Two things happened that boosted the quality of my day:

( first )

( second )

Still decompressing. The Daily has an article on it in today's issue. Here's a rundown of how it went for me:

( The rally and aftermath )

Thus ends SARVA Week 2007. It was pretty crazy for me since I was much more involved this year, but it was totally worth it. The other events of the week were all fantastic (though more humorous than heavy, and so not really worth attempting to translate into a blog post).

I hope you're all wearing jeans today for our Denim Day remembrance/protest. I've been wearing my SARVA Week t-shirt all week, so my co-workers all know about it and a bunch of them are wearing jeans today. :D

Oh, and ha ha.

Seattle-area folks!

I've totally been lax on making announcements about this, but SARVA Week is going on right now! For those of you unfamiliar with the event, SARVA (Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Awareness) Week is an annual event organized by C.O.R.E. (the Committee Organizing Rape Education, of which I am a volunteer). Through events, posters, and other displays, SARVA Week seeks to raise awareness on campus about the issues of sexual assault and relationship (domestic) violence.

Every night of this week through Thursday, there will be an event on campus in the HUB that educates people about sexual violence. (There was one just tonight and it was fabulous.) All events are free and open to the public.

( SARVA Week events )

I plan to go to all of these events. Please come and show your support!

I don't think I actually have anything useful to say. I just thought, "I'm bored. I should LJ." I am indeed a product of my time.

Last night ended up being okay. I went to do my C.O.R.E. presentation, which involved trekking through the unknown wilds of South Campus in order to find the dorm I was supposed to present at. (For those familiar with UW, I went to Mercer Hall - and if you thought, "Mercer what?" you're probably not alone.) My contact there, the RA who requested this presentation had absolutely nothing in the way of preparation to meet us. Here's how I tried to contact him:

Starting two hours before the presentation, I called the phone number he gave us in order to confirm that the presentation was still on. He never answered, so I left a message, calling back every twenty minutes or so just in case. Once I got to South Campus, I had a hell of a time finding the dorm in the icy dark - which isn't the RA's fault, but he should have predicted that we'd have trouble finding it, since it's well known among the residents that no one outside of the dorm knows where it is. At the very least, he should have told us which building ("East" or "West") we should go to. I only happened to see his name listed as an RA, asked a resident where I could find him, and went to look for him myself. Oh yeah, and I had to rely on residents to let me in, since all the dorms are locked. Finally, once I was in the correct building, and could not find the RA by either calling him or knocking on the door of his room, I happened to see a sign advertising the C.O.R.E. presentation and went to the location written there. The RA eventually showed up there.

He was a nice guy. And he offered us some of the ice cream he brought for his residents. But seriously - incompetence much?

Anyway, after that, my presentation partner and her boyfriend kindly offered to drive me back to ratzeo and zinjadu's apartment - which was only about 15 blocks away, but a hellish prospect with cold, ice, and the presentation equipment I was lugging around. Once I got in, I was greeted with warmth, food, and video games. Win.

Tonight we're scheduled to have more snow and freezing temperatures. Here's hoping it'll hold off until after the evening commute - and if that means a snow day tomorrow, well, I won't complain. XD

Also, randomly: an article about the concept of relational autonomy from Feminist Allies. (Link from tekanji.) For people who study philosophy, this term probably makes sense; for others, it probably sounds like a stupidly complicated way of saying what it actually means: "people's choices are affected by those around them."

The point of the concept, and the article, is that we're mistaken when we say that people either make completely independent choices or have their choices completely shaped by social forces (e.g., sexism, racism, etc.). Often anti-oppression workers are accused of falling in the latter category, and saying that people are completely dependent on the power inequalities that oppress them - this is often labelled as 'making' people into victims who cannot choose/act for themselves. However, as the article points out, the dichotomy is false. Most of the time, people make somewhat-independent choices while being somewhat-influenced by society around them. A woman may choose to look traditionally (hetero)sexy by getting breast implants and liposuction; however, the societal pressures that say 'this is what beauty is' and 'you have to be beautiful or your worthless' and other such things are also to blame for shaping that choice. And so on.

It's a useful concept that undergirds a lot of anti-oppression theory. I'd like to make a more detailed entry once I gather my thoughts more.

*And no, I'm not talking about Canadians.

