Bilodeau, Richard, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Bilodeau, Richard, Maggie Powers
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Richard Bilodeau is 54 years old and identifies as a gay man. He grew up in Portland, attending Deering High School. He is married to his partner Scott and they went on their first date in 1988. He studied applied clinical chemistry at the University of Vermont and began his career in the Maine Medical Center lab. He earned his bachelors and master's in business from the University of Southern Maine. Currently, he works as a professor in the School of Business and Honors Program. Over the years, he also had ownership in alternative health and TV programming businesses. He …
Michaud, Jim, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Michaud, Jim, Angelli Bishop
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Jim Michaud, (he/him), was born in 1964. Jim is a local Mainer, born and raised in Lewiston, Maine. He was born into a middle-class family with his siblings, was raised Catholic, and even attended Catholic school in his earlier years. Since the late eighties, Jim has identified as a gay man. He is a USM alumnus and attended the USM Gay Men's Alliance, which was his first ever encounter participating in an LGBTQ-organized environment. Being proactive in his political activism, Jim annually attends the Pride Parades in Boston, New York, and Maine. He stresses the importance of creating open space …
Hua, Donovan, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Hua, Donovan, Megan Molloy
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Donovan Hua is a queer, non-binary artist and advocate in Portland Maine. Donovan was born in China and was adopted when they were two years old. They moved to Portland and have lived in the area since. They were raised primarily by a single mother who greatly influenced their relationship with Catholocism and spirituality. Donovan later attended Casco Bay High School where they came to terms with their gender identity and sexual orientation. Hua speaks about their chosen family of friends and the sense of community they offered through their navigation of both their identity and their disability.
Hua discusses …
Smith, Betsy, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Smith, Betsy, Kayla Graffam
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Betsy Smith is a 63 year old lesbian woman who was born in Bangor and grew up in Exeter Maine. She was raised by her mother and father on a potato farm with her three siblings. She attended Jacksonville University, where she came to terms with her sexual identity and received a degree in physical education. She eventually was hired as a math teacher in Vermont and later Portland, Maine. After moving to Portland, Smith became involved in volunteering for gay rights activist groups like the MLGPA. She was involved in multiple campaigns, including the various Maine Won’t Discriminate campaigns …
Barkley Roy, Jill, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Barkley Roy, Jill, Rachel Gilbert
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Jill Barkley Roy is a 42-year-old woman from Sault, Ste. Marie, Michigan who moved to Maine in 2004. A self-described “democrat from birth”, Jill grew up in a small conservative town with her sister older sister Christine. She attended the University of Michigan Ann Arbor as a women’s studies major. Jill found herself surrounded by new and exciting opportunities in college, becoming involved in several LGBT organizations that would eventually bring her to the East Coast. At age 23, Jill began working with Family Crisis Services, now known as Through These Doors, a domestic violence resource center. Upon working as …
Brodack, Jason, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Brodack, Jason, Emily Cook
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Jason Brodak is a 44 year old man of Polish heritage, currently working at the University of Southern Maine and living in Bath, Maine, with his husband. Brodak discusses living in Detroit Michigan, Chicago Illinois, and New York. He attended Michigan State University and later received his bachelor's degree in Interior Design from an arts school in Chicago. He discusses his childhood, coming out, briefly joining the Navy, the role of gay bars and gay chatrooms in his life, gay marriage, and the HIV AIDS epidemic.
Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, …
Crisis Y Paradojas: Subjetividades Femeninas En La Literatura De Autoayuda Para Latinas, 2023 University of Massachusetts Amherst
Crisis Y Paradojas: Subjetividades Femeninas En La Literatura De Autoayuda Para Latinas, Aida Roldan-Garcia
Doctoral Dissertations
"Crisis y Paradojas" examines the construction of modern Hispanic femininity in self-help literature aimed at U.S. Latinx women. The work is divided into three thematic sections and begins with an analysis of two texts belonging to this ethnic niche: The Maria Paradox: How Latinas Can Merge Old World Traditions With New World Self-Esteem by Rosa María Gil and Carmen Inoa; and The Latina’s Bible by Sandra Guzmán. The first part explores the origins of the new Latinx woman of the 1990s and 2000s within contemporary Latinx literature and introduces the main characteristics of Latinx women's self-help literature. The second section …
Poulin-Burrage, Edward "Teddy", 2023 University of Southern Maine
Poulin-Burrage, Edward "Teddy", Brendan Mcbrine
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Edward “Teddy” Poulin-Burrage is a biracial queer man who has lived in the Portland area for just about his entire life. Teddy has been deeply involved in the world of activism for more than half his life at this point, including with the Southern Maine Workers Center, Sexual Assault Response Services, Portland Racial Justice Congress, Pride Portland, Equality Maine, and other groups. Teddy has mostly done behind the scenes work for these organizations, usually focusing on coalition-building and forging relationships with other organizers. On top of this, Teddy has been a regular in the local gay bar scene for quite …
Morril, Ren, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Morril, Ren, Zorica Andric
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Ren Morrill shares personal experiences of his childhood, coming out, relationships, and the influence of his chosen family. During the conversation, Ren talks about his family dynamics, struggles with gender identity, and societal expectations, offering insights into the complexities of being gay. Ren reflects on the loneliness that many gay men experience and references influential figures like Walt Whitman and Anne Rice. He emphasizes the importance of his chosen family, specifically friends from the roleplaying games community, highlighting their significant impact on his life. The interview then moves on to Ren's views on pronouns, self-discovery, and the challenges that gay …
