Ithaca College

Provost Dr. La Jerne Cornish will read the book "I Am Jazz" - the story of a transgender child based upon the real life experiences of Jazz Jennings - in Clark Lounge, Campus Center on Thursday February 28 at 2 pm. A discussion of the children's book and other new titles including "Julián Is a Mermaid" and "They She He Me: Free to Be!" will follow, facilitated by LGBT Center director Luca Maurer. Refreshments will be provided.

This event is part of a coordinated effort to host readings of the book throughout the country on this day in communities, schools, libraries and other settings. The book was the center of a 2015 controversy in a small town in Wisconsin. The community stood up to hate by reading I Am Jazz to support a transgender elementary schooler there.

The fourth annual Jazz and Friends National Day of School and Community Readings is sponsored by the Welcoming Schools Program at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization, and the National Educational Association (NEA), the country’s largest professional employee organization, representing 3 million educators across the U.S. 

The event will be of interest to students, faculty, and staff across disciplines - in education and pedagogy, as well as LGBTQ studies, library sciences, recreation and leisure studies, sociology, psychology, and other fields. Discussion of ways such works can be used by those students into teaching, coaching, counseling, health, parent education, and other fields, will follow.

Books can act as both mirrors and windows for children to see representations of themselves, as well as to see another outlook on the world. When students read books in which they see characters like themselves who are valued in the world, they feel a sense of belonging. When students have the opportunity to learn about diverse backgrounds, languages, abilities and perspectives, they develop an understanding about the wider world. 

Sponsored by the LGBT Center and the Ithaca College Library.

See the events calendar listing

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Luca Maurer at lmaurer@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-7394. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.