“When humans are ranked instead of linked, everyone loses.” ― Gloria Steinem, My Life on the Road
Dear Graduate Students, Faculty, Staff, and Friends,
Over the past three years we have collectively witnessed a global pandemic and are still in the throes of survival and recovery. Through our activism, scholarship, and writing we have created a supportive community of peers. As co-chairs of the Graduate Student Welfare and Advocacy Group (GSWAG), we are constantly in awe of our fellow colleagues dedicated to advocating for their students and co-workers. We remain hopeful and motivated by your work. While this will be our last time working together as co-chairs, we hope GSWAG remains a group to inspire students, faculty, and staff to collaborate within the department and throughout the university.
Our theme in The GSWAG English Graduate Student Review was “witnessing,” specifically the act of witnessing each other’s work while witnessessing ongoing political turmoil. The articles in the inaugural issue span for genres of student writing: Early modern, non-fiction, queer theory, and feminist rhetorical theory. In “Mother/Earth: Human and Horticultural Generation in The Winter’s Tale,” Jessica Lawrence witnesses the relationship between The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare and early modern gardening manuals. She writes, “just as several early modern gardening manuals encouraged subtle rather than violent intervention in the natural world, so too does Leontes transition over the course of the play to a subtler form of patriarchal control that eventually allows him, at least to some extent, to realize the desire for male reproductive control.”
In “Orion’s Belt: Walking Through a Pandemic,” Galen Bunting’s literary meditation frames “illness as a state of mind, witnessing what it means to go through graduate school during a global pandemic.” The editors, Wholey and Molko share work from their earliest years in the graduate program, highlighting their enthusiasm for scholarship and their hopefulness for just futurity. Wholey witnesses crossdressing as a “process that is performed but not strictly gendered,” challenging current debates around drag, gender performance, and aesthetics. Finally, Molko witnesses the effects memes have on feminist discourse. She argues that enforcing a new standard of feminism with iconic imagery, illustrations, and comedy represents social change.
Our collective collaboration through our writing reminds us that we are stronger when linked together, as Gloria Steinem describes in the above epigraph. Our review is a testament to the incredible work graduate students do when they engage in a community of their peers. While we are sad to leave as co-chairs of GSWAG, we are so inspired and grateful for what we continue to witness.
GSWAG
Dear Graduate Students, Faculty, Staff, and Friends,
Over the past three years we have collectively witnessed a global pandemic and are still in the throes of survival and recovery. Through our activism, scholarship, and writing we have created a supportive community of peers. As co-chairs of the Graduate Student Welfare and Advocacy Group (GSWAG), we are constantly in awe of our fellow colleagues dedicated to advocating for their students and co-workers. We remain hopeful and motivated by your work. While this will be our last time working together as co-chairs, we hope GSWAG remains a group to inspire students, faculty, and staff to collaborate within the department and throughout the university.
Our theme in The GSWAG English Graduate Student Review was “witnessing,” specifically the act of witnessing each other’s work while witnessessing ongoing political turmoil. The articles in the inaugural issue span for genres of student writing: Early modern, non-fiction, queer theory, and feminist rhetorical theory. In “Mother/Earth: Human and Horticultural Generation in The Winter’s Tale,” Jessica Lawrence witnesses the relationship between The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare and early modern gardening manuals. She writes, “just as several early modern gardening manuals encouraged subtle rather than violent intervention in the natural world, so too does Leontes transition over the course of the play to a subtler form of patriarchal control that eventually allows him, at least to some extent, to realize the desire for male reproductive control.”
In “Orion’s Belt: Walking Through a Pandemic,” Galen Bunting’s literary meditation frames “illness as a state of mind, witnessing what it means to go through graduate school during a global pandemic.” The editors, Wholey and Molko share work from their earliest years in the graduate program, highlighting their enthusiasm for scholarship and their hopefulness for just futurity. Wholey witnesses crossdressing as a “process that is performed but not strictly gendered,” challenging current debates around drag, gender performance, and aesthetics. Finally, Molko witnesses the effects memes have on feminist discourse. She argues that enforcing a new standard of feminism with iconic imagery, illustrations, and comedy represents social change.
Our collective collaboration through our writing reminds us that we are stronger when linked together, as Gloria Steinem describes in the above epigraph. Our review is a testament to the incredible work graduate students do when they engage in a community of their peers. While we are sad to leave as co-chairs of GSWAG, we are so inspired and grateful for what we continue to witness.
GSWAG
The Graduate Student Welfare and Advocacy Group centers wellness, community-building, justice, equity, and inclusion for English Graduate Students at Northeastern University.