Smashing History: 150 Years of LGBTIQA Vassar Held 11/3-5

"Smashing History: 150 Years of LGBTIQA Vassar," a three-day conference that celebrates the accomplishments of prominent Vassar alumnae/i who have distinguished themselves in service to LGBTIQA communities and seeks to inspire participants to take action for the future, will be held from Thursday, November 3, through Saturday, November 5. The conference will feature panels, lectures, workshops, exhibits, and performances.

One of the highlights of the conference will be the performance on Friday, November 4, at 8:00pm in the Chapel. The program "An Evening with Jomama Jones" will feature Daniel Alexander Jones (Vassar '91), named by American Theatre Magazine as "one of 15 artists whose work will be transforming American stages for decades to come." The New York Times has described his fully-fictional creation of Jomama Jones as a "sultry Amazon" that "prowls the stage on killer legs that extend forever out of death-defying heels" and "glows, making it hard not to surrender to this sequin-encrusted earth mother's soulful embrace."

Community organizer and attorney Urvashi Vaid (Vassar '79), a leader in the LGBT and social justice movements for nearly three decades, will give the keynote address, "The Pink in the Gray: Vassar's Latent and Blatant Queerness," in Taylor Hall (room 102) at 5:00pm Saturday, November 5, concluding the conference.

All the conference events are free and open to the public. A complete conference schedule and participant biographies is included below.

Through "Smashing History," Vassar's Women's Studies Program hopes "to provide the opportunity for participants to imagine transformative futures for Vassar, liberal arts education, the Hudson Valley community at large, and the world, and to inspire and foster new generations of LGBTIQA students aspiring to make a difference in their communities."

The Dean of the Faculty's Office has supported "Smashing History" in honor of Vassar's Sesquicentennial, along with Women's Studies, Africana Studies, American Culture, Art History, Asian Studies, Drama, English, Film, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, History with support from the C. MildrEd Thompson Fund, Latin American and Latino/a Studies, Media Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Religion, Urban Studies, and Victorian Studies. The Campus Life and Diversity Office (LGBTQ and ALANA Programs, Religious and Spiritual Life, & Women's Center) is also a sponsor, as are the student organizations Act Out, TransMission, QCVC, CHOICE, the Feminist Alliance, VSA, MEChA, and Poder Latino.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact the Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available. Directions to the campus can be found at http://www.vassar.edu/directions.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861.

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