Activism Log 2

Nadean Richards
04/15/12
Mrs. Tweed
Activism Log

Activism:

This week at my community partner was very interesting because we had a nice turnout of girls and they all participated in the activities. The first activity we did was the game called connections and some of them were actually surprised they had something in common with another girl. That was the whole purpose of the activity to show them we all have commonalities with one another. The next activity we did was a questionnaire about things they like and dislike. We read the answers anonymously and some of the girls lost focus and we had to tell them to quite down. We explained how it is rude to talk when someone is speaking in front of a group. The last thing we did was the vision boards and everyone took one home.   They really enjoyed this activity because it gave them a chance to explore and want better things in the future.  Our success was reaching out to the few girls and interacting with them on a more personal level. Again our pitfall was advertisement because we were expecting a bigger turnout than we ended up with. To help solve our pitfall we handed out two flyers to each girl before they left and told them to hand it out to their friends.

Reflection:

The activism I have done this week relates to the class topic of identity because some of these girls are not sure who they are yet and it showed through the questionnaire activity we did with them. Identity on the macro level has to do with media, education, and the government. Society has an identity that people strive to be even though it is unobtainable.  Whether you’re considered normal or having the perfect beauty ideal, someone is constantly being judged all the time. This section of the class has made me more aware of feminine issues like the beauty ideal and identity. I knew there was a beauty ideal but I wasn’t aware that people were actually obsessing over it and it’s quite scary. Society is so worried about appearance it questions what other factors are important in one’s life. The girls that we had didn’t seem that concerned about their appearance and it was refreshing in a way because it was natural beauty they were ok with. Natural beauty is looked at as negative when it should be positive because it looks more real.

Reciprocity:

This SL project has made me want to be more involved in the community because I can see that there are young minds that need help. No one is perfect and sometimes people need inspiration into the right direction from someone else other than their parents. Teaching the young girls about commonalities and goals will hopefully inspire them to be different and make their dreams come true. From a feminist perspective this may be seen as activism because we are going out into the community and teaching students about worldwide issues. Activism is easy but it’s whether or not it’s effective enough to help someone. Learning from experience is one of the first steps to changing the world.    

Works Cited:

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives. N.p.: Frank Moritmer, n.d.
Print.