Lily Iserson
Viewpoints Editor
Before Thanksgiving Break, in a small and intimate group setting, students gathered on the steps of Kauke Hall in honor of the international Transgender Day of Remembrance. Traditionally held in late November, the vigil acknowledges transgender lives lost as a consequence of anti-transgender violence around the world. QPOC, Wooster’s Queer People of Color student organization, organized the vigil so transgender students and allies could mourn and take courage in group recollection. The Black Student Association (BSA) and the Anti-Racist collective also made posters featuring portraits of victims so students could associate names with faces.
In previous years, Wooster’s LGBT community held the vigil for the Transgender Day of Rememberance outside Lowry. Kauke Hall, a building at the heart of Wooster, represented a different kind of visibility.
The event was a mixture of silent and spoken grief. The vigil began with a special arrangement of “Blackbird” specifically produced by Shades of Gold, an a capella group on campus. The Beatles’ lyrics combined with Shades’ R&B and indie pop stylings hung heavily and somehow serenely on the solemn atmosphere: “Blackbird singing in the dead of night / Take these broken wings and learn to fly / All your life / You were only waiting for this moment to arise.”
Shades member Brian Pousak ’19 remarked on the group’s participation in retrospect: “As allies to the trans community, ‘Blackbird’ felt like the right choice for our group, because it acknowledges struggle without taking ownership of it. The song also has powerful healing qualities that we hope were felt by [everyone].”
Foster Cheng ’17, president of QPOC, collected attending students around the banisters of Kauke Hall, where unlit tea candles were displayed. Each candle bore the name of a transgender life lost to violence, although some were unmarked, reflecting unidentified and unnamed victims. Students silently shared lighters, and lit candles in the early winter air. Some students bore pride flags around their bodies for warmth, while others shuffled against each other, drawing their eyes over the flames.
Vice President of QPOC, Channler Twyman ’18, ascended Kauke’s steps and read a poem, with a verse as follows — the wings in his poetry mirroring the earlier ‘Blackbirds’ piece: “I don’t exactly know what it must feel like to stand in your spot, / And I’m sorry that I cannot share in the suffering that comes along / From being you / But I do know what it feels like to be a butterfly in a room full of moths / To have wings so big and so colorful / so full of life / that it seems threatening.” Of his participation, Twyman expressed the importance of remembering an underrepresented and brutalized group of people, especially where the majority of lives lost were transgender victims of color.
“This year had the highest number of murders of trans/GNC people [. . . ] those numbers are really scary,” added Cheng. “We held this vigil to show openly our support and love for the trans/GNC community.”
Cheng asked if anyone in the audience was interested in saying a few words — her offer was met with silence and the vigil’s conclusion. Students met with their friends on Kauke for subdued conversations and hugs, reflecting an event that exhibited quiet support and defiance by the community’s commitment to the endurance of memory.
In this vein, for any members of Wooster’s community who are retroactively interested in reflecting on trans lives lost this year, a list of collected names can be found at the Transgender Day of Rememberance’s Website, under tdor.info. Transgender and non-binary students in need of support on campus can also contact Steve Ciseneros or Melissa Chesanko for information on Wooster’s Trans and Non-Binary support group.