Oral History Commons^™

Embodied Archives, Emerging Futures, Xuân-Lam Nguyen

Masters Theses

Fifty years after the end of the U.S.–Vietnam War, this thesis reflects on the entangled relationship between the two nations, inspiring hope while challenging dominant representations of trauma and tragedy. Drawing from autobiography, family history, folk art traditions, colonial photographs, hierarchies within art history, archives of student activism, and key geopolitical events, the work explores the complex intersections of queer identity and glitchy historical narratives. Combining research-based inquiry with time- and labor-intensive processes, it reimagines historical materials to construct alternate possibilities for the future.

Pedro Aceves Mfa Thesis, Pedro M. Aceves

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My Work is about looking at Cruising through a queer decolonial lens. Using multiple mediums such as photo, glass, Augmented reality, and film, I explore these queer histories and aesthetics through not just an anthropological approach but also an artistic epistemological approach weaving together narratives of prehispanic and modern queer Latinidad.

Bechen-Rivera, Liam, Devon Rosano

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Liam Bechen-Munoz is a 38-year-old trans man living in Portland, Maine. He grew up in a conservative Catholic town in Massachusetts before attending the University of Maine in Farmington, where he performed and did activism as a member of the Queer Student Alliance. After coming out, Bechen-Munoz faced discrimination and experienced getting fetishized online. He is a queer musician who has dealt with substance abuse but became sober in November of 2023. In this interview, Bechen-Munoz discusses some of the challenges he has faced, especially around coming out.

Kidman, Cathy, Sadie Mcnish

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Cathy Kidman, is a 60-year-old lesbian activist who has been involved in LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS advocacy work in Maine since the 1990s. Kidman first became involved in activism through her work at The AIDS Project in Portland in the late 1980s, during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This led her to become an adult advisor for the LGBTQ youth organization Outright, which she helped build into a nonprofit organization. Kidman describes how the AIDS epidemic catalyzed LGBTQ activism, bringing together the gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities that had previously been more separate. She talks about the importance of creating …

Penny, Pollard, Sarah Winn

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Penny Pollard is a 71-year-old lesbian, who grew up in a middle-class Catholic family in Massachusetts and is the youngest of three children. She discusses her coming out process, her experiences in the LGBTQ community in San Francisco during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and her career path which included various jobs such as furniture making, and speech-language pathology. Penny describes facing some discrimination and backlash when coming out, particularly from old friends and coworkers but also finding acceptance and community, especially after moving to Portland, Maine. She shares the story of how she met her now-wife when moving to Portland Maine. …

Gonzalez- Rodriguez, Alex, Robert Mitchell, Devon Rosano

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Alex Luna Gonzalez Rodriguez is a 25-year-old transgender woman who was born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. She first came out as bisexual to the only “out” gay person in high school before later discovering she was trans while attending college. She went to the University of Southern Maine after hearing about it on the radio in Austin, Texas. When she came to Maine, she discovered what she described as “the real me.” She discusses her journey of self-discovery and the challenges and support she has faced along the way. She discusses how life was different in Mexico, Texas, and Maine, …

Cardoza, Janice, Silvio Morales

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Janice Cardoza is a 73-year-old lesbian woman from Norway, Maine. She has lived in many places around New England and went to college in Boston, at the University of Massachusetts. She is a quiet woman and the youngest in the 3-child family. Cardoza grew up in a Catholic household but, as she matured, became disillusioned with the Catholic church and religion. She considers herself a Unitarian Universalist and attends a church in Norway, though she describes her relationship as more spiritual than religious. She met her wife at The Underground bar in Portland 40 years ago and they’ve been inseparable …

Smith, T. Love, Kassey Kreer

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

T Love Smith is a 46 year old born in Lincoln, ME, who identifies as non-binary and queer. After coming out to their mom at age 19, who had also come out as gay when T was 5, they were met with an unsupportive, negative response. Going through a tough childhood filled with alcohol abuse and no community for T to confide in about their gender/sexual identity, T found themselves in toxic relationships in their early adulthood. Eventually they were able to come to terms with their identity and came out as non-binary. T discussed their time in the military …

Spadafore, Sampson, Benjamin Lachapelle

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Sampson Spadafore is a 27-year-old queer, transmasculine person who currently lives in Westbrook, Maine. They are originally from Syracuse, New York, and attended Nazareth College in Rochester, New York. They graduated with a degree in musical theater. Spadafore discusses shifts in their gender self-presentation and gender fluidity as well as media erasure of trans men. They then moved to Portland, Maine, to work for Maine Boys to Men and have also worked with Speak About It; Maine Renters United; and Democratic Socialists of America. A political current focus is using social media and art to raise awareness about Palestine. Writing …