So. Yesterday was the snow/hail/freezing extravaganza that made me leave work early and get home late (I went to catch my bus, couldn't find it due to unadvertised rerouting, finally gave up and crashed at ratzeo and zinjadu's for the night, taking an hour to travel about 15 blocks). This morning, though, it was not icy enough for the school to close, but cold enough that going to school made me hate life. :P

At least my morning class was cancelled, since my professor lives up north where the snow is really piled on. That left me time in the morning to make a warm and filling lunch with zinjadu, which involved a grocery run that let me experience the snow in a way that let me recognize its charm (read: it was a brief outing with the prospect of a warm home at the end).

Now my boss is telling us that conditions are supposed to get worse tonight, and those of us taking the bus should leave now before traffic gets impenetrable. Online weather reports are conflicting, though, so I don't know if I ought to take her advice, or if I should take my chances and tough it out. I also have a C.O.R.E. presentation tonight that hasn't been cancelled (because I'm presenting to a dorm, so people can stay in their cushy warm home while I haul my ass through the ice). But I'm not sure what it'll be like by that point in the evening. (If I do stay for work and C.O.R.E., I'm relying on the hospitality of ratzeo and zinjadu again, because there's no way in hell I'm risking a long bus trip after 8:00 p.m.)

So the question is: should I be responsible or not?

ETA: Okay, apparently I'm stuck doing the presentation. I just got off the phone with my partner, who actually tried to get out of it because she lives in Lynnwood. The assistant director refused to let her go, since there isn't anyone to replace her, so now she has to stay overnight in Seattle. Normally, our leaders are very nice and accomodating, so I don't know what happened here. Would it have been that hard to reschedule our presentation?

And you know, if these people are so insistent that we come and give our presentation on a night like this, they sure as hell better make it worth our time. I'm not putting up with any misogynistic bullshit tonight. I'm sick and tired of the entitlement-junkies we present to ignoring the fact that we are volunteering our time and effort to talk to them - and, oh yeah, that we're also real people with feelings and don't like being belittled or ignored. "Give me the respect that's my fucking due" is going to be my attitude at this presentation.

Yesterday I had what I would term "a good anti-oppression day."

( First, classes )

( And then, C.O.R.E. )

Today, I went downtown to get a flu shot. Not a happy or fun thing, I guess, but I'll be glad if I don't catch the flu. :P

While I was downtown, I also stopped by Golden Age to pick up a new set of dice. And yes, I needed a seventh set. XD;; My character for irishninja's game didn't have a set especially for her ... *blatantly justifying* Also, it was this gorgeous royal blue set that I've had my eye on for months. :D

Thanks to everyone who gave me well wishes this week. It seems to have worked. :o

Here's what I read today at work before going to do a C.O.R.E. presentation.

According to a court in Maryland, a woman cannot withdraw consent to sex once it has begun.

Because, apparently, once a man sticks his penis in you, you lose all say over what happens to your own body. I guess this isn't terribly surprising, though, since that's the common conservative position on abortion - if you consented to have sex, then you lose the ability to decide what happens to your body if you get pregnant. It doesn't matter if the pregnancy is inconvenient, painful, damaging to your body, or even life-threatening. And now, apparently, it doesn't matter if sex does the same thing. You said 'yes' at one point, after all.

Does anyone else have an image of a three year-old whining, "No take-backs!"?

But wait, there's more! The court graciously explained the basis for this ruling, which was a law that states that raping a woman "de-flowers" her and is thus a loss for the man who owns her.

Maryland court in less than 50 words: You're not allowed to control your body once a man penetrates you. But that's okay, because your only worth is being a pristine virgin for the man who actually controls you anyway.

More here, here, and here.

You know, contrary to popular belief, I don't hate men because I'm a feminist. But I do hold a scathing contempt for a large number of them, namely the ones who are too selfish, lazy, stupid, or cruel to own up to their privilege. Particularly the ones who purport to be intelligent or even enlightened, and have the tools for education staring them in the face. I include judges in this category.

( which brings me to C.O.R.E. )

As of tonight, I've done four presentations for C.O.R.E. The more practice I get, the more patterns I see, both in my own behavior and those of the students I present to (as of now, fraternities and sororities).

( What I've learned )

( What I do )

( And tonight's presentation ... )

So.

It didn't go that badly.

