Notes on initial Service Learning Proposal

Service Learning Proposal

As initially stated in my first proposal I was going to be volunteering with YWLP, however due to some scheduling conflicts I chose to do my service learning hours with Animal Safehouse.  Animal Safehouse is an organization that finds foster homes for pets of women who are victims of domestic violence. It was started by UCF Women’s Studies professor Leandra Preston and has been a very inspirational organization to volunteer for.

In the course of my volunteering with Animal Safehouse I tabled an event at Veg Fest, which was a vegetarian/organic festival held at Loch Haven Park. We raised money and awareness for Animal Safehouse as well as passed out information on being a foster home for a pet. I also organized my own tabling event and supply drive which I held at the Starbucks I work at in downtown Orlando. I passed out information on Animal Safehouse and raised some money for them at my tabling event and for the supply drive I made a poster and left out a box for people to bring in used/new pet supplies.

Service Learning Activism Log

1.       This week I am going to finish collecting the items that customers have brought in for my supply drive and probably sometime next week I am planning to meet up with Abigail to bring all the monetary donations and supplies to her.

2.       Last week in class we were learning about Women and the Environment, I don’t really know how it would relate to domestic violence, which is what my service learning project is about. The only thing I can say is that I’m pretty sure Animal Safehouse is a very eco-friendly organization and supportive of anything that has to do with the environment.

3.       I was so amazed at how supportive all of the customers were at my Starbucks when I set up my tabling event, lots of people were very eager to donate and to bring in supplies.  It was nice to be able to raise awareness in my community about this subject because a lot of people weren’t even aware of some of the statistics I told them.

Service Learning Activism Log

1.       This week I organized a tabling event at the Starbucks I work at to raise money and get the word out about Animal Safehouse. I’m also going to be conducting a supply drive starting on Saturday and then I will leave a box out in my Starbucks for people to drop off their donations throughout the week. I work in a very neighborhood oriented Starbucks and a lot of our regular customers have pets so hopefully I will be able to get a lot of donations and raise awareness about Animal Safehouse.

2.       My service learning project relates to what we are learning in class this week because I am trying to raise awareness about domestic violence and Animal Safehouse and we were learning about Global and Transnational Feminism which is about uniting women together to raise awareness about women’s issues.

3.       I’m really looking forward to tabling tomorrow because its something that I organized myself and its at my work, so I’m excited to share everything I’ve learned about Animal Safehouse and everything they do for their community and to show people that they to can make a difference in other’s lives.

Women and the Workforce

                The movie Spanglish is about a woman and her daughter who emigrate to America from Mexico to try and have a better life. The mother, Flor, does not speak English and she works many dead-end, low paying jobs, that is until she realizes she has to be home for her daughter who is just starting to discover boys. So Flor gets a job as a maid for the Clasky household; the father is a celebrated chef and the mother has just lost her job and is a stay at home mom. This movie shows two different aspects of women in the workforce, there is Flor who is a Mexican immigrant and does not speak the language or have the education to get a high paying job and then there is Mrs. Clasky who is a well educated women who had a good job and lost it due to downsizing so she’s trying her hand at being a mom. It shows the obstacles both women have to face when it comes to work and family.               

                “More women than men make up the working poor, and women of color are more than twice as likely to be poor compared with white women, they may be involved in the informal economy as maids, babysitters or gardeners” (Kirk and Rey, p.311). Flor faces many obstacles when she arrives in America, she does not speak English and she doesn’t really want to work outside of the small Mexican community she lives in, in Los Angeles. She works many low-paying jobs until she has to step outside her comfort zone and gets a job as a maid for a wealthy family. In taking this job Flor is exposed to a way of living she is not used to and the definite class inequality between her and the Clasky’s.

                In the article The Mommy Tax, Ann Crittenden writes that, “For most companies, the ideal worker is unencumbered, that is free of all ties other than those to his job. Anyone who can’t devote all his or her energies to paid work is barred from the best jobs and has a permanently lower lifetime income” (Kirk and Rey, p.337). In one scene Mrs. Clasky shares that she lost her high paying job due to downsizing and decided to become a stay at home mom. When companies today have to downsize I think it’s easier for them to let go of someone who is a mother because they think she is less committed to her job.

