Gratitude

I was so delighted and honored to speak at not one but two universities this past week. First I got to talk to the amazing psychology grad students at the Wright Institute in Berkeley on Tuesday, as part of their 5th Annual Symposium on Culture & Diversity. Then I travelled to Baltimore, to give a talk at Towson University, in the campus diversity center, to a group of students who are studying sexuality. Between the two schools, the topics I covered were: bisexual identity and health; transgender identity; race, gender and sexuality; and media representations of African American men on the down low. Thank you to all the students, faculty, and staff involved in bringing me to these great schools!

There’s something really inspiration that happens for me when I give a talk, which is that I feel like I get to learn as much as I teach. I love the energy in the room when a talk goes from being a lecture to sparking a dialogue. Don’t get me wrong: I love attending lectures as much as the next person. I love absorbing and reflecting on another person’s expertise. But I don’t love giving lectures. I love it when I give a talk and I end up listening as much as I do talking, even if the two happen simultaneously. Responding to the vibe of the students, taking the issues in the direction they want to go, changing my agenda in the moment in order to explore the things that they bring up… these are all very exciting elements of public speaking for me.

I always give out my business card or contact information afterwards, to enable that dialogue to keep going. I love hearing from people who have attended my talks in the past. If you’re one of them, I’d love to hear from you!

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 9:32 am and is filed under Academia, Bisexuals/ Bi Activism, Culture & Media, Health, People of Color, Sexuality Education, Travel . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.