Giving a speech wasn’t exactly on my to-do list for this year. However…
I go to Spectrum (Lehigh’s LGBTQIA+ group) meetings on a regular basis (Wednesdays at 5:30 if anyone wants to come; it’s open to anyone! You should drop by!), and I frequently visit the Rainbow Room, the center for all things LGBTQIA+. Now, there’s a speaker event going on in April, featuring several speakers from all sorts of diverse backgrounds, which is pretty awesome–and they invited Spectrum to speak at the event too! I actually volunteered to help write and present the speech, which… is simultaneously terrifying and really, REALLY exciting. I’ve never given a speech like this before, ever, so it’ll be a totally new experience. See? Opportunities can pop up even when you least expect them to.
The theme of the event is deconstructing concepts, so Spectrum’s topic will be deconstructing the gender binary. Needless to say, it’s a hefty topic to squash into ten minutes. There’s all sorts of things–different gender systems, intersex conditions, transgender people, the speculated causes of being transgender… of course, if you don’t feel like clicking on all of those links, you could just come and watch the speech! It’s on April 4th in the Linderman Library at 2pm. I’ll also get a copy of the video and upload my own speech, and I’ll be sure to post a link on this blog.
Now, one last thing before I run off. I’ve set up a survey to help with my speech. It isn’t ridiculously long, although there are a lot of open-ended questions. It’s open to anyone, even non-Lehigh students. Anyway, you can put as much or as little as you like! The survey will stay completely anonymous, too. I’ll only be referencing statistics in my speech. Also, if you take the survey, you’ve got the option to be entered into a drawing for a $20 Amazon or PayPal card! I’ll need your email address for the drawing, but your email won’t be associated with your survey responses, so feel free to answer however you like.
Hope everyone is staying safe this week! One more week until spring break. You can do it! (And be sure to take the survey! :D)
First-Year Lehigh Engineers 