External Validation as a Woman of Color

By Carrington Cline Positionality Statement: This post is written by Carrington Cline, a junior and student staff intern at the Women’s Center. This blog post articulates my encounters with the media’s portrayals of Black women, as it relates to the internal and external pressures that pushed me towards an unwavering focus on academic and career…

Reflecting on My Nigerian Community: Learning How to Be an Ally to Survivors of Sexual Violence

Arifat (she/her/hers) is a Senior majoring in Social Work and Political Science. She is working in the Women's Center this year for her social work field placement. Content Note: This blog is written from my experience as a first-generation immigrant and a Nigerian-American. After reading I encourage to think about your own identities and communities…

Adding Red to the Nigerian Flag

https://womenscenteratumbc.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/img_2123.jpg Arifat (she/her) is a Senior Political Science and Social Work major, and a women's center Staff Content Note: I wrote this as someone who identifies as a Nigerian-American. I wanted to share the parallels between those two parts of my identities. The blog explores police brutality occurring in Nigeria with specific focus on the…

Intro to Hoodoo

Nandi is a Junior English Major and a student staff member in the Women's Center. Content Note: This blog is written from an African-American woman’s experience and somewhat limited knowledge of the subject. Hoodoo is an African American folk magic tradition that is based in West African religious beliefs and practices. Much of the history…

FEMINIST KILLJOY ALERT: Stop Making Fun of Black and Brown Girls

Nandi is a Junior, English major, student staff at the Women's Center, and member of the Retriever Poets slam poetry team (Still from Girlhood (2014))   Picture this: It is 7:25AM in your high school. You are a student there again (I know, bare with me). You are barely awake, as is the natural order…

Things They Didn’t Tell Us: Recovering From Microaggressions

This post is written by Kay Hinderlie, a student staff at the Women's Center. Kay is a senior at UMBC, majoring in psychology. Imagine it’s the first day of your semester. After locating your class, you find a seat and reach into your backpack for your class materials. You check to make sure your phone…

No, I Don’t Want Michelle Obama to be President

Morgan is a senior here at UMBC pursuing a BA in Media and Communications major with minors in English and Cinematic Arts. If she's not working at the Women’s Center you can find her watching Ghost Shark (2013) with her friends.  My title is a lie. If only because I actually want Michelle Obama and her magnificent…

Too Busy Being Black

Briscoe Turner is a student staff member at the Women's Center. She is a sophomore Psychology major and Writing minor and a co-facilitator of Women of Color Coalition, a bi-weekly discussion group at the Women's Center.    Author's note: This blog is a reflection of my constantly evolving thought process on how intersectionality unveils itself…

Performing Pregnancy As A Black Woman

A reflection by Women's center staff member, Kayla Smith.   Full disclosure: I'm a Beyonce stan. I support pretty much everything she does. There are very few things Beyonce can do that I wouldn't damn near worship. Needless to say when she released pictures from her maternity shoot I was ready to bow down.   I scrolled…

Slaying on the Weekly: Black History Month + Women’s History Month

A weekly round-up curated by Women’s Center staff member, Michael Jalloh Jamboria In the spirit of my friend, who gave us the glorious name ‘Slaying on the Weekly’, every week I will be bringing you some interesting, funny or thought-provoking content from the internet! Be sure to join us next week for more and continue […]