Queers Read This!

Hi, spoon! I’m sorry for the late newsletter, I’ve just come out of my 5G-proof bunker after the eclipse was sure to activate my Pfizer-sponsored chip. /s Anyway below are some fun opportunities (ie. ROCTalks), our lavender graduation, and a very slay crip theory highlight if I do say so myself.

Coming Up

oSTEM

- UR oSTEM’s Lavender Graduation: Submit by April 16th, 2024 (EOD)
oSTEM at the University of Rochester wants to celebrate all club members who will be graduating this year! If you’re an oSTEM member and will be graduating in May, August, or December 2024, please fill out this short Google Form by next Tuesday (April 16) to receive an oSTEM Lavender Diploma and/or be featured in the final Queers Read This! Newsletter for this semester. Graduating members will also be recognized at the following oSTEM GMM/Game Night (next week).
- Final GMM & Game Night: Next Wednesday!
Join us for our final GMM of the semester: our traditional Game Night w/ oSTEM! We’ll recap the year, celebrate our graduating oSTEM members, re-introduce our 2024-2025 E-Board team, and of course, have a slay game night! It is tentatively scheduled for next Wednesday (April 17) at 7 pm in LeChase 160, we’ll confirm the details in the next newsletter.
As in past semesters, we will have lots of board games, card games, VR headsets, and plenty of food! Spread the word, bring your friends, and make it a night to remember! Also, this will be the founding officer’s (Ellie + Kevin) last oSTEM meeting, so pls cvm! :’)
- Website

Browse through our CCC website to take advantage of our compiled Resources & Opportunities (scholarships, conferences, etc.), read more about our iconic E-Board, and find other general oSTEM links. The website is regularly updated, if you spot any issues or know of an R&O we haven’t included, our Feedback Form is always open!

University

- ROCTalks Undergrad Research Lightning Talk: This Wednesday!!
Join ROC Talks, LTF, the Office of Undergraduate Research, and oSTEM this Wednesday (April 10) from 4:30-6:30 pm in the Feldman Ballroom! Sree (our incoming oSTEM secretary) will be amongst 20 undergrads who will compete to present their research across all disciplines (e.g. natural science, social science, humanities) in less than three minutes using only one slide. Come support Sree (and the other undergrads too ig), network with research ambassadors present, and devour some pizza!
- SNAP Benefits Webinar: This Wednesday!
The Health Promotion Office is holding a webinar on college students securing food stamps (SNAP assistance) this Wednesday (4/10) at 6 pm. This is such a slay HPO event that I’ve been advocating for the university to cover for years. I grew up on food stamps and have applied for my family since I can remember, and yet I experienced several setbacks applying as a college student and had to navigate vital welfare on my own. If you’re facing food insecurity, this Zoom webinar is a great resource. I’m also available if you have any questions about eligibility, the application process, or other resources for low-income students!
- First-Generation Success Panel: This Tuesday
Join the First-Generation Network, 1st Gen Society, and the First-Generation Students & Families Committee for a community event centered around first-gen experiences through the voices of alumni and students. Register here to attend on Tuesday, April 9th from 3:30-7:00 pm in the Feldman Ballroom.

In the News

• oSTEM President Wins Student Leadership Award
It was lovely seeing familiar faces at this past weekend's Pride Gala (or Gayla) hosted by our besties at the Pride Network! This was such an amazing event, filled with drag performances from Zenadia, RIT’s Drag Club, and oSTEM’s very own Latif, who gave a wonderful rendition of Rihanna’s S&M (credit to Rainah + Brianna for the slay makeup).
Our president Ellie Vetack was selected for the Student Leadership Award, presented to the student who’s made significant contributions to the UR queer community and shown exceptional leadership, dedication, and commitment to advancing LGBTQ+ rights, visibility, and inclusivity on campus! Ellie accepted her award graciously, following a heartwarming speech recognizing the work she has dedicated to oSTEM from Pride Network Education Chair and oSTEM member, Ella Croyle.
This award, coupled with the Gwennie for Outstanding Student Leadership she won 2 weeks ago, is sure to swell her head big enough to cover the sun for another eclipse. From Ellie: Thank you to everyone (all 4 of y’all) who nominated me for this award! It meant the world to me to be recognized for my work with oSTEM, and I only hope that the impact I have made on this campus will last far past my graduation in May! :)

Disability Justice (Part I): Intro to Crip Theory

An accessible society, according to the best, critically disabled perspectives, is not simply one with ramps and Braille signs on “public” buildings, but one in which our ways of relating to, and depending on, each other have been reconfigured.

- Robert McRuer, Crip Theory

Continuing the trend of increasingly personal queer highlights, I’d like to preface this highlight by saying that I am someone who lives with mental and physical disabilities, I’m neurodivergent, struggle with anxiety & depression, etc. (list goes on, but ik this highlight will be long). However, as with all my queer highlights, my perspective and analysis of queer works are not absolute or comprehensive, nor do I intend to lump communities as a monolith. I realize pragmatically this might translate as a nothing-statement, so I’ve also been hyperlinking more for more branches.

   A framework commonly used in introductory disability justice discussions is spoon theory, essentially a metaphor about energy. Spoon theory establishes that we each wake up with a different amount of “spoons” and activities take different amounts of “spoons” for different abilities and disabilities. This framework helps acknowledge reality, establishing that we can’t all do the same tasks (as efficiently, repeatedly, and/or quickly) as others can. While some people wake up with 20 spoons and use 2 spoons to get out of bed & ready, someone else wakes up with 10 spoons and uses 4 spoons to get out of bed.
   The last two concepts I need to introduce in this lil intro to crip theory crash course are the models of disability. The social model of disability looks at structures and situations of lack of access (ie. suggests a ramp instead of stairs for people in wheelchairs), while the medical model looks at the individual as the issue to “fix” (ie. suggests prosthetics for people in wheelchairs).
   Theorist and researcher, Robert McRuer likened able-bodiedness with heteronormativity as ideals for invisibilized structuring norms in his book Crip Theory. He proposes using queer theory as a tool to understand disability in an ableist society, and conversely, disability studies to help understand queer marginalization. For example, the medical model of disability makes sense when looked at through a neoliberal lens since we’re made responsible for compulsive self-improvement where the state defines the markers of improvement, and thus impairment (re: Bio/Necro-politics as the state’s policing of livelihood and death, supporting able bodies & neglecting crip survival).
   Armed with queer theory tools (re: our archive of queer highlights), it quickly becomes clear why disability justice’s 10 principles include anti-capitalist politics and the commitment to cross-movement organizing. Disability justice hinges on our acceptance of our reality, for us to stop pretending we have a different body than we do or that a situation isn’t what it is (regardless of how others’ realities). Similarly, care work (re: Audre Lorde’s notion of Radical Self Care) branches off crip theory, establishing that spoon debt is real but not sustainable.

   I hope the ending note doesn’t read as a call for complacency or movement apathy, I realize that in cutting this highlight in two, this conclusion feels more incomplete than my other multi-part highlights (at least to me). However, next week I hope to use these analysis tools to explore other crip subfields (ie. fashion as a liberation tool for gender and disability).

Stay sunny!

@UR.oSTEM