On Campus

Human rights activist

Laura Hershey, a veteran activist and organizer in the struggle for human rights, with an emphasis on disability, gender and sexual orientation, will speak on "Help and Power: My Story of Becoming Independent" at 1 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Jewish Studies Center on Wentworth Street.

The event is free and will include audience interaction. It will be accessible to people with mobility disabilities, and sign language interpreters will be provided.

A lifelong resident of Colorado, Hershey is one of the pioneers of the online disability movement and, through her writings, poetry, presentations and commentaries, is the leading voice in the nation on the intersection of gender, sexuality and disabilities.

Through her work and through her life, Hershey challenges fundamental assumptions about such concepts as independence and difference.

Local attorney and disability rights activist and author Harriet McBryde Johnson has worked with Hershey for a number of years. "Laura Hershey is a dear friend and movement mentor."

Hershey is the author of "Survival Strategies for Going Abroad: A Guide for People With Disabilities," published by Mobility International USA, which is informed by her own experiences that include travel to China and Kenya, as well as by interviews and research. Hershey's poems have appeared in several journals and anthologies, and she has written articles for publications such as Ms. magazine, the Progressive, Women's Studies Quarterly, Sojourner, the Ragged Edge, POZ, off our backs: the feminist news journal, the Denver Post and New Mobility. She also is a student in the MFA program in Creative Writing at Antioch University in Los Angeles.

Hershey's visit is sponsored by the College of Charleston's Center for Cultural Diversity and is part of Communities Connecting for Change.

More information on Communities Connecting for Change and upcoming events can be found online at: www.cofc.edu/~diversity.

Clemente Cabaret

Enjoy a night of entertainment and food Oct. 12 while supporting the Charleston Clemente Course at Trident Technical College, a free college-level humanities course for homeless and disadvantaged people in the Charleston area.

Doors open for the Clemente Cabaret at 5 p.m., and the entertainment begins at 6 p.m. Entertainment will be provided by TTC employees and students, as well as Charleston Clemente Course participants. The cabaret will be held in the College Center (Building 920) on TTC's Main Campus, 7000 Rivers Ave., North Charleston. Tickets are $10.

Funded in part by a grant from The Humanities Council SC, this course is based on the Clemente Course in the Humanities developed in 1995 by author and educator Earl Shorris, who developed the course on the premise that studying great works of art, literature, history and philosophy can spur reflective thinking and give people the tools to gain control of their lives.

TTC's course is the first Clemente course in the state. The course is offered to area disadvantaged people not enrolled in school, in the hope a study of the humanities can offer a way out of poverty through intellectual freedom. Call Dr. Mary Ann Kohli at 720-5713.