The Center for Intercultural Advancement

The Center for Intercultural Advancement and Student Success (CIASS) is dedicated to supporting Allegheny College in its ongoing commitment to foster an intellectually and culturally diverse campus community that not only values, but is engaged in trying to understand the experiences of each of our students. To this end, CIASS works collaboratively and cooperatively with the campus community and external constituencies to develop strategic initiatives that enrich the academic, social, cultural, and personal development of all students while creating opportunities to promote intercultural competence through discussion, dialogue, and self-reflection. The primary commitment of CIASS is to serve students, a goal that is implemented through a variety of academic support services, programs, research, and intentional planning. Our Tags:

[black-culture]

Students need to be informed of this historic call.

Please post on your Instagrams/twitter with hashtag #studentblackout

Over 500 on call last time and coordinated the day of action which saw 70 schools issue their administration demands. Time to heat it up!!

[wakartist]

Call to action for students. And teachers, you all need to be with your students on this…

[fuckyeahfeminist]

via Toby Morris

[the6thsiren-deactivated20210702]

[hipsandheartbreak]

so important

[warmheartedradfem-deactivated20]

Made this a wile ago (last year, I think), and thought it might be good for Black History Month!

[huffpost]

Racist Halloween Costumes That Are Actually Made For Kids

In the most recent episode of MTV News: Decoded, a web series that breaks down issues of race and culture, host Franchesca Ramsey looks at racist costumes made for kids.  

[fucknosexistcostumes]

🙌

[allegheny-ciass]

Weekly newspaper published by the Associated Students of Pomona College in Claremont.

A student from Pomona College shares her experiences related to socioeconomic status and race at a predominately white, private institution. 

[projectqueer]

Even in Government­-Run Prisons, the Profiteering off of Human Lives Is Staggering

A wide range of companies, organizations, individuals and even towns profit economically or politically from prisons.

[positivedoodles]

[pozmagazine]

Newly diagnosed? Some monday inspiration from @positivedoodles

[united-nations-deactivated20190]

17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development will be adopted at the United Nations in New York later this month.

It will take everyone to help the Goals succeed. Find out how: www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment

[gaywrites]

If you don’t already have Quist, the LGBT history mobile app, the amazing juxtaposition of events like these is reason enough to download it.

On this day in queer history, activists threw a pie in Anita Bryant’s face, 75,000+ LGBT people marched on Washington for the first time, Uganda tried to pass a bill to kill gay people, and Latin American and Caribbean feminist lesbians gathered officially for the first time. Four big moments, four different years, one day – and you can learn about it all on one app. (via @quistapp)

[micdotcom]

Happy Ada Lovelace Day! Let’s remember the world’s first computer programmer

Tuesday marks Ada Lovelace Day, designated to celebrate the woman who is widely regarded as the world’s first computer programmer and original BAMF for her work in the early 1800s.

Born in 1815, Lovelace pioneered the 19th-century equivalent of STEM in her short 27 years. At the age of 17, Lovelace met mathematician and engineer Charles Babbage. Babbage was developing the difference engine, a machine comparable to a primitive calculator. Babbage had Lovelace translate a short Italian paper on the machine. Lovelace converted the project into a 20,000-word opus, in which she created an algorithm tantamount to the world’s first computer program.

On Tuesday, #AdaLovelaceDay began trending on Twitter as people took to social media to hail the trailblazer.

[chronicallypainful]

All of my Spoonie Student Resources

For my student followers (and anyone else who could benefit from this info).

We’re (for the most part) a few weeks into our semesters now, so I thought it would be a good time to share some spoonie student resources.  I’ve written quite a bit on these topics over the past few years, so it feels relevant to collect all of that info in one place.  So, here we go, all of my spoonie student resources/advice, organized by category.

General Advice/Tips:

general advice on studying and academics

a collaborative list with concussedperspective

exam week tips

A professor’s wise advice: “You don’t get extra points for trying extra hard.”

Communicating with Professors and others:

“Brief” guide to talking to your professors about  your chronic illness/disability (I called it brief, but it’s actually rather long…)

Communicating chronic pain in educational settings

Reflections on how I learned to communicate my pain and disability

Remember to say Thank You

Surviving Campus Life:

Dorm living and roommate advice

dealing with sensory issues on campus

A more-portable shower chair alternative

Dealing with the Disability Services Office:

What are my accommodations?

Do I use a testing center?

How did I get a reduced course load?

Productivity & Time Management:

done list

Picking a School:

general advice on picking a school

reflections on disability services during my graduate school search

affirmations that I used during my grad school search

Educationally-relevant Assistive Technology:

pencil/pen grips from hair curlers

Levo book stand

Overview of speech-to-text tools

Options for computer input: pointing devices (part 1 & part 2)

math without handwriting

Workrave: a tool for managing computer use time

my study space (from my old apartment, features several pieces of assistive tech)

Email templates:

request for disability-related meeting at beginning of semester

textbook info request template

Example emails:

Online training I couldn’t complete

Housing Concerns

Asking for a shuttle schedule

Oral Exams

Basics: what are oral exams and why might they be a good accommodation?

