Voices for Reproductive Justice hosted our first social event last night! The Get Yourself Tested Pub Crawl consisted of food, drinks, condoms, and spreading the word on getting yourself tested. We had tons of fun, and sincerely appreciate everyone's participation!
Haley making SWAG BAGS before the event.
SWAG BAG (minus the condoms we passed out)!
me, Dru, Haley: before the event... I get too excited sometimes.
Pizza from East Side Pies- delish.
Lots of Healthy Sexuality Peer Educators, Texas Freedom Networkers, Public Health students, and Social Work students in this group!
Walking to Rio Rita
Hanging out at Rio Rita
Rio Rita made VRJ a special ginger cocktail called "The Second Thought"- YUM!
Social Workers! Alexa, me, Haley, Candace
VRJ Exec Board: Liz, Haley, me, Megan
Special thanks to MEGAN for getting Rio Rita, Cheer Up Charlies, and Volstead on board. We couldn't have done it without you!
Be on the look out for more VRJ events in the near future!
Before you go...
THE WAR ON WOMEN RALLY IS UPON US! IT'S TODAY AT 4PM ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE CAPITOL. GET OFF THE INTERNET; I'LL MEET YOU IN THE STREET!
So, this is probably the coolest thing that has happened to me so far in my life. IT IS A SIGNED LETTER FROM CECILE RICHARDS! HOLY SHIT! It took me awhile to receive it because it got mailed to Liz's house. Anyway, I was pretty stoked.
African American Culture Committee (AACC)
I met someone named Iriel from AACC when VRJ was tabling on West Mall last Tuesday. She was pubbing for a lecture by Brian White titled "Navigating the Business of Success: How to Build a Career of Value," and somehow we got to talking about VRJ tabling at the event. Iriel invited me to the AACC meeting to further discuss the opportunity and register their committee members to vote.
On Wednesday at 5pm in SAC 2.120 I did just that! Unfortunately VRJ will not be able to table at the event, but I registered two people to vote and am considering myself a new member of their student org. THE MEETING WAS SO FUN. Let's go together next Wednesday.
After the AACC meeting (we're going next week, right?) I went to FACE AIDS: Condom Couture.
VRJ tabling: me, Megan
Dominique from C.A.R.E Program doing a female condom demo.
These aren't all of the models (dangit) but here are the ones I got a picture of.
1st place!
STI Testing
On Thursday, HSPEs helped host the free STI testing at UT. If you didn't get tested last Thursday, there is still time! Come to the SSB Glen Maloney Room on Thursday, April 26 from 10am-4pm. IT'S FREE, Y'ALL.
Come hang out with VRJ this Friday night from 8pm-11pm. We will be passing out condoms and literature on getting tested, and drinking. I don't know what else someone could ask for in a Friday night, for real. (Must be 21+ to attend.)
Alright, so the time has finally come for the War on Women Rally. Here is a little feminist tune to set the tone. (Thousands of people will be at this rally... you really must come.)
"GET OFF THE INTERNET; I'LL MEET YOU IN THE STREET!"
Denise helped me start t-shirt sales this week for Social Work Council. So far, so good! You can still pick one up Monday-Thursday from 9am-11am for 12 bucks in the School of Social Work.
Monday night we had a Social Work Council meeting, and I registered a whopping 10 people to vote. I need to reevaluate my plan so that I can help more people register!
We also discussed Project 2012. Social Work Council will be volunteering at Project 2012 February 25 at River City Youth Foundation during the morning shift. If you want to be grouped with us, put UTSWC in the organization column when you sign up.
In the meantime, think about volunteering at Inside Books Project with me next Sunday! I changed the date because everyone wanted to watch the Super Bowl.
I also left Whole Woman's Health on Monday after I found out my beloved boss would no longer be there. Since my "internship" was over, I was no longer allowed to observe counseling. I was still allowed to audit, but there wasn't much room to grow until I complete my degree. Plus, working at an abortion clinic wasn't as empowering as I had imagined. I would rather be doing something to prevent unintended pregnancies. Don't get me wrong, I still believe safe abortion should be accessible; I just think I would be happier if I could do more to prevent someone having to make/go through with that decision. So now I will be volunteering on Fridays with Planned Parenthood instead.
Tuesday
I had another meeting with the girls from Voices for Reproductive Justice. They have a lot of great ideas, and I'm excited to be a part of it.
Liz also had an idea for our shirts: she's going to make our logo a Longhorn that looks like a uterus, reminding me of this great passage in Tina Fey's Bossypants.
Hilarious.
Anyway, January 31 was also the day that Susan G. Komen decided to pull grant funding from Planned Parenthood. What a public relations disaster... turning breast cancer into a partisan issue over abortion.
Komen created a new rule that prohibits funding an organization that is under formal investigation by the government. Planned Parenthood was the only group out of over 2,000 that fell into this category. Creating rules like this is dangerous, as it gives government officials the opportunity to open investigations against organizations they don't agree with.
Several board members of SGK resigned after they learned of the rule in December, most notably Mollie Williams, their top public-health official.
Planned Parenthood also raised money. According to CBS, they have raised $3,000,000 between Tuesday and Friday.
