Tali Ilkovitch, a queer, transmasculine Oregon State University student and Community Relations Representative for the university’s Pride Center, has created the first edition of a zine documenting the experiences of OSU campus sexual assault survivors on an institutional level. Titled “Surviving OSU”, the 38-page zine is meant to serve as a collaborative, open-ended anthology of the ongoing legacies of survivor advocacy and activism on campus in the face of neglect and/or silencing by the university’s leaders and decision-makers.
Tali’s main goal is for the information to be shared, discussed, and expanded on with care as tools that can empower people to take action and work in solidarity to holding OSU’s leaders accountable so that the voices, needs, safety, and support of all survivors on campus – especially those who are LGBTQIA+ and/or BIPOC – are effectively prioritized.
“Any and all criticism and expansion of this zine so that it meaningfully serves and centers Black, Brown, and Indigenous survivors on campus is welcomed and encouraged,” they write in their introduction. “This is your zine too.”
A Beginner’s Guide to Corvallis Sweep Support: There are many in Corvallis who have heard of and care about the ongoing “sweeps” or forced evictions of unhoused people throughout the city, but might be unsure how to show up for and effectively support their unhoused neighbors. Stop the Sweeps Corvallis – a.k.a. the “sweepminers” – is a local mutual aid group of community members dedicated to assisting and advocating for those who continue to be affected and displaced by sweeps. They have recently released a zine that serves as a beginner’s guide to sweep support in Corvallis.
The guide includes information about local sweeps and the harms they generate, which entities conduct sweeps, where and how they are typically carried out, and specific group tactics and roles that have been useful for assisting encampments and/or individuals that get posted – i.e., that face eviction.
“It is not our hope that you see this and specifically join our group, though you’re certainly welcome to reach out to us,” the authors write. “But rather that this zine gives you the tools to be comfortable assisting unhoused people during sweeps and building your own inner circle of people who wish to help.”
Questions or comments about the guide can be submitted via email at stopthesweepscorvallis@protonmail.com.
Help an Unhoused Corvallis Neighbor: A GoFundMe has been created by Julian Clarke, an OSU student and organizer with the sweepminers and the Corvallis Really Really Free Market (RRFM), to help an unhoused Corvallis neighbor secure more stable, safe housing. For the sake of the neighbor’s safety, her name is not disclosed.
According to the GoFundMe’s description, she has been dealing with dental and physical pain as well as an abusive ex-husband who stalks, threatens, and harasses her regularly, having done things like stealing her belongings at night, spiking her food, and destroying her tent. Contributions to the fundraiser will go towards a security deposit and first month’s rent for an apartment she has been looking into for a while, as well as food, clothing, a computer, and anything else she chooses to help her “get back on her feet and out of survival mode.”
She is currently hoping to go back to school to get a degree in business or Psychology, write and publish a book, and find more ways to support the community of unhoused folks in Corvallis she has fostered relationships with.
Honoring Local QTPOC Drag Performers: Through June 17, the Little Gallery at Kidder Hall on the OSU campus is hosting SHADE: A Genealogy of Queervallis QTPOC Drag, a gallery exhibition that seeks to celebrate, remember, and explore the ongoing legacy of queer and trans drag performers of color (QTPOC) in Corvallis. The SHADE gallery was installed by OSU graduate student Dharma Mirza, a queer, intersex, trans femme/Kwhaja Sira (Pakistani First-Gender) artist and activist. She is the mother of the Haus of Dharma, a local QTPOC-led drag family that was established in 2014 and has been producing local shows featuring and honoring QTPOC drag artists since 2017.
Featuring costumes and props from past performances, a poster timeline of select Queervallis shows by/with QTPOC leadership, and more, SHADE seeks to “locate QTPOC folks at the center of artistic expression and historical inquiry”; honor the labor of trans femmes and non-binary people of color in the region who have helped pave the way for developing a local drag scene that “defies the cisnormativity, white supremacy and colonial gender systems that underlie mainstream queer drag and queer nightlife”; and tell “a story of this place that needs to be told.”
The gallery is Dharma’s final project for her Ethnic Studies 531 Queer of Color Critiques course, instructed by Two-Spirit Associate Professor Qwo-Li Driskill. It is open to the public on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Requests for accommodations related to disability can be submitted via email to helen.wilhelm@oregonstate.edu.
Corvallis Free Fridge Has a New Home: The Corvallis Community Fridge, a source of free food for the community previously maintained and restocked in a North Corvallis neighborhood, has moved to a new location. Micah, the previous “fridge steward,” has moved out of town, and donated the fridge to the Vina Moses Center on 968 NW Garfield Ave.
The center operates as a volunteer-run “free thrift store” of clean, usable items donated by and for people in the community. They also have an outdoor food cupboard that’s open 24/7, and run an Emergency Financial Assistance Program to assist with rent, utilities, transportation, prescriptions, “employment readiness” costs – i.e., costs of GED exams, work licenses, Oregon IDs/driver’s licenses, haircuts, etc., and other urgent financial needs.
The center is open from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. on Mondays; 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; and by appointment on Fridays.
By Emilie Ratcliff
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