                I guess you could say this film represented the gendered division of labor. The jobs it showed the main character Flor working are typically considered “women’s work”, she worked in a dry cleaners, she was a receptionist at a Spanish traffic school and finally a maid. Mrs. Clasky had a career in a commercial design firm until she was let go and she became a stay at home mom rather than going back to work and the husband was a top chef, which is typically a male dominated field. In conclusion this movie purely displays a typical Americanized view of gender job placement.

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives. Fifth. New York, New York: McGraw Hill, 2010

Service Learning Activism Log

1.       I finally got a chance to table an event with Animal Safehouse. I volunteered last Saturday at Veg Fest. We passed out fliers and informed people about the organization; we also raised some money for Animal Safehouse.  I have also talked to Abigail about doing some other small projects for Animal Safehouse such as making headbands, passing out fliers and possible having a supply drive at the Starbucks I work at, where I will collect dog food, treats and any other supplies AS might need.

2.      This week in class we were reading about Violence against women. Some of the facts and statistics  we learned were startling,  but it’s nice to know that there are organizations like Animal Safehouse that are there to help out these women in need.  After tabling that event and talking to Abigail I feel like there is a lot more things I can do to help this organization, I just need to get out there and talk to people.

3.      In volunteering with this organization, I am getting the satisfaction that I have helped someone make a better life for themselves.  As an animal lover it is comforting knowing that there is an organization that cares for the animals as well as the owners.  They attend many different events in the community and educate people on domestic violence and the steps they can take to get help.

Service Learning Activism Log

1.       Activism: I have been emailing Abigail to try and volunteer at some of the events, one of the events was cancelled and the other one I didn’t hear back about, but I will be volunteering at Veg Fest tomorrow. I also am very interested in transporting the animals; I emailed Abigail my number so hopefully I will get a call to help out. Also I might try to set up a table at Publix to raise money and awareness for Animal Safehouse.

2.       Reflection: Raising awareness about domestic violence is something I strongly believe in. I don’t think people realize just how many people this actually affects. We were discussing Women’s sexuality in class this week and it made me think about how there is a double standard for men and women when it comes to sex and how some guys have that “take whatever they want whenever they want” attitude that can possibly turn violent. Heterosexuality is prescribed or natural for women and men, men are the initiators and heterosexual encounters, and men’s sexuality is assertive and in need of regular release. (Kirk and Rey, p.150)

3.       Reciprocity: I haven’t been able to help out with any of the events yet or help transport animals but I know that this organization is constantly helping victims of domestic violence and it makes me feel good knowing that I have the opportunity to help them in their constant battle to raise awareness and to find homes for these animals.

Works Cited:

Kirk, Gwyn and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspective. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010.

Service Learning Activism Log

1.       Activism: I have been emailing Abigail to try and volunteer at some of the events, one of the events was cancelled and the other one I didn’t hear back about, so hopefully I will volunteer at the upcoming Veg Fest. I also am very interested in transporting the animals; I emailed Abigail my number so hopefully I will get a call to help out. Also I might try to set up a table at Publix to raise money and awareness for Animal Safehouse.

2.       Reflection: Raising awareness about domestic violence is something I strongly believe in. I don’t think people realize just how many people this actually affects. We were discussing Women’s sexuality in class this week and it made me think about how there is a double standard for men and women when it comes to sex and how some guys have that “take whatever they want whenever they want” attitude that can possibly turn violent. Heterosexuality is prescribed or natural for women and men, men are the initiators and heterosexual encounters, and men’s sexuality is assertive and in need of regular release. (Kirk and Rey, p.150)

3.       Reciprocity: I haven’t been able to help out with any of the events yet or help transport animals but I know that this organization is constantly helping victims of domestic violence and it makes me feel good knowing that I have the opportunity to help them in their constant battle to raise awareness and to find homes for these animals.

Works Cited:

Kirk, Gwyn and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspective. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010.

