Activism Blog Week 10

Alexandria Bergeron

Jeanina Perez

3/27/2010

WST 3015

So we have reached the end of this process. This week we spent our last couple days putting together our presentations and preparing to share it with the class. It has been great getting to know these girls in my group and on our last day we met up to touch up our presentation before class and to have lunch together. I would venture so far as to say that we couldn't have had a better group dynamic through this whole process.

Our presentation in class went smoothly, even though we went a bit over time. Once we were up there talking about it, I realized how much we really had done to pull this all together. Jen A. did the most amazing job on the PSA, which we should in class. The results of all of this have been great.

We talked in class about how we would connect this last week to our last bit of reading and ecofeminism, and i think i would like to tie this in with the concept (abstract) of home. UCF is my home, because it is a part of me. I have then in effect changed my enviroment, and in my mind it was for the better. Now others will feel more at easy and ready to call this home for them as well. Especially now that it provides everyone with that key element that make a home so great... Security!

Activism Blog Week 9

Alexandria Bergeron

Jeannina Perez

3/16/2010

WST 3015

This week was a very busy and active for me and my group. Today was our rally and the National Day of Silence. To prepare for todays events we did our last little bit of tabling on Wed. That was probably the most interesting day of tabling we have had. We were set up next to a group who was teaching useful information about the female anatomy... with a life sized hand made female vagina. They played a game show styled game with students passing by, and drew lots of attention. We benefitted from this because it allowed us to grab people leaving there booth (which was very numerous) to come and sign our petition. The next step was to create posters. I spent all night last night creating the poster that I brought with me today.

This morning we stood out front of the student union with tape over our mouths, silently protesting. we found out yesterday that our cause had passed the golden rule committee, and now all we need is the president of the college to sign off. So today was more of a coming together to further our support and to kind of celebrate what we accomplished.

After leaving the rally however I spoke to a good friend of mine, and we got into a huge fight, because of him being in the military and the fact that some of the people protesting were against the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law. I am so hurt and frustrated at his cruel words and the fact that he belittled me and my opinion. I felt it was interesting that this is what we would have fought about, especially since we just talked about women's role in the military and the oppression that women and people of the GLBTQ community experience. I argue with him about equality and how anyone willing to sacrifice there life was worthy of being in the military, however this argument blow up out of control and i do believe I have ended a 14 year old friendship. I am not upset over the lose of the friendship because I can't associate with people as ignorant as that, but I am sad to think that he is not the only one out there that thinks like that.

Activism Blog Week 8

Alexandria Bergeron

Jeannina Perez

4/9/2010

WST 3015

Another day a tabling came and went without a problem. We collected some names and enjoyed the nice weather. The day was very relaxing and I love getting to know the girls. Most of the stress I have is trying to figure out how to have a gown up conversation about my project with my boyfriend, how to have any conversation with my family, and how to balance my time to really put the time into the project. My boyfriend just purfers not to talk about the project because that is just the kinda guys he is. He supports the cause, and that I am active in it, but he is not interested in the process needed to be an activist. In our conversations, I have told him about the concept that we have discussed in class about finding your voice. Yes I am interested in finding my voice but for him, he doesn't feel that he needs to express his voice. I think that I am enjoying all the tabling but I am excited to see where this will all lead to. I am excited to make a difference and I am excited to be involved in the rally. I wish my boyfriend would be there to support something I am working on, but he is working. It makes me wonder if he would be there though, if he wasn't working

Activism Blog Week 7

Alexandria Bergeron

Jeannina Perez

April 3, 2010

WST 3015

This week was another week of tabling for me. While tabling I had an encounter with members of the UCF fishing club. Though this label is problematic I am going to give it to them- they were rednecks. I knew getting them to sign the petition would be difficult but I tried to relate the idea of the petition in a way that they would understand. Everything was going good until one of the guys realized that this petition would aid individuals who were transgender. Of course once they realized this, the petition became a joke to them and they spent the rest of the day badgering me and sending other members up who hadn't heard me speak. Even though the process got annoying I smiled and explained the petition every time. It put a new spin on kill them with kindness for me, and they would never stop coming over. To relate this to the text, because we have been learning about acts of violence against women and the implications of acts of violence and how we respond as a society. My response is to petition for equal rights here at UCF, so that these acts, as well as other none physically related acts will have the same punishments as it would for anyone else, in any other group of individual. As a member of the transgender community, 1 in 5 experience acts of violence against them. Violence is unexceptable no matter your gender, age, race, sex prefrence, or gender identity. This was the idea that I tried to share with the member of the fishing club the other day while tabling, and I have to admit, I was frustrated and wanted to just shake them for being so ignorant, but instead I faced them with a smile and had to tell myself that this my cause, and if they don't want to see it from another point of view, well that was there choice. But I still got enjoyment out of knowing that before they had really processed what I was telling them, 2 had already signd my petition.... so they did support my cause!

