UO Community Members,

It’s  “Cinco de Mayo!” Yay for some of you who want to party! However, it sucks for those of us who do not celebrate this day and have to witness you appropriating our culture. Cultural appropriation is when a group of people use aspects of other cultures; it consists a dominant group taking from a historically oppressed or a minority group of people.

Cinco de Mayo is really just another excuse for people to party, but do people really know the reason behind the partying? Contrary to popular belief, it is not Mexican Independence Day and it is not a federally recognized holiday in Mexico. In Mexico we do not celebrate May 5th with tequila shots, and we most definitely do not dress up in sombreros, mustaches and sarapes. The state of Puebla is the only state that celebrates this date, for a whole month, with a huge festival that includes music, expositions, films, dancing and other rich aspects of our beautiful Mexican culture.

Cinco de Mayo refers to the Mexican Army victory against the French troops on May 5th in 1862. Unfortunately, the market has taken this date to make profit, especially in the United States. You can find Cinco de Mayo deals to get tacos,burritos, guacamole, tequila and Mexican beer at a cheaper price etc.

Please, do not appropriate our culture. By wearing sombreros, mustaches and sarapes you are not only appropriating our culture, but you are portraying an image that does not represent us. Before you dress up, eat burritos and take tequila shots, take time to reflect on what you are doing and how it can affect those around you. Please educate yourself.

Sincerely,

Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán (MEChA) de University of Oregon

& ASUO Multicultural Advocate, Perla Alvarez

Read more about Cinco de Mayo and Cultural Appropriation:

http://college.usatoday.com/2015/05/04/viewpoint-4-ways-to-not-celebrate-cinco-de-mayo/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/cinco-de-mayo-meaning-what-mexico-holiday-celebrates_n_1472133.html?utm_hp_ref=cinco-de-mayo

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/05/we-mustache-ask-you_n_5267007.html

http://racerelations.about.com/od/diversitymatters/fl/What-Is-Cultural-Appropriation-and-Why-Is-It-Wrong.htm

I am the Events Coordinator for KSC Pride and I am writing this letter in regard to some of the misinterpretations in the article about our recent event, the Pride Parade. This was KSC Pride’s first Pride Parade to spread awareness and support members of the LGBTQ/GSRM community. It was written as “GSRN” in the article, when it is actually GSRM (Gender, Sexual and Romantic Minority). Though it was a minor spelling mistake, it completely changes the meaning of the acronym.

Lucy (Public Relations) was quoted saying “tran [transvestite or transgender] students.” Instead of saying “tran [transvestite or transgender] students,” it should be “trans* [the whole trans* spectrum] students” because that better represents all members of the trans* community instead of specifically saying “transvestite or transgender.” That is what Lucy was trying to say.

Another aspect of the article that was misinterpreted was that it said we were addressing “personal pronouns” when we were actually addressing “gender pronouns” as part of our parade. Personal pronouns are words like “I”, “me”, “we”, “us”, and “them.” Gender pronouns are words that identify someone by a gender like “he/him/his” or “she/her/hers”.

One of the issues we had with the article was that one of our members was mis-gendered in that Aspen (Vice President) identifies as a male rather than a female, but was given female pronouns. The appropriate pronouns for Aspen are he/him/his, not she/her/hers. As a suggestion, it would be best to ask the people being interviewed what their preferred gender pronouns are, especially when handling the topic of gender pronouns.

Aspen’s last name was also incorrectly spelled. It was written as Everhardt in the article, which is incorrect. The proper spelling is Eberhardt.

In the article, the terms “transgender” and “non-transgenders” were used. Instead of saying “non transgender” it should be cisgender. Cisgender is when a person identifies as the gender they were assigned at birth. For example, I was assigned male at birth by the doctors and I identify as a male, therefore I am cisgender. The reason we like to say “cisgender” instead of “non-transgender” is because “non-transgender” is offensive to members of the trans* community. “Non-transgender” implies that trans*-identified students should be placed in an “other” category, separate from the “normal” students.

