From working with stickers and scratch paper to drawing flowers with crayola markers, for Anissa Estrada, scrapbooking in the company of other sapphic people helped her embrace her sapphic identity. As the education coordinator for the Resource Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity, she was able to share her hobby.
The fourth-year writing & literature and film and media studies double major decided to create the weekly Sapphic Scrapbooking event last year in hopes of sharing her unique experience with the sapphic community at UC Santa Barbara. Through the Resource Center for Sexual & Gender Diversity (RCSGD), Estrada continued the series this fall with the first event with the most recent Halloween-themed event on Oct. 18.
The event took place from 12:30-2 p.m. on the Student Resource Building’s Mountain Terrace, and the RCSGD offered a variety of scrapbooking materials for attendees to craft with.
Estrada established the weekly event last year as a consistent “by us, for us” community space for sapphic students. Hired in 2022 by the RCSGD, Estrada referenced a lack of sapphic event organization prior to her employment. She mentioned the personal identities of student staff and lack of sapphic representation as reasoning for why prior efforts fizzled out.
“All the girlies and ladies love to scrapbook,” she said.
According to Estrada, the onboarding of sapphic student staff members has resulted in event and community organization. She has deemed it successful because of its years of lasting impact and consistent turnout.
Though there has been little official promotional material for Sapphic Scrapbooking, staff have been excited to see small-scale promotion from individuals through the anonymous social media platform, Yik Yak.
“It’s a newer space, but there’s a calling for it,” Estrada said.
A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the Oct. 24, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.