News

Bull in a China Shop, running until March 26, 2017. Lincoln Center, Claire Tow Theater, W 65th St, Upper West Side, NYC. 212-239-6200. Running time 1 hour 25 minutes. Website: lct3.org

Review: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/theater/review-bull-in-a-china-shop-finds-a-revolution-in-one-woman.html

Barbara "Boo" Price '66 continues to contribute immeasurably to the LGBT community around the world. The San Francisco Bay Times recently listed a few of her many achievements in this article: http://sfbaytimes.com/barbara-prices-remarkable-life-and-work/

You are invited to the Queer Alum Conference!

The Queer Alum Conference is being held to celebrate the 40th anniversary of LGBTQ+ organizations at Mount Holyoke College. The conference will take place on Saturday, March 26, 2016.

Through a variety of panel discussion on a range of topics such as the history of queer activism and the experiences of trans individuals on campus, an art and photography exhibit and silent auction, zine workshops, networking, and more, we hope to promote intergenerational dialogue between past and current students about queer identities and activism on campus.

Sponsored by Lyon's Pride and OUTreach (the umbrella queer organization on campus), we also hope to help forge connections between LGBTQ+ alums and current Mount Holyoke students. You can register for the conference using this link. Registration for the conference is free.

Register for the conference

Lyon's Pride member Bessy Reyna '70 was invited to speak at Hartford's Gay Pride Rally this year. This is a transcript of the talk she presented at the rally on June 26 at the Old State House.

http://ctlatinonews.com/2015/07/06/op-ed-changing-a-law-is-only-the-first-step/

The Mount Holyoke Archives has set up a crowd-sourced transcription project, and the documents they selected were the passionate letters between Mary Woolley and her partner Jeannette Marks. If you'd like to volunteer to be a transcriber for the project, email transcribe-g@mtholyoke.edu to request an account. The project website is here: https://transcribe.mtholyoke.edu/

Lyon's Pride member Jennie Ochterski '15 curated a beautiful online exhibit of materials in the Mount Holyoke Archives that help document LGBTQ events and milestones in Mount Holyoke's history. Take a few moments to enjoy it: https://ascdc.mtholyoke.edu/exhibits/show/persistenceandexistence

Through the Hourglass: Lesbian Historical Romance (working title)

Publisher: The Liz McMullen Show Publications

Editors: Sacchi Green and Patty G. Henderson

Deadline: May 31, 2015

Publication: Fall of 2015

Preferred Length: 3000-5000 words

Payment: $30 plus two paperback copies

Rights: The Liz McMullen Show Publications requires the right to publish the original story in the above-mentioned anthology, in print, digital and audible forms, exclusively for one year after publication (exceptions made for "year's best" anthologies) and non-exclusively thereafter. The author retains copyright. 

We have always been here, in every era and every area of society, even though we’ve been all but invisible in recorded history. Now is your chance to use your imagination, research a period of history that intrigues you, and tell us fictional stories about the lesbian women who came before us. From the 1500s to the mid-1900s, from the late Renaissance and Elizabethan times to World Wars I and II, give us characters true to their times, and true to themselves, not modern people inserted into the past. Draw us into a time and place, its customs, inhibitions, aspirations, and patterns of thought and speech, and into the lives of fully developed, complex characters.  

Show us intense relationships and emotional bonds. Some degree of erotic tension is acceptable, but this is not a place for outright erotica. Happy endings are welcome if they seem plausible, and so are heart-rending encounters fated to live on only in memory. Diversity of culture will be appreciated. We want variety in scenarios and time periods, so feel free to contact us to see whether we seem to be getting too much from any era or setting, or with any other queries.

Original, unpublished stories only. Multiple submissions are okay, but no simultaneous submissions.

In keeping with our theme of lesbians throughout history, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to a charity that assists senior lesbians. The chosen charities are: SAGE (Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders) and GLARP (http://gaylesbianretiring.org/site/).

Submit your stories in .doc or .docx here: historical.anthology@gmail.com

Simmons College, comprised of an undergraduate women's college and several graduate schools, sent out a notice to its alums today with this link that formalizes its admissions policy for transgender applicants to its undergraduate program. In a tweet to me earlier today, they said that it was a policy that has already been in place for some time, but that they wanted to put it in writing now.

All applicants to the undergraduate program who were assigned female at birth and/or applicants who self-identify as women are eligible to apply for admission. Simmons does not require government issued documentation for purposes of identifying an applicant's gender identity. Once enrolled, any student who completes the College's baccalaureate requirements will be awarded a Simmons degree regardless of gender identity or expression.

Read their FAQs about their admission policy here: http://simmons.edu/undergraduate/admission/apply/transgender-policy-faq.php

This book review of Jill Lepore's "The Secret History of Wonder Woman" taught me something I did not know. I knew that William Marston and his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston (Mount Holyoke 1915) were the co-creators. But this book reveals that there was actually a third woman involved, their partner Olive Byrne. (A fourth woman, Marjorie Wilkes Huntley, was also involved, though not always living with them as Olive did.)

How about that ... a queer poly parentage to Wonder Woman! This book looks fascinating.

Read the review here: http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2014/10/23/review-the-secret-history-wonder-woman-jill-lepore/jWtbEDhggQBSmjarakuhlJ/story.html