An Open Love Letter: Reflections on Collaborative Writing – with Ty’Kara Turner, Kat Little, and Elizabeth Groeneveld
An Open Love Letter: Reflections on Collaborative Writing – with Ty’Kara Turner, Kat Little, and Elizabeth Groeneveld
Date: Tuesday, October 6th, 2026
Time: 2:00-3:00pm (AT) / 1:00-2:00pm (ET) / 10:00-11:00am (PT)
SoTL Speaker Session Description:
In this presentation, Ty’Kara, Kat, and Liz share their reflections on the process of collaboratively writing an “open love letter to graduate students in difficult times” as part of a summer Independent Study class. This “open love letter” is an act of care and rebellion that offers graduate students words of affirmation. As students, professors, friends, and thinkers at various stages of our academic and personal journeys, we hold concern about how our current time restricts what is possible or even feels safe to imagine in academia. We offer this letter as a gesture of care, support, advocacy, solidarity, and truth-telling. Drawing on the scholarship of Sara Ahmed, Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba, and Eve Tuck, this work is created through a method of feminist bricolage through a summer semester of writing with each other. We close with a reflection on how we adapted and circulated this collaborative writing piece for a different audience following a violent event on our campus.
SoTL Speakers’ Bios:
Ty’Kara Turner (she/they) is an English PhD student concentrating in Rhetoric, Writing, and Discourse Studies, and Literary and Cultural Studies. Ty’Kara is currently exploring Black Zine Culture for her dissertation. She is originally from Hanover County, which rests in the land of the Powhatan Confederacy.
Kat Little (she/they) is a graduate student at Old Dominion University pursuing a Master’s in Humanities and a certificate in Women’s Studies. Their research centers on Queer Game Studies and Feminist Technologies. Her most recent research focuses on the impact virtual reality and related technologies has on gender expression and identity. She is originally from Marion, Virginia, a small town which resides in the Blue Ridge, Highlands of Southwest Virginia, and the homelands of the Cherokee and Shawnee peoples.
Elizabeth Groeneveld (she/they) is a Professor and Department Chair of Women’s and Gender Studies at Old Dominion University. Her publications include Making Feminist Media: Third-Wave Magazines on the Cusp of the Digital Age and Lesbian Porn Magazines and the Sex Wars: Reimagining Sex, Power, and Identity. She is originally from the Michi Saagiig Anishnaabeg territory covered by the Williams Treaties, an area now known as Campbellcroft, Ontario.
