{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/w37kp7wj6m/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Devin Singh Oral History"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eClip 1:\u003c/strong\u003e Devin Singh explains why the Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance (GLASA) felt more welcoming to him than other student groups at Queens College.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePhoto: Members of GLASA enjoying brunch together, 2009. Courtesy of Jennie Sanchez.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of Full Interview\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eDevin Singh (he/him) is a former treasurer of the Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance (GLASA) at Queens College. Devin grew up with his parents and sister in South Jamaica, Queens, and enrolled at CUNY in 2006. He remained at Queens College until 2015, earning Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Math and a Master's degree in Physics. He became involved in GLASA, and LGBTQ issues more generally, later in his college career, becoming an advocate for students with the college administration.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn this interview, Devin discusses his journey to joining GLASA, and the regular operations of the club on-campus. He delves into major campus events including the annual Queer Prom, Queer Olympics, and Drag Show, and discusses the process of funding these programs. In particular, he touches on an event he planned honoring WWII codebreaker Alan Turing, and his ongoing interest exploring the intersection of queer issues and other aspects of life, like computer science and design. Elsewhere, Devin describes the club's shift from activism to more social activities, and the importance placed on building personal relationships between students and administrators, including JC Carlson. He contemplates the shifts in public discourse of LGBTQ issues, positive and negative, over the past ten years, and the enduring importance of being open to learning from others about community.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["http://digitalarchives.queenslibrary.org/search/browse/43227","http://digitalarchives.queenslibrary.org/search/browse/43231"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2024-02-27 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Tags"]},"value":{"en":["Queens College Alumni"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Audio"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Devin Singh (Interviewee)","Dani Stompor (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["Interview conducted as part of the Queer at QC Oral History Project, a collaboration between the Queens College Special Collections \u0026amp; Archives and the Queens Memory Project."]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["2006-2024 (temporal)","Queens College, Queens, NY (spatial)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eClip 1:\u003c/strong\u003e Devin Singh explains why the Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance (GLASA) felt more welcoming to him than other student groups at Queens College.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePhoto: Members of GLASA enjoying brunch together, 2009. Courtesy of Jennie Sanchez.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of Full Interview\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eDevin Singh (he/him) is a former treasurer of the Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance (GLASA) at Queens College. Devin grew up with his parents and sister in South Jamaica, Queens, and enrolled at CUNY in 2006. He remained at Queens College until 2015, earning Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Math and a Master's degree in Physics. He became involved in GLASA, and LGBTQ issues more generally, later in his college career, becoming an advocate for students with the college administration.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn this interview, Devin discusses his journey to joining GLASA, and the regular operations of the club on-campus. He delves into major campus events including the annual Queer Prom, Queer Olympics, and Drag Show, and discusses the process of funding these programs. In particular, he touches on an event he planned honoring WWII codebreaker Alan Turing, and his ongoing interest exploring the intersection of queer issues and other aspects of life, like computer science and design. Elsewhere, Devin describes the club's shift from activism to more social activities, and the importance placed on building personal relationships between students and administrators, including JC Carlson. He contemplates the shifts in public discourse of LGBTQ issues, positive and negative, over the past ten years, and the enduring importance of being open to learning from others about community.\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/248/521/small/sanchez_jennie_20240402_image04_resized.jpg?1724170369","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/248521","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 2 - singh_devin_20240227_clip1.mp3"]},"duration":162.624,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/248/521/small/sanchez_jennie_20240402_image04_resized.jpg?1724170369","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/248521/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/248521/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/248/521/original/singh_devin_20240227_clip1.mp3?1724170345","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":162.624,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/248521","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[]},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 2 of 2 - singh_devin_20240227.mp3"]},"duration":4290.408,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/242/201/small/PXL_20240305_171828110_aviary.jpg?1718032433","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/content/2/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/242/201/original/singh_devin_20240227.mp3?1718032339","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":4290.408,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Full Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Hi, this is Dani Stompor. I am calling over Zoom. Would you be willing to start by saying your name, if you would like [to], your pronouns, your title, and what the day and time is and where you're calling from?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=0.0,16.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Sure. Good afternoon. My name is Devin Singh. My pronouns are he / him. Title, I am a graduate student researcher. I'm doing my PhD in Material Science. Date and time, it is February 27th, 2024. It's about 1:00 PM Pacific, 4:00 PM Eastern. My location, I'm currently in Riverside, California. That's where I'm doing my PhD.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=16.0,50.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Awesome. Congratulations on your PhD.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=50.0,53.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Thank you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=53.0,53.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: That's so exciting. Cool. So I'm just going to drop us right into this conversation and ask you to paint us a picture of your first queer prom at Queens College, if you remember where it was or what the room looked like.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=53.0,71.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Sure. My first Queer Prom would've been I think 2013 or 14. I can't remember. I remember the theme. I remember everything about it, but I can't remember what year it was specifically. It was the Alice in Wonderland themed prom. The president at the time was Sam Nathanson [note by transcript editor: Nathanson was the president of GLASA, a student group at Queens College. GLASA stood for Gay, Lesbian and Straight Alliance, but the group was later renamed Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance]. The rest of the e-board was, Jennifer Sanchez was the secretary that year, I think. I think Lorena Russi was the treasurer, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. And Sima, I don't remember Sima's last name, but between her and Lorena, they were the treasurer and VP. I just can't remember which one was which.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=71.0,117.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: It was Alice in Wonderland themed. It was a fun event. We were in the ballroom that year. I think that might've been, I want to say that was the first year we did the Second Chance Prom, because I want to say it was Sam's idea, because he knew that this was the kind of thing that a lot of GSAs [gay-straight alliances] and GLASAs and that sort of stuff did. And he felt he wanted to bring that energy to Queens College. And so he pitched the idea sometime in the late fall, maybe October, September, somewhere around Thanksgiving, maybe. And we started voting for themes and it was really fun and everybody got so excited. I forget what the other themes were that were up for election, were up for vote, but what ended up winning was obviously Alice in Wonderland. It was great. Everybody dressed like the characters from Alice in Wonderland, we had a lot of people wearing red and white.