Jabberwocky 2017.Indd

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Jabberwocky 2017.Indd Spring 2017 J A B B E R WO c Y K JABBERWOCKY undergraduate literary journal university of massachusetts amherst Cover art by a. t. halaby abberwocky ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!” He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree And stood awhile in thought. And, as in ufsh thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of fame, Came whifing through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. “And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy. ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. JABBERWOCKY STAFF EXECUTIVE Elizabeth Riezinger, Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Quinn, Managing Editor Alana Richelle Craven, Associate Editor POETRY MaKayla Allen, Head editor Delia Blieler, Assistant editor A. T. Halaby, Assistant editor Julia McLaughlin, Assistant editor FICTION Kortni Song, Assistant editor Kaitlyn D’Angelo, Head editor Elizabeth Barrett, Assistant editor Julia Caudle, Assistant editor Natasha Charest-Ciampa, Assistant editor Mariah Girouard, Assistant editor Danielle Jin, Assistant editor Lizzy Keery, Assistant editor Mira Kennedy, Assistant editor Amberly Lerner, Assistant editor Gratis Maxwell, Assistant editor Tayla Monturio, Assistant editor Jill O'Loughlin, Assistant editor Jessica Orlando, Assitant editor Jake Phillips, Assistant editor Maggie Yonce, Assistant editor CRITICISM Delia Bleiler, Head editor Anna Keller, Assistant editor Sam LaBelle, Assistant editor MEDIA AND COPYEDITING Brynn Stevens, Head editor Lia Ashe-Simmer, Assistant editor Victoria Bourque, Assistant editor Emily Brunelli, Assistant editor Lianna Churchill, Assistant editor Jocelyn Figueroa, Assistant editor Isabel Fowler, Assistant editor Irina Grigoryeva, Assistant editor Elisabeth Layne, Assistant editor ii ABOUT JABBERWOCKY Jabberwocky is an undergraduate literary journal published by the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The student staff is selected by officers of the English Society, which is the official undergraduate branch of the English Department. All editors and contributors to Jabberwocky are undergraduate UMass students. Jabberwocky is divided into four separate staffs for the purpose of reviewing submissions: poetry, fiction, criticism/nonfiction, and media. All submissions are anonymously reviewed by the respective staffs to be approved for inclusion in the journal. All contributions by members of the Jabberwocky staff were reviewed anonymously without input by the submitting staff member. Jabberwocky is not copyrighted. Any student work that is included in the journal remains the property of the artist. All contributors reserve the right to publish their work elsewhere in accordance with guidelines set by other publishers. The views and opinions expressed in Jabberwocky are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the staff, the department, or the university. We would like to extend a special thanks to the English Department, particularly Celeste Stuart, Randall Knoper, and Rachel Mordecai. Jabberwocky was printed with the extraordinary support by Amherst Copies. Questions, concerns, and input can be sent to [email protected]. Students interested being on staff for the next issue can contact the Jabberwocky email in Fall 2017. Submissions will open again at the beginning of the Spring 2018 semester. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS POETRY 1 Poem #27 | Natalie Roll 5 Roses Blooming in Athenry | Peter Duffy 8 A Refraction of Feathers | Cressida Richards 9 My New Home in the Clouds | Mira Kennedy 10 V-D | Adara North 23 Self-Portrait with Fairy-Queen | Benjamin Quinn 25 Cart | Sxm Wxng 26 Morning | Kylie Weld 55 Bodily Consequences | Zak Russell 56 Soneto 17 | Mina Puig 57 Cantaloupes | Peter Duffy 62 Wildflowers | Nick Warner 63 Trench Warfare | Lauren Stock 64 What if we are the gyre? | Jake Phillips 66 Prognosis | Ashley McDermott 69 Spoons | James Davis 70 No Title | Anonymous 71 A Seed Grows in the Desert | Adara North 72 Diamond Ring | Rowan Dubin-Masuck 73 Selfish Appetites | Sxm Wxng CRITICISM Spacial Narrative of Berkshire Dining Hall | Colin Aubut 67 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS FICTION 3 Audiopathy | Sxm Wxng 11 The Oracle of Del's Pies | Jake Phillips 20 le jeudi | Brooke Durkan 27 Time | Lauren Stock 30 Bus People | Elizabeth Riezinger 36 ORANGE | Elisabeth Layne 58 Weekly | Ramsez Taariq McCall MEDIA Oh | James Davis 2 Flowing in and out | James Davis 2 Black Bouquet | Lianna Churchill 5 Mt. Greylock | Lianna Churchill 6 Tire Dragon | Lianna Churchill 6 End of Childhood | Lianna Churchill 6 Reminscing | Lianna Churchill 7 Lonely | Lianna Churchill 7 Hazy Goodbyes | Lianna Churchill 7 And We Capture The Light Still | Brynn Stevens 9 ghosting | Alana Richelle Craven 19 To The Wonder | James Davis 19 Au-delà de la Fenêtre | Brynn Stevens 20 Chrysaora fuscescens | Alana Richelle Craven 24 Untitled | Isabel Fowler 26 Dance Daily | James Davis 29 From "Lines That look Like This" | A. T. Halaby 29 Lauren in the Rain James Davis 40 Brief Respite from an Unpaid Internship | Alana Richelle Craven 55 N | Madeleine Conover 61 Blue | Madeleine Conover 61 Poppy Picking | Madeleine Conover 62 Protesting for a Green Future | Madeleine Conover 63 Long Island City | Ramsez Taariq McCall 65 Vibrant Fall Sunset at UMass | Richard Cuoco 68 Soften Your Gaze | Brynn Stevens 70 v Artist Statement for Cover Artwork by A. T. Halaby Tese pieces are a part of a series, "Lines Tat Look Like Tis". I spend a lot of my time trying to focus my anxiety and panic disorder into cre- ation. For materials, I use a ruler, 25% cotton paper, and various pens and markers with diferent points. Poem #27 Natalie Roll Pressure Long lines, lies & longings of Love, inching Between each other to make An ascension To a rosy Truth. Torn in hand. 1 Oh James Davis Digitally Manipulated Photograph Flowing in and out James Davis Digitally Manipulated Photograph 2 Audiopathy Sxm Wxng You get to the back before you can breathe, which is goddamn impressive considering the span of this building. Micah’s right next to you, stride for stride, something you know without looking be- cause you know by hearing. Her steps sound just as quick as yours and she keeps chanting something over and over again that’s just hopeful enough to be a lie. (She makes a most fretful metronome in disaster). It never took you this long to get to the band room in middle school, though you were still late for rehearsals, but good thing Mi- cah was always there early to save you a spot in the back before she took her seat in the front row. Micah didn’t have perfect pitch like you but she did have a mom who could drive her across town for fute lessons. Micah didn’t get scared pissless at the sudden thun- der of timpani during her frst recital. She never had to stare at her grimy kitchen foor listening to ma sigh sharply from her nostrils as the disgruntled Medicaid consultant went on and on about sensi- tivities and syndromes and disorders. And when ma was working back-to-back shifs Micah’s mom always sent you home with a pack of cold lunchmeat, a box of clementines, things you usually got for birthday dinner. You always thanked her with something be- tween a mumble and a whimper, then winced as her teeth clashed and mouth mashed as she said at a pleasantly perfunctory decibel: you’re welcome. It’s not like school was ever an Eden but today this place is an abso- lute horrorhouse. Te Red Cross has patched it up better compared to the shitstorm outside, where black roads have cracked open as if hell was hungry and buildings have crumbled like stacks of saltines, but in these hallways everything reverberates with grating potency. Perhaps the reason why your lungs have taken a backseat is because your ears are demanding more, more than your body can give, more than is humanly possible—there is nothing unheard and everything unmistakable, your livewire mind ready for the fnal 3 crash— —then it all comes to silence when you reach the auditorium. You are now beyond sound, beyond breath. Strange, they all look like long white loaves of bread, or shiny plastic snowbanks arranged in rows. And to think there are bodies in there. And to think ma is in one of those glossy cocoons, thrown into premature pupation by a rod of rebar through the ribs. You fnd this out afer screaming questions at relief workers, read- ing an abundance of toe tags, and going al-pha-betically through the missing persons’ list. All the while Micah’s by your side, squeez- ing your hand, making phone calls until she fnally gets a hold of her family. (Tey were playing golf when this happened. Who knows, someone might have gotten hurt from a toppled birdbath or designer poplar.) She lets go of your hand once someone fnally picks up. Tat someone is saying something that’s making her start to sob, and you fnd yourself engulfed in sense again—everything bursts raucous and cacophonous all at once. Tere is sound again, hopelessly, relentlessly, infuriatingly. Next to you Micah gasping over her cell sounds like she’s hollering at you through a megaphone. She’s crying, too, but with a diferent species of tears, with a cry that drives something in you to tear her throat out.
