Activism Log #5

Activism:

This week, I updated the Twitter account with the girls' tweets. I printed up and passed out reminders for the girls to turn in more submissions to the 'zine. I facilitated at the Little meeting and helped conduct a lesson on body image. We introduced a new activity called "You're A Masterpiece" and it stimulated a great deal of excitement with the girls, which was, in turn, very exciting for the rest of us. The photos for the scrapbook pages have been developed, so sometime soon my groupmates and I will be coming together to work on the scrapbook, our Service Learning reflection paper, and the 'zine and videos.

Reflection:

In my previous activism log I talked about how I learned that compromise can be a very effective course when working with girls and asking them to acquire and maintain their own spaces with their own agencies. This week, however, seeing a successful bi-monthly publication of a magazine by girls and for girls opened my ideas to an even more expansive sense of what girls can do with their agency. On the non-numbered page directly before page one in this particular issue of New Moon Girls, it reads "New Moon Girls is the original girl-centered media" (Gruver). Finding new ways for the girls to have complete control over certain aspects of their participation in the program became a realistic consideration the way talking about it in a classroom couldn't let it. It also validated our own endeavors for the girls in our Service Learning Project. Employing a shared-power system that is less shared with adults and more empowered by the girls was a level and caliber of work I saw this week that I aspire to reach someday in my future activism.

Reciprocity:

Having read New Moon Girls--a magazine for girls and by girls--I thought it tied in directly with what my group has been working on specifically for our Service Learning project. We are having the girls create a 'zine, and asking the girls to contribute to the Twitter account and the Youtube videos completely of their own volition, inspiration, and execution. The Nov/Dec 2011 issue of this magazine was an excellent example to look at when considering showings of success in girls creating and maintaining their own spaces through public and massive mediums.

Works Cited

Gruver, Nancy, ed. New Moon Girls. Nov. 2011. Web.