On Friday, facing public scrutiny, SGK reversed it's decision, and announced they would reconsider funding grants for Planned Parenthood. Nancy Brinker, Komen's founder said that SGK wanted to provide grants to groups that provide mammograms. Planned Parenthood conducts breast screenings and mammogram referrals.
At first, Komen lost Planned Parenthood supporters, but by reversing their decision (well, now they will "consider" grants to PP), have they lost Right to Life supporters? What about all of those anti-choicers that donated A MILLION dollars after announcing they were defunding Planned Parenthood cancer screenings?
Oh yeah, and then there is this, just in the nick of time:
Wednesday
I have two classes that I have to do community action projects for. In my Communities class, we were assigned groups: I was assigned to "poverty." It felt too broad and overwhelming, but we decided to focus on low-income single mothers. In my Social Justice class we got to pick our groups, so my group will be researching unintended pregnancies (exciting for me, since that is what I'm really interested in).
These are the topics we cover when you come to an MOC!
I felt more comfortable teaching this one since I had been through the process before. Excited to do this for another year!
Afterwords, I called to schedule interviews with someone from: Section 8 housing, Trinity Center, and MAP for my low-income single mothers CAP. Pretty anxious to hear back from each of them...I hope I don't blow my interviews with them. Any (serious) tips for interviewing besides researching the org/person before you meet?
Then it was time for Senate appropriations. Senate appropriates money to student organizations twice a semester to fund academic endeavors. It's really long, but as a Financial Director you get to learn about a lot of events and even student orgs you didn't know about. Then you get to help decide how much funding each of those orgs gets.
There is another round coming up on February 16 if you are part of a student org that needs monetary help with an event.
Well, I think that's it. Check out this link if you are a SW student and need a laugh.
After a mostly relaxing break, my first week back on campus has been full of new experiences.
On Thursday, I went to a training through Planned Parenthood to become deputized as a voter registrar. It was a painless process, and our trainer, Cheryl Reese, was a joy.
I learned two things at this training that were upsetting to me though. First of all, the "walk-away" voter registration cards previously had a blank destination address on the front, so that you could take a registration card and register in your appropriate county. These cards were mass printed in English and Spanish. Now, per the Secretary of State, the forms counties have access to have their county tax office address pre-printed.
Not only does this limit access to voter registration, the SoS sent 50 copies of the voter registration cards in Spanish. FIFTY. Cheryl called the SoS office and asked if the new Spanish cards were a sample. She was informed that their office would have to print any additional Spanish copies. They are, but what a shame.
The second thing I learned was when it is acceptable to have someone else register you to vote without you physically being there.
1. A child may register their parent
2. A parent may register their child (who is 18+)
3. A husband or wife may register their spouse
"A husband or wife may register their spouse." Another blatant injustice to same-sex couples. I can't understand the stance that "marriage is a sacred religious institution." If there were no federal benefits (there a over a thousand) that didn't consider marital status, I could support that claim.
After reading the articles for this week, this is another unfortunate example of inequality across groups.
Regardless of my personal opinions, I can now register you to vote if you live in Travis County!
Something else came out of this event: an idea for a new UT student org called Voices for Reproductive Justice.
In collaboration with Planned Parenthood, three of these girls (and myself) want to start VRJ to promote education and access to health care. Tentatively, we plan to distribute condoms, register students to vote, and provide opportunities for students to attend relevant lectures or films. (We will see how far we get with distributing condoms.)
Which leads me to the next exciting news...
In the Spring of 2011 I applied to be a Healthy Sexuality Peer Educator. We submitted applications, got called back for interviews, some got accepted (25/40), and then we endured a very demanding semester of creating weekly scholarly research article reviews along with other required reading. We also had a group project at the end in which we drafted a new student workshop (including a survey for the research component, FUN!).
Basically it was demanding, but totally up my alley. And yesterday, those of us who made it through that semester reconvened with our incredible professor, Guli Fager. She was tough on us, but during the 3-hour session yesterday, she doted on our improvements and the student workshops we created. It felt really great. Plus, we got our shirts and lanyards! We start teaching this semester! It's a 3-semester program, so I will also teach Fall of 2012.
The teaching includes workshops (such as Sex Trivia) and Methods of Contraception (MOC) classes. (If you can't make it to an MOC, here is a great source to help you understand different types of contraception Bedsider Birth Control Methods.) Not only will facilitating workshops and teaching classes be a great learning experience, it's also be beneficial to my resume!
Well, I used to journal avidly, but stopped after I left high school. I enjoy writing, so I am very excited about this blog (although I am using it as a source of procrastination right now).
I leave you with this awesome video I saw in my HSPE class last semester.
DODvClips (16 September 2010). The Return of Count Spirochete (1973). Retrieved 22 January 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW3AJ9xPSWE
Federal Marriage Benefits Denied to Same-Sex Couples. NOLO Law For All. http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/same-sex-couples-federal-marriage-benefits-30326.html
Thank the White House for Ensuring Access to Contraceptive Coverage for Millions of Women. NARAL Pro-Choice America. https://secure.prochoiceamerica.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=5079
