October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I had my first mammogram today. I am still in the waiting room as I write these thoughts into the notepad of my iPhone. Despite the very hopeful notion I have that everything will be okay, I also have the overwhelming feeling of wanting to cry. All the Octobers of pink and more pink have created a sense within me that the question of breast cancer for me as a woman is not an if but when. Somewhat like the rape schedule most women live with on a daily basis I’ve realized through this process of doctor’s visits and tests that I operate in a sort of breast cancer schedule as well. The inevitability feels all too real.

Watching shows like L Word and Parenthood with main characters who were diagnosed with breast cancer always sends me into overwhelming sadness as I delve into their plot lines. I cry. I cry for the fictional characters but I also cry in fear. That could be me. My partner. My best friend. It has already been my aunt. My cousin. Co-workers. Friends of friends. I have created a chosen family for myself completely centered in women and womanhood. As I grow older, I know this list will only grow.

And, as I sit in this waiting room for my results I question if my fear is warranted. Or is just the onslaught of October Pink that has conditioned me to believe this is a real reality for me? Am I too hyper-vigilant? Is this real or just another social construction that inhabits within me due to my gender and gender socialization? Did all the Race For The Cures and pink ribbons and Denim Days of my childhood not only create an awareness but a deeply rooted fear?

I debate about posting these very personal thoughts on what for all extensive purposes is my work blog. Part of me feels these are not thoughts appropriate to share around the “water cooler” but thoughts meant to keep private or share only with close confidants. But my “water cooler,” my work – it is my passion. My work is the work rooted in these fears, these social constructions, these lived experiences of women. If I can’t or don’t talk about it as a professional who works in a women’s center, who believes in consciousness raising and “the personal is political,” who else will? Women’s centers and their community members exists to center these conversations, make space for inquiry, and give comfort for the fear. I share my thoughts to create brave spaces for us to critique the “pink industrial complex” while also validating the very real experiences of those living with breast cancer, those surviving breast cancer, those who have died from it, and those who wonder if it will happen to them.

In the waiting room, I got the answer I needed. I am fine and I can breathe a sigh of relieve… at least for now. And, yet I leave feeling I still have more questions than answers.

This post is written by Madison Miller. It was originally featured on the Women’s Center WordPress, which you can find here.

With much discussion in Women’s Center staff meetings about actively applying our work in the Center as student staff members to other areas of our lives, I have recently been thinking a lot about how my experiences and education in social justice and activism coincide with the various roles and responsibilities I hold outside of the Center. Currently in the process of working towards receiving teacher certification in elementary education, one of my most valued roles this academic year is my internship as a student teacher in a fourth grade classroom. Watching my students embrace new concepts and grow as individuals each week has not only brought an immense amount of pleasure and fulfillment into my life, but it has also caused me to think rather critically about how learning in the classroom translates outside to the “real world”. I’m not talking about how that math equation we learned last week can help us to calculate a tip on a restaurant bill, or how that new vocabulary word can be used to impress our relatives, but instead about how simple classroom dynamics can set a pretty important example for those of us who are long removed from our own elementary school classrooms.

Although we live in a society that preaches equality and fairness, perhaps one of the most important concepts I have learned in the classroom thus far is that equality and fairness are far from interchangeable terms. Imagine a classroom where students are instructed to independently read a chapter out of a textbook and take notes on what they are reading. Several students are reading quietly to themselves and taking notes on a sheet of paper, while another student is listening to an audiobook through headphones, and yet another student is talking to a classroom volunteer who is writing notes down for the student. If this were an equal environment, all students would be required to complete the assignment in the exact same way. But is equality in this situation really fair? Without certain accommodations, students with learning disabilities or special needs may be unable to complete the assignment on their own. The truth is, equality is only fair when everyone is the exact same to begin with. This is an extremely unlikely situation not only in the classroom, but in life in general. Instead of promoting fairness amongst individuals within a community, in actuality equality erases differences that exist within a group of individuals and only supports those with the most privilege. Equality is a “colorblind” approach to fairness and it can be especially harmful when it prevents students from lower income families and those who struggle with disabilities from obtaining the resources they need to succeed.

Because not all students (or people, for that matter) are born with the same abilities and some experience challenges that inhibit that their success, some individuals need more resources in order to just catch up to their peers. Therefore instead of talking about equality, we need to focus on another approach: equity. While equality simply seeks to level the playing field for everyone, equity seeks to provide more resources to those who need them. Take for example the large population of English Language Learners (ELLs) attending schools today. These students are often significantly behind their native-English speaking peers- not because they are unintelligent, but because they lack an upbringing that enables them to understand the language in which they are being taught. Therefore, these ELL students need more resources (perhaps in the form of ESOL classes or classroom accommodations) simply just to survive in the school system. Equity forces us to examine various privileges that exist within a community or a society and prompts us to make certain accommodations that will assist those with a lack of privilege. Instead of seeing just one route to success, equity forces us to pave multiple roads for multiple people. It isn’t an easy process by any means, but the extra work we put into through society through creating equitable situations brings us closer to fairness than equality ever will.

                                                          NEXT MONDAY!! 
A message from MIT: Lincoln Laboratory is committed to research and development. At MIT, scientists and engineers get to work on problems critical to national security.

If you are pursuing a PhD/MS/BS in any of the following majors, or a comparable scientific or technical field, our technical staff would like to meet you.

        We are currently recruiting the following majors:
- Electrical Engineering
- Computer Science or Cybersecurity
- Physics
- Mathematics
- Mechanical Engineering
- Bioengineering

Come and learn more about what we do and how to get involved!

