SWC News, Thoughts on Komen, and Being a Healthy Sexuality Peer Educator

Monday

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.

I look forward to some of the guest speakers they want to have, including Sharmila Rudrappa and Sarah Weddington. 

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.

Karen Handel, SGK's new Vice President for Public Policy, is a former Georgia gubernatorial candidate who has said she is "pro-life and does not support the mission of Planned Parenthood."

Anti-choice organizations celebrated this pulled funding, donating $1,000,000 to Komen after the news broke. 

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).

Thursday

I taught my second MOC! And I got more pictures!

These are the visual aids we use. FUN.

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.

Shit Social Workers Say

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Voter Registration, Being a Healthy Sexuality Peer Educator, and Speaking at City Hall

Monday:

At our first Social Work Council meeting of the semester, I received a great response when I proposed to do a voter registration at our next meeting (this Monday, January 30). So I had a reason to go down to the County Tax Office to pick up my first batch of voter registration cards!

You can see here that I also picked up some walk away cards, so if you can't attend the meeting you can still register.

At this meeting we talked about the need for more Service Projects. I contacted Inside Books Project, and I am inviting people to volunteer Sunday, February 5th from 8pm-11pm with me. Please think about volunteering 3 measly hours of your time for a great cause!

One last SWC pitch... we will start t-shirt sales Monday-Thursday from 9am-11am. They are $12 each, payable by cash or check. The shirts are burnt orange and say "Texas Social Work" on the front and have a large Longhorn on the back. HELP OUT SWC and buy a shirt!

Wednesday:

I taught my firstMethods of Contraception class. Only two girls came, but it was still an interesting experience. Ladies have to take this class in order to be prescribed birth control at the University Health Clinic (males are still welcome). One of the girls was on her phone the whole time, and did not accept the free condom packs we hand out at the end. It was such a novel experience for me, this whole not being excited about free condoms. After spending a whole semester with peer educators thrilled about sex it was just really interesting. There is a stigma in America that carrying condoms makes you a whore instead of an educated, prepared young adult. (Really, I can't speak for why she wasn't interested. I'm just saying, she was in an MOC; I presume she is sexually active if she wants birth control from our clinic.) Here are some of the posters we use. I hope next time I teach one I can get a picture of all the cool models of vaginas and contraceptives we get to use.

Thursday:

I was the final signature for getting the UT Student Organization "Voices for Reproductive Justice" off the ground. My new friend from voter registration, Liz, who started the VRJ idea, asked me if I was going to Austin City Council to speak out against Crisis Pregnancy Centers.

I had been getting tons of e-mails ALL week from Planned Parenthood and NARAL about coming to City Council to speak out against CPCs. The community outreach coordinator from PP, Dru, sent me a personal e-mail asking. I HATE public speaking as many people do. I sent back an e-mail with something along the lines of, "I've never done this it's scary are they going to talk back to me waaaaahhhhh." She assured me that I would only have to speak for a few minutes and that would be that. I didn't respond.

Instead, I waited until I got home to call my mom. I told her I don't agree with CPCs, but that I was scared to speak! She inquired about what the issue with CPCs is and as I told her I felt more confident. I mean really CPCs are a big waste of public money, funding a fear mongering ideology. After this my mom's response was the best and I will never forget it. She said, "If you believe in what you're saying, you're going to fucking blow them away." THANKS MOM!

But then I didn't want to go again. It's easier to SAY you're going to do something, but actually doing it is quite a bit different. Then Liz asked me on the spot on Thursday... I said I wasn't sure. She called me again and said I should come. So I did!

I wrote out a speech in my car and drove my ass down to Austin City Hall.

When I got there, I saw Dru. The first thing she said was, "We have enough speakers, but still sign in." I said, "Whoa you asked me to speak and now I want to!" (Surprising to me that I felt that way.)

The video isn't on YouTube so I can't upload it here, but here is the link. 

http://austintx.swagit.com/play/01262012-501/#11

I think the whole dialogue is really interesting, but I start speaking at 26:48 if you don't have an hour.

There is a nervous laugh, and maybe not the strongest use of pauses, but it was my first time speaking politically! I did it! Woo! Thanks Dru, Liz, and especially to my beautiful mother. I got a lot of compliments just getting back to my seat. Afterwords, Dru and the rep from Jane's Due Process congratulated me, and that felt awesome.

These are the girls from VRJ, Megan and Liz from left to right. Look at me, smiling like a goofball.

All in all it was a great experience, and I expect myself to do it again. 

Before You Leave: 

I want to direct you to my friend's son's first activism project. Check out the link for more information about how you can help people in Haiti, and encourage this caring young kid's advocacy. 

Sullivan's Adventure Project

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