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=117.0,177.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: We had people dressed like the Mad Hatter, and Sam went pretty hard with the decorations trying to bring the energy from the Disney movie to the space. So there were a lot of really fun, colorful characters, cutouts, all that kind of weird stuff with Tweedledee and Tweedledum and the Mome Raths and the hookah caterpillar. It was very fun, and I think that event really helped introduce me to the club. Prior to that, I was kind of like, I would say I would hang around the room and talk to them, but I didn't really feel like I was a member of the club, I think, until that Spring. And I think the Prom was a big, big, big part of that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=177.0,230.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Do you remember particular songs or dances or things from that night?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=230.0,238.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: No, unfortunately, I can't say I remember the music too well. No, I remember the decorations and the costumes people were wearing more than the music that was being played at that first Prom.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=238.0,253.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Very cool. Let's back up a little bit. So you first arrived at CUNY [City University of New York] in 2006. Can you walk us through how you found yourself at Queens College?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=253.0,269.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: There's not much of a story to tell. I wasn't the most motivated student in high school, so I was very much just kind of go wherever, the path of least resistance, right? My sister was an honors student at Townsend Harris High School, which is attached directly to Queens College. In fact, their seniors actually take Queens College courses as part of their high school degree. So when I was applying to—and so logically, my sister just kind of continued that and she was like, \"Oh, well, I'm already a straight A student. I'm already taking classes at Queens College.\" And they've got this honors program specifically targeted towards liberal arts majors, the Macaulay Honors Program. So she was like, \"I might as well just continue my education at Queens College. They're going to pay for it. They're going to give me a stipend. They're going to give me a laptop. I might as well go with it.\"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=269.0,330.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So a year later—my sister's a year older than me—when it was time for me to apply to college, my dad was like, \"It would be easiest if you just went to Queens College because that way you guys could take the bus together. You guys could be on the same campus.\" I was like, \"Okay, I guess that makes sense.\" So it was really just kind of like my sister went there and then my dad was like, \"Hey, you should go there too.\" And I was like, \"Okay, that's easy enough. Why not?\"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=330.0,361.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Did you grow up in Queens?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=361.0,363.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: I did, yes. Yes. Born and raised. Well, born in Brooklyn, but we moved to Queens when I was only six months old and I lived in my dad's house in Queens, the same for much of my life until I was 20 something.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=363.0,378.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: And were you interested, because you started as a computer science and math major at Queens College, was that something that you were passionate about when you were younger as well?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=378.0,391.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Looking back, I think the patterns were there, but I don't think—huh. That's an interesting question. I think the patterns of behavior were there because growing up, whenever something would stop working like my Nintendo controller or the remote for the TV or the VCR or anything like that, I would always try to take it apart, figure out what was wrong, put it back together. I was not as good at putting things back together as I should have been, but fortunately I was young enough and my dad gave me a hand with that whenever that would invariably cause a problem. But I don't know if passion is the right word. So much as just, I think I was just exposed to that kind of stuff from an early age and it kind of fueled my curiosity and my interest. My dad also did own a computer repair shop until I was 10 or 11 years old.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=391.0,453.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Oh, wow. Very cool.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=453.0,455.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yeah, it was the mid, late nineties and I guess, I don't know, he was just in the wrong neighborhood, wrong decade, all that sort of stuff. But I spent a lot of time there when I was a kid.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=455.0,469.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Gotcha. And did you start off having declared that major or did you know what you wanted to do when you got to Queens?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=469.0,479.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: I knew going in that I wanted to be a computer science major almost from the get-go. I didn't declare it immediately, but right off the bat I started working towards it. I started taking computer science, and looking at the prerequisites, and knocking out all the requirements and all that sort of stuff literally my first semester. The math major, the double major was actually kind of an accident. Kind of. Right? It's really weird. I started off computer science with a minor in English and towards the end of my computer science degree—so I took six years to graduate, but I think sometime beginning of year four, I was finishing up the computer science degree and I was like, okay, I just got a couple of electives I need to knock out. And I ended up taking Cryptography in the computer science department taught by Dr. Kent Boklan, and it's called Cryptography, but it's more accurate to call it analytic number theory with focus on applications.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=479.0,557.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And this course was so math heavy, and it was by far the hardest class I had ever taken in my life. It was like I was struggling putting in 60, 70, 80 hour weeks just to barely get by with C minuses, and Ds. It was insane. It was ridiculous. And I should have dropped the class, but I was too stubborn. And by the time I finished the class, I barely managed to squeak by with a B or a B+. I forget what. A B+, I remember now. I realized, \"Holy cow, I actually really, really, really like math.\" So I started doing the kind of calculus and I was like, \"Wait a minute, if I drop my English minor and I add the second math major, and I start now and I take 18 credits every semester, including summers, for the next year and a half, I can still graduate after six years with a math major as well. And I was like, well, that's just what I got to do. So that's what I did. I dropped my English minor, added the math major, took 18 credits a semester for three semesters straight, 12 during the summer, and graduated after six years with a double major.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=557.0,633.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: There you go. And then immediately moving to your master's [in] physics. How did you then make that jump to, seems like you were drawn to another discipline?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=633.0,649.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yeah, that one was interesting. I was very close friends during my undergrad with—actually, I'm still pretty close with him, a friend of mine named Andreas, gosh, what's his last name? Montoya. Andreas Montoya Castillo. He's lovely. He's now a professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. But his life, he was very focused on research, working in a lab. He knew he wanted to get a PhD. He knew he wanted to move into chemistry and physics, and now he's a professor of chemical physics, so that's fun. And so I held him as a role model, even though he was only a year older than me because the way he would talk about things, I was like, \"Oh my goodness, you're so smart. How do you know so many things?\" I just looked up to him and he pushed me to get involved with a lab.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=649.0,709.