I departed from the consumption of my mind The concentration of that box That squared away our traits That put walls around expectations Potent, longing, exclusive A word screaming a universal question Am I pretty?

Am I pretty- enough to love myself?

Silenced through the disposition of my genes I sat under florescent light Edging and sculpting myself to fit To fit To mold To be To aim For That endless sigh of perfection I lost my voice Finding my face Sitting in that societal crate Packaging myself up with false ideals leaning my back against a framework that limited my soul empty Posed, I wore the veil I stifled my own flame Am I pretty?

Am I pretty- enough to love myself? kindled a spark from a whisper I heard in the dark

Shrieking tearing those boundaries apart Am I pretty?

Am I pretty- enough to love myself Smashed the looking glass Cease the impressions from the Masks In order To find my true reflection That I am more I am more Than my societal sores That bore the weight That inhibited me to sing once more To love myself

That struck the morning hark To sing once more Against the waves of Feminine design I broke the box

Mary Lirette Psychology 7

• • • feminist art AN ELEGY TO CHILDHOOD LOST You left me on that cold March night.

A nameless teenager held a knife to my throat.

My ears filled with static, the taste of blood on my tongue. You were ripped from my spine as his hands fumbled over the waistband of my jeans. How quiet that place seemed, even as my mind screamed against the vibrato and bass of the speakers above us. I could hear the sound of my mother crying as I begged god to save me, but no one saved me that night.

Where were the people that vowed to keep me safe?

710 miles from home, the only field trip with a rapist on board. Broken and alone, my pants around my ankles and tears in my eyes, his touch a lit cigarette against my barren skin, His fingertips a brand burning holes into my soul. My mind as blank as the D.C. sky, no stars to be seen. A promise to never speak of this night already on my lips You left me on that cold March night.

Madison Brown English 8

feminist scholarship • • • THE STORY OF MY BODY

The story of my body is an evolutionary tale to self -acceptance and authenticity. The day I was born hospital staff congratulated my parents on the birth of their second daughter. From the time I could talk, I rejected everything “female”. My parents, trying to be resourceful, offered me the hand-me-downs of my older sister. I could not stand the feeling of “girl’s” clothing. From the color schemes to the way the clothes fit my body, I was uncomfortable. I opted instead for the hand-me-downs of my male cousins’. A baseball cap, jeans, and a t-shirt became my sanctuary.

Once a week on Sunday’s I put on a dress and sat through a church service so that the rest of the week I was allowed to be in my sanctuary. I begged my mother for a buzz cut but had to compromise to shoulder length. She told me I would hate it and I would regret cutting off my beautiful hair. She told me, she never asked me. My choice of clothing and interests confused many people and I was often mistaken for a boy. Every time someone “accidently” called me he, a weight felt lifted off my shoulders, like I was finally seen. But every time someone corrected them, my heart sunk deeper into my chest and shame resonated through my veins. My childhood was full of compromising my natural masculine nature with just enough femininity for my parents to be comfortable.

They told me this was just a phase and that someday I would give it all up for a boy. They just didn’t understand that I had to become that boy.

In my adolescence the demon I have come to know as puberty plagued my body and the development of hips and breasts diminished my ability to hide behind my clothing. People stopped mistaking me for a boy and the shame that had filled my veins took over my entire body. Being a “tomboy” was no longer accepted. Classmates called me “dyke” or “freak”. I held on to my “boyhood” for as long as I could stand the bullying. By ninth grade, I grew tired

and forced myself to start wearing “women’s” clothing.

I would buy a size up, so it would hang looser and not cling to the curves my body developed without my permission. To compromise I took on the identity of “athlete”. I realized I could rotate between the “female” clothes that stopped the bullying and the “athletic’ clothes that I liked. With the right balance, I could remain comfortable enough. My disguise got me through school but left me feeling empty and unfinished.

As I came into adulthood, I realized my body is my own and I do not have to live in a constant compromise of who I am. I came out as a lesbian, cut my long hair into a mohawk, and replaced all my “feminine” clothes with “masculine” one’s. I looked androgynous and was often mistaken for a twelve-yearold boy. Once again, the feeling of the weight lifting off my shoulders returned. I began to feel more confident in my body, but I still hated the effects puberty had on me. I had never seen myself as a girl or as a woman, but this idea was the constant compromise in my life.

After years of knowing I was transgender I finally gained the courage to say it aloud when another friend of mine came out to me. Once I was out, I knew that hormone replacement therapy was my next step.

After three years of HRT, I have watched my body align with my brains’ image. My body finally feels connected to my mind. I no longer feel the shame of my own pronouns. I am finally myself. Over the years, I have learned that my identity is my own to define. The only person that needs to be comfortable with my identity, is me. After I took off all of the masks of my younger years, the world finally sees me as the man I have always known.

Wyatt Jones Sociology 9

• • • feminist poetry The Black Woman

Action!

Always seen, never heard Heavily ignored In the words of Alice Walker "We've been handed the burdens everyone else refused to carry" And why?

