Sage Russo

M.A. '18

Sage Russo

Sage grew up on the beach in Orange County, plotting ways to grow a mermaid tail instead of doing homework. After a failed attempt to penetrate the music industry, they moved to San Francisco and fell in love with queerness, embodied learning, social justice, and competitive speech & debate. Since dedicating their life to art/activism, they have spent most of their time teaching first year college students about the power of their words & actions and engaging in intersectional community organizing in the Bay Area. When not attempting to save the world or grading speeches, Sage enjoys eating baked goods before they're baked, singing & playing guitar, pushing the limits of acceptable amounts of glitter, patterns that clash, accessories, & lip colors, and/or just generally pushing limits. Their first MA thesis was a performative queer reading of flirtation and they are currently interested in expanding that research to explore the concepts of (s)excess at the intersection of consumerism and body policing. They thrive in chaos, movement, and instability. They feel most at home underwater. Their deepest fear is being predictable.

Why PS @ NYU?

Performance Studies is about the mess and the process of making it. As an avid mess maker, I feel most at home in a discipline that acknowledges my need to lay in the chaos instead of trying to clean it up, call it an answer, and tie a bow around it.

Education

New York University

Master of Arts - Performance Studies

New York, New York

 

San Francisco State University

Master of Arts - Communication Studies

San Francisco, California

 

San Francisco State University

Bachelor of Arts - Communication Studies

San Francisco, California

Articles and Publications

• Yep, G. A., Lescure, R. M., & Russo, S. E. (in press). Queer intercultural communication. In J. Nussbaum (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication.

• Yep, G. A., & Russo, S. E. (2016). Media representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. In A. Goldberg (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

• Yep, G. A., Russo, S. E., Allen, J. K., & Chivers, N. T. (2016). Uniquely Glee: Transing racialized gender. In R. A. Lind (Ed.), Race and Gender in Electronic Media: Challenges and Opportunities. New York: Routledge.

• Yep, G. A., Russo, S. E., & Gigi, R. N. (2016). The new transnormativity? Reading mainstream representations of Caitlyn Jenner in the university classroom. In C. P. Gause (Ed.), Leadership, Equity, and Social Justice in American Higher Education: A Reader. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing.

• Yep, G. A., Russo, S. E., & Lescure, R. M. (2015). Transing normative boyhood masculinity in Alain Berliner’s Ma Vie En Rose. Boyhood Studies, 8(2).

• Yep, G. A., Russo, S. E., & Allen, J. K. (2015). Pushing boundaries: Toward the development of a model for transing communication in (inter)cultural contexts. In L. Spencer & J. C. Capuzza (Eds.), Transgender Communication Studies: Histories, Trends, and Trajectories (pp. 69-89). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Awards & Distinctions

• 2015, Eva Lokey Scholarship

• 2013, Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Communication Studies