Em-URGE-ing Voices

Ollie


Favorite Writer: Ocean Vuong

Hidden Talent: The ability to tidy well - it does wonders for my mental health.

Bio: Ollie Trac (they/them) is a queer and nonbinary second-generation Vietnamese American.  They received their Bachelor's of Science in Psychology from the University of Florida in 2020 and is a proud collective member of the WELLS Healing Center. Ollie is a researcher, peer, scholar-activist, psychiatric survivor, and, most importantly, a pet parent to four cats. In their free time, they love to watch mindless content, wake up early for estate sales, and make art in the form of collages and paintings.

Posts By: Ollie T

Environmental justice is to reproductive justice as water is to life

Environmental justice is essential in the fight for reproductive rights. Without the planet and the nutrients it provides for us to thrive and grow, how would we survive? How could we live to fight another day towards gender equity and reproductive access? Ecofeminism “argues that the domination of women and the degradation of the environment are consequences of patriarchy and capitalism”. The climate crisis is an attack on our reproductive rights. We cannot live the lives we choose and create the families we want to raise when we become environmental refugees in the ongoing climate crisis.  While it may alleviate some of the personal responsibility each of us feels, carrying a metal straw in our bags will not save the earth. On an individual level, every one of us should… Read more »

Towards safe and sustainable communities

content warning: mentions of racial and queer violence Reproductive Justice has become a buzzword in politics due to the increased attention around Roe v. Wade and what that means for abortion rights for many communities that will be impacted by these access bans. However, it is easy to forget that Reproductive Justice is more than just cultural currency, and more than a concern around the choice to give birth and to raise children, but goes deeper to the roots of collective liberation for all peoples. SisterSong, a Reproductive Justice organization that centers Indigenous peoples, women of color, and trans and gender expansive peoples defines Reproductive Justice as “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable… Read more »

An Asian American lens of reproductive rights

The rise in anti-Asian hate crimes brings increased attention to Asian American issues The term ‘Asian American’ was coined by Asian graduate students, Emma Gee and Yuji Ichioka, during a critical point in time for social justice movements in the sixties. Gee and Ichioka saw the importance of collective solidarity in Asian American civil rights, borne out of necessity and the realization that non-Asian Americans often fail to recognize sub-group differences, mistaking one ethnicity for another and making broad assumptions across all ethnicities. A horrific example of this was during the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II, when non-Japanese Asian Americans were required to wear badges denoting their ethnicity, or risk being lumped in among the Japanese Americans relocated to internment camps. While collective solidarity continues to be… Read more »

Florida’s legislation continues to target LGBTQ+ young peoples and their futures

As a high school student in Florida, I served two years as the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) president. I faced resistance from my school’s administration, who would not provide GSA funding, allow us to honor historical LGBTQ+ stories, or even advertise the existence of GSA. In many ways, the administration forced its LGBTQ+ students “underground,” actively erasing our existence from the school’s culture. Despite that, we found solace in a communal space in which we could express our joys and pains of being LGBTQ+.  Following these recent violations of Florida LGBTQ+ rights, however, Florida’s young LGBTQ+ people will have even less than I had in my youth. Young people in America are living in unprecedented times with many fears and uncertainties. While “unprecedented times” have been referenced countlessly  in the context… Read more »