Recommended publications
  • TRANSGENDER JEWS and HALAKHAH1 Rabbi Leonard A
    TRANSGENDER JEWS AND HALAKHAH1 Rabbi Leonard A. Sharzer MD This teshuvah was adopted by the CJLS on June 7, 2017, by a vote of 11 in favor, 8 abstaining. Members voting in favor: Rabbis Aaron Alexander, Pamela Barmash, Elliot Dorff, Susan Grossman, Reuven Hammer, Jan Kaufman, Gail Labovitz, Amy Levin, Daniel Nevins, Avram Reisner, and Iscah Waldman. Members abstaining: Rabbis Noah Bickart, Baruch Frydman- Kohl, Joshua Heller, David Hoffman, Jeremy Kalmanofsky, Jonathan Lubliner, Micah Peltz, and Paul Plotkin. שאלות 1. What are the appropriate rituals for conversion to Judaism of transgender individuals? 2. What are the appropriate rituals for solemnizing a marriage in which one or both parties are transgender? 3. How is the marriage of a transgender person (which was entered into before transition) to be dissolved (after transition). 4. Are there any requirements for continuing a marriage entered into before transition after one of the partners transitions? 5. Are hormonal therapy and gender confirming surgery permissible for people with gender dysphoria? 6. Are trans men permitted to become pregnant? 7. How must healthcare professionals interact with transgender people? 8. Who should prepare the body of a transgender person for burial? 9. Are preoperative2 trans men obligated for tohorat ha-mishpahah? 10. Are preoperative trans women obligated for brit milah? 11. At what point in the process of transition is the person recognized as the new gender? 12. Is a ritual necessary to effect the transition of a trans person? The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly provides guidance in matters of halkhhah for the Conservative movement.
    [Show full text]
  • Parent-Youth Relationships and Communication Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth: the Impact on Sexual Health
    Parent-Youth Relationships and Communication among Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth: The Impact on Sexual Health A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Camille Anne Brown IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Renee E. Sieving, PhD, RN, FAAN, FSAHM August 2020 © 2020 by Camille Anne Brown Acknowledgements First, I would like to acknowledge the amazing faculty and staff members here at the University of Minnesota who have inspired me to develop from a nurse who wanted to make a difference in the lives of the young people she worked with into a nurse scientist driven to make an impact in her field of research. To Renee Sieving, thank you for responding to an email from a stranger and becoming my mentor. You have kept me on track, kept me from getting too far ahead of myself, and encouraged me when I felt lost. To Barb McMorris, thank you for being my champion and reminding me to keep myself balanced. Your endless kindness, support, and our mutual pet parent bonding has kept my spirits up when they drifted low. To Marla Eisenberg, since the day I nervously interviewed to be the RA on your R01, your research mentorship has been invaluable. Thank you for being a model for the collaborative research career I am building. To Carolyn Porta, thank you for living strength and flexibility in leadership and guiding me into qualitative research. To Amy Gower, thank you for seeing me even when I am not fully articulating my thoughts.
    [Show full text]
  • General Editors' Introduction
    General Editors’ Introduction SUSAN STRYKER and PAISLEY CURRAH ince its inception, one of our primary goals for TSQ has been to make it a S journal that, within the constraints of being published in English at a US university press, is attentive to the transnational circulations of “transgender”— to the outright resistances to that term as well as to its adoption, dubbing, hybrid- ization, and strategic use, with all the complex negotiations of power and culture those crossings and roadblocks imply. How better to further the goal of putting pressure on the anglophone biases of the field of transgender studies than to explicitly explore the languages through which “transgender,” as an analytic lens or identitarian label, does and does not reproduce itself, how names and concepts change in the translation from one context to another, or how they remain incommensurable and untranslatable? (Of course, we recognize that this repli- cates at another level the very anglonormativity we seek to contest.) Much of the work collected here was first presented in rough form at “Translating Transgender,” an international scholarly workshop convened by translation studies scholar David Gramling, January 11–15, 2015, at the University of Arizona, with the explicit intent of including that work in a special issue of TSQ, to be coedited by Gramling and TSQ editorial board member Aniruddha Dutta. For those in attendance, the Tucson workshop was a truly remarkable intellectual and emotional experience, which one senior scholar characterized as “without a doubt the single most stimulating academic event I’ve ever partici- pated in.” We hope that some of that excitement shines through in the works from the workshop that ultimately were submitted and selected for publication, as well as the works submitted through the regular call for papers process.
    [Show full text]
  • Universite Paris 8 U.F.R. Langage, Informatique
    UNIVERSITE PARIS 8 U.F.R. LANGAGE, INFORMATIQUE, TECHNOLOGIE N° attribué par la bibliothèque THESE pour obtenir le grade de DOCTEUR DE L’UNIVERSITE PARIS 8 Discipline : science de l’information et de la communication présentée et soutenue publiquement par Antoine CASANOVA le 19 mars 1999 Titre : méthodes d’analyse du langage crypté : Une contribution à l’étude du manuscrit de Voynich ¾¾¾¾¾ Directeur de thèse : M. LEPERS Jean-Marc ¾¾¾¾¾ JURY Professeur émérite M. Paul CAMION Professeur M. Maxime CROCHEMORE Directeur M. Jean-Marc LEPERS Adjoint au Délégué Interministériel de la DISSI M. André CATTIEUW Inspecteur du SCSSI M. Michel MITTON Enseignant M. Paul LOUBIERE Enseignant M. Patrick DESHAYES 14 novembre 1998 —Première édition UNIVERSITE PARIS 8 Discipline : science de l’information et de la communication Résumé Titre : méthodes d’analyse du langage crypté : Une contribution à l’étude du manuscrit de Voynich par Antoine CASANOVA Directeur de thèse : M. LEPERS Jean-Marc ¾¾¾¾¾ 1-§ L’énigme du manuscrit de Voynich semble être née d’une génération spontanée. Le manuscrit fut découvert une première fois à la fin du XVIème siècle et l’idée s’imposait déjà, comme une évidence, que ce fût là un manuscrit de Roger BACON. Le manuscrit semblait d’un décryptage aisé, les dessins, pensait-on, devaient contribuer à sa résolution, et pourtant aucun n’a pu aboutir à une solution acceptable. Quel paradoxe, que des cryptanalystes du vingtième siècle, de renom et entraînés par l’activité cryptographique des deux guerres mondiales, n’arrivaient pas à vaincre ce problème issu d’une cryptographie balbutiante. 2-§ En fait, le problème du non-aboutissement prend sa source dans un dysfonctionnement de l’artefact cryptanalytique qui fait trop tôt appel à l’analogie de langages avant même d’extraire les structures de symboles indépendantes de l’idée de référence.
