Joann Ayuso interview

Interview with Joann Ayuso by Pauline Wakudumo. Joann is a queer Afro Boricua; social justice activist; licensed physical therapy assistant and founded Movement Education Outdoors - an organization that provides outdoor experiences to urban youth. Topics in order of discussion include: moving to Providence in 2006 from Boston and impact of the economic recession; volunteering with Black and Pink and PRYSM; coming out at age 27; gay social spaces including beaches and nightclubs; ancestry and heritage; career transition to work with youth in the outdoors after a significant accident; serving in the Army Reserve. This interview was created as part of the Queering Oral History course - an oral history course at Brown University in Spring 2020 and taught by Dr. Virginia Thomas. Students were trained in oral history practices and interviewed members of the Rhode Island LGBTQIA community.