Portfolio Prompt

In this moment in time, what does activism mean to you? IN what ways are you an
activist? Considering the intersectionality of your identities, privileges, and
oppressionshow do you identify and shape your activism?
Activism. When I first hear the word, I think of a very broad definition, steadily
evolving as I grow in my journey through life. As of right now, my definition of activism is
a conscious, pointed decision to be active in a cause that you support and believe in.
This activism can take a various forms, but they all stem from a passion that inspires one
to act.
My activism is complicated. There are no clean lines between me as an activist
and me as a person, simply because activism is such an integral part of my being. I am
an activist as an advocate, a woman, a member of the black community, a student, a
survivor, and much more. The vast majority of my activism comes from education,
whether that be educating myself, others, or both.
Last year, my freshman year of college, was really the beginning of my activism.
The first role of activism that I took stemmed from my position as a survivor. As I struggled
with healing and understanding my own experiences, I found that helping others
through that same journey was really what made my healing complete. From this
realization, I joined Reclaim, which has allowed me to advocate for other survivors and
be an integral part of the activism on campus. My activism in this realm of my life has
grown from my education on sexual assault, domestic violence, and intimate partner
violence. I have found the largest impact in my ability to educate my fellow students on
these issues that we face, allowing them to enlighten themselves and be accountable
for standing up against this violence as well.
Another position of activism that I chose to be a part of was the executive board
of Shades of You. In this organization, I have grown in my activism as a woman, student,
and a member of the black community on campus. One of the things that I really enjoy
about this organization is that we encourage self-care and celebration of the privileges
that we, as women, have. I also enjoy the fact that we do not leave it at a surface level
of appreciation, we also delve into hard topic like race, gender roles, sexuality,
relationships, and competition among women of our race. My activist role in Shades of
You has allowed me the opportunity to originate and facilitate these hard discussions
between the women that attend our program. We also played a large role in the
activism against the racism surrounding Dean Jacksons resignation.
Ultimately, both of these experiences have proved beneficial to my future with
Reclaim. Not only have I gained an incredible amount of knowledge surrounding sexual
violence, but I have also gained a great amount of courage. My ability to confront
hard situations and handle them diplomatically has greatly improved. This has molded
my activism and how I will proceed with it in my future with Reclaim. Throughout this
time in my activism, I have realized that I am an activist in regards to education and
challenging the social norms that really should not be all that normal.
In this moment in time, what does feminism mean to you? In what ways do you
interact/interpret/identify with feminism? Considering the intersectionality of your
identities, privilege and oppressionshow does feminism inform your world view?
Reflecting back on my thoughts about feminism before joining Reclaim, I can
only remember associating the word with radical, bra-burning women that were
notorious for hating men and aspiring to be better than them. Throughout my year in
Reclaim, my views have definitely changed about what feminism actually is. Beyoncs
release of her latest self-title visual album could actually serve as a culmination of my
latest definition of feminism. Her album and the message that she conveys in it definitely
embodies my personal definition of feminism. She finds the joys in being a woman, the
privileges that it brings, the power that she holds, and yet a tenderness and compassion
that she can feel as a woman. She empowers herself and the women around her to be
themselves, embrace and love their flaws, and learn how to express their sexuality
without shamethis is my definition of feminism. The ability to express yourself, as a
woman, without shame, and without having to bring anyone else down to feel better
about yourself. Its about demanding the respect that you deserve, without taking
away from othersshaping your own identity, an identity that is not defined simply by
your roles and relationships to others.
Thus far, I have never identified myself as a feminist, but I definitely feel that
notion changing. As my view of feminism shies away from the negative connotation I
was taught early on, I have found that I identify more closely with feminism than I
originally thought.
One of the realms that taught me about feminism the most was my dancing. This
is probably contrary to the common belief because competition dancing typically
consists of scantily clad girls, all competing for the judges attention, jealous of
everyone that is a threat to their success, and willing to undermine, cheat, and do
anything they can to reach their own success. Dancers and their mothers are
stereotypically known for sabotaging each other to get ahead, but my experience with
dance was different. Yes we were competitive; so is life, but our dance teachers
expected us to have the utmost sportsmanship in competitions. We were expected to
learn not just from our wins, but also, and even more so, from our losses. My dance
teachers taught us to love our bodies, regardless of if they were the stereotypical
dancers bodies and be confident when we stepped on stage, even if we were only
wearing a bra and booty shorts. The biggest lesson about feminism that I learned from
dancing was that what you think of yourself will have a huge impact on the opinions
that others form about you. Feminism is about carrying yourself with confidence, being
comfortable in your own skin, making your own identity, and learning that empowering
yourself does not entail taking power away from anyone else.
Feminism in Reclaim means that I acknowledge the privileges that we have as
women, along with the oppression that we face in society. My role as a feminist is to
inspire other women to empower themselves, take their control back, and learn not to
put each other, or even ourselves downsomething that has sadly become so
interwoven in our society. In the end, its about acknowledging and being comfortable
with my own power and the power of the women around me.