On behalf of KSC Pride, we do thank you and appreciate your article and taking an interest in our very first Pride Parade. Other than a few misinterpretations, the article was well-written and showed an interest in our event. We just wanted to make sure the readers can focus on how well the event went. If you ever have questions, feel free to ask us at kscpride@gmail.com or our Facebook page.

Sincerely,

Jacob Knehr

KSC Pride Events Coordinator

Jacob.Knehr@ksc.keene.edu

I grew up in small town on the Connecticut shoreline, and decided to begin my college career at Keene State College in the fall of 2008.

I graduated KSC in the spring of 2012, receiving a major in psychology and an associates in chemical dependency.  My overall GPA from KSC was a 3.4, I believe.  I struggled my first year with adjusting, but quickly got the hang of creating an equilibrium between work, classes, social groups, and clubs.

During my time at KSC, I was not heavily involved in clubs—I simply stuck with the ski and snowboard club.  However I was an active road biker/mountain biker, runner, intramural sports team participant, basketball, floor hockey, and dodge ball.  Moreover, in accordance to my degree in chemical dependency I was involved with the Winchester school, in Winchester, N.H. through my internship my senior year.

I assisted in a program called, “All Stars,” which focused on teaching fourth and fifth-graders in a low-income environment about the dangers and future destruction of drugs and inappropriate relations.

I was involved in this internship a minimum of 20-30 hours a week on top of working for R.O.C.K.S., and completing my senior seminar courses.  This time was a stressful time, however, it was also a time of growth, in which I really obtained the confidence, structure, and organization which I utilize in my current career as well as my everyday life.

Some may view R.O.C.K.S. employees simply as individuals who clean up bins and drive a large truck through campus, yet there is far more being done than a “clean up.”  R.O.C.K.S. taught me the hard work ethic I need in my current career.

Not only did the job require physical endurance to continuously move the bins of recyclables and compost, but it also entailed a strong mental drive to continue to push through those messy rainy days or frigid snow storms.

The most important aspect  R.O.C.K.S. taught me was pride.  Each shift was a new challenge, involving a new odor to be discovered in a bin, or an animal such as a possum waiting for you to dump the compost.  Whatever the day brought, we excelled through it all.

Most days were tough days on the job.   Then, from time to time, whether it be a professor or a child who we were teaching the importance of the environment through explanation and demonstration of planting a tree on Earth Day, hearing the words “thank you for all you do,” or simply “great job,” provided myself with a particular pride and happiness through knowing that hard work truly can be satisfactory.

This concept of hard work has been engraved into me thanks to my experience with R.O.C.K.S. and KSC, to the point that, here at my current job I need to be told to slow down or take a break.

Following KSC, I received my first job outside of college.   I was hired through Easter Seals in Manchester, N.H. as a Residential Instructor.  This job entailed I be a direct care worker (floor counselor) in an intensive residential facility.

I began working on a neurological unit, where most the clients are lower functioning, non-verbal, autistic individuals.  The job was a four day schedule, with one of those days a 15-hour shift.  I feel without R.O.C.K.S. I would not have acquired the drive and mental edge to complete that shift.  However, I was able to make it through those long days, in fact I would not take a break or sit sometimes during that shift.

All this hard work and dedication was developed through time and experiences and continues to grow now.  In November 2013, I moved up to being a Case Manager, which continues to be my job status currently.  Case Management is a very busy and difficult career due to the multiple aspects and responsibilities it entails.

However, thanks to jobs like this and R.O.C.K.S. it continues to be a catalyst that keeps this engine going with all the pride, satisfaction, and sense of accomplishment it provides.  In December 2013, I reached a milestone, I earned the “Easter Seals President’s Meritorious Award for Outstanding Service.”

KSC alumnus Seth Spector 

To The Editor:

Kudos to Keene Equinox Editor Brittany Ballantyne for performing an appreciated watchdog role in her continuing coverage of the dreadful mistreatment of KSC Sodexo workers by the multi-national, self-described “world’s largest food service and facilities management” corporation, The Sodexo Group, based in France with nearly 40 percent of its business located in North America reported 2012 total profits of $1.3 Billion.