I did my first C.O.R.E. presentation tonight, and as anyone whom I talked to about it knows, I was pretty nervous. ( the lowdown )

Anyway. That was that. Not fantastic. But I can get better. And hell yes, you can be sure that I'll be doing this again.

Tonight was my last training as a peer educator with C.O.R.E., the Committee Organizing Rape Education. This is the campus organization that I've been mentioning for the past couple of months. I started my training at the end of last quarter, and now I'm "qualified" to be a peer educator who will give presentations on sexual assault and relationship violence starting next fall.

This isn't something I predicted for myself. Public speaking, obviously, is not my strength - talking on the phone still intimidates me. >_> But when I wanted to start doing volunteer work, C.O.R.E. was one of the first opportunities I heard of, and I thought, why not? I'm already doing one thing that I'm not used to or good at (i.e., activism), so why not try something else?

Tonight, for this final training session, we practiced doing the actual presentations. I expected that it wouldn't go perfectly, and it didn't - I screwed up, I hesitated, I babbled for embarassingly long periods of time without saying anything coherent. But I expected that. It's something of a relief to have finally tried it out, and figured out what I need to do and what I need to focus my attention on. And, you know, it wasn't nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be.

We also had a guest speaker, a woman who has experience both teaching and training on topics related to sexual violence. She did a great job of preparing us for the tough stuff, like difficult questions or an unresponsive audience. I'm slightly less anxious now.

She also acknowledged that public speaking on this topic is different from most other types of public speaking - the topic is far more personal and uncomfortable than almost anything else people speak about. We're trained from an early age not to talk about any of the subjects related to sexual violence - not about sex, not about our bodies, not about violence, and not about rape itself. Not only do we have to do the work normally involved in public speaking, but we have to fight our way through these preconceived barriers in people's minds. This isn't easy. But it's important. And she said: "Standing up in front of people and talking about sexual violence is nothing short of a revolutionary act."

I'm a revolutionary. Fuck yeah.

At my most recent training session with CORE, a King County prosecutor came to talk about the legal treatment of rape in Washington state. Now, the man himself was nice - but some of the stuff he told us? Was shit.

( Let me give you some examples )

Just finished helping to set up some exhibits for Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Awareness Week. Go me! :D For people on campus who want to see them, we have the Silent Witness exhibit on the HUB lawn, detailing the stories of twenty-something victims of domestic/relationship violence from Washington in 2004. Inside the HUB, there are a series of posters about healthy relationships. Both exhibits will be on display all week (Silent Witness will be taken down in the evenings).

Of course, there's also the major events I mentioned before. Once again:

Monday, April 10th, 7:00 p.m.
HUB Auditorium
"Consent is Sexy" lecture by Dr. Pepper Schwartz

Tuesday, April 11th, 7:00 p.m.
HUB Auditorium
Born into Brothels screening

Thursday, April 13th, 6:00 p.m.
Red Square to HUB lawn
"Safety Under the Stars" Run/Walk and Rally

There's also an article in The Daily. Whee!

This morning, I: 1) posted flyers advertising events meant to educate my campus about sexual assault, 2) played phone tag with a writer for the Seattle Times to arrange an interview about the anime club, 3) and donated blood for the very first time. All before class. :D

Once I got home, I finally got in touch with the Seattle Times writer, chatted with him a bit about the club, and set up a meeting time. Go me!

As for the bloodloss, it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd been worried about. The main reason I haven't donated before isn't pain - I don't really mind needles - but rather the worry that my body wouldn't handle it so well. (I have low blood pressure, to the point where I occasionally experienced brief blackouts when I was younger. I am just that cool.) But it was fine - I felt a bit lightheaded, but that was it; and I've been guzzling water and juice all day. The only slightly squicky bit was when they were taking samples in small containers; at that point I'd already been tubed up, so the blood flowing in the tube had built up and it sort of sprayed and splattered the inside of the container when it was released. O_o That, and it took so long for me to fill the bag that I ended up being late to class. :P

And finally, the sexual assault education flyers are for SARVA (Sexual Assault & Relationship Violence Awareness) Week, an annual series of events put on by CORE (Committee Organizing Rape Education). As some of you know, I started working with them as a volunteer peer educator last week. So far, I'm still in training and can't really *do* anything yet, but we trainees are still good for grunt work. Thus, the postering.

Here are the events for SARVA, in case you're interested. I plan on going to the Monday and/or Tuesday event.

( For the week of April 10 )