Director
This Spring, we close out another challenging year together.
At the forefront of my mind is our work around labor and care. We have been having many conversations about negotiating self- and other- care in our institutional context, power relations, and labor responsibilities. How do we honor our own needs, boundaries, and wellness and that of others? How do we negotiate institutional labor demands when the boundaries of my labor, resistance, and self-care are intertwined with your capacity for labor, resistance, and self-care? How do we avoid perpetuating extractive relationships in times of strain? These have been challenging questions that I am continuing to struggle with in my work and relationships across the institution.
In this context, the moments of mutual care and collaboration that I have seen are particularly heartening and give me hope. We feature some of these examples in this issue. With an Emerging Scholars undergraduate-faculty-research award, Katherine Lynch and Dr. Hilary Coulson are working together on a project on the gendered implications of suicide (see Experiential Learning Spotlight). Four students – Maia Bullard, Goodness Okwaraji, Jessica Sobel, Yveline St. Louis – had the opportunity to attend the Women’s Conference of Florida College Women on the Rise Program with Dr. Anantharam’s nomination (see Center Students Selected for Women’s Conference of Florida’s College Women on the Rise Program). Center faculty and affiliates organized a host of programs and events focused on resistance and resilience (see Center Events Bring Scholars, Collaborators, and Guests to UF).
We made it through the year and closed the year with a lovely outdoor celebration. We were able to come together for a few hours, share stories and tips about food, tv, podcasts, kids, family, hopes of travel, and more. We shared delicious food and, importantly, cake! In true Center fashion, we got to take leftovers home. As hard as I know this year has been for so many of you, I am holding on to these moments of community, care, and joy.
I look forward to sharing more cake together!
This story appears in the Spring 2022 issue of the Gender, Sexualities, & Women’s Studies Newsletter. Read more from the issue.