Its treatment of its workers is an international disgrace with condemnations from groups like Human Rights Watch and Students United Against Sweatshops. In other countries, Sodexo has to acknowledge and abide by rules and laws that require decent treatment of that country’s workers. In some cases, that includes collective bargaining laws that guarantee a level playing field between rapacious employers and the workers that make those same bosses rich. Often, these regulations require health insurance, against a backdrop of that country’s national health insurance programs.

But this is America where such basic rights and living conditions are constantly challenged and undercut. Apparently that $1.3 Billion of raw profit procured off the backs and out of the pockets of 16 Keene State College Sodexo workers wasn’t enough for the Sodexo bosses. Since Jan. 1 of this year, our 16 fellow community members lost their Sodexo health insurance so Sodexo could bob and duck this country’s effort at national health insurance, The Affordable Care Act. Sodexo claims that because of ACA, they “redefined” how part-time and full-time workers are defined and gee whiz , folks lost their health insurance. Uh-Huh. And in their numbers game, 16 of our own will go without health coverage or our tax dollars will fund their efforts through public health insurance programs, if they qualify.

I say Sodexo already gets a lot of our tax dollars. They feed our k-12 children, our college students, our elderly, our military personnel and yes, our prisoners. Doesn’t everyone deserve a decent meal? Please do some net research, using Sodexo as a search term, coupled with terms like food safety, lawsuits, food recalls, bid rigging, price fixing, lawsuits, worker treatment.

Over the last several years, American college students have led the way at numerous colleges and universities to protest Sodexo’s treatment of workers on their own campuses. Over a dozen universities ranging from Northeastern University, The University at Albany, Goucher, Oberlin and Regis have severed their food contracts as students demonstrated the power they have with their meal plans. Check out the Facebook page from United Students Against Sweatshops, “Kick Out Sodexo.”

It is time to hear from our community leadership – principal administrators, faculty, staff and students – about our response as a community, given Sodexo’s treatment of our 16 colleagues. Such ruthlessness by Sodexo is hard to stomach, no matter how appetizing those sizzlers may appear as they are served up by the same folks who Sodexo views as not profitable enough to qualify for their health insurance.

It is time to put our social justice ethics where our mouths are, literally.

Marianne Salcetti, Ph. D.

Department of Journalism

Keene State College Education Association – Executive Board and Communications

Marianne Salcetti can be contacted at msalcetti@keene.edu

The same government that can intercept any digital communication on the face of the earth does not seem to be able to process the information that citizens voluntarily provide about their eligibility for health insurance. The NSA surveillance controversy and the tortured rollout of the Obamacare website are two sides of the same coin. They explain why Americans are so angry about government.

But, as a rule, we get the government we deserve. Political institutions work well when citizens are engaged: following the news, electing good representatives and pitching in ourselves to address serious national problems like health care and national security. When people are detached, governments generally fail. So where are we going to get more active and responsible citizens?

That’s where you come in; you can be an effective citizen. Civic engagement that improves the world almost always has three characteristics. It is deliberative: citizens talk and listen to fellow citizens who may disagree with them. It is collaborative: citizens actually roll up their sleeves and work together, building or saving or producing goods. And it creates civic relationships, partnerships among people who want to improve the world together. If you are not doing civic work, you should think about getting involved. Many thousands of college students are volunteers and activists. If you are already active, you should connect with other people who are also involved. Even if they work on different issues or come from different communities, they face the same challenges. For instance, why does our political system cater to professionally-led, well-funded interests instead of citizens who deliberate and collaborate? Why do schools and colleges offer so little civic education? Why is so little funding available for citizens’ groups? Why do the news and entertainment media rarely depict citizens working together to address problems?

