News

Tamar Westphal '12 [Lyon's Pride member] is recognized for her senior performance project in an Education Life section of the New York Times that features outstanding student projects.

Click to see: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/02/03/education/edlife/20130203PHOTOBOOTH-17.html

Kim Shaw '88 has written a new novel that sounds like lots of fun. "Who wouldn’t want to go to a 300-year-old school of magic, wave a wand, and learn to fly? But this girl falls off her broom, gets her spells wrong, and isn’t sure her cat really is a familiar. All because her ears don’t work as well as everyone else’s. But once Caitlin Leo finds her real community, everything changes."

Buy it from the Harvard Book Store here: http://www.harvard.com/book/a_handful_of_spells/

Education Aid, Inc. has announced the recipient of the first Gay Dating Sites.net - Speak out against Prejudice Scholarship Program. The recipient, Qesar Veliu, is a law student at Quinnipiac University. Qesar, like many members of the GLBT community, has both witnessed and been a victim of bullying and prejudice. The Scholarship Program was created by Education Aid, Inc. and funded by Gay Dating Sites.net. Its purpose is to support a student pursuing a career that will make a difference in the fight against bullying, prejudice, and the negative stereotypes that are often associated with the GLBT community. Veliu will have $5,000 contributed toward his rent, textbooks, and school supplies for the 2012-2013 academic school year.

A deeply personal look at Terrence, a transgender male who has recently undergone gender reassignment surgery and is beginning to live life as a man. Series cuts between Terrence’s emotional struggle in the present and his past as Thora – a lesbian, student activist at Mt. Holyoke College circa 2005 struggling to find her true self.

Read full article here: http://www.queerty.com/sundance-channel-greenlights-t-new-series-about-transgender-man-20121107/

CTLatinoNews.com columnist Bessy Reyna [Mount Holyoke '70 and Lyon's Pride member] has been designated a 2012 “Voices and Vision” honoree by the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame. Reyna, a recipient of the Library of Congress’s Connecticut Lifetime Achievement Award for Service to the Literary Community, is an award-winning bilingual poet, opinion columnist and activist. She was one of 12 “Voices and Vision” honorees.

Read the full story here: http://ctlatinonews.com/blog/2012/10/22/bessy-reyna-honored-by-ct-womens-hall-of-fame/

Annie Arbuthnot '12 currently lives in Northampton but has spent this past week in Portland, ME, volunteering with Mainers United for Marriage, the "Yes on 1" campaign to win marriage for same-sex couples in Maine.  Already here working on the campaign are other alumnae--Amelia Nugent '11, Amy Gaidis '10, Nicole Gaidis '11, as well as many other volunteers with connections to Mount Holyoke.

With only two weeks left until Election Day, polls show that voting on this issue could really go either way, and Mainers United is in desperate need of volunteers.

Annie suggests it would be really great if MHC alumnae could come up here to Portland for the next couple of weekends before November 6th to volunteer. Maine came so close to allowing same-sex marriage in 2009. This issue affects so many of us connected to Mount Holyoke, not to mention the thousands of gay and lesbian families across Maine.  We have friends and family in Maine who will be directly affected by the outcome of this election, but this is more than just a personal issue. Maine has the opportunity to set an example for the whole country, and extending marriage rights to same-sex couples is the right thing to do.

Any groups or individuals who are interested in coming up to Portland, please contact Amelia at anugent@yeson1maine.org, or call her at (207)504-0204.

Congratulations to Wendy Ritch '90 for having her photography selected to grace the cover of the Nov/Dec issue of Lesbian Connection <http://www.lconline.org/>.

Boston-Area Couples Needed for Paid Research Opportunity

 

Earn $50 for participating in a study about long-term relationships and health.

 

 

What kinds of couples do we need?

 

* Long-term: in a committed relationship for at least 7 years

* Between the ages of 40 and 60

            * Gay, lesbian, or straight

* Married or unmarried

* With kids or childless

* Same- and mixed-race couples

 

Couples who participate in a confidential interview and complete a series of short questionnaires will receive two $25 gift cards ($50) as a token of our appreciation.

 

This project is supported by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research awarded to Dr. Debra Umberson.

 

The Massachusetts Health and Relationships Project

617-475-0494  ­  health@austin.utexas.edu  ­  www.MassHARP.com

A photo of Mount Holyoke students in the 1880s made this gallery, as well as numerous photos by lesbian photographer (and Lyon's Pride member) Joan E. Biren '66 (JEB). Take a look!

See the gallery here: http://www.autostraddle.com/150-years-of-lesbians-144337/

Was Emily Dickinson lesbian? We'll probably never know ... but we do know she was capable of feeling great love and passion for another woman. Read this letter she wrote to her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert, in 1852: