Title: 1 in 4
Topic: Sexual assault, Rape
Available: Friday: 2pm-5pm; Sunday: 1pm-4pm
Description: When you hear sexual assault what is your first response? Come hear the responses and reaction I have heard as a rape survivor and the impact it has had on my view of my rape.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Attitude of a Stranger in a Strange Land.
Topic: Why or Why Not?
Available: Friday: 2pm-5pm
Description: As a new student eight (8) years ago, the best words to describe my initial parochial experiences at Tulane and New Orleans were unequivocally disappointment and frustration. Like other international students and non-native domestic students, settling in a new community and culture can be very daunting and challenging. From day one, I questioned everything; from inconsistent high-humid weather to unsafe neighborhoods, from funny street names to terrible drivers, and to poor condition of roads in the city, and many more. Ultimately, I questioned my choice; why Tulane and New Orleans? Trust me, there were more than enough answers staring at me. After about ten (10) weeks (including a Mardi Gras festival and opportunities to meet several tourists), my attitude changed and I began to ask myself; why not Tulane and New Orleans? I am a product of positive integration at Tulane and New Orleans. Come, hear, and be inspired by my challenges and ingredients of success in a new culture, a great school, and a unique city that is now my proud new home.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Being Black African in America
Topic: Identity, Race, Being American
Available: Friday 2pm-3pm; Sunday 2pm-3pm
Description: If you don't tell your own narrative or your own story, some one else will do it for you.
My aim is to tell my story , to tell people that behind my skin color there's a very complex human being and individual born by hazard in the most western part of Africa ( Senegal), influenced by his western education( French school and education, by his religion ( Islam) which makes me speak French better than most . and read Arabic fluently without ever setting foot in France or in any Arabic speaking country
I am a cultural hybrid, lost in many cultures and identities , and am much more complex than my skin color or my location and origin
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Bittersweet of the life in two suitcases
Topic: International student
Available: Friday: 3pm-4pm; Sunday: 1pm-2pm
Description: As an international student from Vietnam, I have lived 5000 miles apart from my family since I was 17. During last five years in U.S, I have found my second family and great friends. However, every time I move, I need to once again pack all my life in two suitcases. Balancing between two cultures and lives is unforgettable journey with ups and downs, joy and loneliness, and moments that might change me forever.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Don't Call Me Crazy
Topic: Living with Bipolar Disorder
Available: Friday: 3pm-5pm; Sunday: 1pm-4pm
Description: What comes to mind when you think of someone who has bipolar disorder? Maybe words like "crazy" or just plain "other" pop up. While I've had experiences that are abnormal, I am not "other". In fact, most people would never guess I have this disability. Come learn about my journey to my diagnosis, the way I've coped, and how I wrestle with the stigma of being crazy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Don't Forget You Can Swim
Topic: Travel, work, life
Available: Friday: 2pm-5pm; Sunday: 1pm-4pm
Description: After a year on the edge of Leaving Life Behind, I jumped. I left my cushy job, got rid of my dope apartment, bought a car and leapt into an uncertain future exploring the United States.
I exhausted a lot of worries on the idea of jumping, but once I was in the air I remembered I for sure knew how to swim.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: The Journey Home
Topic: Immigrants/Refugee, Exploring Roots, Exploring/Journey to Self/Life
Available: Sunday: 1pm-4pm
Description: As a third generation political refugee, war and persecution has literally plagued my family for the past 70 years. Growing up in New Orleans, I thought I would be the person who could break us out of that pattern. Katrina made me a liar, having the refugee label thrusted upon me twice in my life. However, that defining moment jump-started my journey of self-exploration to find out exactly who I was and what labels and events meant in my life.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Learning on the Road: Overseas Travel and the Non-traditional Student Learning Experience
Topic: Travel
Available: Friday 1pm-3pm; Sunday: 1pm-4pm
Description: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to take courses overseas but didn’t get the chance when you were in college? Think you’re now too old, too busy, too low on funds, etc., to give it a try? Not sure where to start looking for such an opportunity? There are many ways that a non-traditional student may find their way to learn and travel in other countries. The author will discuss her academic experiences, both in both formal language programs and informal, self-guided learning trips to Russia, Ireland, Mexico and Uganda. Planning, researching and budgeting for your adventure will be discussed as well as practical tips on keeping safe and healthy while living and studying abroad
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Living an Openly Gay Life: From College to the AIDS Era to Trump
Topic: Personal and Professional Growth
Available: Friday: 3pm-5pm; Sunday: 1pm-4pm
Description: Coming out to friends in the mid-1970s at a small midwestern liberal arts college wasn’t a nightmare; actually, it increased and solidified my friendships, both male and female, gay and straight, and even with a couple of early transgender pioneers. After living abroad in France and also in San Francisco, my exposure to LGBTQ culture and literature of the time helped shape my understanding of the world. During the early AIDS years, I lost a brother and lover, not to mention scores of friends and acquaintances. My grief and anger led me to join such activist groups as ACT UP and Gay Men’s Health Crisis (founded by Larry Kramer). I went on to be the lead editor at the oldest gay publisher in the U.S., where I worked with such iconic writers as Craig Lucas, Tony Kushner, Mart Crowley, and Charles Busch.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: On the Mend
