Update

Hi people. I hope this new semester is going well, although I wouldn't really know because I am no longer in the area.  As I was the president and no one was able to replace me, Pride & Color is unfortunately no longer in action until otherwise noted.  That being said, if anyone in any of the Five Colleges (I'm looking at you UMASS) would like to restart the group, you are free to use this blog space or to ask me or Kenneth (the former president) any questions (use fivecollegepc@gmail.com).

In the meantime, please be aware of Amherst College's Pride Alliance and Queer Internationals and People of Color (Hampshire), as well as the UMASS Pride Alliance, although I like the vibe of Amherst College's counterpart better.  Other possible resources include True Colors (Mt. Holyoke) and maybe Familia (also Mt. Holyoke) if it's still running.  Also note Smith's LGBT resources page.

Finally, I was recently recommended a link to the book, "Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation."  I haven't read it, but it may be worth your time.  I'm just guessing that Food for Thought Books might have it if you're interested in owning a copy.

Ok people, peace.

Kiss in!

     Thursday, March 31, Pride & Color recently coordinated a kiss in with participants from Mt. Holyoke, Amherst College, UMASS Amherst and Hampshire College.  A kiss in by the way is a peaceful protest in which homosexual (and sometime heterosexual) couples kiss publicly to redefine sexuality and romance outside of the boundaries of gender.

   The idea to have one here near Amherst was originally brought up as a response to homophobic and racist duct-taping incidents at Food for Thought Books.  So, we took to smooching and hand holding and hugging and rainbow flag waving to inform and remind anyone who passed that love is a queer thing, no matter the color of your skin.  We began on a corner of Route 9 up by Amherst Center and moved down to Food for Thought Books, where it seems the duct taper has taken to chalking inane messages on the walls of the store.  On a very positive note, we were fortunate enough to be passed by a school bus of impressionable little children!  YES!  Hopefully they won't grow up to be as close-minded as whoever is causing this trouble.

     Check out photos from the event below.  Thanks to all of the beautiful people who helped make this a success, especially those who traveled from other colleges.

"Rupture" and "In-ex-clusion"

April 7th through the 9th make sure to catch Sarah Perez' and Kyle Ramsey's Senior Theses in Choreography and Performance in Kirby Theatre at Amherst College:

"Sarah Perez’s original choreography piece 'Rupture' features movement inspired by issues of the gendered body and the violent nature of human interactions.

“In-ex-clusion,” by Kyle Ramsay, involves three unique performances that use song, text, dance and film to convey the quandaries involved with three aspects of identity: sexuality, gender and race. Can we define who we are? Or is our identity imposed on us?"

The performances are free and no reservations are required. Hope to see you there!

No Shame

Check out the killer/adorable new poster, designed by artist Car Lacho:

During one portion of Brother Outsider, the film on Bayard Rustin that was recently screened at Amherst College, one interviewee noticed that, remarkably, Rustin embraced his sexuality without any trace of shame, even way back the 1950s.  In recent meetings, we have been discussing a poster combating the shame that one might feel as queer individual, especially a queer individual of color.  My initial suggestion was violently worded "We are FAGGOTS, and there is NO SHAME in that."  The sentence had several problems, one of which was summarized by Dexter Padayachee as follows:

 "As a subaltern people we need to reclaim language by which to call ourselves, outside of the patriarchal heteronormative Eurocentric metastructure. By calling ourselves by the name of our oppressor we are reinforcing their sentiments."

He makes a good point.  The poster has now changed to what you see above.  Special thanks to Car Lacho for his heartwarming artwork.

Look forward to more NO SHAME posters on the way, and please give your feedback below.  Also, if you are interested in being part of the NO SHAME project, please contact us at fivecollegepc@gmail.com and let us know how you will be willing to help.

Selective Hearing

You know when you're dancing at a club or at a party and suddenly the DJ puts on this one song and every goes absolutely nuts and the energy just rises, and then you realize its the most homophobic piece of crap playing on the radio this month, but you keep on dancing anyway because the beat and the energy and the sound around you feels soooo good?  SHAME ON YOU!

... And the unsettling part is, writing those three words, I couldn't make up my mind whether I wanted it to be a totally serious condemnation or a partially a joke.  It should be shame on us, it should be we go run tell the DJ to turn that crap off as quick as we are to harass them when we feel their playlist needs some musical direction, but instead we're just used to ignoring the lyrics for the sake of the party.

Harold Aarons of the Amherst College class of 2010 recently had published an article on this subject over at XHIBITP.  Go check it out.  Voici le link:

My Guilty Pop Pleasure: Dancehall Music

www.xhibitp.com

This Friday Come Watch "BROTHER OUTSIDER"

Please come if you can, or wiki Bayard Rustin if you can't.  Let's reintroduce homosexuality into history, especially within the black community.  Tell someone you know his name, his sexuality, his race, and his actions.  Thank you for your support, and we hope to see you there at Amherst College on Friday.

P.S. We will have food.

"Pariah" Film Request

A while ago Sentamu stumbled across the trailer for "Pariah," a film summarized on the website as, "A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression."  It looks both exciting and constructive towards a positive perception of LGBT minorities within the community, so if you would like to see it come to the Pioneer Valley area, please request it from the film's official website.  It'll take less than a minute.

Check out a short discussion of the film here.