All are welcome as long as they respect women. Their experiences. Their stories. Their potential.
By Abby Claytor Our progress will depend on strong foundational concepts grounded in being self-reflective, deliberate, and evaluative. Taking time to develop and strengthen our foundations—individually and institutionally—is essential, no matter how progressive or rudimentary we may be in our thinking and actions. Jane Larsson, Executive Director, CIS What started as a quest for me… Continue reading Reflection: A Form of Action
Image description: shows student, Jane, smiling in front of a UMBC building Positionality Statement: This post is written by Jane DeHitta, an adult learner in her final year at UMBC, who works as a student staff and social work intern at the Women’s Center. I am a first generation Filipino-American student who seeks to be… Continue reading Microaggressions: an attack on belonging and identity 
Content Note: This post is authored by Jess, the director of the Women's Center. I am a white cisgender queer woman. This post is a reflection about my reading list which is informed by my race, gender, and sexual orientation. Upon reading this, the reading opportunity that presents itself to you may look differently than… Continue reading A Reading Opportunity
Alexia Petasis is a student staff member at the Women's Center. Alexia is pursuing an individualized studies degree with a concentration on social justice and dance. She is a co-facilitator for Pop-Culture Pop-Ups. This past year, I went to see the San Francisco Ballet at the Kennedy Center for the premiere of new works… Continue reading Pointe-ing Towards Change: Inclusive Practices in Ballet
Over this semester, one of my mantras has been “sit with discomfort.” This has meant sitting without clear or particularly good answers for very desperate, hurt people turning to me for help and support. It’s meant holding space for tense and harmful conversations that I really don’t want to have with students. It has meant feeling inconsolably angry with a best friend. And it’s meant not having a dryer for two months. Nope, none of those things feel good, but being able to slow down and contemplate a state of anxiety has allowed me to reach new levels of knowledge, awareness, and perspective.
A resource round-up provided by Jess Myers, Women's Center director In case you missed last night's roundtable on White Womanhood and Critical Whiteness (or if you were there and want to keep the conversation going), I thought it might be useful to share some resources that have helped me on my ongoing journey of what it means to… Continue reading White Womanhood + Critical Whiteness Resources Round-Up
A blog reflection written by Women’s Center intern Bree Best For the past several months I have been trying to conceptualize what I wanted to say about white privilege and protesting, the struggle of identifying power structures, access to privileged dissent, and a whole litany of other things that I could go on about dealing with… Continue reading Protesting While White
Today I'd like to talk about "Devil's Advocates." This is the person who is often situated in a place of both privilege and ignorance, but simultaneously has the confidence to suggest simplistic, often black-and-white, solutions and questions for an often complex and multifaceted issue. As an activist, woman of color, undocumented immigrant, and survivor of violence, I have… Continue reading The Mentalist Model and the Issue with Playing Devil’s Advocate to People’s Experiences
In addition to working at the Women’s Center as a student staff member, I also serve as a Resident Assistant in a first-year residential hall on campus. Recently, my paraprofessional staff and I have been exploring the topic of privilege by participating in meaningful discussions about the different forms that it can take on in… Continue reading A Beginner’s Guide to Privilege
Last night, after I finished all of my homework, I heard my roommates change the channel. My background noise changed from the constant crowd fuzz of football to the sparkling laughter of celebrities. I heard my boyfriend and my roommate groan, and I heard them curse, and I heard Kerrin cry, "It's not even a… Continue reading White Out at the 65th Emmys
Women's Center at UMBC 
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