Good morning y'all,
It has been a LONG week and despite having plans today, I think I may just stay home all day to prepare for the week ahead.
So as far as updates go -- I had a mid-term in one of my classes, which I did very well on, so that's exciting.
Random side note -- my tia (aunt) had to travel down to San Francisco earlier this week to visit the Chilean consulate (it's like the embassy) to pick up her renewed passport that got lost in the mail. Anyways, earlier this year I went and applied for my dual-citizenship pretty much as a back up plan in case some crazy shit goes down with this administration. So she was able to check with them about the status of my application and good news.. everything went through! So ya boy is officially a Chilean citizen. 🙌
I think I'm gonna try to go back down this upcoming February to order my passport. The reason I go to SF in February is for the Bay-Area Two-Spirit Powwow (BAAITS). This is one of the largest two-spirit powwow's in the country so a lot of my friends who live all over the country and even Canada come together for the weekend.
I participate in a lot of two-spirit events here in Portland, as well as other parts of the country. Two-spirit is a termed used by indigenous and First Nation peoples as a way we culturally fit into our tribal communities as LGBTQ+ identified individuals. Portland Two-Spirit Society organizes events throughout the year, participates in collegiate conferences for queer and students of color, and other events that pertain to First Nations/LGBTQ+ type of stuff. This has been a huge source of community for me over the past several years and I'm honored to be a part of such an amazing group of people.
So, now that I'm off that tangent I can tell you about some of the events that happened at LC this week.
My sociology professor Dr. Layoung Shin is a postdoctorate fellow for the ASIANNetwork-Luce Foundation. She did a presentation this week for the Asian Studies department on queer youth in South Korea. It was super interesting to hear about her research and the issues queer youth face in S.Korea. Then we had a rice ball party with faculty from a few different depts. (history, SOAN, religious studies, world language, etc.). The faculty went around and introduced themselves, what dept. they teach in and what classes they're offering for spring semester. This was a great way to connect with a number of depts. and meet dept. chairs as well. It was super fun, the rice balls were delicious and so was all the Japanese candy they brought.
Then the following day I saw a lecture by Adrienne Alton-Gust, Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago. She did a presentation titled UndocuQueer Artisvism. Here is the little blurb about her talk:
This delicious place that serves Bao.. they're like little baskets of heavenly goodness aka fluffy bun, stuffed with meat n thangs.
It is called Baoser (like Bowser from Super Mario) so the whole restaurant is themed with Super Mario characters.
Here's my friends, they didn't know I was taking the photo, featuring me being a creeper.
It has been a LONG week and despite having plans today, I think I may just stay home all day to prepare for the week ahead.
So as far as updates go -- I had a mid-term in one of my classes, which I did very well on, so that's exciting.
Random side note -- my tia (aunt) had to travel down to San Francisco earlier this week to visit the Chilean consulate (it's like the embassy) to pick up her renewed passport that got lost in the mail. Anyways, earlier this year I went and applied for my dual-citizenship pretty much as a back up plan in case some crazy shit goes down with this administration. So she was able to check with them about the status of my application and good news.. everything went through! So ya boy is officially a Chilean citizen. 🙌
I think I'm gonna try to go back down this upcoming February to order my passport. The reason I go to SF in February is for the Bay-Area Two-Spirit Powwow (BAAITS). This is one of the largest two-spirit powwow's in the country so a lot of my friends who live all over the country and even Canada come together for the weekend.
I participate in a lot of two-spirit events here in Portland, as well as other parts of the country. Two-spirit is a termed used by indigenous and First Nation peoples as a way we culturally fit into our tribal communities as LGBTQ+ identified individuals. Portland Two-Spirit Society organizes events throughout the year, participates in collegiate conferences for queer and students of color, and other events that pertain to First Nations/LGBTQ+ type of stuff. This has been a huge source of community for me over the past several years and I'm honored to be a part of such an amazing group of people.
So, now that I'm off that tangent I can tell you about some of the events that happened at LC this week.
My sociology professor Dr. Layoung Shin is a postdoctorate fellow for the ASIANNetwork-Luce Foundation. She did a presentation this week for the Asian Studies department on queer youth in South Korea. It was super interesting to hear about her research and the issues queer youth face in S.Korea. Then we had a rice ball party with faculty from a few different depts. (history, SOAN, religious studies, world language, etc.). The faculty went around and introduced themselves, what dept. they teach in and what classes they're offering for spring semester. This was a great way to connect with a number of depts. and meet dept. chairs as well. It was super fun, the rice balls were delicious and so was all the Japanese candy they brought.
Then the following day I saw a lecture by Adrienne Alton-Gust, Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago. She did a presentation titled UndocuQueer Artisvism. Here is the little blurb about her talk:
Abstract: In my talk, I will share some highlights of the ethnographic research I have conducted over the past year with Trans Queer Pueblo. This autonomous LGBTQ+ migrant community of color in Phoenix, Arizona does social justice work in several areas, including legal defense, family acceptance, and economic justice. In their Queer Artivism(o) program, they use the performing arts--especially drag, dance, and theater--as a platform to educate people about issues such as the need for comprehensive immigration reform and for racial justice in LGBTQ rights movements. I argue that there is an even greater benefit to the participants. As they place their multiply-marginalized identities at the center of artivism projects, engaging with the performance process empowers and heals the community from within.
Cool, huh?!
She was stellar in presenting her research and the work she's done to support undocumented queers in Arizona. It also turns out she knows a mutual friend of mine who is working on her Ph.D at University of New Mexico!
Both of these presentations were super informative, so I was real happy to be able to make it to both. The bummer about LC is that there is always so many fun events going on that I can't seem to find the time to make it to nearly everything. Once I figure out how to clone myself I'll be doing better cuz then I can do all the fun stuff and then the nitty gritty as well.
I'm working on drafting the beginning of this research project, I gotta write a paper for my Buddhism class, and study for chem.. so woo hoo, I got PLENTY to do.
One of the wonderful perks of being a non-traditional student is that on top of going to school full-time I work two part time jobs.. IT SUCKS. I mean I love the work I do, and going to school but damn it really sucks to have to constantly be on the go. This week I ended up working 4 different jobs, good news is I made enough money to cover rent/bills for November so now I don't have to stress about living. My work looks like -- Working at the SLS (student leadership) office, I clean houses on the days where I only have morning classes and then I worked all day Saturday.
The job on Saturday was awesome though.. I was working on a focus group for Metro through Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC). Metro is a Oregon regional government that provides services to the tri-counties (Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington county). The work I was doing was setting goals for specific departments to address how they conduct diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organizations to provide services to communities of color in the Portland metro. The director of the Oregon Zoo, the metro council president, and a district 6 official were in attendance so we personally got to speak to them about the racism and systemic oppression that occurs in our city and how to work on fixing it. I will tell you it felt damn good to tell them that we will not tolerate white supremacy in our city and that we want better! Despite all the horrific stuff happening nationally, I can tell you that the citizens of Oregon are working hard to create a better future for the next generations. It is when I'm doing work like this that I feel proud to be an Oregonian.
Last i'll add a couple hints of color by showing you pictures from Friday night when I went out on the town with my old roommates.
Have a great week y'all.
Lukas
lukasmsoto@lclark.edu