Is it because we're looked at as being less than weak, inferior?

But, black women are more than that We're innovators From the touch tone of your phone The animation of your favorite gif And the security system of your home Were all built upon the research of a black woman We're entertainers Like Lorraine Hansberry Author of A Raisin In The Sun and the first African American woman to have a production on Broadway Or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author if Half of a Yellow Sun and the voiceover in Beyoncé's Flawless And the timeless Maya Angelou, best known for her autobiography I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and her inspirational poems like Phenomenal Woman And we've influenced America From Shirley Chisholm, the first black congresswoman in 1968 Patricia Roberts Harris, the first African American woman to serve in a presidential cabinet And Carol Moseley Braun, the first African American woman to be elected into the Senate Did you catch all of that?

Despite what's been said, done and thought of the black woman, I feel no pity, no shame in my skin tone Instead I find strength and comfort Being a black woman in America is an honor and I love every minute of it.

Spring from your aprons Shout from playground tops That woman has a voice Swing those hips, be proud Bombard college hallways Go for what you need That woman has a step Lift those boots, stampede Tear into a new world Open crushing doorways That woman has a muscle Ceilings must be raised Pound upon injustice Women must be heard That woman has the softest hands Her fists mean more than words Carry your right to protest Drag nothing but your babe Sing your tune of peace God will always make a way

The Black Woman

Action!

Kashalah Robinson

Kia Barr

Communications

Creative Writing & Sculpture/ Ceramics 10

related courses • • •

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• • • related courses

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related courses • • •

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• • • related courses

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related courses • • •

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• • • upcoming event

Next semester Augusta University will be hosting our biennial women's and gender studies symposium March 16th. The theme is “Under the Gaze of Lady Liberty: Suffrage, Immigration, #MeToo ”. Order your tickets on Eventbrite 16

academic opportunity • • •

We are in need of proposals for the Symposium in the Spring! Scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, activists, practitioners, and community organizers are all encouraged to make submissions.

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meet our contributors • • • Dominique Dykes Dominique Dykes is a sophomore at Augusta University. She is pursuing to earn her Bachelor’s degree in English with a major in Secondary Education and minor in Spanish. From there, Dominique will return back to Augusta University to complete her Masters in Early Childhood. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and writing and tending to adolescents. She envisions to change the world one child at a time, and expand their horizons and motivate them to push towards their dreams. She loves to write fiction novels and short stories and is also interested in becoming a wellknown published author.

Mary Lirette Mary Lirette is currently working towards her bachelors degree in Psychology as she enters her junior year attending Augusta University. She recently changed her minor to Woman and Gender Studies and inspires to use her minor to benefit women who have faced trauma in her aspiring career. She plans to continue her education and aspires to go into a clinical psychology program after finishing her bachelors degree. Mary Lirette is an Augusta native, and loves her hometown and seeing Augusta blossom and change over the course of her life. She enjoys hiking with her dog and spending majority of her free time in nature. She uses poetry as a therapeutic outlet to connect with herself through using creativity to channel her emotions into her poetry.

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• • • meet our contributors Kia Barr As a creative writing and sculpture/ ceramics double major, Kia aims to dazzle the world with her well-rounded skills. You may also see her around campus usually hovering over plants but don’t mind her, she’s just practicing professionally photographing insects as a hobby. #cashmeoutside. LOL!! Her goals in life include helping others, starting businesses, becoming a public speaker, and praising God as much as she can.

Wyatt Jones

Wyatt is a senior sociology major at Augusta University. He is interested in criminology and transgender rights activism. He hopes to one day operate a non-profit that houses and assists homeless, transgender youth.

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meet our contributors • • • Kashalah Robinson Kashalah Robinson is a senior communications major.

During her four years of college, she has been a proud member of the Lumin Society, Lambda Pi Eta Communications Honor Society, Pamplin Ambassadors, Society of Professional Journalists, and Black and Blooming.

She has also been published in The Bell Ringer and The Phoenix. In her free time, she enjoys pageantry, going on outdoor adventures, and spending time with her family and friends. Kashalah likes writing and hopes to one day be a journalist. She intends for her future career to include using her writing skills to better inform and entertain the world.

Madison Brown Madison is a sophomore English major at Augusta University.

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• • • Yell! Opportunities

Want to be a contributor next semester?

SUBMIT YOUR WORK TODAY!

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credits Editor-in-Chief Emily Wilson Program Director Dr. Liana Babayan Contributors Dominique Dykes

Mary Lirette Wyatt Jones Kashalah Robinson Kia Barr Madison Brown

Special Thanks Reema Soni Art & Photography Credits Page 01 Description: Photo of child looking around corner Credit: Pixabay —CC0 Public Domain Page 07 Description: Photo of woman looking through broken glass Credit: Pixabay user RondellMelling —CC0 Public Domain Page 08 Description: Grayscale photo of woman’s back Credit: Pixabay user free-photos—CC0 Public Domain Credit: Pixabay user geralt—CC0 Public Domain

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