    [Show full text]
  • Barber V. Bryant, No
    Case 3:16-cv-00442-CWR-LRA Document 35 Filed 06/30/16 Page 1 of 60 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI NORTHERN DIVISION RIMS BARBER; CAROL BURNETT; PLAINTIFFS JOAN BAILEY; KATHERINE ELIZABETH DAY; ANTHONY LAINE BOYETTE; DON FORTENBERRY; SUSAN GLISSON; DERRICK JOHNSON; DOROTHY C. TRIPLETT; RENICK TAYLOR; BRANDIILYNE MANGUM- DEAR; SUSAN MANGUM; JOSHUA GENERATION METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH; CAMPAIGN FOR SOUTHERN EQUALITY; and SUSAN HROSTOWSKI CAUSE NO. 3:16-CV-417-CWR-LRA V. consolidated with CAUSE NO. 3:16-CV-442-CWR-LRA PHIL BRYANT, Governor; JIM HOOD, DEFENDANTS Attorney General; JOHN DAVIS, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services; and JUDY MOULDER, State Registrar of Vital Records MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER The plaintiffs filed these suits to enjoin a new state law, “House Bill 1523,” before it goes into effect on July 1, 2016. They contend that the law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The Attorney General’s Office has entered its appearance to defend HB 1523. The parties briefed the relevant issues and presented evidence and argument at a joint hearing on June 23 and 24, 2016. The United States Supreme Court has spoken clearly on the constitutional principles at stake. Under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, a state “may not aid, foster, or Case 3:16-cv-00442-CWR-LRA Document 35 Filed 06/30/16 Page 2 of 60 promote one religion or religious theory against another.” Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97, 104 (1968). “When the government acts with the ostensible and predominant purpose of advancing religion, it violates that central Establishment Clause value of official religious neutrality, there being no neutrality when the government’s ostensible object is to take sides.” McCreary Cnty., Kentucky v.
    [Show full text]
  • Intersex Conditions and Differences of Sex Development
    Intersex conditions and differences of sex development: Theology, ethics, and care Author: Erik Lenhart Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:105008 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2015 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Lenhart 1 Intersex Conditions and Differences of Sex Development: Theology, Ethics, and Care A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the S.T.L. Degree of Boston College School of Theology and Ministry by Erik Lenhart, OFM Cap. Director: Lisa Sowle-Cahill Reader: Andrea Vicini, S.J. Spring 2015 Lenhart 2 Table of Contents Thesis Abstract 3 Acknowledgements 4 Preface 5 Foreword: A Word on Words 7 Introduction: Fiction and Reality 10 Chapter 1: Defining Intersexuality 12 Chapter 2: History of Care and Classification 20 Chapter 3: Theories and Practice in the 21st Century 31 Chapter 4: Catholic Responses: Foundations of 39 Anthropology and Prudent Reflections on Intersex Chapter 5: Hearing Intersex Voices and 70 Promoting Flourishing and Vocation Conclusion: Variation in the Body of Christ 81 Bibliography 83 Lenhart 3 Abstract Intersex conditions (ICs) or disorders of sex development (DSDs) are biological variations that cause difficulties in determining whether a person is male or female at birth. In the 1950s, cosmetic surgery aimed to “normalize” the infant’s body became the standard of care when a child is born with an IC/DSD. Many adults who were operated on as infants, however, have begun to voice their dissatisfaction with the surgeries, which have caused tremendous long-term physical and emotional pain.
    [Show full text]
  • A Jewish Guide to Marking Transgender Day of Remembrance Contents Introduction
    A Jewish Guide to Marking Transgender Day of Remembrance Contents Introduction .................................................................................................... 3 Readings for Services ...................................................................................... 4 I Am: Trans People Speak ............................................................................... 6 My Jewish Transgender Journey .................................................................. 8 Rabbinical Testimony in Support of the Massachusetts Transgender Equal Rights Bill .............................................13 Sermon ..........................................................................................................20 Text Study: Gender Diversity in Jewish Sacred Texts .................................23 Ways to Take Action in Your Community ....................................................33 it is our role as religious leaders to ensure that our “communities are places where everyone can embrace their whole selves and live up to their divine potential. — R. Joseph Berman ” keshet | 1 | www.keshetonline.org one of the most important teachings in the Jewish tradition “is that every human being is created b’tzelem elohim, “in God’s image,” which is interpreted to mean that every person must be treated with dignity and respect. unfortunately, transgender people have too often been the victims of blatant discrimination and of violence, their humanity and Godliness denied. And as a congregational rabbi, i have had congregants,
