GRADUATION 2020
I share with you today a special moment of celebration and reflection. Your efforts are being acknowledged today because what you have studied in this field matters deeply. Please accept my words of poetry, bad as they may be, as an expression of genuine admiration for the students, like you, who continue to fuel and change us.
Ode to Learning in the Women’s/Gender Studies Community
During those painful first years
Demanding we do more,
for trans students like her, the need was there.
We can do better, she said.
No truer statement could have been shared.
To Julie, who bolted into my office
Eager of the “women’s week” to be.
With lots of time and effort she brought it to a start.
How lovely it was,
With so many faculty and friends in it with all their hearts.
To those fighting rape culture,
Calling out slut shaming, toxic masculinity, and more
Teaching us how to be survivors.
Sharing stories,
painful and awakening, you have made us feel less forlorn.
Our lives changed by your words.
Muslim women, never to be confined,
your voice rings true, with love, always,
Trust that we stand alongside.
To the Meghan’s, the Florencia’s, the Julian’s of this world.
I am without proper expressions.
From making in-roads with preferred names
and gender-neutral bathrooms now in session,
You help to build and build and build a better place.
You accept panel invites, consult on gender matters.
All of this so we can study together with less fear to face.
Congratulations, may your adventures in Women’s/Gender Studies continue to guide you!
Kim Simard
Opening remarks from
Greta Hofmann Nemiroff
Co-founder of Canadian Women’s Studies
Congratulations from
Alanna Thain
Director, Moving Image Research Laboratory
Associate Professor, Department of English, McGill University
Congratulatory Statement from
Shree Mulay
Professor in Community Health and Humanities, Memorial University Faculty of Medicine
Previously Director of the McGill Centre for Research + Teaching on Women
A few words from
Kim Simard
Coordinator of Women’s/Gender Studies
Faculty, Department of Cinema-Communications, Dawson College