Activism Blog Week 6

Alexandria Bergeron

Jeannina Perez

For week of 3/26/10

WST 3015

This week was again a slower week for me. I took my petition sheet to work with me and to my other class. Explaining my cause wasn't to bad, but I think for most of the people that signed, it was out of habit. The people I worked with didn't even want to know what they were signing for the most part. I was a little surprised by this because I was hoping that people would take more of an interest in the world that they are changing and affecting. I would want to know what I was signing. This week also lead to more conversations with my dad about my project and about or class discussions. We are talking about women and feminist ideas in regards to the military. My father is a 37 year veteran of the Navy, and we have found ourselves in a couple heated debates about the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", laws. Of course he is all for it and I feel that no one should have to hide who they are. If they are willing to put there life on the line for their country then who cares what their sexual preference is. My dad and I have always been close but these arguments actually were so heated at one point, we actually found ourselves hanging up on each other.I think it is hard for my dad to see me grow up and develope my own opinions especially when they are different then his ideals, however he is becoming more receptive the more we talk through this project process. I think that this might help both my parents grow by the end of the project.

Work Cited:

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. "Women and the military, War, and Peace." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. 493-511. Print.

Activism Blog Week 5

Alexandria Bergeron

Jeannina Perez

For the week (3/19/10)

WST 3015

With it being the first week back from being on Spring Break, I can't say that I was exactly motivated to jump right into working on our service learning hours. We had planned to begin tabling this week, and I took the time off from work, but due to problems with getting a table, we were unable to start petitioning. This week in class I feel like we have covered a lot of topics in great detail to include the work of feminism in pursuit of equality to lengthy class discussions about taking the "path of least resistance"(Perez, 3/17/10) . As an individual in this group I see my self living up to both of these discussions. Being of the straight community, the path of least resistance is definately being an activist for the GLBT community. The responses from most when I discuss my service learning project is shock. Friends I have been close with for years even look at me a little cross. I think there is this idea that in order to fight for equality for certain communities, you have to be a member of that community. I have become more comfortable talking openly about my project and really standing up for my personal morals. This is a big step for me. I have always been a person concerned with what others thought so anything that would be "out of the norm", would not be something that I would advertise. I find my self growing and finding my voice in this world as far as defending and supporting what I believe in.

Perez, Jeanina. 3 March, 2010. Lecture "Path of Least Resistance"

Activism Blog Week 4

Alexandria Bergeron

Jeannina Perez

WST 3015

Activism Blog (from 3/26/10)

This week my activism was more on a personal level. Though my family is very supportive of me developing my own morals and ideas, they still have trouble understanding why i support or believe in the things that I do believe in. I have found myself in the middle of several conversation with them about my service learning project. Most of my conversations were with my mother, and since this past weekend i brought home a friend of mine, due to me having a girls weekend with all my best friends back in West Palm, and my friend just happened to be the first lesbian my mother ever met, my mother had trouble understanding why I am supporting a community I am not part of. Of course the fact that I am working on this service learning project, along with the fact that I brought my friend home, led to questions from my mother about my sexual identity. It reminded me of or reading of "I'm Not a Rapist". In that reading the men didn't want to be assumed to be rapist simply because they were men. I felt this week as though my mother saw me as having to be a lesbian, since in her eyes, there is no other reason why I would be working on this project. It was so stressful and I have never had to argue with my mother so much. After severl conversations i think I finally got her to understand that though I am of the straight community, I can still be supportive of equal rights for everyone, regardless of there race, culture, sexual identity, etc.

"I Am Not a Rapist!" Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. Ed. Gwyn Kirk. Comp. Margo Okazawa-Rey. By John Stoltenger. New York: McGraw-Hill 2003. 285-290. Print