    [Show full text]
  • Queer and Trans Analyses of Torah and Talmud
    Torah and Talmud Flier for Kolot Chayeinu Class Announcement—2007 Gender Diversity in Aggada—Rabbi Elliot Kukla—2007 (used in Kolot class) Gender Diversity in Halacha-- Rabbi Elliot Kukla—2007 (used in Kolot class) Genesis of Gender—Joy Laden To Wear Is Human: Parshat Ki Teitze--Rabbi Elliot Kukla and Reuben Zellman, 2006 Curious About Judaism’s Take on Gender? The sages gave this some serious thought. Jewish sacred texts recognize six different categories for gender diversity. Now, it’s our turn to think and learn. “A Created Being of Its Own” A Seminar with Rabbi Elliot Kukla1 March 15, 22 and 29th at 7 P.M. At Kolot Chayeinu, 1012 8th Avenue, (between 10th & 11th Streets) Brooklyn Co-sponsored by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice The Kolot Chayeinu community needs knowledge to be a comfortable place for transgender, gender non- conforming and intersex people who participate (or might want to) in our congregation,. Develop a fuller understanding of gender and sex in Judaism, and get the information that will help us all be at ease. • Explore the spiritual implications of a broadened understanding of sex and gender in Judaism • Discover how Jewish sacred texts can help us create a community that has the knowledge to be truly welcoming of transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex people • Look at the theological implications of the texts for people of all genders The sessions on March 15th and 22nd are open to the public. March 29 is for Kolot members only. Kolot members are encouraged to join all three sessions. If that’s impossible, be there on March 29th (Kolot members only) for Trans “Tachchlis” (practicalities), aka “Trans 101.” We’ll also be developing practical action steps for the congregation.
    [Show full text]
  • Qwo-Li Driskill, Phd Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Oregon State University
    Qwo-Li Driskill, PhD Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Oregon State University Academic Appointments Associate Professor. School of Language, Culture, and Society: Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Director of Graduate Studies; Queer Studies. Graduate Faculty. Affiliate Faculty: Ethnic Studies, Public Policy, Social Justice. September 2016-Present. Assistant Professor. School of Language, Culture, and Society: Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Director of Graduate Studies; Queer Studies. Graduate Faculty. Affiliate Faculty: Ethnic Studies, Public Policy, Social Justice. August 2012-September 2016. Assistant Professor. Department of English. Graduate Faculty, Creative Writing Faculty. Affiliate Faculty: Africana Studies, American Studies. Texas A&M University, August 2008-2012. Adjunct Faculty. Whole Systems Design. Antioch University Seattle, September-December 2006. Education PhD: Michigan State University Rhetoric and Writing: Concentration in Cultural Rhetorics. East Lansing, MI: 2008. Dissertation: Yelesalehe Hiwayona Dikanohogida Naiwodusv/God Taught Me this Song, it is Beautiful: Cherokee Performance Rhetorics as Decolonization, Healing, and Continuance. Committee: Malea Powell (Chair), Jeffery T. Grabill, Terese Guinsatao Monberg, Kimberli Lee. MA: Antioch University Seattle Whole Systems Design: Native Writing, Theater, Story and Resistance. Seattle, WA: 2001. Committee: Betsy Geist (Chair), Janice Gould, Ben Lallatin. BA: University of Northern Colorado Social Transformation and the Arts. (Africana Studies, Women's Studies, Theater). Greeley, CO: 1998. Publications Books Asegi Stories: Cherokee Queer and Two-Spirit Memory. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2016. Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in LGBT Non-Fiction. Finalist for Publishing Triangle Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature. Walking with Ghosts: Poems. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Salt Publishing, 2005. Poem "Tal’-s-go Gal’-quo- gi Di-del’-qua-s-do-di Tsa-la-gi Di-go-whe-li/Beginning Cherokee" added to the Poetry Foundation's Index of Contemporary Poetry.
