(More Than) Grrrl Power! Girls Studies at UCF

Hello everyone! My name is Kailannie Feliciano and I'm currently a senior graduating in the spring. It feels great to have almost completed this significant chapter in my life and that I'm inching towards an exciting future. I'm an Interdiscipinary Studies major with a focus in Mass Communication and Humanities. I hope to someday work for a music-based magazine. I have an immense love and passion for music. I love anything and everything from smooth jazz to hip hop. I would consider myself to be a very multifaceted individual; there are so many aspects and dimensions to my personality that I tend to throw people off. I'm a city girl who can fall asleep to the sounds of Manhattan traffic and subways, yet I still enjoy the peacefulness of a log cabin in the winter. I love incredibly fast cars but I'm too scared to get behind the wheel of anything that looks like it should be in The Fast and the Furious . I love long drives bu...

Calling all feminists! What I’ve learned so far in my college career is that anyone in the world of academia possessing significant intelligence recognizes feminism as a progressive and necessary belief/study because of feminism’s insightful and accurate examination of the human condition. Therefore, examining girl’s lives is indispensable to a sound feminist education. That said, my name is Marina and this is my final year as an undergraduate at UCF. Communications is my major and a passion. I also enjoy surrounding myself with encouraging and laid-back males and strong-willed and accepting women, being near, in, or around the ocean, and learning about different ways of living; which I am hoping to be exposed to in this class, especially stories and recollections of girlhood! Sittenfield’s intense and abrupt description of the female experience is wholly her own but seems to resonate with sincere anxieties that are unfortunately familiar to the vast majority of girls. She...

Hello all! My name is Amanda Fortier and I am graduating at the end of this semester. I am very excited to almost be done with my bachelor’s degree and am ready to take a semester off before starting graduate school. I majored in International Relations, minored in Communications, and will also receive a certificate in Women’s Studies. I can proudly say I loved every class that I’ve taken at UCF; I truly found subjects that I loved. My only challenge now is finding a job that I can love just as much. After my internship in Political Science, I decided I will not be using my degree in the way that I had planned on for close to 3 years. I dreamed of being a lobbyist, and I knew going into it that I would need to make deals with the devil. What I didn’t realize is often those deals would hurt those I want so desperately to help. I’ve decided to switch my focus and go to graduate school for Non-profit management. In the words of Douglas Adams, “I may not have gone whe...

I'm exposed and it's no big suprise. My name is Morganne Gelinas. I am a sister-girl. A lover girl. A daughter, friend, poet, pianist, painter. I’m the maniac girl, the true g girl, the girl next door. I’m the anxious girl, the obsessive girl, the insecure girl. The girl who is a feminist. I’m the girl who loves green leaves, who abandons life to read a book, practice the piano, write a poem. I am the girl drinking too much whiskey and making a fool of herself at a karaoke bar with her girlfriends. I’m the classy girl who loves coconut gelato, expensive cheese, red wine. I’m the serene girl who loves yoga, the energetic girl who loves dancing, raving, raging. At the same time I’m the tired girl who loves napping, writing, listening to music, taking baths, making lists. I am a girl who hopes to inspire, awaken, ignite, comfort, teach and entertain other girls through a combination of my artwork, music and writing. In “Your Life as a Girl” I think Sittenfeld manages to effecti...

Hello all! Here are some quick synopses of the books you are assigned to read for class this semester (you are only required to choose one). The project description can be found in your syllabi. Happy reading! :) - Jaime Dear Diary - Dear Diary is a collection of more than ten years of diary entries (based on the hugely popular monthly feature in Vice Magazine) juxtaposed against present-day updates that take us from Lesley Arfin’s middle school years in the early 90s to her clean and sober twentysomething years in New York City. When she wrote about Cynthia Karacas (it’s funny how you remember everyone’s first and last name like that) making her feel "retarded" back in 10th grade, the world was a dark, lonely place and she could see no light at the end of the tunnel. When she discovered heroin, things got even worse. Today, with the perspective that only rock bottom can give you, Lesley looks back on the apocalypse that was adolescence and asks, "What the hell was I tal...

My name is Marci and this is my last semester here at UCF. I am an Interdisciplinary Studies Major and minor in Political Science. I love people! I love to help people and feel like I am making a difference. I hope to continue my education and get a M.A. in International Relations, and make the world a better place. I truly believe that you must be the change you wish to see in the world! I have previously taken two Women’s Studies courses: Introduction to Women’s Studies and Third Wave Feminism. Both of these courses opened my eyes to a world unknown and have given me strength I did not even realize I possessed. I am taking this course to fulfill my requirement for Humanities as well as broaden my education in Women’s Studies. I greatly enjoyed my two previous courses and expect the same will be said about this one. I believe that Sittenfeld effectively captures girlhood for the most part. I could not personally relate to her story in the sense that I was never the girl wh...

Hello everyone! My name is Jaime Frank, and I will be your TA for Grrrls Studies this semester. I am a senior Women's Studies major here at UCF, and hope to go on to either be a professor or a middle school guidance counselor, so this class is especially close to my heart. I was lucky enough to be in the first class when it was offered, and I am so excited for you all to experience it as well. You are going to have a chance to read some amazing pieces and theory, watch some fantastic grrrl films, and learn from each other's insight and blog postings, so please make sure to stay active in the class - I promise you, the more active you are, the more you will gain from the work and your classmates. On your syllabus you will see that you have to complete a book review and film project this semester. Here are some quick descriptions of the work we strongly recommend you write on, but if you have another grrrl-related idea, please don't hesitate to ask if you can write on that in...

Hello, I’m Lindsey Turnbull, a senior at UCF, double majoring in History and Anthropology. I’m also a facilitator in YWLP, which is the highlight of my week, every week. I love extreme metal music and writing my own zine. I also love my cat, my two gerbils, living alone, travelling (mostly to go to metal shows/fests, haha!) and my ipod, affectionately named Clarence. I have a penchant for trying to get people to admit when they’re wrong on online message boards…needless to say, it’s a total waste of time and usually futile…but, hey, I enjoy it and it’s great for procrastinating. (“Can’t write this essay, I’m getting lookatme22 to admit he’s completely wrong about the situation in Syria!!”) Although not artistically inclined, I like arts and crafts. I am pretty ok at photography though. I hope that this class will help me relate to the problems and issues the YWLP Little Sisters face in order to contribute new ideas to an already great program. Although I did not find my own “gir...