I filled the 900 room to the brim about my gay, Jewish, diasporic, anti-occupation self. It was one of the most beautiful things that I’ve ever done, and then in my talk back, I led with a queer Palestinian student from Ramallah…The fact that she was able to stand on stage with me, and then we could speak back and literally give people who had such simplistic understandings of both Judaism and Israel-Palestine a crash course in the counter-narrative, as two queer people invested in fighting occupation, invested in also fighting antisemitism. It was beautiful.
Dylan Goodman is an alumnus of Davidson College, graduating in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Gender and Sexuality Studies. After Davidson, he moved to Boston, completed the Jewish Organizing Fellowship with JOIN for Justice and worked as a labor organizer with administrative and technical workers for three years. He currently lives in Brooklyn and works as a fundraiser for Keshet, a national nonprofit that forwards LGBTQ thriving in North American Jewish life. Outside of his employment, he is a storytelling coach, writer, performer and grassroots anti-oppression activist.
**The beginning of this oral history was damaged and re-edited**
Summary: Dylan Goodman recounts memorable people, who were sources of support and/or contributed to his understanding of Jewishness, during his time at Davidson. He discusses how he felt the need to hide his Jewish identity and how his queer identity was prioritized in his identity development at Davidson. Goodman describes his study abroad experience in Jordan as a dismantling of the stereotypes and history he had heard before, but also as empowering in prompting a reframing of what his Jewish identity can signify. He explains how his conversations in Jordan led to his senior thesis that examined imperialism and orientalism through queer culture and culminated in a performance as well. Goodman then talks about his Jewish life and activism post-graduation and his response to the 2018 doxxing of Nazis at Davidson College.
Related Artifacts
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