On the evening of March 27th, 2024, The Country Bookshelf hosted a reading from Sunu P. Chandy’s poetry collection, MY DEAR COMRADES, with a reading and discussion by three of Bozeman’s own activists around poetry, activism and the intersection where they meet.
Sunu P. Chandy is a social justice activist, including through her work as a poet and a civil rights attorney. She’s the daughter of immigrants from Kerala, India, a queer woman of color, and lives in Washington, D.C. with her family. Her award-winning collection of poems, My Dear Comrades, was published by Regal House in 2023. In it she includes stories about her experiences as a woman, civil rights attorney, parent, partner, and member of the LGBTQ+ community.
KD lives and works with their family in Bozeman, MT. KD is a multidisciplinary artist and poet, whose work has appeared in shows from Turtle Island to Hawai’i, and in print in multiple locations. They are a queer indigenous neurodivergent parent, who spends most of their time engaging in the ideation of indigenous futures, solidarity, and freedom.
Jasmine James is a graduate of MSU Bozeman in English Literature. They have lived in the Gallatin Valley since 2013, and have been managing the Bozeman Poetry Collective since 2017. You can hear their work in person regularly at the Steep Mtn. open mic.
Hazel Gonzalez is a woman of trans experience, who grew up in Bozeman, having moved to town when she was five. Hazel has also worked at Erotique for many years, passionately learning about, and teaching, healthy sexuality and kink. She’s works to build community, and does her utmost to be a healthy and supportive elder queer role model and advocate for queer youth.

The Country Bookshelf’s General Manager, Jamie Winter, introduced the panel.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Montana State University Bozeman’s Women’s Center sponsored a special lecture titled, Grassroots to Global: The Power of Public Health, by public health practitioner, policy advocate and non-profit strategist, Dr. Cora Neumann, founder of the First Ladies Global Alliance.
Dr. Neumann has over twenty years of experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, including working at the U.S. State Department, the RAND Corporation, the Bush Institute, Care.com, and the World Health Organization. Throughout her career, she has designed
strategies and brought together local, Indigenous and national leaders to deliver quality, accessible health care and social services to under served communities.
In 2009, she launched the Global First Ladies Alliance (GFLA) in partnership with the offices of First Ladies Laura Bush and Michelle Obama, and has worked with more than 40 first ladies around the world to support their delivery of critical social services to their populations. In 2023, GFLA partnered with Columbia University to launch an annual executive leadership training with First Ladies, including First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
Cora Neumann currently serves as Chief Community Health Officer at the Native American Development Corporation. She brings her sense of public service to her professional life, including serving on the board of Columbia University School of Public Health, and as a former regional Vice
President of the Montana Public Health Association. She has a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University and doctorate in public health and development from the University of Oxford.

Cora Neumann grew up and is based in Bozeman, Montana, surrounded by four generations of family, from her grandmother to her two children. She is introduced by MSU Women Center’s Director, Betsy Danforth.