Spring 2012 - Clarion University

J
ouRney
to
Feminist
LanD
Carly Masiroff, ‘11
Communication, wgs and speech Minors
Eye-opening, panic-striking, awe-inspiring and lifechanging
are descriptions that come to mind when I think about
college. Those four years, mainly time spent in the WGS Program,
changed and shaped me into a woman I never imagined I could
be. Before college, I was a privileged and sheltered teenager who
shuddered at the words “feminist” or “vagina.” I came from a middle
class family where my only concern was my wardrobe. My friends
were exactly like me.
Clarion University was not my first choice, so I was in a
state of disarray from the beginning. I started having panic and
anxiety issues about being away from home. I was also trying to
mesh my “worry-free” high school persona with what I thought at the
time would be my adult, “worry-free” lifestyle. My parents were not
watching over me anymore; I could do what I wanted. Wrong. I
fell into the partying crowd in order to make friends, and after a few
weeks, my grades suffered. I always earned good grades and had
friends. Why couldn’t I do that in college I started to think maybe
Clarion wasn’t for me.
I decided to check in at the advising center before I
transferred out. In walked this woman, dressed in a flowing skirt,
hands jumbling multiple folders and papers. She put all her stuff
down, whipped around and said, “Hi, I’m Dr. Deborah Burghardt,
but you can call me Dr. Deb.” I remember how she looked at me
that day and asked, “Why are you wasting your life in a major you
clearly don’t want”
In hindsight, she took charge, which was something
I needed. She told me I would take her husband’s General
Psychology course and her WGS course. “I don’t think there is
any gender bias in the world,” I thought at the time. “This woman
must be out of her mind.” But at that point, I had to try something,
anything. The next day, I switched my major from education to
communications.
From then on, I started looking for friends with similar
interests. I began taking classes that intrigued and inspired me,
made me think differently about the world. By changing the way I
was living, both academically and personally, I realized I was taking
an important step. I wasn’t in high school anymore; I was an adult,
officially on my path. I joined extracurricular activities and found my
niche. I loved activism because it enabled me to make positive
changes in the world, right from the small town of Clarion. I felt like I
belonged, that I had a mission to fulfill.
The following year, Dr. Deb hired me as her student
assistant. At the WGS Center, I applied what I was learning in my
communications, WGS and leadership classes to a job that made
me a positive force on campus. Through that knowledge, I also
realized I live in a diverse world and I need a lot more exposure.
Dr. Deb had helped me develop my leadership potential
and encouraged me to be a role model instead of a follower.
Previously, the only race I saw was white. The more I
became involved, the more I began making friends with people
who were different from me in age, race, sexuality, gender and
ethnicity. I grew as a person because of the differences among
us. Valuing diversity made my activism on campus so much more
fulfilling. I conducted programs and events on campus, based on
those ideals.
As co-director of The Vagina Monologues, I was able to
do amazing things. Sophomore year I traveled to New York City
with friend and co-director, Liz Strasbaugh. We saw two Broadway
shows and got to spend an entire day with activist, creator and
author Eve Ensler.
After graduation, I was left with a gnawing hole inside
of me that I couldn’t figure out how to fill. So, I called Dr. Deb. We
discussed the usual (how to change the world) and then she asked,
“What would you think about gathering people to work together to
end violence on campus”
I laughed, “Ha. Ha. Sure, Dr. Deb. Go for it.”
“Carly,” she said, “You have to help! I was on sabbatical
your senior year. We have to make up for lost time.”
First I was put in charge of alumni communications, and
then assigned as co-chair for the Clarion VDay Project. Next came
the co-chair of the PhotoVoice project, and then I volunteered to
act as editor-in-chief of “Our Collective Legacy”. It hurts my head
to think about it; however, I do feel alive again. I am using what I
learned in college to bring people together, form a community and
work to end gender violence on campus.
Sometimes I wonder what might have happened if I hadn’t
gone to that advising center my freshman year. It’s a scary thought.
I feel like my world was black and white before. I didn’t know that
something or someone could take a paintbrush to my life and add
such a variety of colors.
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