Cadwallader, Megan, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Cadwallader, Megan, Gretchen Thiele
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Meghan Cadwallader was born in 1976 in a small, rural town in Upstate New York. She grew up with a stable family and surrounded by the Catholic religion. Cadwallader realized she was lesbian around her junior year of high school. However, her sexuality was never a huge deal, more just another part of her. She went to college at Holland’s University, and all-girls school, in which she initially came out to people resulting in mixed responses. Meghan then went to Bucknell University In Pennsylvania. She received a degree in French and English with a concentration in creative writing. She talks …
Leighton-Cory, Jocelyn, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Leighton-Cory, Jocelyn, Bella Shannon
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Jocelyn identifies as a Queer woman but also aligns with the label Gender-Queer. They are 40 years old and currently live in the city of South Portland where they serve as a member on the City Council and also work as a managing director at Space Gallery in downtown Portland. Jocelyn was born in Bangor, Maine, and lived there for a year before moving briefly to South Princeton, Maine, and eventually settling in Princeton, Maine, where they grew up. Jocelyn was raised by their single mother along with their older brother and younger sister. They received their B.A. in Arts …
Marcous, Dana, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Marcous, Dana, Robben Harris
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Dana Marcous is a spiritual, successful and fascinating man who at times lives in the extremes, but always seems to maintain his balance. His life story and his spiritual path are so closely intertwined, it might appear as if he has eclipsed the spiritual and physical world. From being a world-class hairdresser and opening one of the most successful hair salons in Maine, to pursuing a career as an actor in L.A., Dana is a person who always follows his dreams and looks for the signs. This interview contains stories of Dana’s early life, including his process of coming out …
Parker, Heidi, 2023 University of Southern Maine
Parker, Heidi, Tegan Bryne
Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection
Heidi Parker is a 47-year-old lesbian, who uses she/her pronouns. Heidi Parker grew up in the South and Seventh-Day Adventist. One of her favorite parts about living in the South and still one of her favorite things today is the mountains. Heidi Parker has moved to a few places around the United States; including New York, Maine, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Morrow Beach. Heidi Parker worked as a PE teacher before getting a higher degree in Sports Management. After getting her degree, she moved to New York and worked at Syracuse and then moved to Maine to work …
Poetic Portraits Of Older Women In The Great Black Swamp, 2023 Bowling Green State University
Poetic Portraits Of Older Women In The Great Black Swamp, Sandra L. Faulkner
ICS Fellow Lectures
Dr. Faulkner discusses the importance of oral histories and listening to older women by presenting poetic portraits of older women in the Bowling Green area that she co-created from oral histories. This was a collaborative project with The Wood County Committee on Aging, the BGSU archives, and local women Faulkner interviewed about their experiences across their life course and contributions to our community. These poetic portraits and oral histories will be archived at the BGSU libraries for all of us to learn from.
Seeking Sisterhood: An Exploratory Qualitative Inquiry Into The Sorority Rejection Experiences Of Black Women, 2023 University of Denver
Seeking Sisterhood: An Exploratory Qualitative Inquiry Into The Sorority Rejection Experiences Of Black Women, Jasmine Michelle Pulce
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
In response to a call to fill the gap left by previous studies on collegiate sorority rejection, this study explored the meaning Black women ascribe to experiences of rejection from historically Black sororities. Using Black feminist thought and sista circle methodology, this study introduced narratives from five Black women who came together to comprise a collective standpoint. To better understand this phenomenon, study participants completed individual interviews, two Sista Circles, and one reflection survey. Three main findings were the interconnectedness of Black Greek-letter organizations and Black subcommunities at predominantly white institutions, the nonlinear nature of the Black sorority rejection experience, …
Shall Her Eyes Rest: A Story Of A Syrian Refugee, 2023 West Virginia University, U.S.
Shall Her Eyes Rest: A Story Of A Syrian Refugee, Hamza Qasem, Manal Al-Natour
Journal of International Women's Studies
“Shall Her Eyes Rest” is a short story about a Syrian refugee woman, Maryama, who overcomes challenges in her journey as a refugee in the USA through hard work, dedication, and resilience. The story reveals how she displays agency by asserting herself in a foreign community, becoming independent, and sharing her Syrian cuisine and culture with the American society. Moreover, Maryama’s story reveals a nightmare that some refugees face—family separation. She and her children and husband were able to board their flight to the United States, but one of her sons was denied entry and was not allowed to join …
Book Review Essay: A Kick In The Belly: Women, Slavery, And Resistance, 2023 Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., U.S.
Book Review Essay: A Kick In The Belly: Women, Slavery, And Resistance, Alexandra Smithie
Journal of International Women's Studies
No abstract provided.
Book Review Essay: Feminist City: Claiming Space In A Man-Made World, 2023 University of Western Ontario, Canada
Book Review Essay: Feminist City: Claiming Space In A Man-Made World, Hale Demir-Doğuoğlu
Journal of International Women's Studies
No abstract provided.
Book Review Essay: Race And Reproduction In Cuba, 2023 National Autonomous University of Mexico
Book Review Essay: Race And Reproduction In Cuba, Zyanya Gutiérrez
Journal of International Women's Studies
No abstract provided.
Book Review Essay: The Transnational Redress Movement For The Victims Of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, 2023 University of Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Book Review Essay: The Transnational Redress Movement For The Victims Of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, Boram Yi
Journal of International Women's Studies
No abstract provided.