It was a lot concentrated into one day, which completed the important task of giving us a lot to talk about. The "Straighlaced" video, C.J. Pascoe, the Poetry Slam, and Susan Stryker left me stunned with all this new information and fascinated by this "spectrum" I never truly believed in. Even just the simple fact that a day for Gender and Sexuality was planned at Riverdale sparked some good dialogue in the discussion group I was part of.
As for my own personal reaction, I feel I was just taking in a lot of information and enjoying it. I appreciated each part of the day in it's own way: the morning video for giving a lot of honest perspective and opened my eyes to genders I never knew existed, Pascoe for the jaw-dropping stories and her sense of humor,the Poetry Slam for just being a poetry slam (LOVE IT), and Stryker for her very unique story. Hearing everything was easy for me; I was interested throughout the whole day, and really liked hearing what other people thought in our discussion groups....even though I wish more voices spoke. But I understand that it was a lot for one day, and not all the conversations had to happen directly after. This is definitely the kind of thing that will pour into the rest of the year and will hopefully encourage more people to speak out when topics on gender and sexuality return.
I only struggled when it came to articulating my thoughts on the role Riverdale plays in the world of non-conventional genders and everything other than heterosexuality. I still don't have a full grasp on it. Maybe I will as conversations continue....
How do I know for sure that this day was valuable? It served as an inspiration for a huge art project I'm very excited to start.
Good day, and very good for Riverdale.
:)
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