SO LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY FRIEND ROBERT, ONE OF THE MOST BADASS MOTHERFUCKERS I KNOW, AND WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN ME IN HELPING TO SEND HIM ON ALTERNATIVE BREAKS.

LOOK AT THIS FINE PIECE OF ACTIVIST ASS.

I first met him last year at Voices of Discovery, a program through Diversity Advocacy at our university, and I was like, INSTANTLY obsessed with him.

“WHO’S THIS PRIVILEGE-CHECKING ASPIRING SOCIAL WORKER WITH PLANS TO CHANGE THE WORLD?” I would scream to myself in an intense internal monologue every day (until I got his tumblr url).

IT’S MOTHERFUCKIN’ ROBERT.

Not only is he constantly helping to smash the patriarchy and fight systemic racism (this dude drives the White Collection Bus 24/7. Check out his clean driving record.), but he’s making SERIOUS WAVES as an activist for the queer community. He just finished putting together the bid proposal to host MBLGTACC 2015.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE ALL THOSE LETTERS?!

The Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference is the largest LGBTA college conference in the nation. And Robert put in almost a YEAR of research, communication and commitment to make this bid possible. All while putting in massive efforts to improve our PRIDE group on campus, being a Resident Assistant, studying to be a social worker, and going to basically EVERY GODDAMN THING HOSTED BY DIVERSITY ADVOCACY.

I don’t know how he does it. I woke up this morning and didn’t get out of bed until, like, 12:10pm.

ALL RIGHT, WE GET IT, ROBERT IS THE SHIT. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

Here’s what’s up. Robert’s trying to get enough money to be able to go on Alternative Winter Break/Alternative Spring Break, which are week-long/10-day volunteer trips to take commitment to social change and put it to use, doing AWESOME SHIT LIKE:

• Building homes for the homeless
• Helping people displaced by natural disasters
• Working with people with HIV/AIDS
• Tutoring young children
• AND OTHER AWESOME STUFF.

Robert is seriously one of my biggest inspirations, and I know he’s gonna like punch me in the heart for saying this publicly, but it’s true. His passion for helping people, especially at-risk LGBTQ youths, is at the core of his existence, and he’s a natural-born leader.

He’s one of those people that just makes you want to be a better person just by knowing him. AND he wants to give up his breaks to help other people instead of sleeping for a week straight, which I think is pretty awesome.

ALSO SCROLL BACK UP AND TELL ME YOU DON’T WANT A PIECE OF THAT. I KNOW I DO. I DON’T EVEN THINK I’M READY FOR THAT JELLY. DON’T MIND ME, I’M ONLY A LITTLE OBSESSED.

What you can do to help is donate to his AWB/ASB fund here, or reblog this post. It’d mean a hell of a lot to me, and I know it’d mean a lot to him.

Plus, he promised that “at the end of all of my trips, I’ll post a photo album and give y’all a shout out!” 

ALSO CHECK OUT THIS BITSTRIP OF US LAUGHING AT PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT REVERSE RACISM. DEM EYES.

So yeah. Whether it’s a penny or $100, absolutely anything to help one of my best friends go on these trips to keep doing the kind of work that he loves would mean a lot to me, and even if you can’t spare anything, signal boosting this would be pretty bitchin’ too.

Thanks guys. <3

the school is saying that there’s nothing they can do about rob but

the people involved with KCACTF know

and are trying to figure out what to do and how to respond

also supposedly the faculty are going to have to do cultural sensitivity training

people continue to hound me to take the petition down because when you google his name it’s what comes up in the results

sometimes your public actions have repercussions

sorry

my entire life from like age 11 onwards is on google you kinda just have to deal with that

also can i just say (this is from the department’s website)

• We provide professional training in a liberal arts setting.
• Our highly qualified faculty members maintain active involvement in the professional world.
• We provide a supportive environment that encourages exploration and growth.
• Our extensive production program enhances the classroom learning experience.
• We are committed to individualized instruction.

yeah… no.

clearly that “liberal arts setting” hasn’t done much for a large majority of this department

and supportive environment that encourages growth? HA.

rob hornbostel held a racist MLK day party for theatre students for 4 years in a row

and then people jumped to his defense

somehow i think there was some misplaced education there

school of theatre of course continues to try to find bandaid solutions and to do damage control

i’m trying to come up with concrete ideas still so i know which directions to push

a couple of things i want

• bring back the Black Actor’s Guild (and i spoke on the phone with one of the alum who originally founded it)
• change the name of Theatre History in the catalog to something like Western Theatre History

obviously i want world theatre history added to the curriculum, more diverse/risky play selection and a deeper commitment to really understanding productions

but clearly theoreticals are going to be lost on people drowning in their own privilege

so i have to figure out what else concrete can be done.

other theatre folk: halp?

1. “restorative justice session” to be held on tuesday at 5pm to ~discuss~. members of the black student union, black grad association, diversity advocacy, naacp and others will be present along with school of theatre members . this is the next CONCRETE step.

2. we can finally pan out the discussion from just this one incident to how it reflects the attitudes and problems of the department and campus as a whole. how having a racist MLK party 4 years in a row demonstrates a lack of awareness and understanding, how defending it does the same, and what can be done to address these issues. it was never really just about this ONE guy (though this one guy is still an asshole and still owes the whole world an apology and public admission of racist action at the VERY VERY least), but the climate that surrounds him and allowed this party to continue for 4 years without anybody saying anything, or being able to say anything

some issues that the MLK party has put a spotlight on  - 

• what it means for something or someone to be “racist”
• microaggressions and how they damage individuals and groups
• the inability to discuss race frankly, instead opting for bullshit silencing kumbayah, we’re-all-a-family, why-can’t-we-just-get-along rhetoric
• the fact that the climate of the department has made people who wanted to speak up afraid because they know it will affect their standing with their peers or their ability to get cast in productions
• the ways that ISU as a school has failed to address issues of racism in any major way
• the fact that the theatre department has one token ~multicultural~ show per season
• the fact that these tokenized productions are not given the same weight, commitment, effort, understanding or respect
• the lack of world theatre history education
• the class called “Theatre History” only representing popular hegemonic western theatre history
• racist comments made by faculty
• general lack of knowledge of white privilege and oppression
• whether ISU is preparing artists who can think critically about their art, or just craftspeople who have pursued a trade

so while i encourage you all to continue circulating the petition, know that this discussion and action will not stop with robert, and if you have any suggestions for where to go next please let me know. right now my top two are proposing a world theatre history class and renaming our current theatre history class 

also, for the record — ISU has a history of having super racist black history month dinners too (check out their idea of hispanic heritage month dinner), and if they’re so bold as to do that again this month, don’t worry

you’ll be hearing from me

thanks for all your support, you guys fucking rock, i hope i’m making you proud