Photo by Ali Meizels ‘23
By Rose Sheehan ’22
Managing Editor of Layout
Last Tuesday evening, Gamble Auditorium held laughter, tears, acrobatics and resounding cheers. The space hosted the annual Frances Perkins Monologues, the penultimate event in the College’s annual Building On Our Momentum conference. The event gives nontraditional aged Frances Perkins scholars the opportunity to share about their lives and journeys to Mount Holyoke. This year, seven students shared stories at the monologues, and themes ranged from raising children to starting a business to grappling with loss.
“Public speaking scares the bejeezus out of me,” Nic McGrath FP ’23, the penultimate speaker, said. McGrath felt that presenting was less intimidating on Zoom last year, but she still preferred the monologues in-person.
“It was nice to be able to look at my friends in the audience and see them making hand gestures to tell me I was doing great,” McGrath said.
McGrath and the other presenters spoke to a completely full auditorium. According to Anna Sophie Tinneny ’23, who attended the monologues, the line was so long that it wrapped around the lobby of the Art Museum. Multiple FP scholars expressed surprise that so many people were interested in the monologues. “Probably every seat will be filled,” Jen Thornquest FP ’24, the host and emcee of the event, said a few minutes before the monologues began. With a tone of surprise, she told the audience, “We didn’t know it was going to be a full house.”
At 6:47, the event opened to — as Thornquest predicted — an auditorium without a single empty seat. Thornquest, wearing a sharp, blue suit, began the evening by contextualizing the FP Program with short vignettes on what a few of the more than 1,300 FP alums are doing today. “Age is a valuable component of diversity,” Thornquest said.
Photo by Ali Meizels ‘23
McGrath, who presented toward the end of the event, spoke about the recent death of her best friend. At moments lighthearted and others heartbreaking, McGrath shared pieces of their journey together and encouraged listeners to love their friends unconditionally. “Never let distance stop you,” McGrath advised the audience. “Have sleepovers.” She pointed to a picture of her friend on the projector. “Be her.”
“Two days later, people are still seeing me in Blanch or the dining commons and approaching me to tell me they appreciated my story or that I did a great job,” McGrath said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. “I love that I’ve been able to touch people and possibly help others who may be having mental health issues to feel like they’re not alone.”
The stories shared at the event varied in both topic and tone. Aimee Salmon FP ’23 and Bethany Powell FP ’22 both spoke about finding purpose through their work. Salmon’s piece focused on the business she founded, Africana Dance & Fitness, in an entrepreneurship class at Mount Holyoke. Salmon shared her business’s tenets, “empowerment, community and body positivity,” to loud cheers. She closed with ambitions for the future, including starting a multicultural library and an Africana store. “It’s an existing business that we are building,” Salmon said. “Step-by-step.”
Powell, the final speaker of the night, shared her work with an organization called Poetic Justice. The group, Powell explained, facilitates writing circles in prisons, and a curiosity in this work is what brought her to Mount Holyoke. Powell expressed her beliefs in the power of stories — both sharing them and listening to them — for healing. “Creativity is fundamentally human,” she said.
Mykelle Walton FP ’23, a former circus performer and Thornquest, a former DJ, performed what they called “The journey to Mount Holyoke in three acts.” While their monologues were listed on the program separately, Thornquest interrupted Walton’s story early on to reveal that they are married and would be speaking together. Featuring a few acrobatic tricks from Walton’s circus days, the pair shared how they grew up, found each other and then found Mount Holyoke together. Their speech concluded in echoed appreciations of each other: “My wife got into Mount Holyoke College,” Walton announced. “Hey,” Thornquest responded, “My wife got into Mount Holyoke College, too.”
Photo by Ali Meizels ‘23
Midge Hartshorn FP ’24 had members of the audience laughing and cheering as they recounted their journey to Mount Holyoke. Their speech opened with a list of prohibited acts and items at the first college they attended. The list included being alone in a student apartment with a member of the opposite sex and morning coffee or tea. A turning point for Hartshorn was when they realized, “that thing that I thought everyone experienced wasn’t Satan’s influence,” they said, but “attraction to women.” This statement was greeted by a lengthy applause and cheering. Hartshorn’s speech came full circle at the end, with a list of what they can do at Mount Holyoke: including realizing and expressing their gender identity.
Hartshorn articulated that the FP Monologues foster two communities: one between FPs and traditional students, and one within the FP community itself. In a later interview, Hartshorn expressed gratitude towards their fellow speakers. “It was nice to be able to, in a bit of a longer setting, just hear from them without interruption. Just [to] hear the things that were important to them and what they wanted to say,” Hartshorn said.
The first speaker of the evening, Monica Lamberti FP ’23, spoke on the topic of community as well. She told a heartfelt story about the way finding communities has provided her hope and joy in times of crisis. Though she was nervous about joining a group for mothers in her area, her first form of peer community, she said, “little by little, I realized I had found my village.” Lamberti concluded by saying that it was this love for community that has inspired her to become a teacher. At these words, loud cheers erupted from members of the audience.
Multiple FPs and attendees alike expressed gratitude for the FP Monologues, which the social chairs of the Frances Perkins Scholars Association began planning in January, according to McGrath. Kylie Gellatly FP ’23, who was in the audience, said the monologues made her feel “proud to be an FP.”
Following last year’s remote monologues, Powell said that this year’s shared in-person space made the event truly special. “There’s nothing really like the sound of a bunch of people laughing,” Powell said.
Editor’s note: Jen Thornquest FP ’24 is a Host for the Mount Holyoke News Hour on WMHC.