Burdin, Johannah, Samantha Rouillard

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Johannah Burdin shares her story as a lesbian/queer woman experiencing southern Maine in the 1990s. Her story touches on topics involving coming out, relationships, a traumatic incident that left her disabled, activism, and much more. She was active in her youth in spreading awareness on the AIDS/HIV crisis, education on safe sex, and spent her evenings at popular Portland gay bars, like Sister’s Bar and Limelight/The Underground. Although she is not much into drinking, she recognized these were some of the few spots queer people could go to make community and relationships. Johannah also shares her story of becoming a …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Neal, James, Wendy Chapkis

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Jim Neal is a 65 year old gay man born and raised in Galesburg, Illinois. Following his parents’ divorce at age 7, he moved with his mother and brother into their grandmother’s home. Neal discusses how, throughout his childhood, he witnessed predatory men in positions of power abusing boys; this served to inform his early perception of homosexuality. Those experiences also presented an internal struggle for Jim Neal between his own identity as a gay man and his perception of adult gay men. As a child, he found support in his family and closest community for his non-traditional gender interests …

A Queer History Of Seattle Pacific University: Reconciliation And Recovery In Oral History Management And Special Collection Creation, Rebecca Cavanaugh

Honors Projects

In order to deconstruct the process and product of the two-year long SERVE Grant funded research project, “A History of Queer Student Presence and Activism at Seattle Pacific University: 1990-2019”, I analyze it through the acts of knowledge recovery and reconciliation. As an act of knowledge recovery, this project sought to uncover the unacknowledged history about SPU’s queer community through the use of The Falcon and oral history interviews as primary sources. To properly commit to this act of recovery, the project also created a historical narrative, timeline, Special Collection, and website to preserve these findings and make them available …

Blanchard, Mike, Micaiah Wert

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Mike Blanchard is a 60 year old gay man from Westbrook Maine. He has struggled as an alcoholic due to repressing his queer identity, but has been sober for 33 years (since 1989). Through addiction recovery he was able to come out as gay in 1992. After years of struggling with alcohol and rough relationships, Mike met his husband at Blackstones in Portland, and describes their relationship as, “nothing I ever chased and everything I could have hoped for.” Mike worked for a long time in the field of recreation, but left after feeling as though he could not be …

Edwards, Florence, Roukia Houssein, Annie Karim

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

The interview was conducted in a USM classroom Roukia and Annie. Florence is a 40 years old dentist who also served in the military. In this interview, Florence shared their journey in being a queer black woman in the military. Florence was asked about their identity and their story on coming out as their preferred sexuality. In the interview, Florence also talks about being a dentist in the military and also outside of the military. In the interview, Florence puts important people in their life in specific stories. They also touched on their education and difference in living in NY, …

Clough, Travis, Josh Allen, Rachel Shanks

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

Travis Clough is a 44 year old trans man who grew up in the small town of Bucksport, Maine. He uses the pronouns he/him/his, and identifies as queer or trans. From a young age, Travis felt different with his gender identity. He attended the University of Maine Farmington in the late 1990’s, and was the only school he applied to because it was “where all the queers went”. Having been into music since the age of 14, he began playing in bands while in college. Him and his band would make the long drive from Farmington to Portland every week …

Williams, Maya, Daisy Pelletier

Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection

*Included at the end of the interview is an original poem read by Maya.

Maya Williams is a 25-year-old Black, queer, trans, Christian person who grew up in North Carolina. Ey moved to Maine to attend grad school at the University of New England. They worked at Maine Inside Out as an intern while at the University of New England. She has also worked at Equality Maine, and now works at Maine Trans Net. Her Christian faith is important to her, and organizations like ChIME (Chaplaincy Institute of Maine), and interfaith organization that educations and ordains chaplains, and The BTS …

Embodied Knowledge And Accessible Community: An Oral History Of ‘Four Rehearsals And A Performance', Liam Oliver Lair, Ashley Mog

Gender Studies Faculty Publications

In this article we discuss how an oral history project emerged through our involvement in a collaborative, creative project at the University of Kansas called Four Rehearsals and a Performance (FRAP). FRAP utilized improvisation in dance and music, bringing together community members across ability to explore how knowledge and community are created. Our analysis explores themes of embodiment, community, and how participants experienced the space of FRAP. We first describe how FRAP became a project, and then we discuss how our oral history project emerged as part of FRAP. After providing specific examples of themes and experiences shared by our …

Our Paper 11/1992, Our Paper

Our Paper (1983-1992)

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Our Paper 08/1992, Our Paper

Our Paper (1983-1992)

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Our Paper 06/1992, Our Paper

Our Paper (1983-1992)

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Our Paper 04/1992, Our Paper

Our Paper (1983-1992)

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Our Paper 02/1992, Our Paper

Our Paper (1983-1992)

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Our Paper 12/1991, Our Paper

Our Paper (1983-1992)

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Our Paper 10/1991, Our Paper

Our Paper (1983-1992)

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Our Paper 07/1991, Our Paper

Our Paper (1983-1992)

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Our Paper 06/1991, Our Paper

Our Paper (1983-1992)

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Our Paper 05/1991, Our Paper

Our Paper (1983-1992)

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