Women's Health

1.      According to the CDC 20 million people are currently infected with HPV (Human papillomavirus) and is increasing by 6 million people per year (CDC.gov). Though not a life-threatening disease on its own, HPV is a leading cause of cervical cancer in women (CDC.gov). There’s a preventative treatment through vaccine, Gardisil and Cervarix, though costly it is the only treatment currently available.

2.      On a macro-level this reality exists because the treatment cost is prohibitive because it’s a new drug and the patent hasn’t expired and other drug companies cannot produce it. Also the insurance companies are only allowing girls ages 9-26 to be covered under insurance for this vaccine. Many parents of younger children do not want their children to get this vaccine because of its sexual connotations; they think that by getting it their children will become promiscuous because they think they are “immune to STD’s”.

3.      In my opinion there are not enough women in executive positions in the drug companies, insurance companies and government so that women’s issues are pushed to the bottom of the pile. There is research that has shown that HPV vaccines may be effective up to age 45 in women (Merck News), because of the cost of these vaccines ($120 per shot, three shots are the recommended vaccination) insurance companies will only cover this up to age 26 in women. If we had more women in government pushing for insurance and healthcare reforms, this vaccine might be more accessible to women of all ages.

4.      To make this plan a reality we need to get out there and support our female candidates, and healthcare bills that would affect us.  We also need to teach young women about taking more control in their reproductive health.

Works Cited:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/hpv/

Merck News: http://web.archive.org/web/20071112010855/http://www.merck.com/newsroom/press_releases/product/2007_1105.html

Service Learning Activism Log

I was going to be doing my service learning hours with YWLP, but I am now going to be volunteering for Animal Safehouse, which is an organization set up by Leandra Preston and cares for the animals of victims of domestic abuse. They also help reunite women and their pets post-shelter.

1.       I have been e-mailing Abigail Malick, who is the service learning coordinator for Animal Safehouse. She sent me a list of events that are taking place in October of which I will probably take place in at least three of them. I have also e-mailed her my number so I can help if they need to transport any animals to a foster home.

2.      My activism project relates to what we are discussing in class because it is an organization that is helping women make the transition from an abusive relationship.  According to the Animal Safehouse website,  50% of women do not leave abusive situations for fear her pet will be injured or killed. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (www.ncadv.org), there were 113,123 reported cases of domestic violence and 180 domestic-violence related homicides in Florida in 2008.  If women know that their loved ones including pets are being taken care of they can concentrate on making a better life for themselves without feeling overwhelmed. We were just learning about Women’s Bodies and Women’s Health in class and getting themselves out of an abusive situation is the best way for a woman to improve her mental and physical health.

3.      In volunteering with this organization, I am getting the satisfaction that I have helped someone make a better life for themselves.  As an animal lover it is comforting knowing that there is an organization that cares for the animals as well as the owners.  They attend many different events in the community and educate people on domestic violence and the steps they can take to get help.

Works Cited:

http://www.animalsafehousebrevard.org/

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa- Rey. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspective. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.

Women in Advertising

This ad alone doesn’t necessarily represent the concept of an idealized feminine shape in its written message but its visual nature would be associated with every other jeans ad. This ad describes itself as understanding to the variations of a woman’s shape, but the varying shapes are represented by the typical tall, skinny model. Feminist scholars have analyzed the oppressive nature of ads and media representations that bombard women and girls with an ideal of beauty defined as thin, lean, tall, young, white and heterosexual, with flawless skin and well-groomed hair (see, e.g., Bordo 1993; Brumberg 1997; Hesse-Biber 1996; Kilbourne 1999; Martin 2007; Wolf 1991). (Kirk and Rey, p.208)