Topic: PTSD
Available:: Sunday: 1pm-4pm
Description: My battle with the past, the wounds I suffered, and the ongoing healing process associated with childhood trauma.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Book Title: OUT of the Woods
Topic: Queer, Pagan, Rural
Available: Friday: 2pm-5pm
Description: When I mention the times my partner and I have lived outside of cities, it is common for people to express sympathy or concern. “That must have been hard to live in an … intolerant place.” Similarly, when I have talked about my spirituality, it can be treated as a betrayal of the fundamentalist religion I grew up with, or as a betrayal of the atheism culturally proper for queers who have suffered so much from religion. Having grown up in a doggedly straight, fundamentalist farming country, I find many expect me to have left it behind to become gay, atheist, and urbane. Instead, I have always felt most at home in this odd middle place when it comes to sexuality, belief, and geography.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: The Reluctant Phoenix
Topic: Homelessness, Education
Available: Friday: 2pm-5pm; Sunday: 1pm-4pm
Description: How I pulled myself out of poverty and homelessness by getting an education and modeling behavior for my four children.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Sea Stories
Topics: Philippines, Childhood, Volcanoes
Available: Friday: 2pm-5pm
Description: Mt. Pinatubo erupted on June 15, 1991, a little over twenty miles outside of Olongapo City. I was nine years old and waist deep in water at All Hands Beach. Summer was going to be really interesting. Feel free to ask about my other childhood adventures.If you’re lucky, I’ll tell you the one about the mermaid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Stopping Trafficking one woman at a time
Topic: Sex trafficking, Sex exploitation
Available:
Description: I will share with readers my experience working with victims of human trafficking, who are recovering from lives of forced prostitution, sexual trauma, and very often addiction, homelessness, and poverty. I will also share, anonymously and confidentially, stories from the lives of the women I work with. My objective in telling these stories is to change common (mis)understanding of prostitution and the women who are involved in it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Three percent
Topic: Foster Homes
Available: Friday: 2pm-5pm; Sunday: 1pm-4pm
Description: It became somewhat of a ritual: scan my bedroom, identify all the things I felt I couldn’t live without, pack my backpack to the brim, and head off to the next foster home, shelter, friend’s sofa. Making the transition from the brink of homelessness to calling Tulane home certainly carries its challenges; come hear about the impacts of surviving the most untraditional of childhoods, the foster care system, and the road to becoming part of the 3% of foster kids that graduate college.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: The Town of Anorexia
Topic: Eating Disorders
Available: Friday: 2pm-5pm
Description: When I mention that I hate the way that I look, people often assume that I'm fishing for compliments and craving attention. Eating disorders can affect anyone at anytime, and just because I look a certain way doesn't mean I don't struggle with body image issues. The way we see ourselves is incredibly complex, and I want to shed some light on what an eating disorder can feel like. Sometimes we can learn a lot more from a personal experience than from a textbook.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Book Title: Train Ride Destinations
Topic: Stories of me and my father
Available: Sunday 1pm-4pm
Description: When you remember your past, are you remembering the truth or do you fix the truth to justify who you are? Two train rides tell the story of separation and grudges.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Underneath the Tignon
Topic: Mixed Race identity
Available: Sunday 1pm-4pm
Description: Being a mixed race person is being a person who is constantly defined by others' perceptions. I am a scholar and a writer who uses skin color, ancestry, and history as my subject matter and essays as my medium. Come and hear all of the things that being mixed race might mean.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: We Are Magic
Topic: Mental Illness, Personal Growth, Spirituality
Available: Sunday: 1pm-4pm
Description: Growing up, I suffered from an eating disorder, depression, and crippling social anxiety.
If only I had known the potential to skyrocket out of these challenging positions, into a life a life full of confidence, peace, joy, and awesomeness. If only I had known the magic just waiting to take me into the most beautiful life I could imagine. If only I had known my own ability to really, truly heal, and become a greater version of myself than I ever would have known possible, while struggling.
Getting support and overcoming mental illness has been one of the biggest blessings in my life. But I'm far beyond that now. I hope I can share with you some of the wisdom I've picked up in my own travels, the magic and wonderfulness I've found life to hold, the ways that my eyes have opened to infinite possibilities, waiting for all of us to come and find them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Your Average Yet Not-so-Average Student
Topic: Adventure, Mental Illness
Availability: Friday: 3pm-5pm
Description: My book is a real page-turner! Whether you want the story of a life spent coping with mental illness or that time I came up with the idea of a double-decker bathroom stall, my story will not disappoint. Written in an engaging manner, you don't know what you'll find in this create your own adventure book. You could find a friend, or your archenemesis, although the latter is highly unlikely. So, without further ado, check me out ;).
