NEWS RELEASE

4/4/03

Hunter Hargraves, (650) 248-9259

Stanford kicks off Queer Awareness Days celebration

The LGBT Community Resource Center at Stanford University will kick off its annual Queer Awareness Days (QuAD) celebration on April 16 with campus events recognizing and honoring National Day of Silence. QuAD, which runs through April 30, is an annual series of programs designed to increase awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, to celebrate the diversity of expressions found within LGBT communities and to showcase queer and queer-allied thinkers, activists and artists.

This year's theme, "The Homosexual Agenda," examines art as political activism in contemporary queer communities. Eight performances, workshops, film screenings and talks will explore the diverse methods with which artists marshal their creativity to challenge, transform, subvert and inspire.

The schedule of events follows:

Wednesday, April 16: National Day of Silence. Silent lunch in White Plaza at noon; "Breaking the Silence," spoken word jam, 8-10 p.m. at the LGBT-CRC (Fire Truck House, 2nd floor).

Thursday, April 17: Theater Q. Staged reading of junior Ed Iskandar's original play, Is This Seat Taken? with Q&A with the writer/director and actors following, 8 p.m., LGBT-CRC.

Friday, April 18: Jenn Lindsay. Political songwriting workshop with indie rocker (and Stanford alum) Lindsay, 3 p.m., LGBT-CRC; performance with Casey Holford and Phoebe Kreutz, 8 p.m., Coffee House (at Tresidder Memorial Union).

Monday, April 21: Tim'm West: Red Dirt Revival. West is also known as 25percenter from the Oakland-based spoken word collective Deep Dickollective; his solo autobiographical show is about growing up as a poor black queerboy in the South, 6 p.m., Stanford Bookstore.

Tuesday, April 22: Alison Bechtel. The cartoonist of "Dykes to Watch Out For" will discuss her roles as artist and political activist with an accompanying slide show, 7 p.m., Stanford Bookstore.

Thursday, April 24: Learning to Be Straight: The (de)Construction of Heterosexuality. Screening of cinematic inquiry into what exactly it means to be "straight," followed by a discussion with director Colby Berger of SpeakOut Boston, 6 p.m., Stanford Women's Community Center (Fire Truck House, 1st Floor); dinner provided.

Friday, April 25: Paula Treichler. University of Illinois Professor Treichler will discuss her recent book, How to Have a Theory in an Epidemic: Cultural Chronicles of AIDS, and her work on the history of the condom at noon in the Dean's Courtyard, Room M114, School of Medicine.

Wednesday, April 30: Politically Inspired. Bay Area writers and scholars Elizabeth Tallent, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Geoff Brock, Stephen Elliot and Michelle Tea speak out on current events, 7 p.m., Margaret Jacks Hall Terrace Room.

-30-