At first glance the one thing that appealed to me about this ad was its claim of “hotness coming in all shapes and sizes” and that everyone should be able to go into stores and find jeans that fit “us”, but then when I opened up the rest of the advertisement it showed basically three thin girls with maybe a slight variance in their curves. The mood that this ad is trying to set is one of female empowerment and body acceptance but most women would look at this ad and it would make them feel worse about their bodies especially with skinny size 25 written down the side of the model, most women today do not have a size 25 waist. Women today strive to achieve what Kim Chernin calls the “tyranny of slenderness”; we set ourselves up to reach a goal that isn’t really attainable. (Kirk and Rey, p.208) The aim is to promote insecurity, self-hatred, and distorted perceptions of size, appetite, and attractiveness, so that we will continue to consume the countless products, diet plans and cosmetic surgeries marketed to remedy our alleged deficiencies. (Kirk and Rey, p.208)

The ad is trying to sell jeans that are made to fit everybody. As it explicitly states in the written portion of the ad “Bring us your skinny tomboys, your curvy girls, and all girls in between.” However the ad does not show a skinny tomboy, a curvy girl or any girl in-between. The ad implies that it has jeans that fit all types of women but in actuality after looking at the Levi’s website they only go up to size 8. The ad is assuming that most women are a size 8 or smaller, but in actuality the average American woman is a size 14.

What this ad is telling me about how gender operates within culture is that men set the beauty ideal and that average does not sell. Ideal beauty standards are ableist, ageist, heterosexist, and racist, and many women and girls do their best to resist them (Kirk and Rey, p.208), however with ads like these it is very difficult to be average and feel ok about yourself. The ad wants us to believe that “All asses were not created equal” and that it’s ok to have curves, we have jeans that will fit you but only if you’re a size 8 or smaller.

Work Cited:

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa- Rey. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspective.

5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.

Service Learning Proposal

Title: Service Learning Proposal for Young Women Leaders Program

Partner: Young Women Leaders Program

Group Members: Marija S.

                         Valerie T.

                         Brit D.

Date: September 22, 2010

Community Partner Profile

Community partner: Young Women Leaders Program

Contact: Kathleen Oliver, Ph.D. P.O. Box 161994  411A Colbourn Hall 407.823.6502 Fax: 407.823.3603. (http://womensstudies.cah.ucf.edu/YWLP/Home.html)

Mission statement: Feeling Autonomous: Thinking Independently!

Feeling Connected: Caring About Each Other!

Feeling Competent: Getting Things Done!

The Young Women Leaders Program is a mentoring program sponsored by the UCF Women’s Studies Program. YWLP originated at the University of Virginia, and UCF launched the program in the Orlando community. YWLP promotes middle school girls’ leadership abilities, pairing collegiate women with middle school girls.  In mentoring pairs and small groups of Big and Little Sisters, participants focus on learning competence and autonomy, independent thinking, empowerment, self-esteem, and encouraging girls to think about their futures.

Social Basis for Organization:   Little sisters in the YWLP are middle school girls typically aged 12-13 years old. They are girls who are considered to be in the “middle,” as they are not incredibly disadvantaged. The program seeks to pair young girls with “collegiate women” in order to inspire them to begin to consider their futures and think independently. 

 Community Partner Needs:  The YWLP is always on the lookout for volunteers to be Big sisters; they are currently running two mentoring groups at local schools.  They also could always use a monetary donation which helps them get supplies for their groups to last the semester. There is also a list of supplies that can be donated. They basically just need to help and support of their community to make their program run.

The Proposal:

Memorandum

TO: Meredith L. Tweed

FROM: Valerie T.

DATE: September 22, 2010

RE: Proposal to Write a Feasibility Report for a Service Learning Project

The following is a proposal to outline the needs, rationale and feasibility for a service learning project to benefit Young Women Leaders Program. The following proposal contains background on the need for and benefits of this program, an outline of the work I plan to do, the rationale for its inclusion in WST 3015, and a scheduled timeline. This proposal may need to be revised after beginning the project and must be flexible to meet the needs of the both the Service Learning project and the community partner.

Proposal

The Problem

The girls benefited by YWLP are at a stage in their life most of us have blocked out of our memory. It’s that awkward and brutal time of a young girl’s life when her thoughts are consumed with questions and a dire need for acceptance. While this time is traumatic for most of us (especially those of us with Mothers who valued a dollar over a professional haircut) it is also incredibly formative. The bottom line is that while many of these girls aren’t lacking positive female role models, they are in need of that extra set of ears and an empathetic voice to open up to and build a relationship with.