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So I was taking a physics course as part of the computer science program, and at the end of the course I spoke to the professor and I was like, \"Hey, I'm interested in going into research. Do you have space?\" And part of this was I knew she was a new professor, so I knew she needed students. She literally, she literally had nobody. She just came to the college less than a year prior. So I kind of approached her and I was like, \"Hey, I'm interested in working in a lab. I'm interested in gaining research experience. Can I work with you while I finish my degree?\" So that was the last year of my undergrad. And then after working with her for that entire last year, she straight up said to me, \"Oh, well if you join the master's program, if you apply to physics, then you can continue working with me. You'll be paid,\" blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all this sort of stuff.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=709.0,763.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And I was like, \"That's a pretty solid idea. I'm already familiar with the faculty. I've been working in the physics department for the past year, even though I'm a math student, I know the physics department more than I know the math department, just because I've been going to all their talks, their Christmas parties, all that sort of stuff.\" So I applied to the master's program in physics.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=763.0,786.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Nice. Sounds like you were very, very busy with very intensive classwork. So I'm curious how you found the time to really be able to balance that with other extracurriculars.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=786.0,802.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Oh, it's because I was 23 and I didn't have anything else going on with my life. That's no exaggeration. I would frequently be on campus either in the lab or in the library or both until 2:00 AM, 3:00 AM. Then I'd drive back home. I was still living with my dad at the time. Go to sleep, do whatever, wake up, do whatever, studying coursework I needed to do, go to classes, and then after class—so that was essentially my workflow. I would do all my studying and coursework in the morning before classes from 8:00, 9:00 AM till afternoon, 1:00, 2:00 PM, go to classes. After class I would go to the lab and probably bounce between there and the library for 6, 7, 8 hours. So it was a lot, but like I said, I was 23. I had nothing going on in my life.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=802.0,864.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: I strongly sympathize with that experience of 23. Can you tell me about the Queer Olympics?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=864.0,877.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yeah, the first GLASA Queer Olympics, that was probably the most memorable event that I'd ever taken part in my three years with the club. It was Lorena Russi's idea. I mentioned her previously in connection with the e-board of that year. She was an avid soccer fan and soccer player. And so she had this fun idea like, \"Oh, wouldn't it be fun if we brought some kind of athletic event to the club space?\" And she came up with this idea before she told anybody else in the club. The only people that knew were Sam, Sima, and Jennifer, the other members of the e-board for that year. And they started brainstorming ideas and events, and they wanted it to be inclusive, first of all, so they didn't want to lock out anybody without any athletic ability. So their focus was more on abilities that had an athletic component but didn't really require running or throwing, jumping.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=877.0,955.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So the things they came up with were, for example, they came up with this one game called M\u0026M and Eminem, where it was three people on your team and one person had to throw M\u0026Ms into the air and the other person had to catch them in their mouth. And for every one that you caught, the third person would have to rap a lyric from an Eminem song, and the team that was the winner was the one that got to the end of the song first. So that was fun. They did a toilet paper mummy race where your teammates had to wrap you up in toilet paper and you had to race across the room, and whoever got wrapped up and raced across the room first was the winner. So they did a lot of fun things like that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=955.0,1001.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And that, the prom was one of the two things that really brought me into the club, the other was the Queer Olympics, because that was where I really finally started making friends, really good friends with other members of GLASA. Because prior to that, I was really too shy to get involved much. I just kind of hung out in the club room and I didn't really join any conversations too much because I kind of felt like, \"I just joined this club three, four or five months ago. I don't really know anybody.\" But at the Olympics, a few other members, they'd already seen me in the club room, but I didn't really open my mouth much, they were like, \"Hey, join our team!\" And I was like, \"Okay!\" And I joined teams with Matab, Catherine, and there was a fourth person on our team, but I can't remember who. And I became really, really good friends with them after that. It felt good to be invited to participate in this thing, and they were so friendly. They weren't standoffish. They weren't like, \"Oh, we barely know this guy.\" No, they were so nice and friendly and it was just a fun time. It was beautiful, and everybody got super competitive about it too. It was great.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1001.0,1092.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: What was your first experience in the club room? Because you mentioned that you had been there a couple months prior to that. What brought you to the room in the first place?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1092.0,1109.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So what brought me to the club from the first place was I actually started dating a member of the club and she invited me to—Jennifer. She was the secretary at the time, and she was like—what's that?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1109.0,1125.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Jen Sanchez?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1125.0,1127.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yes, yes. She was the secretary at the time, and she was like, \"Oh, I'm a member of this club. Everybody there is really cool. Maybe you should check it out.\" I was like, \"Okay, I'll give it a shot.\" So she brought me to the club room and I kind of sat down and people were sitting around, they were having conversations. It was obvious that they had a lot of history because there were a lot of in jokes or references that went way over my head and I'm like, \"Well, I guess that's kind of to be expected. These guys have probably been here for years and they know each other very well.\" So I was trying to soak that in and figure out how I can participate in that with them because they seemed like really nice people, just I didn't know them at the time. So that's what brought me to GLASA and I would say what got me to stick around was, I mean, the Olympics and the Prom, right? That's when I finally made friends with everybody and it was great.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1127.0,1195.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Do you remember, so it sounds like the things that stick out to you are these sort of more social-oriented events, opportunities for people to get to know one another, meet one another. Was that sort of the general vibe of GLASA, more of like a social space? In your experience, was there also an organizing element, an education element? How would you describe GLASA as a group?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1195.0,1226.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yeah, that's actually a really, really, really interesting and I think important question. So when I joined the club, it was very heavily social and it continued that way more or less throughout my entire membership, which was about two and a half, maybe three years. But through speaking with older members, people who had been with the club for three, four or five years before I joined, I learned a bit more about what the club was like prior to my joining. And so a few years, maybe two years before I joined, there was a lot of very, for lack of a better word, I guess political or sociopolitical, maybe, interest in the club. They organized things like protests. They organized things like marches or they participated in marches, all sorts of queer-related activist movements.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1226.0,1300.