Jonathan Van Ness, star of the TV show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, brought their podcast, Getting Curious, to Ann Arbor for a live recording to discuss voting and civic engagement. They were joined in conversation by Ford School Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Ford School Professor Jenna Bednar, who is the inaugural faculty director of campus-wide UMICH Votes and Democratic Engagement, and the two heads of the nonpartisan voter registration student group Turn Up Turnout, LSA juniors Maurielle Courtois and Hillary Poudeu Tchokothe.
Before the talk, given before an audience of 700 at the Michigan Theater, Van Ness toured the University of Michigan Museum of Art hub for registration and absentee voting, an initiative in collaboration with the Stamps School of Art and design and the City of Ann Arbor Clerk’s Office.
For photos of the tour and the talk, see the Ford School Flickr account.
They discussed voter registration, the importance of getting involved, and the need to have a voting plan, among many other issues. Van Ness described civic engagement “as self care.”
The panel also discussed the political climate on college campuses and the nature of disagreement in the age of social media. Van Ness said they believe it is necessary to work with people in spite of different positions and to “correct lovingly”.
“Even if you do vehemently disagree with someone in their position, the world that you want to create that’s better, you ultimately are going to need each other for even if you really can’t stand someone’s views on something,” Van Ness said. “Giving the correction lovingly is so important in order for us to build the world that we want to build.”