Let’s be real, Middle School wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for the petty backstabbing and trash talking. Notes are passed and social hierarchies are established, all before lunch hour. It becomes easy for young girls to gain a cynical perspective on female relationships, something YWLP is combating with every Big and Little sister match. They realize that not every girl is competition or a threat, but a potential friend, a potential sister.

The Solution

One of the goals of YWLP is to inspire these young girls to consider a collegiate future as a real possibility. What better way to do that than to host them at the University of Central Florida for a day? It’s one thing to make them walk around in the heat and listen to old people (no offense!) talk about the important of continued education, but it’s an entirely different thing to visit your Big Sister’s university and see what a day in her life is like.

There’s another social norm we’re hoping to change during this little adventure, and that is the idea that there are feminine majors and masculine majors. We want to show the girls that they can be Engineers if they want to be, we want them to see that they can truly do whatever they set their minds to.

Rationale for Women’s Studies

The Young Women Leaders Program relates to our Women’s Studies class and women’s issues in general because it teaches young girls self-esteem and independent thinking, it also encourages girls to think about their futures. This could relate to chapter five in our book which discusses women’s bodies and women’s health. It also helps teach girls to find their own identities and to not give into stereotypes which relates to chapter three, Identities and Social Locations. I think it’s important for young girls to have positive female role models especially around the middle school age.

 Action

I will be getting in touch with some of the different colleges here at UCF to see if they would be interested in doing a presentation for some of the Little Sisters. My team discusses trying to contact someone from the Engineering program or Political Science program, as these are not typically female-oriented fields of study. We also discussed having a female sports team here on campus speak to the girls and maybe have lunch with them.

Timeline

9/22- Establish relationship and UCF Day event with YWLP

9/30-Establish event date

10/15-Make sure all Big/Little Sisters have been invited and Colleges in UCF that will be presenting have been contacted

10/29-Secure Colleges for the UCF Day and female sports team to eat Lunch with

11/10-E-mail Big/Little Sisters as a reminder about UCF Day

Various Dates- Attend Alumni events

TBD-UCF Day

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives. Fifth. New York, New York: McGraw Hill, 2010

Word Count: 981

Letter of Introduction

     My name is Valerie Tindall. I am from Ft. Lauderdale Florida. I am a junior at UCF and my major is Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Women’s Studies and a minor in Communications. I am interested in taking this course because I would like to have a career in fashion, specifically women’s fashion because I believe women’s apparel is used as a way for women to express themselves and to empower themselves. I think that taking this course provides a necessary perspective to be involved in an industry I am passionate about.


   Though I don’t have involvement in any type of organized activism, I feel that living my life every day freely and for myself is the best activism I can do. Feminism to me is all about women living their lives unrestricted, to not be defined by socially based gender roles. It’s about being able to go to school and study whatever I want to, to be able to get a job in any field I want and to not feel guilty for not staying at home and raising a family and living a traditional life (although if that’s what you choose to do there is nothing wrong with that, after all it is your choice). Feminism is merely and aspect of being a women whereas Women’s Studies is a full spectrum analysis of all that is woman.

  The people who have had the greatest influence on my understanding of how men and women behave would have to be my parents. For as long as I can remember both of my parents worked and they shared all the housework equally, if my dad cooked, which he pretty much always did, my mom did the dishes and so on. My dad was always very supportive of my mom working and eventually going back to school to get her bachelor’s degree, which she did when I was a teenager. My dad was the first one to show me that a man could be a feminist. The relationship between my parents and the way they live their life helped me to live my life the way I wanted and to not see a difference between what I am and what I want to do.

  I’m not really sure what I want to learn from this course this semester, because I don’t feel that I’ve been exposed to all the details of this subject, but I feel I need to be exposed to this material if I want to be involved in a feminine industry. Besides I’ve always been interested in this subject, I want to have a better understanding of myself, where I came from and where I can go from here. In writing this

  I agree to the terms of the course syllabus and the blogging protocols.