Events By Quarter
Cup of Culture
Feminist on Cell Block Y + post-film panel with Success Stories Program
Success Stories Program
MCC Theater
Please note that our Winter 2024 in-person events will require masks due to the rise in COVID-19 and flu activity within the region. The MCC will provide masks to attendees on site, as needed.
Richie Reseda is a convicted felon who had been serving time in an all-male prison in Soledad, California, for armed robbery since he was a teen. “The Feminist on Cellblock Y,” a documentary produced by filmmaker Contessa Gayles, follows Reseda and his fellow inmates as they participate in a rehabilitation program centered around feminist literature. “We cannot challenge our harmful behavior without challenging patriarchy,” Reseda says in the film. The screening of this film will be followed by a panel discussion featuring coaches from the Success Stories Program.
Speaker Bio: Success Stories is building a world free of prisons and patriarchy. We see individual and systemic acts of harm as symptoms of patriarchal beliefs that can be transformed. We deliver a 12-week curriculum that helps people who have harmed to get clear on the people and goals most important to them, as well as obstacles, like patriarchal beliefs, they've placed in their way. After graduating, Alumni receive support and programming from Success Stories for life. Success Stories Program works in places where people have committed harm and/or are survivors of systemic harm, such as prisons, jails, group homes, re-entry programs, and schools.
Co- Sponsors: Pages for Individuals in Prison, Success Stories Program
Conscious Conversations Series
Embracing Every Body: Confronting Fatphobia
Caleb Luna, Sarahi Perez-Aguilar, Luca Yacón
MCC Theater
Please note that our Winter 2024 in-person events will require masks due to the rise in COVID-19 and flu activity within the region. The MCC will provide masks to attendees on site, as needed.
We are constantly inundated with harmful, fatphobic media and messaging that says that fat people should be the butt of the joke, the comedic relief, and a constant reminder of who you DON’T want to look like. Inevitably, this shame and alienation from society can result in negative perceptions of ourselves and have damaging effects on our mental health. What if we were liberated from society’s fatphobic rhetoric? What if we moved towards destigmatizing our experiences as fat, plus-size, chubby, and mid-size individuals? How can we do so in a way that recognizes the ways that race, gender, and sexuality impact fat people?
Join us for a panel, facilitated by Sarahi Perez Aguilar, that will feature assistant Professor Caleb Luna of the Feminist Studies department as we discuss, unpack, and learn about navigating through fatphobia, exercise culture, and activism within the body. This judgment free environment will be a space where the voices of fat people are heard, where stories and experiences about navigating day-to-day fatphobia are shared, where we can listen, learn, and grow with each other.
Speaker Bios:
- Caleb Luna is a writer, performer and award-winning educator and scholar. They are the bestselling author of REVENGE BODY (Nomadic Press, 2022), and co-host of the podcast Unsolicited: Fatties Talk Back. Publishing, performing and curating across genre and medium, Caleb's cultural work reads, responds to and challenges tropes and discourses regarding race, size, sexuality and disability in media and culture. They hold a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and are currently an Assistant Professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
- Sarahi Perez-Aguilar (she/her/ella) is a 5th-year Chicanx Studies and History of Public Policy & Law double major. As a plus-size person, Sarahi never felt like weight or anything body-related was an acceptable topic to discuss. Facilitating this panel, creating a safe environment for others to unpack their own experiences with fatphobia, and being in community means the world to her.
- Luca Yacón
Black Flea Market
MCC Lounge
Please note that our Winter 2024 in-person events will require masks due to the rise in COVID-19 and flu activity within the region. The MCC will provide masks to attendees on site, as needed.
Welcome to our second annual Black Flea Market brought to you by the MCC in collaboration with the Office of Black Student Development (OBSD). This event will celebrate all the Black magical essence and royalty present during Black History Month. Join us for a fun filled evening consisting of FREE goody bags for the soul, body, mind, and spirit – delicious soul food, music, talented Black creatives and entrepreneurs, and the best of vibes while in community with one another!
Co- Sponsors: OBSD, Santa Rosa Black Scholars
Cup of Culture
Tale of the Three Jewels
MCC Theater
Please note that for our Winter 2024 in-person events masks are highly encouraged due to the rise in COVID-19 and flu activity within the region. KN95 masks will be provided upon request.
Yussef is a twelve-year old Palestinian child of the First Intifada. With his father in prison and his brother a fugitive from the Israeli army, he lives alone with his mother and sister. Though his life is marked by violence, he lives in his imagination, often escaping from the refugee-camp into the Gaza countryside.
While hunting for birds one day, Yussef meets Aida, a young girl who poses a daunting challenge, leading him into a perilous adventure.
This lyrical and moving work was shot in the early months of 1994, while Gaza remained under Israeli military occupation, and was the first feature film ever to be shot entirely in the Gaza Strip. (1 hr, 52 min)
