My name is Cassie Duren (They/Them), and I’m a second year student majoring in music and Gender, Sexuality, and Race Studies. I work as a CAVE Community Advocate and something I’m really passionate about is looking at the way queer identity interacts and transforms - and is transformed by - other identities such as race and disability. Where I Come From I spent most of my life, and all of my life as I can remember it, living in the same small town before I came to PLU. I went to a small elementary school named Evaline, where I was the fifth generation in my family to go there, and was part of a graduating class of seven. My family lived on five acres of land purchased from other family members for a family discount, in the house of great-grandparents I never met. My extended family owned the forty acres of woods around us, which I spent hours exploring as a kid before much of it had to be logged; learning that many of the trees around us had a disease that was killing them was not
An exploration of Diversity, Justice, and Sustainability reflections from PLU Student Leaders, Advocates, and Activists. Spring 2021 we are asking contributors to reflect on anti-racism.