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And there was a significant, I wouldn't say majority, but I would say significant percentage of the club membership when I was there that kind of bemoaned that loss of activism. They would frequently say things like, okay, yeah, we're an LGBT club, but what are we really doing to advance LGBT rights? What are we doing to participate in the LGBT community as a whole? We're not really going down to Queens Pride House or anything like that. We're not helping with any of these protests or helping organize stuff. And so there were quite a few people who were upset really, that we had stopped doing that sort of stuff. And there were other people who weren't necessarily upset but did want us to start being more 50/50, half and half, less about socializing and maybe bringing some of that back. I mean, we did fundraising, but that's really not the same as being out there and raising awareness. So I'd say when I joined, it was at the tail end of a transition period from more activists, protesting, political, into more social. And there was a sizable percentage of people who were upset about that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1300.0,1387.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Do you remember, you mentioned fundraising, do you remember what causes you raised funds for?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1387.0,1394.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: I don't remember the exact name of it, but the big one was, there were a couple of events that we did. One was the Drag Show fundraiser, and that was a good event. That was a good event that we did a few more times after that. And we raised a lot of money. We raised a good three, four, or five hundred dollars. And we would do fun things. We'd just invite members or anybody who wanted to, really, whether they were from other clubs on campus or just students in general to dress in drag and do, we essentially did a drag show in the cafeteria in the corner pocket. At the time it was called, I don't know what, they've since renamed it. And that was really good fun, and we got a lot of donated clothes that we could use and wear from all over the place. From some of JC [Carlson] and JC's friends' connections, but also there's a few, gosh, what was the name of—? Something, closet. There's this organization somewhere in Queens. It's called [something] Closet, JC might know. I don't know off the top of my head. So we did some fundraising for shelters. The big one I remember was there was a queer bookstore somewhere in Lower Manhattan that we fundraised for, I forget the name of it, it was Blue something. But shelters, support groups, charities, queer bookstores, that sort of stuff. I don't remember the names of them off the top of my head.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1394.0,1486.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Might it have been Bluestockings?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1486.0,1488.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yes, that sounds right. That sounds right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1488.0,1496.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: To jump back to what you were saying before, it sounded like even in the midst of this transitional moment between meeting what the club's needs were, it sounded like there was a lot of dialogue happening, that there were a lot of conversations occurring, even if not necessarily organizing in the quote-unquote \"typical\" sense of the word. Do you have strong memories of what it is that you felt that you learned by being in conversation with people in GLASA?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1496.0,1541.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: What is it that I felt I learned through conversations with people in GLASA? I guess a lot of things, a lot of things. If I had to summarize it though, I would say that the biggest thing I learned is that members of the LGBT community are just as diverse as, essentially, the non-LGBT community in every which way imaginable. They have different ideas on a lot of things. You can have five gay men and ask them what it means to be gay or what does gayness mean to you, and you'll get five different answers. Some of them view it as an extremely important, central part of their identity. Others are just kind of like, \"No, it's who I am, but really it doesn't have anything to do with who I am. It's just something that is incidental to my personality.\" And this can sometimes lead to a lot of camaraderie, bonding, but this can also lead to a lot of tension where people—and this happens I think to non-LGBT people as well, where you associate yourself as part of a group, but then you kind of learn these nuances of other people who are in the same group. And sometimes that can create conflict where you don't necessarily think that they are responding to a situation appropriately. Sometimes it creates harmony where like, \"Oh, this is great. Even if we disagree, we can do multiple things.\"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1541.0,1652.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: I would say that's the biggest thing I learned, is that members of the LGBT community are very, very, very diverse. But aside from that, I also learned that—I don't know the right way to say this. I don't know if empathize is the right word, but through going through talking to people about their coming out experiences or people who hadn't come out yet, or through listening to them talk on events like the Day of Broken Silence or any of those kind of more public podium events that we held, I guess I just realized a lot of members in this community just have such heartbreaking stories to tell. And I guess that's my biggest takeaway is that no matter what, they've got this shared identity that gives them the community, but also they've kind of got the shared suffering as well. And that's really—sorry. That's kind of a downer. I'm sorry.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1652.0,1736.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: No, no. I think that you touch on a significant serious point that the pain of our experiences also informs us. I think that's true for anyone.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1736.0,1754.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1754.0,1754.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: I'm going to hard pivot us a little bit in conversation just because when you were talking before about, it sounds like you were on campus more than 12 hours a day some days. So it sounds like you were there a lot. Were there clubs other than GLASA that you got involved with?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1754.0,1782.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: No. No, not really. No. I tried a couple of times to make friends with some of the students at the Sci-fi/Anime club, but I don't know, I felt like their interests were not really the same as mine. They were interested in Super Smash Brothers or Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I was kind of like, \"Okay, I don't really like either of those things, but I'd be willing to hang out with you guys.\" But it was very kind of a hard group to break into if you weren't into Tekken, right? Or any of the other specific games that they played. And it didn't help that they were just such a huge club. There were like hundreds of members. It was gigantic. They were the biggest club on campus by a factor of five. It was huge. No, I didn't really get involved with any other clubs besides GLASA.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1782.0,1844.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: What was it about GLASA that made it feel special or comfortable, then?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1844.0,1850.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Just how welcoming everyone was. I didn't feel like I needed to change anything about myself in order to be accepted there, which is not what I got from, for example, the Indian Club. Because ethnically I am Indian, even though I was born and raised in New York, but it felt like they had such a strong kind of cultural connection to their roots, and I didn't. And as a result, I felt like I couldn't have a conversation with them. Same with the Guyanese Student Association. I wasn't born and raised in Guyana. A lot of them were, or they grew up with the Guyanese culture in New York. I was raised in South Jamaica. There was no other Guyanese people there besides me and my dad, my mom, and my sister. So I didn't grow up in a Guyanese environment. I didn't grow up in an Indian environment, so I couldn't relate to other members of my ethnic groups because I didn't have their shared kind of cultural history, and I wasn't in touch with my roots at all. There weren't really a lot of other interest groups that had any sort of overlap with things I was interested in. So I kind of put off student life for a lot, but then when I was interested in GLASA, I was kind of like, \"Well, I don't need to be interested in anything. I don't need to be good in anything. I don't need to be Indian or Guyanese or American. I can just kind of be me.\" And that felt really good.