From: Out in STEM Date: April 15 Subject: Game Night This Wednesday + Queer Crip Fashion
Queers Read This!
Hi, gaymer! The finish mark is in sight, it’s not too late to save the semester (or in my case, the graduation)! Also, it’s the 50th issue of Queers Read This!, isn’t that weird? I’m gonna meet with the English department to see if I can get a second degree in yappology. /s Anyway, below is your personal invite to our Game Night, our last call for Lavander grads, tons of O4U tingz, and a slay bonus highlight!
This/Last Week
Game Night w/ oSTEM this Wednesday at 7 pm in LeChase 160 !!1!
As the semester draws to a close (and with it, the Ellie-Kevin dynasty), the anticipation is at an all-time high for our Game Night w/ oSTEM end-of-year tradition. As our final GMM too, we’ll celebrate our graduating oSTEM members, meet the 2024-25 E-Board team, and have a slay game night afterward. There will be lots of card & board games, VR headsets, snacks (because you & I will be in attendance), and treats!
Feel free to join later/stay as long as you’d like this Wednesday (April 15) at 7 pm in LeChase 160. Be there or be straight & cis!
Coming Up
Updates
- Last Call for Lavander Graduates: Submit by EOD Tomorrow (April 15)
oSTEM at the University of Rochester will be celebrating all club members who will be graduating this year (May, August, or December 2024)! Please fill out this short Google Form by end of day tomorrow to receive your official Lavander diploma. You can also opt out of being recognized in our final newsletter/GMM through the form, no explanation needed.
oSTEM
- Website
Browse through our CCC website to take advantage of active Resources (local orgs, queer healthcare, offices) & Opportunities (scholarships, internships, conferences), read about our iconic E-Board, and find misc oSTEM links (slack, pets, etc.). We regularly update the website, but if you spot any issues or know of an R&O that should be added, our Feedback Form is always open!
Outside
- O4U Conferences Info Session: RSVP by this Friday @ 1 pm ET
Out for Undergrad’s (O4U) Conferences are life-changing, all-expenses-paid experiences for LGBTQ2+ undergrads, featuring prominent queer speakers, inspiring mentorship discussions, legendary career fairs, and so much more!
Learn more about their Digital and Engineering + Life Sciences 2024 Conferences through their Round 3 info session this Saturday (April 20) from 1-2 pm ET (Spanish session also available). Note that you must RSVP at least 24 hours before the event to receive access. - O4U 2024 Conferences: Round 3 Apps due by April 28, 2024 @ 11:59 pm PST
If you haven’t yet applied, Round 3 is your last chance!! O4U connections last a lifetime and it’s free!
Their Engineering + Life Sciences Conference (serves chemical, manufacturing, energy, consumer goods, consulting, and other engineering-related fields + research & development (R&D), pharmaceuticals, health technology, and other related life science fields) is scheduled for September 26-28, 2024 in St. Paul, MN. Read more and start your application here.
Their Digital Conference (technology, media, and marketing industries) is projected for Sept/Oct 2024 in NYC (as an engineer, I’m so jealous). Read more and start your application here. - BestColleges Scholarship: Apply by July 15, 2024 @ 11:59 pm ET
Black women in STEM! BestColleges is accepting applications for their $6k scholarships for Black women majoring in a STEM field for the next academic year. Read more and apply by July 15 at 11:59 pm ET. Note that the application requires a 500 word max essay and a recommendation letter.
Disability Justice (Part II): Disability, Gender, and Fashion
Fashion is one of the most powerful ways we can communicate and express ourselves to the outside world, the challenge comes when instead of being able to reveal and express, we have to conceal and suppress because we're unable to utilize fashion as a way of communication, which for some disabled people is already a challenge.
- Lee Chambers
In Part I of Disability Justice, I outlined a few major concepts/terms as a (surface level) introduction to crip theory discussions like in Robert McRuer’s foundational theory text, Crip Theory. We went over the social model (that looks at structures/situations of inaccessibility) and the medical model (that looks at the individual as a problem in need of “fixing”) as the 2 models of disability.
This field has been on my prospective highlights doc for years now and has moved up the queue after several frustrating experiences with on-campus resources (namely, UHS and ODR) that worsened mental and physical health complications (hmu if you need help/they’re giving you trouble, I’ve become a household name over there). However, after meeting Eman Khan during O4U’s TRANSFORM programming last year, I knew what subfield I had to highlight.
Eman Khan is heavily involved in the Texas Disability community, fiercely advocating for Disability, equity, and inclusion on college campuses and in the workplace. In their Disability, Gender, and Fashion presentation, Khan builds on the foundations of crip theory to further the intersections of queer theory and disability studies. While McRuer proposes them as tools for cross-movement organizing, Khan demonstrates their utility as tools for liberation.
The pathologization of trans existence is not too dissimilar to the medical model of disability, both framing someone’s existence (positionality) as a problem to “cure”, driven by the capitalistic dependence on an optimized working population. Khan framed fashion as a tool at their intersection because of its visibility and compulsive normalcy on both queer and crip bodies. This failure to conform strategically weaponizes clothing’s established norms (ie. gender, flexible bodies, professional) by accepting the designation of failure by the state, not as capitulation but as empowerment (re: Halberstam’s The Queer Art of Failure and Ahmed’s notion of queer use). It establishes a model of existence that’s self-defined instead of defined with respect to the state’s ideals.
However, as Khan noted, fashion is not yet accessible to all as a possible tool for liberation. I’m so thankful to O4U for introducing me to another iconic queer role model to connect with. Hearing others’ experiences in navigating overlapping issues and identities has helped me not just feel less alone, but also empowered. I hope this proves helpful to you too and can use intersecting patterns (ie. pressure to come out/disclose, othered, medically & socially policed, etc.) for liberation.
Join us for the final GMM of the semester, and our semesterly game night! At this meeting, we will be recapping the year and all that we accomplished, honor our graduating oSTEM members, reintroduce our 2024-2025 EBoard team, and end with a great game night! As in past semesters, we will have tons of board games, card games, VR headsets, and plenty of food! Please spread the word, bring your friends, and make it a night to remember! This will be the founding officer's last oSTEM meeting, so fill the room with familiar faces!
