Service Work with ACT UP NY and Historic Gay NY

 

ACT UP NY banners made by Purdue study abroad students
ACT UP NY banners made by Purdue study abroad students

photo 1

Group photo at Julius'
Group photo at Julius’

By Gary Holman

I’m covering the second day of our Act Up activities in New York City, and today we finished our plans from the act up meeting from the day before. The first order of business was a dialogue about activism through social media. One thing I really took home from it was the power social media has to excite people. Through twitter hash tags, and vine videos, any potential activist could capture even the smallest attention span and hopefully inspire others to learn more about the cause. If you are interested in learning more about Act Up then I suggest you follow them on twitter @actupny. We also started creating three banners for Act Up to take to Atlanta when they will confront the CDC about their complacently with the rise in HIV Infections. From beginning to end we created the banners and for me the entire experience was inspiring. I have never been one to be politically active but when you are around people that are so extremely dedicated to a cause, especially one that is very relevant, you can’t help but feel compelled to act. One of the reasons I was interested in this study abroad was because of the opportunity to learn more about act up. Once we finished, and allowed the banners to dry in the sun, we immediately began a queer walking tour of New York City’s Greenwich Village. From the moment we began, it was apparent that we were in the hands of a true New Yorker. The signs ranged from his New York accent, and attitude to his ability to seemingly walk at superhuman speed. On our tour he pointed out many interesting locations in New York but really the neighborhood grabbed your attention with or without a guide. Of course the tour guide informed us about things we otherwise might not have ever known, however the scenery jumped out at me with no help. For example we never would have known that a particular bar in the area was where Billie Holiday started singing. One thing I could appreciate from our tour guide was his admission of both the positive and negatives of queer history in New York City. Our tour guide mentioned a Jewish lesbian bar owner by the name of Eva that was deported to Germany after an vice officer showed her lesbian poetry and entrapped her. The deportation ultimately ended in her dying in the concentration camp Auschwitz. That really stands out to me because, although for many queer people (myself included) New York City is a beacon of hope for people living in less tolerant parts of the country but the walking tour really hammered in that New York is tolerant but it came from a very sordid history and it did not get there overnight. Another thing in particular that continued to jump out at me was all of the consignment and vintage stores. I love finding vintage fashions, regardless of whether I purchase anything or not I love seeing how fashion was because it almost always hints at the social and political climate of the time. Our tour concluded in a historic gay bar in the village named Julius’ where our tour guide gave a brief history about how it became a queer space. It also happens to be my first time in a gay bar. “My first time”…seems to be a reoccurring theme for me in New York City and I hope there continues to be more positive “first” to come.

Spencer Cox, MoMA, and Direct Action with ACT UP!!

Hello readers, followers, family, friends, and colleagues!

Me at the Rally!
Me at the Rally!

I would like to walk you through the most amazing day of my life, beginning with a visit to the Spencer Cox Center for Health. This amazing center (one of three in New York City) is an effective, efficient, and inspiring institution designed to provide the best health care possible in the most convenient and effective way to ANYONE who needs it. While specifically focused on treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, this clinic takes the “one stop shop” approach, consolidating within it’s walls variety of treatment. For more information on the treatment available please visit their website at: centerforcare.org . Instead of going in depth into the available services and treatment (which could take up this entire post as they do it all) I would like to focus on some alarming information and data that you, as a human being, need to know.  According to the latest data (2012) there were 7,800 active patients, the Spencer Cox Center tracked 110,451 visits. Of these patients 54% men who have sex with men, 75% people of color, and 79% men. Further, 27% were heterosexual, 25% are white, and 20% are female.

Our next stop, shifting gears from activism to art, was the Museum of Modern Art.

Continue reading Spencer Cox, MoMA, and Direct Action with ACT UP!!

On The Road

Greetings from New York City! The first 48 hours have been full of walking, caffeine, shopping, researching, exploring, and more walking. I am not today’s designated blogger but wanted to share some images documenting the beginning of our trip. Enjoy the photos from our first day and thank you for following along!

Lest We Disappear and Be Forgotten

Times Square is bigger in real life than it is on Television.  But the Crystal Ball looks a lot smaller when you’re standing down on the street and you stumble upon it on accident while looking for a place to eat lunch.

That was all well and good, but then we went to 484 14th Street in Brooklyn.

Also known as the Lesbian Herstory Archives (LHA).

Deb Edel outside the LHA
Deb Edel outside the LHA

It was like no archive you’ve ever seen.

Continue reading Lest We Disappear and Be Forgotten

For Those of You Following Along at Home

Hey Everyone!

The “official” blog posts start tomorrow, but I thought I’d drop in and let everyone know that the cohort got to New York safely with no mishaps or problems.

And we are only slightly sleep deprived.

More tomorrow,  and hopefully I’ve figured out how to upload photos to this thing by then.

–Jynx

Wheatly the Owl and Cecil

Trans-Atlantic History of Sexualities

2014 Flyer for LGBTQ Study Abroad Program
2014 Flyer for LGBTQ Study Abroad Program

Six-Week Summer Term, 2014 (May 19 – June 28, 2014)

Travel Dates: May 31 – June 15, 2014

People never simply have sex; at some level of consciousness, they interpret their behavior in terms of their own and their culture’s attitudes toward sex. . . .the meanings ascribed to sex vary from one culture to another, from one place to another, and from one time to another.  Historian Richard Godbeer (1995)

WELCOME TO OUR COURSE BLOG!  From this website, we will share our reflections, ideas, knowledge, research, emotions, hopes, plans, projects, photos, video clips, questions, and our overall experience as active learners in this study abroad. This site is DYNAMIC and we encourage YOU to provide us with feedback by leaving comments and questions during this experience.  Don’t be shy…we sure aren’t!

 

Some background about this study abroad:

This six week, six credit hour experience is a collaboration between Dr. Yvonne Pitts (Associate Professor, Depart of History), and Mr. Lowell Kane (Director, LGBTQ Center – Division of Diversity and Inclusion).

This course explores LGBTQ history and culture from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries in three cities: New York City, Paris, France, and Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Taking a comparative approach, we examine the changing meanings of same-sex sexual desire, acts, and identities.  We will uncover and recover  how people formed communities around shared sexual and gender identities and how those communities developed and survived, often in the face of devastating, often violent, social, legal, and economic oppressions.

We will focus on three major themes:

1. Historical identity

2. Liberation and regulation

3. Community and cultural expression

Learning Outcomes:

1. With intense academic classroom instruction and an immersive cultural experience students will connect how historical dynamics shape present realities.

2. Students will gain a comparative, international experience, which will challenge assumptions about the historical invisibility of LGBTQ communities and historical sexual diversity.

3. Students will see first-hand how historical systems of sexual oppression inform contemporary attitudes and social problems through service learning.

4. Students will engage in service learning experiences designed to encourage future activism and community involvement.

Exploring gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender history and culture!