How do you want this to guide and inform your year in Reclaim? How do you want to
grow? What might that growth look like?
Radical simply means grasping things at the root. Angela Davis.
In a garden, when weeds grow among your beautiful flowers, what do you do?
You pick the weeds, but always at the root, for fear that if you dont the weed will grow
back quicker and stronger than before. To preserve the beauty of the garden, to
preserve its true purpose, you must constantly readdress it, making sure to remove the
weeds that attempt to reshape the identity of the garden. You must continually and
intentionally set out to preserve your gardens beauty, redesigning it as your vision and
definition of beauty changes.
Reclaim and the campus community that we serve is my garden. Right now,
there are weeds that embrace and empower rape culture all throughout campus, but I
am an advocate setting out to rid my garden of the weeds that are consuming it. Each
time that we present about Reclaim, sexual assault, domestic violence, intimate partner
violence, each time that we advocate, we are picking the weeds. Although it is a slow
and tedious process, it is much needed to ensure that we do indeed grasp at the
root, and in the end see the beauty of the garden around us.
I want this to guide my and inform my year in Reclaim by reminding me that
although our jobs are taxing, there is a pay-off in the end. We will succeed. The garden
will return to its natural state of beauty, and everything that we do is leading us one
step closer to it. Even if we do not rid our entire community of its rape culture-supporting
ways, we are making a huge differenceeven if that difference is just for one person,
one flower. That flower, that person will be better off for it, and be a continuous
reminder of the beauty that we seek to reclaim.
In Reclaim, I want to grow by allowing myself to be more courageous in pulling
the weeds from the root. I want to gain even more confidence in addressing the root
issue that causes us to accept the negative social norms around us. My idea of the best
way to do this is by brainstorming ideas with my fellow advocates on some reasons why
we accept the victim-blaming, slut-shaming ways of our society, and coming up with
some ways to combat them. One of the ideas that we have already come up with that
embodies this growth is the Valentines Day program about consent that is geared
toward men. In my opinion, this is a huge step of growth because we are addressing
such a huge audience to help us, an audience that is typically depicted as the
perpetrator. Our bravery and confidence to acknowledge that all men are not
perpetrators, combined with our willingness to reach out and educate in an
unconventional manner is where our growth lies. Sure enough, our garden is regaining
its beauty!
Introduction & Prologue

Grassroots: A Field Guide for Feminist Activism really inspired me. It showed that
activism in other peoples lives is messy; just like mine. Even established activists find it
hard to distinguish between self and activist! It was so realistic and did a great job of
making sure not to exclude anyone from the title of an activist. I know for me, I really did
not consider myself an activist before Reclaim, like I was not deserving of such a high
title. After reading this, I feel assured that I am not only an activist now, but I have been
for as long as I can remember. Activism is defined differently for every person that
chooses to participate. It can be as simple as one child standing up to another child
that is bullying one of their classmates, all the way up to founding a globally recognized
organization to advocate for a well-known cause. I understand and am reassured in
the fact that my activism is what I create it to be, and will never be any more or less
important than anyone elses form of activism. Activism is an integral part of your being,
woven deeply into your own passions and goalsthere is not a true separation
between self and activist. Each of us has to begin where we are to address the slew of
inequities that present themselves in our lives. Activism is simply taking action against
something we deem morally, socially, or economically wrong.

Chapter 1: Why the World Needs Another Advice Book

One of the issues that definitely plagues citizens around the world is exactly how
to act; who to contact, where to start, how to get support. This is the biggest issue
facing people that are thinking about becoming activists. Often times, I find that
making the first step to get something started is the hardest part of acting. It is easy to
plan and brainstorm ideas to help, but who wants to make that first cold call where you
will most likely hear the oh so feared no. The answer is no one- no one likes rejection,
but the bottom line is that you cannot take no for an answer, it has to be a means to a
new approach. Earlier this year, I went to a camping retreat where I had to jump off of
a 50 foot pole. Funny thing is Im not scared of heights at all and climbing up the pole
was a breeze, but actually forcing myself to jump off of it was so hard. Requiring myself
to actively change my comfortable position was terrifying, but once I jumped, I realized
that it was not as bad as I thought it would be.
Ultimately, the hardest part of activism and also the most important part of
activism, is just taking that step off of the ledge. In reality, you most likely wont succeed
the very first time, but the learning and the growth comes from the act of trying
making a conscious decision to move. We grow more from our failures in life than our
successes. You never know, just trying to enact a social campaign may give you the
networking resources to ultimately complete it. Have faith in yourself, jump off that
ledge because you will never be any worse than you were before you started. Give
yourself the satisfaction of knowing that you were an active participant in social
changean activist.

Chapter 2: Of Minor Importance

This chapter was instrumental in showing that you do not have to be an affluent
male to inspire change in your world. Anyone, even a high school student seeking to
provide a support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students can inspire
remarkable change. The action and activism of one student inspired an organization
that left a lasting legacy on her high school long after she left. Her decision to act
against the injustice that she saw changed the lives of so many students, with many of
them being people that she did not even know.
The stories that I read in this chapter drilled in the fact that age does not
determine my impact. Just because I may not be as old and considered as mature as
some other activists, I cannot discredit myself and the power that my voice has.
Reading this chapter made me think of Margaret Meads quote, Never doubt that a
small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, its the
only thing that ever has. I learned to never diminish myself and my peers because
ultimately, we are the ones that will truly make a difference in the worldwe can, and
we will.