Category Archives: Uncategorized

THREE YEARS AGO, I APPLIED FOR A JOB teaching a basic Western art history survey course, at a men’s prison in Danville, Illinois. It would be my first job out of graduate school and one that has since shaped my … Continue reading →

Probable cause, probable cause You don’t have to break no laws They say probable cause —Brand Nubian, hip hop group NEARLY A YEAR AGO, on March 30, 2007, when a 17 year-old black youth was stopped in Douglass Park, pepper … Continue reading →

Phaedra C. Pezzullo, is Assistant Professor of Communication and Culture at Indiana University. What are your thoughts on Fifth and Hill? It’s important to recognize that environmental racism or environmental pollution has been disproportionately placed in communities of color and … Continue reading →

In prison when someone snaps in an extraordinarily shocking manner; the perfect inmate, about to parole out, walks into the shift office, closes the door, tells the warden and entire staff what’s wrong with the criminal justice system in general … Continue reading →

I’m glad to hear about the Dalai Lama talking to the marchers. At the same time it’s the only really peaceful thing happening to protest the Chinese occupation. So it’s a lot to think about, most of these monks have … Continue reading →

the ones with the straight hair to those with the natural naps those we see we are to wonder “who do they think they be?“ lady, miss black sister who am i to help these average little black girls? do … Continue reading →

IT’S INTERESTING THAT WE, as a society, talk about hate crimes in this country when it comes to race and sexual orientation, but neglect to address the epidemic of hate crimes based on gender alone. Violence against women continues to … Continue reading →

MARTINA MIRANDA-LUGO WAS BORN in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico and immigrated to the U.S. 21 years ago. She has lived in Urbana for the last 13 years. In 1995, when Martina arrived with her family to the area, she recalls … Continue reading →

ASIANS HAVE BEEN THE ONLY RACIAL or ethnic group in the United States to be excluded by name from immigrating to the United States. In Asian American Studies, we usually point to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 as the … Continue reading →

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH IS AN OPPORTUNITY to both understand the past and set our sights on our future. Part of this future is men, men becoming allies to women. When men come to understand sexism, it usually isn’t of our … Continue reading →

ACCORDING TO A RECENT NEW YORK TIMES article, one adult out of 100 is incarcerated. Over 1.5 million adults—largely Black and Latino—have become part of this growing population. Yet, what’s generally left out of the discussion is that women prisoners … Continue reading →

OFTEN, WHEN I AM SITTING IN A CLASSROOM, I cannot help but be fully cognizant of the fact that I look different from everyone else. This is a common feeling for any minority, and I, as a headscarf donning Muslim … Continue reading →

THERE ARE A HANDFUL OF PAKISTANI WOMEN who attend the University of Illinois. For the most part, the realities of women in Pakistan are seldom discussed or engaged in any substantive manner on the college campus. Knowledge of women in … Continue reading →

WOMEN’S BODIES ARE POWERFULLY CODED. As long as they do not disrupt business as usual, they are marveled at, desired, and even respected. Otherwise, they are to be restricted, consumed and fenced. Institutions such as marriage, prison and family are … Continue reading →

KRISTINA WONG IS A CHINESE AMERICAN solo performer, writer, actor, educator, activist, and filmmaker living in Los Angeles. She was an Artist in Residence at UIUC last year. Her work has been described as feminist, activist, hip-hop, and most often, … Continue reading →

To my great, great, grandmother, Vinnie Banks, great-grandmothers, Priscilla Subtlet, Julia Jones, Carrie May Scott, my grandmothers Millie Jones-Gamble and Fannie Davis, and all those who have returned through my womb. The circle was drawn six intersecting lines —radius bound— … Continue reading →

IN HER EARLY TWENTIES, Dorothy Hennessey joined the Franciscan community in Dubuque. For most of her life she was busy teaching in Catholic schools in Iowa. She remembered that in her early years she was a very conservative person. When … Continue reading →

Yá’át’ééh. Shi éí Charlotte Davidson yinishyé. Tó’ aheedliinii éí nishli dóó Waterbuster Clan báshíshchíín. Áádóó Kinlichíi’nii éí da shichei dóó Flint Knife Clan éí da shinálí. MY NAME IS CHARLOTTE DAVIDSON. I am born to Water- Flows-Together and I am … Continue reading →

“I LOST MY LEG SO THAT YOU COULD HAVE YOUR VOICE!” Eric Alva, barked at my friend Bess, as he wrapped on the titanium of his prosthetic leg. Eric Alva, former U.S. Marine and a keynote speaker at the Midwestern, … Continue reading →

IN FEBRUARY, THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS hosted the annual Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference—Liberty and Justice For All: Voting for Change. The insipid “unifying” theme paralleled the goals of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the wealthiest political … Continue reading →