Western Reads to Host Trio of the Next Generation of Activists Jan. 26-28 on Campus

Western Washington University’s Western Reads program will host three guest speakers to discuss activism Jan. 26 - 28 on campus.

The three speakers are social justice and civil rights activist Charlene Strong, social justice activist Dean Spade and activist and educator Dena Simmons. The talks are part of the Western Reads winter quarter activism focus, and will highlight aspects of activism that are discussed in the 2015-2016 Western Reads book, “Do it Anyway: The New Generation of Activists” by Courtney E. Martin.

All talks are free and open to the public.

Strong will speak at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 26 in the Wilson Library reading room to share her story of loss, inspiration and advocacy. She is the subject of the award-winning documentary “For My Wife…” which tells the story of how losing her wife in 2006 made her an advocate for equality. The film won the Best Documentary prize at the 2008 Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. In February 2009, Strong was appointed to the Washington State Human Rights Commission.

Strong’s visit is co-sponsored by Western’s Equality and Inclusion Forum speaker series.

Spade will speak at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27 in Miller Hall 138, to give a talk relating to the themes of his book, “Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law.” This talk is followed by a student-only discussion about transgender activism at 6 p.m. in Miller Hall 231.

Spade is an acclaimed social-justice activist and a member of the Law faculty at Seattle University. He is well known for his role in founding the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, which since 2002 has provided legal services to marginalized Trans - and gender- nonconforming people. He is also renowned for his solidarity work with Palestinian activists, including his recent film project documenting an anti-pinkwashing campaign in Seattle, and for his vital contributions to transgender studies and critical legal theory.

Spade’s visit is organized by the program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Western Reads, and co-sponsored by Western’s departments of American Cultural Studies; Education and Social Justice; English; Political Science; Western Reads; the Woodring College of Education; and the Center for Law, Diversity, and Justice.

Simmons will present “Reflections on Race and Education in the Time of Racial Unrest.” at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 28 in the multipurpose room in the Viking Union.

An activist and educator, Simmons was born to a resilient mother who left Antigua to come to the U.S., where she was raised in the Bronx. After graduating from Middlebury College, Simmons returned to the Bronx as a middle school teacher. In 2007, she traveled to Antigua as a health volunteer for the Directorate of Gender Affairs to provide better health services for Dominican sex workers and received a Fulbright grant to study the collaboration between schools and health agencies to prevent teen pregnancy in the Dominican Republic. She is also a 2004 Harry S. Truman Scholar, a 2010 Education Pioneer Fellow, and 2010 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow.

She received her doctorate in Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College. Her research is focused on teacher preparedness as it relates to bullying in schools. Besides her doctoral studies, Simmons leads workshops on power and privilege and teaches pedagogy courses at a graduate school of education. She has published on teaching and bullying at Feministing, Feminist Teacher and the AOL/PBS MAKERS blog.

Her visit is co-sponsored by Western’s Woodring College of Education, Leadership Institute, English Department and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

For more information contact Dawn Dietrich, Western Washington University’s Western Reads program director, at (360) 650-3225 or dawn.dietrich@wwu.edu.