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1850.0,1939.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: That's so cool. Especially as it happened a few years into you having already been at Queens College, right?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1939.0,1948.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yes. Yeah. In fact, I didn't actually join GLASA until the first year of my master's degree.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1948.0,1953.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Wow.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1953.0,1955.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1955.0,1958.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: So obviously, you're in GLASA, inevitably, you're going to end up spending a lot of time with JC who was the advisor of the group, who I know that you continue to have a close relationship with. Can you tell me a little bit how that relationship has evolved over time?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1958.0,1980.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yeah. I mean, the first thing I want to say is that JC is such a sweetheart. I love them to death. I love them to death because for me, at least, the reason I enjoy spending time with JC so much is because I know that they have—A lot of the most difficult aspects of my personality to express, they are so welcoming and understanding and nonjudgmental. So my relationship with JC grew because, I mean, well, the last year I was in the club, which I think was 2014, I was the treasurer. Which meant inevitably I would go back and forth between administrators. JC, as our advisor, the people on the third floor in charge of funding and space reservations, that sort of stuff.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=1980.0,2041.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And so I started to get to know JC just through going to their office probably once a week, twice a week. And I guess eventually they kind of realized I was maybe slightly more responsible. So they asked me to, they were doing this thing for a while where they would kind of proctor the law school admission test, the LSAT, and the, what is it? The MPRE. The Multi-State Professional Responsibility exam, which is just what they call the ethics test for being a lawyer. And they needed extra bodies. They needed people to proctor the exams to help count them and all that sort of stuff. So they asked me if I'd be interested in doing this weekend gig where I made a hundred bucks essentially for proctoring a test for two hours. And I was like, \"Yeah, okay. I'm poor. Why not?\" And so that kind of fostered our outside-of-school relationship. Then from there, we'd start going out to get lunch.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2041.0,2106.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And then I think one time what finally did it was JC invited me over to their house for, I think Thanksgiving or something. And that was what finally brought us past the edge of professional relationship into personal relationship where I think now we are at more or less to this day. And through that we kind of learned a lot of things about each other. We learned that their birthday is only a week after mine, I think. So we kind of bonded over that because they're really big into astrology. I'm not, but I'm okay with that. And we realized that, like I said, we kind of have these aspects of our personality where we might find it difficult to express with other people, but because we both kind of realize, \"Oh, they're the same way. I can express that around them.\" For me, it's specifically, I know very few of my friends understand this, but the ones that do, that's how—these are the close friends that I keep.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2106.0,2174.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: I am relatively introverted. I like going out and having a good time going to parties, but after I do, I need a whole day or sometimes even a whole week to myself, just to kind of recharge and just kind of ignore my phone and go no contact with anybody else in my life. And a lot of people tend to get really upset about that when you start ignoring them for a week or two weeks at a time. They think you dislike them or you've got a grudge, but it's just kind of like, \"No, I just need some time to myself. I just got done doing hanging out and going to parties for a whole weekend. I just need a week to not talk to anybody.\" And JC has been really accepting about that. And there have been times where I won't talk to them for 3, 4, 5, 6 months, and then we can just pick back up exactly where we left off. And I really appreciate that. And it's because I'm so comfortable with JC that I know that they won't judge me for stuff like that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2174.0,2238.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And I appreciate how forthright JC is, right? They're very no nonsense, tough love, I think is the word, best word to describe it. Yeah, they'll take care of you, but after a certain point, they're going to just tell you straight up, \"No, you gotta stop being stupid. Get your shit together.\" And I love that. I absolutely love that about them. So yeah, I think that's a good kind of trajectory summary of how my relationship with JC has grown over the years.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2238.0,2272.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: It sounds like taking that role as the treasurer sort of ended up proving to be a turning point in some ways. What drew you to that position in the first place?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2272.0,2286.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: I was a math major and just nobody else was running that year. I was just like, \"I can't let the position go empty. That's ridiculous. I don't want to do it because I don't want to be sitting down talking, looking at spreadsheets and sending emails five times a week. But if nobody else is running, then somebody has to do it.\" My entire speech when it was on the day of elections was literally just like, \"I'm a math major, I work with numbers.\" That's really it. But nobody else was running, so it wasn't really an election. So I guess I kind of just defaulted into it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2286.0,2333.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: And then as you were moving through that role, you talked before about how a lot of that position is interfacing with admin, did seeing that different side of things—I guess, how did that influence your understanding of GLASA, of Queens College, of your experience?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2333.0,2362.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: That's interesting. [pause] Sorry, just a little bit of gas. I had a soda for lunch. The admin at Queens College, at least, I don't know if this is true for every college or every CUNY or what. The admin at Queens College I learned are, I don't think petty is the right word, but there's a lot of infighting where they feel like other admin, and it's not just—it's all of them. They feel like all of their toes are being stepped on or people aren't giving them their due respect or people are trying to go over their heads or there's a lot of stuff. And we kind of saw a little bit of that just as members of the LGBT Club. I remember there was one year, I forget her name, but JC hated this woman, and I later understood why after this incident. She wanted to do an event. She wanted to do an event where she brought a celebrity to the campus, a specific celebrity, I can't remember who it was.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2362.0,2447.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So even though their celebrity status had nothing to do with them being a member of the queer community, they happened to be queer. So she came to us and asked us, \"Hey, can you pitch this event and get the co-sponsorship?\" And blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And we were kind of like, \"Oh, we don't want to do that because it's not one of the events we had budgeted out this year. We have this budget. We planned out our events at the beginning of the year in September. We planned $600 for this, $1,500 for that,\" blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, \"Now it's the middle of the year and you have this idea and it would look good for you and your resume, but it would completely screw us over. We'd have to reorganize our entire schedule and figure it [out].\" So we just told her, no, we can't do that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2447.0,2500.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: When JC heard this, JC was pissed because they were like, \"That's not her place. She's not supposed to be coming up with events and then asking you to do it for her afterwards. No, she's supposed to be—you're the one[s] guiding it from the beginning. She can't come up with a whole thing and then ask you, 'Can you do this for me?' That's messed up.