Daily Archives: December 1, 2014

News

GSA holds trans awareness workshop

 

On Friday, Nov. 21 the NECC Gay Straight Alliance held a trans awareness workshop.

Three students spoke to educate students, staff and faculty about the issues they face every day, and the proper ways to talk about it so no one gets hurt.

At the beginning of the workshop, Kelly Schwing, the president of the GSA, asked everyone to ponder a thought. They were asked to think about how many trans students they interact with every day?

The panel started off by reading a slide giving a description on what it means to be transgender.

The slide said, “transgender people are individuals who have a gender identity that does not match their sex they were assigned at birth. Typically people who are transgender have a self-image that varies from the body or gender role they were born into and wish to take steps to change that. Some people opt to identify as transgender as opposed to transsexual. The two words are similar in meaning however, some people find the term transsexual very offensive so it is always better to ask them what they want to be called.”

When they were finished giving that information, student presenter Emily ______ said, “I feel like it’s a good rule to keep in mind with anything. If you do not know what someone wants to go by, just ask them.”

“People will be more offended if you guess rather than say, ‘what do you want to be identified as?'” said student presenter Jake_____.

Emily ____ also made an important point about the dangers of outing a transgender student. She explained that many trans people are in the closet to family, coworkers, employers or strangers because of a real risk of mistreatment, harassment or abuse.

Colby, who is a genderqueer student, said, “Although they are out, if you were talking to your friends out at a bar and your friends ask about bottom surgery or what is it like being trans, the wrong person could hear that, and in this day and age, it could be very dangerous.”

“You would never ask about certain medical procedures other people had. So don’t ask what [a trans person] has,” said Emily _______.

The presenters also discussed misconceptions about trans people. There are a lot of misconceptions of what it means to be transgender, and the panel wanted to give the guests the correct information to combat stereotypes.

“What transgender people are not are creeps, perverts or abominations. We are not aliens or inhuman. We are just people, really,” said Emily _______. “It is not a fetish for us. We are just trying to be comfortable in our own skin.”

One misconception or stereotype that transgender people have is they are perverts and are greedy. They want both sex organs to have sex with as many people as they can.

“We just want to be ourselves,” said Colby ______. “We are not perverts. Not trying to have as many genitalia as we can so we can have sex with as many people as we can.”

Jake said that he hears, “you’re just a confused gay man or a confused lesbian,” which is not true. This is harmful language that perpetuates trans erasure, or the idea that trans people do not actually exist.

The panel also wanted the guests to know the differences between cross dressers and drag queens and kings, as opposed to transgender people.

“Cross dressers are people who like to dress in the opposite genders clothes,” said Colby. “Drag queens and drag kings are usually performers. … for most it is not their entire life.”

The panel did say that some transgender people to choose to perform in drag shows.

Emily read some statistics and said that between 2 and 5 percent of the population is transgender. The trans population is difficult to quantify because not everyone is comfortable with coming out or is safe to come out, so not everyone is counted.

The slides also stated that 20 percent of all murders in the United States between 1985 and 1998 were murders of transgender people and that one out of 12 trans women are murdered.

Fifty percent of trans people have been victims of domestic violence and 41 percent have attempted suicide.

Arts and Entertainment

Romantic Violin and Piano Concert at NECC

 

By Jessica Freeman

On Monday, Nov. 24, at 5:30 p.m. NECC held a concert, “Romantic Violin and Piano” on the Haverhill Campus in Building C, Lecture Hall A. The music was performed by George Kucera on violin and Alisa Bucchiere on piano.

Kucera, born in Prague, and a math teacher at NECC, says in regards to playing the violin, “[I] shouldn’t be doing this stuff.”

Kucera is passionate about music.

“The violin is my wife; I’m married to her,” said Kucera,

Bucchiere, a music teacher at NECC, said this is the first time she and Kucera had played together for a concert. Bucchiere is also involved with the music for the school’s upcoming production of “A Christmas Carol.”

The music for the evening consisted of songs played on the violin and piano, composed during the romantic period, spanning from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. Bucchiere, referred to the concert as a, “musical journey through time.”

The program was made up of 12 songs, including music from Tchaikovsky, Paganini and Chopin. Before each piece, Kucera gave an anecdote about the history of the song or information about the musical elements found in the song.

One story shared was about the third piece played titled, “On the Wings of a Song” by Mendelssohn. Bucchiere shared the story of how the song has been credited only to F. Mendelssohn, and that this may have referred to, the composer Felix Mendelssohn’s sister Fanny.

During this time period of the 1880’s Mendelssohn’s sister couldn’t have published music under her own name because she was a women, but that she was known to publish songs under this name.

Despite many European composers on the list, one American song “Banjo and Fiddle” by Kroll was included. Bucchiere said with the song’s upbeat tempo and fast pace, the only thing she could think of was, “a bugs bunny cartoon,” and that it was like a “cartoon chase” and “it’s a lot of fun to play.”

Many of the pieces played were not originally composed for the violin and piano, but were later translated to accommodate these instruments. One song, “Thasis” by Massenet, has been “translated for every instrument under the sun, except for the kazoo” according to Bucchiere. She said it sounds “most beautiful on the violin.”

Another song, “Mazurek” by Dvorak, was composed specifically for the violin and piano, and the two instruments echoed each other throughout the piece.

After the show was over, Nancy Nickerson, a teacher who works in the math department with Kucera, presented both of the performers with bouquets of flowers. Nickerson is involved in the school orchestra with Kucera. When asked about the show, Nickerson said, “the program was extraordinary,” and that “they’re both such professionals.”

Bucchiere said it was okay to have a small crowd and that it was better than a large crowd who didn’t care and didn’t really want to be there. Kucera was glad to see some of his math students came to the show as well.

Looking to the future, Bucchiere, says the next month is, “a month of concerts for her,” but that she hopes to have another performance with Kucera in the spring.