Shirley L. Hufstedler ’07 doesn’t just speak out for justice; she screams. “Shirley really tries to empower the voiceless at Harvard. She sings those voices really loud,” says Hufstedler’s blockmate, Currun Singh ’07. And she’s spent four years building a community that can scream with her.
When drummer Hufstedler first came to Harvard, she couldn’t find her niche. “I would call the music department and the Office of the Arts,” the Adams House resident remembers. “I was told over and over that there was no drum kit. There actually were, but...Harvard couldn’t point me to them.”
Instead, Hufstedler decided to create a community for musicians who did not play “Harvard traditional fare.” She joined Record Hospital, the underground rock department of WHRB, and focused on playing alternative music and female artists.
It was through radio that Hufstedler joined Plan B for the Type As, Harvard’s only non-boy punk band, with fellow radio compers Amy R. Klein ’07, the founder of the band, and Irene S. Choi ’07. They were joined by Tessa B. Johung ’07 and Karima M. Porter ’07.
“Not being able to find strong, really well-recognized females in the music industry as role models made me want to make music and art myself,” Hufstedler says. “I just basically want to convey the message that if we’re doing this, and if we’re just a bunch of college kids, the music scene is something that anybody can do, and what anyone should think they have the privilege to do.”
In November 2005, Hufstedler and David A. Rios ’07, who also comprise the “noise and hardcore” duo The Facts We Hate, began the Harvard College Alliance for Rock and Roll. The organization aims to increase accessibility to the music scene and music resources on campus.
Hufstedler is also an activist. She is an outspoken member of the Radcliffe Union of Students and the Trans Task Force, and an intern at the Women’s Center. She is a vegan, which she feels symbolically “makes people think about systems of oppression that extend beyond human ones.”
“She’s very dedicated to things with the queer community and gender issues,” says Andrea Tsurumi ’07, Hufstedler’s roommate of four years. And luckily, Hufstedler’s two greatest passions complement each other perfectly. “I see music scenes as a place for social activism,” she says.
As for the future, the once pre-med Hufstedler has no definite plans. But she has some ideas:
“In three years I see myself in some awesome artist community, living with my friends and making really awesome music.”