\" I don't remember her name. But after that incident, I was kind of like, yeah, okay. I get where JC was coming from. They're right. Administration shouldn't be pushing these things on us, especially not when they're in positions of authority where she was the one who had the final say over our budget. She had to sign off on all of our bigger events, like anything over $300 or something like that. So it was this kind of misbalanced relationship where I felt as treasurer, I can't afford to say no to her because she's the one who's signing all our paperwork, but I don't want to do this event because it's going to screw up my life. There was a lot of stupid stuff like that where just admin had problems with other administrators and they were arguing or asking people to do wrong things that I had never experienced before taking on that role.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2500.0,2585.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: So what were the events that you remember, I guess those bigger $300 plus events that you mentioned, do you remember what some of the events were that year that the club really did decide, this is a priority, we want to make sure that this happens? And then how did you portion out the budget for those things? How did you figure the money side of that out?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2585.0,2618.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yeah, we had a few really memorable events that year. We had an open mic fundraiser, which was a fun time, and it was a combination bake sale. So we had members of the club bringing in cookies and lemon bars and all that sort of stuff. And it was just a fun open mic night. We had, I think one game night, it was just kind of an excuse to hang out and play Nintendo 64 and silly fun party games like Taboo and that sort of stuff. And these were all open to members of the general campus. We had a few dialogue events, which I think were really powerful, some organized by members of our own club, some organized by members of the e-board.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2618.0,2671.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: We had one dialogue event that was just kind of like—and this brought in a couple of new members, which was nice about it—where it was just kind of talking about, and this is kind of a fun intersectional thing, where they talked about the intersection between being queer and being an engineer. And that was a really fun one because they talked about—[There was] the person who pitched the idea. And eventually we were like, \"Yeah, okay, well, let's schedule out a time. We'll do it October 5th,\" or whatever the date was. And it ended up being a really fun event. They talked about how you can't design for a one-size-fits-all solution. Your design needs to be modular and adjustable, and how this has a lot of overlap with the dialogue in the LGBT community. And it was just a really fun event, even though it was just essentially a dialogue panel. It was just fun to see this philosophy applying in other spaces other than traditionally queer spaces.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2671.0,2730.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: I personally helped pitch and organize an event—and this was very much self-serving because I was a math major, computer science major—called Codebreakers, which was designed at its root to kind of celebrate and remember the life of Alan Turing, a great British mathematician who lived and died during the war [note by interviewer: Turing worked for the United Kingdom's Government Code and Cypher School during World War II, and died of presumed suicide in 1954]. Since then, he's had movies about him and all this sort of stuff. But for me it was like, well, here's another example of the intersection between queer life and spaces that might not be traditionally considered queer spaces, in this case, computer science and math.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2730.0,2768.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And when I read the story of Alan Turing years before when I was an undergrad, it broke my heart just to see this brilliant man who more or less kind of saved the world from destruction, was still persecuted because of his sexual orientation and kind of forced into taking hormones and eventually took his own life. That just absolutely broke my heart. And I thought, my God, that's not the right way to remember somebody at all. So even if I can only do some small thing on campus to honor his memory, I want to do that. [It was a] campus-wide scavenger hunt where people had to go and look for clues and then decipher a thing. And it was fun. It was a fun time.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2768.0,2817.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: In retrospect, I think I made the clues a little too hard because after the hour and a half that we allocated for it, everybody came back and they were like, I only found three clues and I couldn't figure anything out. I was like, \"Ah, shit, maybe I should have tested this better.\" But I tried really hard. I asked all my friends, so I gave them the clues and I was like, go around campus and find this. And they were all able to do it. I was like, \"Well, maybe I should have—\" I don't know. That's neither here nor there. But yeah, we had a lot of fun events like that, just intersectional events between the LGBT space and other spaces.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2817.0,2850.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: We had another event called Speed Relating, which we stole from Sam Nathanson. Sam Nathanson did it first the year before us. And it was just a way of speed dating, just making new friends, but with not as any sort of romantic implications, just making new friends. And we brought a few people into the club that way too. We got three or four new members after that event because they were just kind of walking by and they saw people just kind of sitting and having two minute conversations and they were like, okay, I want to join in. And that was fun.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2850.0,2886.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And then we had the big events that were mainstays for I think three years. And a couple of people were upset by this because—So the Prom and the Olympics were two big, big, big mainstays. A couple of people were upset by this because when the Prom and the Olympics were first pitched in 2013, they were never intended to be annual events. And the Drag Show fundraiser. They were never intended to be annual events. And these were our three big events. These three chunk—probably took up 70% of the budget by themselves. So a couple of people were like, \"Yeah, I was in the club when we came up with these events, when we came up with these ideas. And we were so excited because they were these brand new events that we hadn't done before, and they were big and expensive and they were really flashy, and we got a lot of new people, and we raised a lot of awareness. We raised a lot of money, but we never expected to do them every year. We were kind of hoping that in future years we would do things that were equally ambitious but not the same event.\" And part of that is because they were so big and expensive and flashy that because they were so big, they were popular, and because they were popular, people wanted to do them again. And once you do it twice, you got to do it a third time and then a fourth time. So it's kind of like, it's a circular reasoning. They were big, therefore they were popular, so you really gotta do them again. But they weren't intended to be annual events, but they were big.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2886.0,2986.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Very cool. I'd love to turn back to the Codebreakers events. It sounds like you had a huge hand in that, and that sounds like such a unique event. What was the sort of structure of that? What actually did you do that day?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=2986.0,3006.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So yeah, I was very involved with that, and it was my idea right from the get-go. I designed the poster, the flyer that we hung around campus. I did a general call for flyers for other members of the club. There were a few people in the club who were kind of budding and aspiring designers. And I was like, okay, yeah. We had that workflow with anytime we needed a design, whether it was for a flyer or for an event, when we designed our T-shirts, when we did the club logo. We just always asked members of the club to come up with stuff. We'd come up with four or five ideas, we'd take a vote on it during group meeting, that's how it always went. And that was nice. But the Codebreakers event, that was my event. I ended up designing the flyer that won the final vote, which was coincidental. It wasn't like I just told people, \"No, this is my flyer and we're doing this!\"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3006.0,3073.