Join Admissions Representatives from the following institutions for an information session about public health and how their graduate programs might align with your personal goals!

**Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health**

**Yale School of Public Health**

**Harvard School of Public Health**

**Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health**

Next WEDNESDAY October 29, 2014 from 12:00- 12:50 p.m. in the UC Ballroom, University Center right here on campus!

Don't miss out! Also, check out some cool research opportunities and see what other students have done in your field !

With much discussion in Women’s Center staff meetings about actively applying our work in the Center as student staff members to other areas of our lives, I have recently been thinking a lot about how my experiences and education in social justice and activism coincide with the various roles and responsibilities I hold outside of the Center. Currently in the process of working towards receiving teacher certification in elementary education, one of my most valued roles this academic year is my internship as a student teacher in a fourth grade classroom. Watching my students embrace new concepts and grow as individuals each week has not only brought an immense amount of pleasure and fulfillment into my life, but it has also caused me to think rather critically about how learning in the classroom translates outside to the “real world”. I’m not talking about how that math equation we learned last week can help us to calculate a tip on a restaurant bill, or how that new vocabulary word can be used to impress our relatives, but instead about how simple classroom dynamics can set a pretty important example for those of us who are long removed from our own elementary school classrooms.

Although we live in a society that preaches equality and fairness, perhaps one of the most important concepts I have learned in the classroom thus far is that equality and fairness are far from interchangeable terms. Imagine a classroom where students are instructed to independently read a chapter out of a textbook and take notes on what they are reading. Several students are reading quietly to themselves and taking notes on a sheet of paper, while another student is listening to an audiobook through headphones, and yet another student is talking to a classroom volunteer who is writing notes down for the student. If this were an equal environment, all students would be required to complete the assignment in the exact same way. But is equality in this situation really fair? Without certain accommodations, students with learning disabilities or special needs may be unable to complete the assignment on their own. The truth is, equality is only fair when everyone is the exact same to begin with. This is an extremely unlikely situation not only in the classroom, but in life in general. Instead of promoting fairness amongst individuals within a community, in actuality equality erases differences that exist within a group of individuals and only supports those with the most privilege. Equality is a “colorblind” approach to fairness and it can be especially harmful when it prevents students from lower income families and those who struggle with disabilities from obtaining the resources they need to succeed.

Because not all students (or people, for that matter) are born with the same abilities and some experience challenges that inhibit that their success, some individuals need more resources in order to just catch up to their peers. Therefore instead of talking about equality, we need to focus on another approach: equity. While equality simply seeks to level the playing field for everyone, equity seeks to provide more resources to those who need them. Take for example the large population of English Language Learners (ELLs) attending schools today. These students are often significantly behind their native-English speaking peers- not because they are unintelligent, but because they lack an upbringing that enables them to understand the language in which they are being taught. Therefore, these ELL students need more resources (perhaps in the form of ESOL classes or classroom accommodations) simply just to survive in the school system. Equity forces us to examine various privileges that exist within a community or a society and prompts us to make certain accommodations that will assist those with a lack of privilege. Instead of seeing just one route to success, equity forces us to pave multiple roads for multiple people. It isn’t an easy process by any means, but the extra work we put into through society through creating equitable situations brings us closer to fairness than equality ever will.

One of the best summer research opportunities out there-- in nearby Gaithersburg, MD.  For students in physics, material science, chemistry, applied mathematics, computer science, or engineering.  Paid accommodations. 

UPCOMING FALL SURF WORKSHOPS

Wednesday, December 3rd

12-1 p.m.

Sherman Hall, Rm.150

Monday, December 8th

4-5:30 p.m.

Sherman Hall, Rm.114

To be placed on a list to receive occasional updates, email Devon Fick at dfick1@umbc.edu

Explore the culture and history of East Baltimore!  See a slice of urban life from the 70’s!  Has much changed?  Take a look and see for yourself – now available online:  Elinor Cahn photographs.

UMBC students, faculty, and staff now have access to this digital collection of renowned Baltimore photographer Elinor B. Cahn (born 1925). Over eighty of Cahn’s photographic prints from the East Baltimore Documentary Photography Project are currently available in UMBC's Digital Collections.  The digitized prints available online demonstrate Cahn’s thoughtful views of religious and secular ceremonial processions, residents in multigenerational family homes, and other aspects of daily life.

The East Baltimore Photography Project began as part of MICA Professor Linda Rich’s social documentary course in 1976 and expanded as a four-year grant endeavor among Rich, Cahn, and Cahn’s classmate Joan Netherwood. The photographers documented neighborhoods in transition, capturing East Baltimoreans’ pride and proactive measures to improve basic services.  The images provide insightful perspectives into East Baltimoreans’ diverse houses of worship, commemorative parades, family-owned establishments, row homes, and private lives.  The East Baltimore Photography Project produced over ten thousand images, many of which were exhibited throughout the region and published in the book, Neighborhood: A State of Mind, available in our Arnold Collection of Maryland history and in the general  Library stacks.  

In addition to the Cahn’s East Baltimore Documentary Photography project, Special Collections holds Cahn’s full archives. Cahn’s collection includes images of Baltimore’s Greek community, Asklipios, Greece, the Vietnam memorial, cemeteries, a Baltimore soup kitchen, and photographs of Maine.

UMBC's Special Collections is open to the public from Monday through Friday 1-4 pm, with extended Thursday evening hours until 8 pm. We are also open by appointment. Access the digital collection of Cahn images here.

This post was written by Jen Wachtel