Halloween was this Friday (as if you didn’t already know that– I know, I’m still recovering from my candy coma, too) and I’ve been doing a lot of self reflection on the past year. Most people do their reflecting in January at the start of the new year, but Halloween is my “new year.” I started my medical transition on October 31, 2013, so as Friday rolled around I began thinking about all the things that have happened and who I’ve become since last Halloween.

guhhh…This Halloween definitely paid for my dentist’s vacation.

I am so much happier than I was 18 months ago. I have a group of very dear friends who care about me. I have made my own family and my own home here in Baltimore, and my family’s house back in Frostburg feels much more welcoming. I feel joy again. I’m doing well in school. I feel validated in my work and I feel like I have the ability to make change not just at UMBC, but in the larger community.

If you had told me all of this before I went on testosterone, I would have said, “Wow! It’s amazing all the things testosterone can do for me!” Now, I’ve realized that the testosterone had nothing to do with it. It wasn’t some magical elixir like a Felix Felicis potion. It didn’t fix something that was broken. It didn’t give me friends or make people like me more. All of that was me. I did that.

“Bottled good fortune. Brewed correctly the drinker of this potion will be lucky in all their endeavors…” –J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

It’s amazing the things you can discover about who you are and what you’re capable of once you stop putting all your energy into hating yourself. Being on testosterone didn’t make me hate myself less– just like losing 20 pounds isn’t going to make your body image issues go away. It removed the thing I was using as an excuse for hating myself. It’s easy to say, “I’ll love myself once I’m on testosterone,” but I realized that self love doesn’t come in a 10mL vial. You can’t diet your way to self love, either. You have to work towards it and it’s hard, but it’s totally worth it.

What I’ve learned in the past twelve months is that I am worthy of my love unconditionally and let me tell you, that Halloween candy tastes so much sweeter now.

PROMISE AGEP – University System of Maryland: We have been on a journey and you have been given an assignment. In Atlanta, at this past weekend’s SREB Compact for Faculty Diversity/Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, UMBC’s President Hrabowski told you that you are pioneers, and that your academic contributions will set the groundwork for generations to come. Dr. Sandra Murray from the University of Pittsburgh (full professor, Department of Cell Biology) told you to “Fantasize! Focus! Know what shoes you will wear when you win your Nobel Prize.” As you climb, Dr. Orlando Taylor reminded you to remember to include people from all races and backgrounds so that you don’t become the new models of marginalization. You are going to fly. You are going to conquer. Picture it!

Tell us who you are. Introduce yourself. Tell us your SREB experience, and your dream. Here is a guide.

1. Name.

Write “Dr. _____” if you already have your PhD., and “Future Dr. _____” if it is forthcoming

2. School, position (e.g., graduate student, PhD candidate, Postdoc), department

3. Your SREB experience

4. Your contribution to STEM and to your field at large (current and future … dream!)

5. Fast forward to 2034 – Your vision of your achievements as a professor and beyond

Grad students and postdocs from schools around Maryland with Dr. Tull and UMBC’s President, Dr. Hrabowski

PROMISE AGEP – University System of Maryland: We have been on a journey and you have been given an assignment. In Atlanta, at this past weekend’s SREB Compact for Faculty Diversity/Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, UMBC’s President Hrabowski told you that you are pioneers, and that your academic contributions will set the groundwork for generations to come. Dr. Sandra Murray from the University of Pittsburgh (full professor, Department of Cell Biology) told you to “Fantasize! Focus! Know what shoes you will wear when you win your Nobel Prize.” As you climb, Dr. Orlando Taylor reminded you to remember to include people from all races and backgrounds so that you don’t become the new models of marginalization. You are going to fly. You are going to conquer. Picture it!

Tell us who you are. Introduce yourself. Tell us your SREB experience, and your dream. Here is a guide.

1. Name.

Write “Dr. _____” if you already have your PhD., and “Future Dr. _____” if it is forthcoming

2. School, position (e.g., graduate student, PhD candidate, Postdoc), department

3. Your SREB experience

4. Your contribution to STEM and to your field at large (current and future … dream!)

5. Fast forward to 2034 – Your vision of your achievements as a professor and beyond

Grad students and postdocs from schools around Maryland with Dr. Tull and UMBC’s President, Dr. Hrabowski

TEDxUMBC Takes Flight

Community voices inform and inspire UMBC through first TEDx event on campus.

While staying at a hotel during a conference in 2007, Kimberly Moffitt came across a key card with a phrase on it that caught her eye: �Walk in like you own the place.� The words struck her so much that she requested another key card with the same phrase on it to take home to her two children.

Seven years later, Moffitt, an associate professor of American studies, points to the phrase as inspiration for founding a charter school for boys in Baltimore and used it as the basis for her talk at TEDxUMBC.