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: The structure of the event itself. So after designing the flyer, my next step was to think about what I wanted. So I knew it had to be some kind of deciphering of some kind of code. So my original idea—not my original idea, I can't remember how many iterations I went through—But what I finally ended up on was I would essentially break people up into teams of three to four people, and there would be three or four different lists of clues. And these clues were all around the far edges of campus. And they would be very vague. So for example, there's a rock right outside of the Student Union that has a commemorative plaque on it, I think for Walt Whitman. And one of the clues would say something like, \"Go to the Walt Whitman Rock, and then what is the 23rd letter on the fourth sentence?\" Or something like that. And then they'd have to write that down, and that's their clue. And then there would be a bunch of these all over campus. They'd have to go to the library and look on the fifth floor or something stupid, or they'd have to go to the gym and go down to the bathroom or something stupid.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3073.0,3153.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/80","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And whenever I didn't have a clue, I would make one. So I grabbed a bunch of stickers from the dollar store and I would hide them. I would write just a clue on them, like letter K or something. And I'd hide them in very, very hard to spot places. And this is one place where being tall has an advantage. You can really get things out of the way. I'm six foot three, if you're not aware. The one I remember was in the elevator in the southeast corner of the science building. I took a sticker and I wrote 7- C or something on it, and I stuck it way in the top corner of the elevator where nobody would ever see it. And for those clues, I'd try to be more straightforward. I was like, just go to the elevator in the science building and look around. But even so, I'd have people coming back saying, I didn't see anything in the elevator. There's nothing there. I would go and check later, and I'm like, \"Oh, well, nobody took it down. They just didn't look hard enough. So it's not my fault.\"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3153.0,3225.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/81","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So it was supposed to be an hour and a half of them kind of hunting all over campus to look for these clues. Then at the end of an hour and a half, the first team that would come back with all of their clues and unscramble their thing at the end, because they were all letters, would win a prize. And the prize I think was some water bottles and key chains or something. But the more important part of the event for me was engaging in this activity. So that was the general structure of it. But I think I may have made the clues either too hard to decipher or too hard to find because I think the first place team just ended up finding five out of the twelve clues and they couldn't even find the rest of them.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3225.0,3273.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/82","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And this frustrated me because I actually put a lot of time and effort into this event after I came up with the clues—because I was on campus 20 hours a day, practically, maybe 16 hours most days actually—but I would ask my friends who weren't participating in the event or were members of other clubs or just other people I knew who weren't in GLASA, like, \"Hey, here's a list of clues. Can you go around campus and time how long it takes you to find them all?\" And I did this repeatedly. I iterated on it until the clues were easy enough to find within an hour to an hour and a half. So I knew before I did the event, I tested it four or five, six times, and I went through and I was like, \"Okay, that's too hard to find. I got to make it easier. That one's too easy. I gotta make it harder.\" And I switched things around a lot. But even so, it didn't work out as planned. And I think what I forgot to account for was the fact that when you're working with a group of people, it is inevitably slower than working as an individual on certain tasks. Certain mental things I think [are] easier, like when you're designing a poster or doing a group presentation. I think that can be easier and faster. But when you're physically moving around a campus, I think it tends to be a lot slower in a group compared to an individual. And I don't think I accounted for that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3273.0,3358.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/83","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So it frustrated me a little bit that it didn't work out as planned. But I do think it was still relatively successful just because we did have quite a few non-members participate in this. I think, in fact, only, of the 20-odd people that participated in the event, I think only a dozen of them or so were from the club itself. I think we had maybe six or seven non-members, who didn't necessarily join the club afterwards, but would pop in every now and then. I'd be like, \"Hey, I remember you from that event,\" and they would hang out for a little bit. So that was fun. But yeah, that was probably my big event that I helped organize from beginning to end, and I really ran with it. And I think I would do it better if I did it again. But that's neither here nor there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3358.0,3408.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/84","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Sounds like it was a success in the moment, even if not all the clues were found.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3408.0,3414.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/85","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: Yeah. Yeah. I wonder how many of the stickers that I put on elevators or in the back of posters and stuff are still there. [laughs]","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3414.0,3424.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/86","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Yeah. So since graduating from Queens College, first off, what have you been up to and how have you felt GLASA's impact in your life? How has it continued to inform where you're at now?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3424.0,3448.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/87","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So first part, immediately after graduating, I started making moves towards becoming a teacher. I worked in an after-school program for a couple of years. I worked as a private tutor for a couple of years while working towards my teacher certification. Then I was a high school, middle school/high school teacher for about six years, which ended in 2021. 2021, I think, was my last year of teaching. Then I applied to the PhD program at UCR [University of California Riverside], and that's where I've been since then.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3448.0,3489.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/88","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: I would say to answer the second part of the question, I think it kind of informs the first part of the question, so maybe I should have done that backwards, but how has my experience at GLASA shaped or influenced what I've done since then? I think in a lot of ways, the first and most obvious is just making me more socially aware, more emotionally aware of possible struggles that people have, even if it's not obvious. And I think this really helped me a lot when I was a teacher. And it continues to this day, just this kind of unspoken subconscious empathy that I think I really, I wouldn't say developed, but fostered. Because I would have students that, I hate to say this, but I had students who were very gay presenting but didn't want to come out with it. And it's like I kind of have to recognize that, well, that's not my space. I'm not here to say anything. But what I can do is just try to create a personal, I guess, appearance? Not necessarily the right word, but just to let, even if I'm not targeting them specifically, I wanted to be the kind of teacher that students could come talk to about anything that was bothering them. Whether it had to do with their sexuality, whether it had to do with problems that they were having at home with their mom and dad, whether it had to do with anything that they were going through with their big sister, big brother, anything like that, their friends who were picking on them on the playground.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3489.0,3606.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/89","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: I think GLASA played a big part in helping me learn the right and wrong ways to do that. It's not my place to force people to be open with anything, but what I can do is try to model good behavior, both actively and explicitly. Some kid picks on another kid and says, \"Oh, your mom's gay.