    [Show full text]
  • Queer Jews Studying Talmud
    for separate-but-equal status; transgender half cannot be exempted, so must, for this persons argue that sex and gender are no moment, be equivalent to a man. The rabbis longer “real enough” categories to classify have opened a door. If half a body can humans. Everything a person does to be change gender without having the requisite Jewish is based on categories, then, that genitals, perhaps it is no great stretch to don’t work. change the gender (and not the sex) of a Mishnah Androgynos is a rabbinic text ad- whole body. For the hermaphrodite, gender dressing the exceptional case of a hermaph- is a “both, and” proposition. The hermaph- rodite human (a person with two complete rodite has a fuzzy dual gender that wobbles sets of genitals, one male and one female). around an always dual sex (continuous state) Androgynos prescribes a legal alternative to and at the same time a series of single-gen- the one-sex-one-gender binary system. In this ders within each narrow legal context (dis- alternative, an individual regularly appears in crete state). Today, wherein a gender binary the garb of one gender even though only half is competing with newer non-binary forms of of the individual’s body maps to that gender’s gender identification, a “two-state solution” norms. The hermaphrodite, then, is directly to gender seems like a responsible — and enabled by the community to function as a achievable — strategy. unique member. A similar adaptation might The deeper question raised by “trans- be useful in communities working to include gender” is this: Since a dual-to-many rela- transgender Jews.
    [Show full text]
  • Coming Home to Judaism
    The HRC Religion and Faith Program is working to create a world where nobody is forced COMING to choose between who they are, whom they love and what HOME TO they believe. Thanks in part to this work, more and more Jews JUDAISM aren’t simply engaging in dialogue around LGBTQ equality, they’re AND TO SELF leading the conversation. They do this work not in spite of their Jewish belief or values, but because of them. To learn more, visit hrc.org/jewish To learn more about the Religion and Faith Program, visit hrc.org/religion 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036-3278 www.hrc.org Welcome Table of Contents Dear Friends, We at the Human Rights ANCIENT FAITHS – NEW TRADITIONS א -Campaign have witnessed first hand the positive power that A PERSONAL JOURNEY religious communities wield in enacting social change. The FOUR MOVEMENTS, PLUS ב ,Jewish community, in particular has been at the forefront of REFORM this work, from the Civil Rights RECONSTRUCTIONIST Movement to the ongoing struggle CONSERVATIVE for LGBTQ equality. Despite all our progress, there is still work to ORTHODOX be done to ensure every person LGBTQ JEWISH COMMUNITIES of faith feels welcomed in their religious community. A NEW GENERATION ג I hope the following pages will provide both helpful insights FINDING YOUR COMMUNITY and practical advice to LGBTQ people seeking a home in A TRANSGENDER EXPERIENCE ד the synagogue, or hoping to become more fully involved and embraced in Jewish communal life. I hope, too, that we offer constructive advice to rabbis and other leaders who are ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER working to create communities that are more fully inclusive A FRESH LOOK AT TORAH AND TEXTS ה .of LGBTQ people THE LAWS OF LEVITICUS I want to offer a special thanks to the many scholars, rabbis and non-LGBTQ allies who have lent their voices and their SODOM AND GOMORRAH expertise.
    [Show full text]
  • A Created Being of Its Own: Toward a Jewish Liberation Theology for Men
    A Created Being of Its Own: Toward a Jewish Liberation Th eology for Men, Women and Everyone Else by Rabbi Elliot Kukla Rabbi Yose says: ‘An androgynos is a created being of its own.’ Th e Sages could not decide if the androgynos is a man or a woman. But this is not true of a tumtum, who is sometimes a man and sometimes a woman. — Mishna Bikkurim 4:5 How I Met Th e Tumtum Th e fi rst time I met the tumtum I was twenty years old and studying in an orthodox yeshiva. I was new to religious Judaism and I was falling in love with traditional texts fast and hard. I was captivated by the mysterious square Hebrew letters and the beautifully convoluted logic of the ancient rabbis. In a class on the Mishna, the earliest layer of Jewish oral tradition, I found a startling text buried in a sheaf of handouts. I learned about someone who takes an ascetic vow. Th is vow will be valid if, and only if, a son is born to him. However, if the baby turns out to be a daughter, a tumtum or an androgynos, he is not bound by this vow (Mishna Nazir 2:7). As soon as I read this perplexing text I called over my teacher and excitedly asked her: “Who is this tumtum?” “Oh,” she answered, “Th e tumtum is a mythical beast that is neither male nor female – kind of like a unicorn – that our Sages invented in order to explore the limits of the law.” Even though I knew next to nothing about Jewish texts and traditions, I had a feeling that my learned teacher might be wrong.
    [Show full text]