Let’s hear that one more time…

    A reflection from student intern, Sheila, about the subtle moments of life, both good and bad.    A little while ago I asked someone for their life story. This is a random thing I do whenever someone new starts working at my restaurant (#serverlife), to see if they can stay on their toes.…

To my feminist mentor, Megan Tagle Adams

A reflection by Amelia Meman on her feminist mentoring relationship with Assistant Director Megan Tagle Adams. With Megan’s departure from UMBC (today!), I feel the Women’s Center is saying goodbye to a real social justice champion on our campus. Someone who was constantly striving for excellence in our institution. More than this, though, I feel…

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…

Across Worlds and Identities: The Spaces in Between

A reflection by Women's Center staff member Prachi Kochar on identity and "fitting in". How do we navigate identities that can fit into multiple categories of nationality, ability, race, etc. at once? Or identities that do not perfectly fit into these categories, spilling out and crashing into each other?  This summer, I went to India for my…

Dirty River – A Book Review

 A short reflection by Shira Devorah, Women's Center student staff. I bought my own copy of Dirty River (even though the Women's Center has a copy you can loan now thanks to the UMBC's LGBTQ Faculty & Staff Association recent donation), and I'm really glad that I did. I got to underline the poetry and the words that…

“Twice as Good” On Being a Woman of Color and Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Perfectionism

A blog reflection written by Women’s Center student staff member Meagé Clements  Growing up, my mother would always remind my sister and I that we had to work twice as hard as everyone else because not only were we women, but we were Black women. Living in a society that has always had low expectations of…

“Barely Black”

A blog reflection written by Women’s Center student staff member Meagé Clements. This post is an expansion of her statement in the UMBC Women’s Center and Women of Color Coalition’s "I'm Not" anti-stereotype campaign for the Telling Our Stories project, which we posted about here. It’s been over a year since I first read recent UMBC alumna…

“Are you judged by your name?” ­ On Raven­-Symoné and the Respectability Politics of “Black-Sounding” Names

Since becoming a co-host on the renowned talk show The View, Raven-Symoné has made her fair share of offensive comments, resulting in her receiving a lot of backlash on social media. From her comments about race to her jokes about not hiring “Watermelondrea,” let’s just say Raven has put her foot in her mouth far…

UMBC Women Who Rock: The Women Behind the Staff of Color Network

UMBC Women Who Rock is a blog series I’ve been writing since last year and it has become one of my favorite things to think and write about for the Women’s Center blog. In my role as Women’s Center director, I have some of the best opportunities to become acquainted with some of UMBC’s best…

“You Don’t Look Like a Sorority Girl” – On Greek Life and Being a Woman of Color in a Predominantly White Subculture

A blog reflection written by Women's Center Staff Member Meagé Clements   “You’re in a sorority? You don’t look like a sorority girl!” Since becoming a member of Zeta Sigma Chi Multicultural Sorority Inc., this has become something I’ve grown quite used to hearing. Intrinsically, I politely answer with, “Yes, I am in a sorority” and…