You need to sit down with other active citizens to discuss how to change policies, laws, funding streams and media coverage so that citizen work can flourish and prosper again. That will begin to build a movement of active citizens, which is the only thing that can improve our democracy.

Peter Levine is a professor at Tufts University. Levine can be contacted through Larissa Ackerman at larissa@clariemckinneypr.com 

In today’s society, you would think that all the girls have gone gay and that it is trendy to be a lesbian.

I guess I am not as trendy as I thought after all. Paying close attention to the media, I have noticed that “lesbian” kisses went from unacceptable and inappropriate to sexy and trendy in a short period of time.

Girls kissing on screen or during performances such as the famous Britney and Madonna kiss are looked at as entertainment for heterosexual enjoyment and pleasure.

Since when did showing affection for your significant other become entertainment for an audience?

Five years have passed since Katy Perry’s hit single “I Kissed a Girl.” Perry had been trying to have a single hit for years before, but was not successful until “I Kissed a Girl” released.  Perry stated to Huffington post, “It was a bit radical to sing about bisexuality, but it was a topic that was on the tip of everybody’s tongue.”

Interesting enough, girl-on-girl kissing was on everybody’s tongue and it is what set off her career.

The lyrics of Perry’s song state, “it felt so wrong, it felt so right, don’t mean I’m in love tonight” and “No, I don’t even know your name it doesn’t matter, you’re my experimental game.”

I personally think this is very offensive, it is portraying that girls kissing is just a game, an experiment, it does not matter who the girl is and that there is no affection or love from the kiss.

The song also states, “I kissed a girl just to try it, as long as my boyfriend don’t mind it” which objects the fact that she is trying to get her boyfriend’s attention by kissing a girl and also portraying the double-standard, that it is okay for girls to kiss but not guys.

Girl-on-girl kissing seems to be more acceptable and common than actual lesbian portrayals (Anderson-Minshall, 2004, p. 313).

Yes, I think it’s great that we as a society are more widely accepting of the homosexual community unlike before, but referring to girl-on-girl kissing as a trend makes it seem like you can choose to be a lesbian.

Being a lesbian is something you are born with, it is how one chooses to identify their sexual orientation as, not something you pick up of the trendy tips of Cosmo.

I think girl-on-girl kissing in society is belittling and disrespecting to homosexuality, especially lesbians.

It is portraying straight women kissing as a trend rather than two women who are actually homosexual, showing love and affection for one another. Anderson-Minshall (2004) stated that “these days women that kiss other women on TV aren’t coded as gay; they’re simply sexually adventurous and their adventurousness is geared toward nothing so progressive as the advancement of lesbian visibility” (p.316).

This depicts that girl-on-girl kissing in pop culture is used to excite men and is considered very adventurous, but when men kiss it is considered “disgusting” and “unacceptable,” because it threatens their sexuality and masculinity.

I am sure if a heterosexual male artist came out with a single with lyrics along the lines of “I kissed a guy and I liked it” the media and society would not think it was “so sexy” or “so trendy”.

Advertisers and marketers take advantage of these trends as well. They know that girl-on-girl kissing is socially acceptable and guy-on-guy kissing is not, and they use such scenarios to sell their services or products.

In their article Morris III and Sloop (2006) stated, “cultural critics have repeatedly observed that because advertisers want their commercial products to appeal to large numbers, mediated images and themes must necessarily be “comfortable” ones, reflecting commonsense expectations and shared ideological meanings.”

To me, this shows that the media is more concerned with how heterosexuals feel about homosexuality rather then homosexuality being supported.

Advertisers and the media go out of their way to make sure that heterosexuals feel comfortable and secure so they can appeal to the public.

It saddens me that when you see some social acceptance in the LGBTQ community, a lot of the times the movement and power behind it is because society and the media associate it with things such as being “trendy” or “sexy”.

Their actions seem to focus on heterosexuals feeling comfortable and secure about homosexuals, instead of being accepting and supportive of the LGBTQ community.

Julia Kamburi can be contacted at julia.kamburi@ksc.keene.edu