Sondheim Scholar Rebecca Behnke ’15, dance and social work, and Niranjani Chidamber ’15, political science, brought TEDx to UMBC for the first time this fall. TEDx events are local, self-organized programs built on the TED vision of sharing �Ideas Worth Spreading� through informative and inspiring talks.

After applying for and receiving a TED license in October 2013, Chidamber and Behnke teamed up with the Honors College and Interdisciplinary Studies Department to develop a theme � �Reaching New Heights� � and solicited speakers for the event. As the process moved forward, the organizers gained support from the Graduate Student Association, BreakingGround, the Social Work Program and the Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship.

�TED has a large global presence and UMBC is up-and-coming and has so many innovative faculty and students,� says Chidamber. �I think it was a good platform to showcase the university, the people and ideas that are around campus.�

Clearly, UMBC was ready for TEDx. Tickets sold out in a single day, prompting the organizers to plan a livecast in a second location.

Selected from dozens of applicants, ten speakers representing UMBC faculty, staff, students, and the local community participated in TEDxUMBC. They discussed topics ranging from a visual representation of Baltimore circa 1815 to finding mathematical ideas in unlikely places.

Moffitt discussed her involvement in founding the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys, a public charter school opening next year to serve boys in grades 4 through 12. The school will provide academic programs and a full host of support services to students and families, including social workers, school psychologists, and a collegiate fellows program to connect students with mentors.

During her talk, Moffitt explained that she became involved in the school not as an educator or a researcher, but as a parent concerned with her son’s classroom experiences as he moved beyond the early elementary years. She sees the school as an opportunity to cultivate a supportive educational space for her child and other young boys across Baltimore City.

After her presentation, Moffitt shared how powerful it was for her to discuss the charter school in the context of TEDxUMBC�s theme. �So many people at UMBC are taking on projects and connecting to Baltimore City because they are attempting to �Reach New Heights,�� she observes. �It affirms so much of what we are already doing.�

Speakers interpreted this theme ��Reaching New Heights�� in many different ways. Lee Blaney, assistant professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, described a water sanitation project in Kenya, and how engaging American and Kenyan students in this work is what will make it have a broad, lasting impact. Yoo-Jin Kang �15, modern languages and linguistics and interdisciplinary studies, advocated for improving education about relationship violence to make sure our community is one that fulfills the promise of effectively supporting all students. UMBC�s first environmental sustainability coordinator, Tanvi Gadhia �09, geography and environmental systems, spoke about empowering ourselves and others to live more sustainably in a world that faces serious challenges.

�So much of what we do at UMBC that makes us successful bubbles up,� Moffitt reflects. �It�s not coming from the top down. It generally is faculty, staff, and students who are thinking about how to do things differently, to make things better, and to impact change. And then they decide to start working on it.�

See the UMBC Facebook page for photos of TEDxUMBC.

(11/3/2014)

Unsettling violence has once more erupted in the Middle East–this time, in the heart of Israel.

The latest incident surrounds Jerusalem’s prominent holy site for both Judaism and Islam. The global Jewish community knows it as the Temple Mount; Muslims call it Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary.

On Thursday, unknown individuals attempted to assassinate Yehuda Glick, a Jewish activist who advocates returning the Muslim-administered site to Jewish hands. Shortly thereafter, police killed a Palestinian man suspected of involvement in the plot.

Resulting uproar in East Jerusalem and the West Bank was quelled just in time for Muslim prayers at the site on Friday. The underlying conflict won’t settle so quickly.

As a matter of fact, the site’s ownership may have opened an entirely new Pandora’s Box–whose contents may include raised contention between Israel and Jordan, who have a deep interest in the site; as well as scrutiny over the Palestinian Authority’s strength in the West Bank.

Tensions are high and, like so many, we at USDemocrazy are concerned that things could unravel quickly.

Is it possible that we will see a resolution to these problems in our life time?

Look for the red donation boxes in:

Commons: by the reception desk 

Admin: by elevators on 1^st floor 

RAC: by front desk 

UC: across from main entrance 

Library: right side as you walk in

Shriver Center: inside their office

The Food Pantry for low-income Asian senior citizens is sponsored by the Asian Studies Program and is staffed by ASIA 399 interns.  This project (started through a UMBC BreakingGround grant) seeks to support low-income Asian senior citizens at the Longwood Apartments in Columbia, MD by collecting and delivering non-perishable food to them. The number of people served by our program has increased by 400% in one semester --from 20 to 90 residents, which means we need even more donations!

Contact Julie Rosenthal at julier@umbc.edu, 410-455-2094 for info about internships and donations.