Activism Log Entry #2

Activism: This week was the last week for the donation drive for Harbor House of Central Florida. All week I have been in touch with the head of donations at Harbor House to coordinate dropping off the donations. It was very chaotic at first because I was not sure whom to contact, but once I finally found the right email address, it was smooth sailing from there. In order to go to Harbor House, I had to sign a confidentiality waiver, promising that I would not disclose the location of Harbor House. It was a bit intimidating, but at the same time, I completely understand why these precautions are necessary. I am very pleased with the amount of donations we have collected over the past two weeks. While I wish it could have been more, every little bit helps. This week concluded the Service Learning project, but I definitely intend on working with MVP after the project is completed.

Reflection: I had a hard time figuring out how I was going to relate my Service Learning project to this week’s readings until I was in class today. The article “Consumption” begs the question of what kinds of resources people consume on a regular basis (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 567). In class we defined consumption as the utilization of economic goods to satisfy needs. These needs include, but are not limited to food, water and clothing. By hosting a donation drive for Harbor House, I am providing women who are not capable to buying everyday necessities, such as toothpaste or socks. As a society, we are on a “work-and-spend” cycle (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 368). This means that we work to earn money, and turn around and spend on products that we don’t necessarily need. Who actually needs an $800 pair of Jimmy Choos? Nobody. However, everybody needs a pair of shoes that will protect their feet from the ground. Day-to-day, we don’t think about our needs, we mainly think about our wants, which is what drives consumerism. However, women who are in unfortunate situations (such as having to stay at Harbor House for their safety) don’t think about what they want at the moment, because they are more focused on what they need, like food.

Reciprocity: Working with MVP has taught me not to take what I have in life for granted. When I first started the donation drive for Harbor House, I didn’t realize how much these women actually need the items being donated. I don’t think it really hit me until I had to sign the confidentiality waiver, just to get the address of the shelter. These women are basically hiding for their lives, and trying to get their feet back on the ground, all because another human was violent towards them. MVP aims to educate people about violence prevention and what to do if violence is suspected. I think that everybody, no matter your gender, age, social class, etc., needs to take a training class on violence prevention. Working with this organization has completely changed my view on the world around me.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Rey. “Consumption." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 567-573. Print.

Campus Engagement #2

For my second campus engagement, I attended the Life After College Series: Interviews.  This seminar was very interesting and extremely informative. It was in a classroom setting and Dr. Rufus Barfield was the speaker. Dr. Barfield started with a brief synopsis of life; he studied at Brown and then he was a professor at FAMU in Tallahassee. When FAMU was not able to accommodate his goals and ambitions, he came to UCF. He held many career positions and he told us about the different interviews he had been through. One particular interview that stuck out to me was when he was interviewing for the police force. He said there was one interviewer who didn’t speak the entire time. He just sat there watching Dr. Barfield while he was answering questions. Dr. Barfield said he was confused as to why this interviewer remained silent the entire interview. He later found out that he stayed silent because he was assessing how Dr. Barfield handled stress and pressure and he was analyzing his body language and behavior. This example proved that an interview is not necessarily simply answering questions about yourself; it is a chance for the employer to see you for themselves, and to judge whether you would be a good fit for the position, based on more than simple answers to questions.

            This seminar taught me that there are many types of interviews. There is the informal-conversational interview, where there are no predetermined questions and he interview is just a free-flowing conversation. The general interview consists of the same general areas on information are covered with each person being interviews. Then there are the open-ended interviews where the same questions are asked of all interviewees and the fixed-response interviews, which are basically multiple-choice questions.

            Dr. Barfield gave us some tips for a successful interview. Before going to an interview, you should conduct a thorough self-assessment, acknowledging all of your strengths and weaknesses, as well as areas that could use improvement. After acknowledging these, you must be able to articulate these into conversation. Another tip he gave was to prepare an elevator speech. An elevator speech consists of your name, what you offer, what problem you will be helping to solve and why you are better than the other candidates for the position, as well as, why the listener should care about what you have to say.

            The seminar was extremely helpful and made me realize that I really have to start preparing now for possible interviews for graduate schools. This seminar was a part of a series of seminars to prepare students for life after college. I believe the next seminar is dealing with writing essays, and I will definitely be in attendance!

(Dr. Santana said she was going to email you to tell you that I was there. However, if she did not, I have an email that she sent out to everyone who attended that I can show you for proof!)

Activism Log Entry #1

1. On Tuesday I joined my group in a meeting with Abigail Malick, the coordinator for MVP. We discussed the events that we are going to be working on for the rest of the semester. We have decided on a donation drive for the Harbor House of central Florida. We are also planning some tabling dates, and we are hoping to be able to get a tabling slot at Late Knights on November 17^th. With MVP still being such a new organization, things have been a little chaotic and disorganized. Our primary form of communication with Abigail has been through email and sometimes things have gotten lost in translation. I think that we are in a much better position with our project now that we have gotten another chance to meet with her in person and discuss our goals for the rest of the semester. Next week our donation drive for Harbor House begins, so our main focus will be on getting donations and making sure we have boxes placed around campus.

2. This week we discussed poverty affects women more so than men. “More women than men make up the working poor…” (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 311). Although MVP deals with domestic violence, this is relevant because many women who have been victims of domestic violence are in desperate need of financial help. Our involvement with Harbor House will help give women who have been affected by domestic violence, as well as poverty, some of their everyday essential items, such as toothpaste. While this may not seem like a lot to that average person, to someone who is going through something as awful as having to be in a domestic violence shelter, it may make a huge difference. We often judge those in poverty before we know the reasons that they are in these horrible positions. “Poverty is often explained as resulting form low self-esteem, laziness, or dysfunctional families,” (Kirk, Okazawa-Rey, 314). Most of the time we don’t think of situations like being a victim of domestic violence, as a reason for ending up in poverty.

3. Being involved with MVP has made me much more aware of the fact that domestic violence exists. It has always been a somewhat taboo subject that nobody wants to address, but now I see that it is much more prevalent in society, and even in college, than I thought. As scary as this is, it gives me much more incentive to do everything I can to try and prevent domestic violence, through educating others and giving those in need resources that they can use to better their situation.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Rey. “Making a Home, Making a Living." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 301-317. Print.