General advice on prepping for oral exams

How do math exams work with process vs. theory?

Do I prefer written or oral exams

Some personal experiences & reflections that may help you feel less alone:

Bureaucracy at a new school

Non functional door openers

Non accessible IT resources

Poor accessibility on campus

Elevators and invisible illness/disability

Jokes in poor taste

Scholarships and reduced course load

Brainstorming academic accommodations pre grad school

Some reflections on academic ableism

ableism in final exams

ableism in grad school search

more academic ableism

yep, I had a research meeting in my pajamas

writing from a place of frustration: should I be a student?

Reflections on negative experiences with disability services

You know you’re a chronically ill college student when… (an attempt at humor)

Please feel free to share this (and/or any of the posts linked here) if you find it helpful!

Also, if there are other topics you’d like to know (more) about, feel free to send an ask.  (No promises on when I’ll  have time to write a full post, though.)

[12lotus]

white chronically ill folk

i cannot tell you how many times, that people dont think i am chronically ill. because i’m brown. even on tumblr, the amount of people who immediately assume i am not chronically ill because i talk ab racism at the same time.

when i talk ab racism and racism with white spoonies, you all white ppl default to assuming i am not a spoonie myself. that is just. racism like you wouldn’t even know.

if you knew the racism that doctors perpertuate against chronically ill people of colour you would shut the hell up.assuming a nonwhite person talking ab racism with white spoonies to not be chronically ill is a form of racist medical violence

.you’re not better than the doctors who laugh at us and say we’re just lazy or that we try to milk the medical system like fuck all of you.i see to many of you like this and none of you hold yourselves accountable

[12lotus]

this is ok to reblog even if you are not chronically ill but i would like other chronically ill people, esp white spoonies to reblog this please. there is a huge amount of racism with the spoonie community and its never really addressed

[forevrdreamingofbetterthings]

for the ppl who insist the pay gap is a feminist myth 

[lbpqs]

it’s hard not to notice how blindingly white a lot of lbpq media is, so i decided to make this list for all the lesbian, bi, pan, poly, and queer women of color looking for representation. i’ve only read or watched a few of these myself, so while i can’t vouch for most of them personally, i did my best to avoid media with bigoted portrayals. i added pretty much everything i could find but if i missed something, send us an ask and i’ll try and add it!

MOVIES

mosquita y mari

pariah

i can’t think straight

saving face

spider lilies

yes or no 1

yes or no 2

gay mean girls (short film)

black girl in paris (short film)

miao miao

the world unseen

circumstance

the chinese botanist’s daughter

fire

butterfly

sancharram

the incredibly true adventures of two girls in love

bessie

appropriate behavior

reaching for the moon

margarita

SHOWS

the peculiar kind (webseries)

empire (recurring)

the fosters (main)

grey’s anatomy (major)

the wire (major + recurring)

the l word (main)

glee (main)

pretty little liars (main + recurring)

true blood (major)

emily owens, m.d. (major)

white collar (major)

under the dome (main)

orange is the new black (major)

sense8 (recurring)

PEOPLE

halsey (singer)

bai ling (actress)

samira wiley (actress)

bessie smith (singer)

stormé delarverie

mabel hampton (activist, dancer)

moms mabley (comedian)

michelle rodriguez (actress)

raven symoné (actress, singer)

angela davis (activist)

jewelle gomez (author)

gladys bentley (singer)

margaret cho (actress, comedian)

sylvia rivera (activist)

josephine baker (singer)

audre lorde (activist)

wanda sykes (comedian, actress)

BOOKS

the color purple - alice walker

ash - malinda lo

huntress - malinda lo

southland - nina revoyr

the house you pass on the way - jacqueline woodson

the second mango - shira glassman

the telling - ursula k. le guin

santa olivia  - jacqueline carey

the children of gavrilek - julie kriton chandelier

lies we tell ourselves - robin talley

from the notebooks of melanin sun - jacqueline woodson

afterworlds - scott westerfeld

tell me again how a crush should feel - sara farizan

not otherwise specified - hannah moskin

silver moon - catherine lundoff

BLOGS

difeminawoc​

lgbtq-asians-united​

biwoc

queerwoc

fyqueerlatinxs

wocwholikewoc

[bong-buddy]

Men of color are 4x more likely to be arrested for marijuana.

Top Chart: Marijuana usage by race

Bottom Chart: Marijuana arrests by race

Discover the truth behind who’s profiting billions of dollars from overcrowded prisons. Often filled with men of color serving time for petty marijuana offenses.

Legalizing Cannabis Will Help End Racism in America

[theslaybymic]

These feminist high schoolers are using ‘The Scarlet Letter’ to protest dress codes

Students at Charleston County School of the Arts in North Charleston, South Carolina, have had enough. Too many girls have been sent home because of a strict dress code policy that they claim targets girls unfairly. Now, they’re doing something about it. Not just to protest the dress code — but also how it’s being enforced.

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