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Traditions Tested by Task Force Ruthie Saar, XII This academic year, a DEI committee was formed to reevaluate CSG’s traditions to make them more inclusive. Since the committee is rather new, I decided to ask students taking the DEI course about what traditions they think should be modified. Dr. Nelson, Upper School science teacher and member of the DEI committee, explains that every year, faculty members are asked to choose a “working group” to improve school life. At the end of last year, Dr. Nelson and twenty-five other staff members chose to work on this committee with the goal of “looking at traditions through a DEI lens but also with an eye for anti-racism.” Maya Gonela, XII, suggests, “I think that there should be a land acknowledgement at the beginning of Thanksgiving Program because a lot of our programs at CSG are Euro-centric. Although the program is lighthearted with [PYC] singing, we should incorporate more about indigenous people.” Another addition Maya wants to make is related to her role as the president of the Indian Culture Club: “Faculty members [have] come up to me [and] said there are Indian students that feel underrepre-
sented, and that broke my heart. As the leader of [the] Indian Culture Club, it’s my job to make people feel less alone.” In an effort to make students feel more welcome, Maya pitches the idea that an Asian appreciation assembly should be held. “The main idea would be to make people feel [...] represented in their community.” Kayden Edwards, XII, president of the Beauty of African American Culture Club (BAACC), spoke about the Martin Luther King Jr. Program: “In the past, me and others have felt that [the] MLK Program doesn’t really embody a rich representation of the Black church [...] At a Black church, it’s very lively: there’s dancing, [...] singing, clapping--they’re very interactive. At [the] MLK Program, it’s not very interactive. We’re hoping that this year, BAACC will make it [...] represent MLK and the Black church well.” Kayden encourages people to get up out of their seats rather than sit and listen “because the MLK program this year will have more interactive pieces.” Furthermore, Kayden adds, “People aren’t learning after the program that there are still things that need to be done for the Black community and minorities in general [...] It needs to represent how Black culture has grown.” Inaya Hussain, XII, explains
the problems with “Meditations of the Heart,” CSG’s book of services. She confesses, “I know we’ve used [‘Meditations of the Heart’] for a lot of assemblies. It contains references to multiple religions, but some people are still weirded out that we’re using samples of religious texts.” She suggests that rather than using it to pray, CSG should instead look at the book from a philosophical standpoint, arguing that “looking at different perspectives on life is really interesting.” Finally, Saba Rehan, XII, discusses her opinions on the newlyformed committee. While she likes the idea, she “would like to see more students involved,” and is “concerned about where to draw the line between keeping tradition and changing it completely because [she] thinks some traditions are important but [she doesn’t] want them to be hurtful.” Regarding her own experiences, Saba reminds us about the importance of being an ally: “I think a lot of [advocating for myself] has to do with being an ally [...] Just because you’re an ally, it doesn’t mean you can speak on someone’s behalf. You have to speak from the ‘I’ perspective, and I think that’s something we all have to learn.” While CSG has its work cut out for it, progress seems to be taking place.
ISSUE 2
December 2021
Featured in This Issue: - Mock Trial - The Life of a Foreign Exchange Student - The Scoop on Sage Dining - In the Works: Winter Formal - Insider's Look at Teachers' Wish Lists - VERBATIM
Pride in Personal Pronouns Kiera Rennick, XII In the fall, Silhouette received a question in our Ask-It submission form asking why someone would change their pronouns to they/ them. The editors thought that the best way to approach answering this question was not in an advice column response, but rather with a look into the use of gendered pronouns in the English Language, as well as how they relate to our CSG community. On a very basic level, someone might go by they/them pronouns because they experience gender outside of the binary that is commonly stated and expected within our society. Because we live in a society where the binary of being only male or female and respectively using she/her or he/him pronouns is seen
as the “norm,” some people never question their experience of gender. However, there are some people who do. The biological sex you are born with and the gender you identify with can be very different because gender is generally understood as socially constructed characteristics, norms, and interactions. Some people feel like the binary idea of male or female doesn’t suit them; the experience is something else, and it can be hard to put into words. For some people, this other experience may fall within that binary but on a spectrum, and they may be comfortable using she/ her or he/him pronouns as well, but for others, they may feel like they exist outside that binary, or they don’t have a gender at all. In that case, they also might use they/them pronouns. They also might use what
are known as neopronouns, which are essentially more variations of pronouns that are non-gendered, like ze/zem/zeir, xe/xem/xyr, and others. Having an experience outside of the gender binary is something that has been around throughout history and cultures. In South Asia, for example, there has historically been a presence of a third gender outside of male or female. In 2014, The Supreme Court of India recognized the presence of a third gender in law (See: HERE), and in Iceland, since 2019, a person can legally change their last name to one of non-gendered connotations (See: HERE). There is also strong evidence that the gender binary we now know today in the Americas was something enforced by European colonizers (See: HERE and HERE). In the end, though, pro-
nouns are just words, and they don’t necessarily have to reflect a person’s experience with gender. Cisgender people have also been known to use non-gendered pronouns. If a person who uses they/them pronouns (or any pronouns outside of she/her or he/him, for that matter) seems open to talking about their experience and why they use them, then go ahead and ask (in my experience, I actually enjoy talking to people about my gender!). If they don’t seem open to talking about it, though, then it’s not one’s place to make assumptions. In the end, it’s all about respecting people. At CSG, you may notice more and more people using nongendered pronouns, and this is not some sort of trend that is going to come and go. Because of the active hard work of PRIDE Club and Rain-
bow Alliance and the advocacy and representation they bring to the table, more people now know that nongendered pronouns are an option that is equally valid and fine for all people. More people are using non-gendered pronouns because more people are coming into their own experiences with gender and realizing that how they experience it is not necessarily within that binary. It can be scary, but thinking about how you interact with other people and how you experience your own gender can also be a very powerful personal experience. It is also always fine if what you find is that you are perfectly comfortable with your gender identity as it is. If anyone has more questions, or wants to learn more about the queer experience, PRIDE Club is a wonderful place to do so!