Reason and Respect: Without Shame: The Transgender Experience - June 27, 2022

Please join Officer in Charge Nathan Gonyea on Monday, June 27, as he welcomes Connelly Akstens, Ph.D., a long-time faculty member and mentor at SUNY Empire. Akstens will read excerpts from her memoir, Without Shame: Learning to be Me. She will discuss her journey as a transgender person and invite participants to ask questions. Akstens has taught at SUNY Empire for 24 years on subjects as diverse as gender studies, literature, music, and film.   

From the preface of her book:   

“For most of my life, I lived the shadow of shame. From the age of three or four, I was perplexed about whether I should be a boy or a girl.  When I was fifty-five, I decided to change that…the past two decades have been a process of coming out of hiding, letting myself be known and leaving shame behind. The process has led me to write this book.”