\" I would've had no idea how to have those kinds of conversations if it wasn't for GLASA, the right and wrong way. It's not just as simple as saying like, \"Hey, you can't say that.\" There needs to be more to it than that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3606.0,3649.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/90","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: But there also needs to be a time and a place. I can't stop in the middle of a lesson and address that. But creating space during lunch or after school and that sort of stuff, to have these kinds of conversations, I think is important. And knowing the right way to have these conversations is important. And since then, it's very much the same way now. Looking, noticing when people might be struggling to say things and not necessarily asking them about it, but just trying to be the kind of person that is able to be talked to, if that makes sense.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3649.0,3693.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/91","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: I feel like that's so important in a teacher as a figure to be able to have that. Do you feel that in the time span since you first joined GLASA, do you feel like the dialogue or the cultural, I guess, awareness, conversations around LGBTQ people, how do you feel that those have shifted in that span of time? Or have they shifted at all?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3693.0,3724.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/92","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: I think it's constantly shifting. I think it's constantly shifting both in good and bad ways. It's been four years, but are we ever not going to be upset about President Donald Trump? I mean, he shifted the kind of discussion in our country in so many ways that, many, I'm not going to say all, but many are negative. You know, I almost cried earlier today because I was thinking about—I don't know if you remember or if you knew him. When I was a member of the club, we had a member named Miguel, I forget his last name. And he was such a sweet, sweet, sweet guy. He was so sweet and loving and caring, and he always made you feel special and he always made you feel seen. And he always took the time to listen to you. And he had such a beautiful voice. He had this deep soothing baritone, and he was such a beautiful man. And he disappeared for a long while. We didn't see him. He was commuting from the Bronx, so we get it. Maybe he took a semester off. And he was a bit older. He was older than me even, right? I was 25 at the time, and I think he would've been 30, 31.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3724.0,3816.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/93","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So he was coming back to school. So it was possible he took a semester off. We'd see him a few times a year. And then in 2021 I got a text from an old friend of mine that I still keep in touch with. He said he saw on Facebook that Miguel had gone missing. And we were just kind of like, we don't know what to do with this information. We hope he's okay. We hope nothing serious has happened, but maybe he's, just took a vacation. I don't know. And then a month later we saw a headline that Miguel and his boyfriend had been found dead. And that really kind of shook us really hard.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3816.0,3875.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/94","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: It still does. It's frightening. It's frightening because it was in New York, right? It's not like this was Kentucky. It—like, what the hell? This doesn't make sense. I'm sorry. So I don't know. I guess that's my way of saying that I don't know that the conversation has shifted for the better. It's frightening. I don't understand it sometimes. To me it's obvious. To me, it's obvious that you respect people, they respect you. But there's just been, I think, a big kind of backlash against that kind of obvious, common-sense logic. And I think a lot of my personal take is that a lot of that is fueled by this right-wing dialogue that has been fostered by our former president, where suddenly all the insane bigots think it's okay, and that their viewpoints may be justified. And like, okay, fine. I'm not going to fight them because I just don't do that. But I can't look at these actions and think anything else but, \"This is messed up.\" And in many ways, I think the dialogue is regressing. To answer your question, this is such a roundabout way of saying that. I'm sorry about that, but that's my final take on this. I think the dialogue in many ways is regressing, especially in the most recent two or three years. And it feels like a lot of hard-fought ground is being lost.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3875.0,3990.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/95","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Well, in terms of how we respond, how we react to that increased comfortability, the bigger comfort with bigotry, or the regression of that dialogue, in terms of how we address that, how we combat that on campus, do you have any recommendations or what you would say to a queer student at Queens College who has just arrived and was trying to find themself in 2024?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=3990.0,4050.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/96","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: That's always a tough one, right? Because what can you tell a young person who is, and possibly has been, struggling with these sorts of issues for years that doesn't just sound like a platitude, right? It's easy to say things like, \"Just accept yourself,\" or \"Just don't be afraid of expressing who you are,\" or things like that. But I mean, at this point, those have become a cliche. So they kind of go in one ear and out the other. And I can't even say something like, \"It gets better,\" because I don't know. For some people it gets better. For some people it gets worse, so that's not fair.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=4050.0,4106.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/97","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And some people have a support group, some people don't. Some people have parents who [accept them], some people don't. Some people have family who accept them, some people don't. Some people don't even know that they might be queer. Shoot, I've known people who didn't discover their queer identity until they were 50+ years old. So I don't know. What would I say to a new queer student at Queens College, somebody who might be new to the school, who's trying to find themselves in 2024? I think just expose yourself to the community. Whether or not you come out or not, doesn't matter. Just be willing to be in that space and see what they're about. And then from there, kind of lean on shared experiences and build up a network of people who might be able to guide you, to navigate some parts of your life. That might be difficult. But I think at the end of the day, it just comes down to exposing yourself to the community. Whether or not you want to do so publicly, privately, whether you want to be vulnerable with them, whether you want to be a clamshell, and just literally kind of be there. It's just important to know what the community is like and be willing to be guided by them.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=4106.0,4215.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/98","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: So I think that's what I would say. Just expose yourself to the community.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=4215.0,4220.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/99","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Yeah, I think that's so wise. I think the lesson that we take care of each other, we take care of our own, is something that you can only learn by getting exposed to it, by being willing to take that chance.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=4220.0,4243.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/100","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Devin Singh: And what's nice about that is when you kind of get in touch with this community, you also tap into all these years of generational knowledge. And you can take the good, leave the bad, because a lot of things in the queer community have changed so much since Stonewall. Right? And a lot of people have changed. A lot of people haven't changed. But the important thing is that you kind of have this generational knowledge and you can do with it [what is best for you].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=4243.0,4279.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201/transcript/67615/annotation/101","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dani Stompor: Awesome. So wise. Thank you, Devin.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/104/collection_resources/129316/file/242201#t=4279.0,4290.408"}]}]}]}