[032] NEW STUDENT PUBLICATION RAISES PREVIOUSLY STILLED VOICES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 24, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

NEW STUDENT PUBLICATION RAISES PREVIOUSLY STILLED VOICES
June Anderson Women’s Center Creates Outlet for “Voices We Haven’t Heard”

(MURFREESBORO) – Lines and images of assertion, anger, ennui, yearning, reverie—these are the contents of “Voices We Haven’t Heard,” a new collection of student art and literature compiled by the June Anderson Women’s Center at MTSU.
The inaugural edition is the first of many annual editions to come if Terri Johnson, the center’s director, has anything to say about it.
“I think it’s a wonderful way for students to express themselves in a creative, artistic forum,” says Johnson.
In “Please, Hear Me,” Julie Paige writes, “Hear me/my black man/my brother/my lover/and my friend/I know it has been hard for you/To keep your head held high/When the master is beating you/I know you love me and want to provide for me/And that is why you continue to work so hard/Even though the master continues to beat you.”
Another voice previously unheard, William Meek, states, “You wonder who we are,/And what we may do./You wonder what we say,/And about the things we believe./You ask all these questions,/But you never ask us./What we believe,/Who we are./We believe in rights./We live for other, too./We want you to be happy./We live to love for you” in “This Is What a Feminist Looks Like.”
The works between the beige covers serve as the students’ rebuttal to the racism, sexism, harassment, and homophobia they see in the world around them, both on-campus and off-campus.
Sometimes independence is message enough. In “In the Morning,” Stacie Wanamaker writes, “Don’t thrust a mirror in my face/Don’t tell me I need to find myself/I know what I want and it’s to be away from here/Away from everything I’ve known, Away from everything I’ve grown up near/It’s driving me insane to be, to not be me/I think you’d understand if you took the time to see.”
Johnson says she already has had tremendous feedback from parents and prospective students at CUSTOMS and elsewhere. She adds she has heard remarkable interest from those who wish to contribute to the next edition.
Free copies of “Voices We Haven’t Heard” are available from the June Anderson Women’s Center. For more information, contact the center at 615-898-2193 or jawc@mtsu.edu.