Regional History Project Oral Histories

Robert Imada was interviewed on March 18, 2002 in the Regional History office at McHenry Library. Imada was a student from 1998 to 2002. He was a organizer for Queers of Color and the GLBT Network, as well as a Queer CUIP [Chancellor's Undergraduate Internship Program] intern. He was a recipient of a Queer Youth Leadership Award in 2000. He was a co-chair of the UCGLBTA and a member of the GLBT Campus Concerns Committee. Imada is a workshop leader, activist, and writer. He is also a color guard dancer.

John Laird came to UCSC in 1968, and graduated in 1972. In 1983, Laird was elected mayor of Santa Cruz, and became the first openly gay mayor in the United States. He was also a founding member of the Santa Cruz AIDS Project (SCAP). In 2002, Laird was elected to the California State Legislature as one of two of the first openly gay men to be elected to the Assembly. Laird was interviewed on September 13, 2001 in his office at the Santa Cruz County building. The timing of this interview was significant because it took place two days after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Alison Kim, a Chinese-Korean lesbian, graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Women's Studies/Art in 1989. As the women's studies librarian at McHenry Library, UCSC, I met and worked with Alison on her research about Pacific/Asian lesbians. I recommended she submit her essay to the library's Book Collection contest; she won second place. In 1987, she edited and published an anthology of Asian/Pacific Islander lesbians' writings entitled, Between the Lines, which included an early version of her bibliography. In the same year, with a UCSC Chancellor's Undergraduate Fellowship, she traveled across the United States gathering Asian/Pacific Islander lesbian newsletters, writings, and other memorabilia. The entire collection, with her finding aid and bibliography was donated to the University Library in 2001. Alison now resides in San Francisco with her partner, Christiane, and their twins. She is, in her words, a 'double virgo, proud mama, and always a UC Slug.' This oral history was conducted December 20, 2001 at Alison Kim's home.

William Shipley was interviewed on September 25, 2001 at his home in the Santa Cruz Mountains. At age eighty, he was the oldest person interviewed for the Out in the Redwoods project, and his experience of gay life extends back to the 1930s.

Shipley was a professor of linguistics at UCSC from 1966 to 1991. He was a student of Alfred Kroeber's at UC Berkeley and is well known for his pioneering work with the Mountain Maidu Indians of California.

Wendy Chapkis was an undergraduate at UCSC from 1973 to 1977, a graduate student in sociology from 1985 to 1995, and lecturer in women's studies, politics and other departments. She was a co-founder of the Bulkhead Gallery, and is a queer activist and writer. Her book Beauty Secrets: Women and the Politics of Appearance was published by South End Press in 1986, and Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor by Routledge in 1997. She is currently a professor of women's studies at the University of Southern Maine.

Jean-Marie Scott has been an administrator at UCSC since 1993. In 2000, Scott became the Associate Vice Chancellor for Housing, Dining and Child Care Services, making her the highest-ranking out lesbian administrator at UCSC. She was interviewed on August 30, 2002 in her office at UCSC

Deborah Abbott is a writer, health activist, teacher, river guide and current director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center at UCSC. Since assuming her position in November of 1997, she has given new shape and direction to the Center. As an American studies major, I was eager to interview  Deb Abbott. Deb Abbott to learn more about the queer history of UCSC, as well as about her work within two local feminist health organizations: the Santa Cruz Women's Health Collective and WomenCARE (which she cofounded in 1992). I had read several of Ms. Abbott's essays on pursuing her passion for river rafting, despite her physical disability, and these had deeply resonated with me, as I had been struggling to reconcile my own physical health problems with my dreams for the future. We met at the GLBT Center on the rainy afternoon of February 7, 2002. The Center hums with the richness of the many hours of mental and physical labor'by student volunteers and paid staff'that have gone into creating a place where all gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer-identified people and their allies can take refuge. UCSC's reputation for being one of the most 'queer-friendly' campuses in the U.S. is easily understood when one enters the Center. Colorful posters brighten the walls, along with flyers announcing upcoming queer events and numerous lists to get involved with the many, diverse, queer-related groups on campus. An exhibit on GLBT African Americans hangs in the gallery. The enticing library of books and films, and the inviting couches that look out into the redwoods all serve to foster an atmosphere of welcome, creativity, and dynamic engagement.'

Scott Brookie was interviewed on August 27, 2002 at UCSC, at Scotty's Santa Cruz home. Scotty and I sat at his kitchen table, drank apple juice and talked for a couple hours. It was a relaxed and, at times, quite entertaining interview. Despite working on the same campus for a year, I didn't know Scotty prior to interviewing him. I had worked for the past year as the Program Coordinator at UCSC's GLBT Center, but our paths had not crossed. Before coming to UCSC, I worked as a freelance writer, a counselor, and an interviewer on AIDS studies, so I was comfortable turning on a tape recorder and asking him lots of questions. Scotty seemed to enjoy the process as well. He was generous with his time and his work: I left that night with an armload of Lavender Readers that he retrieved from a back closet. They are a treasure I have since passed on to the GLBT Center

While researching colleges in the Orange County Public Library, I stumbled across an essay detailing Nancy Stoller's impact on UC Santa Cruz. I was awestruck by the institutional changes resulting from her tenure lawsuit. After reading the essay, I knew that if UCSC was the changed campus the essay said it was, then UCSC was the campus for me. As my adviser, Nancy assisted in my journey through the community studies major and the writing of my thesis on queer youth in Dallas, Texas. Because of scheduling conflicts, I interviewed Nancy first on January 24, 2002, and again on May 15, 2002. The long break allowed careful consideration on both what to add and what to clarify in the next interview. Both interviews took place in her office at College Eight. For me, the interview shed new light onto someone who is not only a great professor, but also an amazing activist, and an innovator in the LGBTQ movement.--Jesse Silva

On February 22, 2002 I interviewed Ziesel Saunders at her home in Santa Cruz, California. I had never met Ziesel, and I had only briefly corresponded with her by email and telephone. Given that I identify as a feminist, an activist, a Jew, and as queer or a dyke, I felt that Ziesel and I shared some basic characteristics. Yet because each of these identities is so broad and fluid, and there is a generation gap between Ziesel and me, I did not expect us to be extremely similar in our outlooks on the world either. While in many respects my premonition was correct, during the interview I was also struck by how many things have not changed.