New beginnings

So I've returned from my unplanned, longer than expected hiatus. Self-care right? I have this thing, and I think it's common amongst us social workers, where I make way more work for myself than there minimally has to be. In addition to graduate school and a 21 hour a week placement, I am working part time and also doing some heavy duty community organizing around fat issues. My middle name should be burn out.

Here's a small run down on things that I am working on that I hope to keep on a regular schedule of sharing with the blog-o-sphere:

•  I've started a new club at NYU Silver, called Body Positive Silver. I've been connected to so many awesome students at Silver who are interested in changing body culture and tackling weight bias. I feel blessed, and honored to know these amazing ladies. 
• We are working on SO MANY awesome campaigns. We hope to develop curriculum for both faculty and students on body politics, fat and social work.
• The New School, where one of my colleagues Sarah Lewin is doing her placement this year, is doing some seriously radical work through a group called Changing Body Culture. I attended a Body Positive two day workshop which BLEW MY MIND and changed my life and completely shifted how I look at myself and food. I am not even exaggerating. As someone who suffers from depression, I have seen a marked changed in how I react to situations after this workshop. The Body Positive is one of my most favorite organizations, and I want to be Connie and Elizabeth when I grow up. 
• For those of you in NYC, there will be a Body Positive four hour training Saturday, November 19 for free. Contact changingbodyculture (at) gmail.com for more details and to RSVP. 

Ugh, there's so much I'm missing, but so much is going on. I've been busy presenting workshops for NYU students and I also presented at the amazing RISE Conference this year which was a huge honor (pics of that coming soon). I wish I were independently wealthy so I could just travel around the country and do this stuff full time! I love it. 

More entries coming soon. I definitely want to comment on Occupy Wall Street and the Penn State happenings.

Also! It recently came to my attention that social-work.org named me their top blog about social work! I am so giddy and grateful. Check out their article to find other awesome blogs about social work.

Social-Work.org

ATTN NYC Social Workers: Workshop on Racial Microaggressions

I attended what I presume to be the mini-version of this workshop at the RISE Conference a few months ago. It was definitely enlightening. I can't compare it to the other very popular anti-racism workshop (Undoing Racism) because I haven't taken it, but the men who orchestrated this workshop were excellent teachers. I look forward to it, and I love supporting RISE with everything they do if I can.

Here's some info:

Kick off the New Year with some anti-racist practice with the RISE community!

RISE EVENT:

Racial Microaggressions: Real Pain, Invisible Scars

Saturday, January 29, 2011

9am-4pm

Downtown Brooklyn

Register for location details!

Learn about racial microaggressions. Discuss how they impact you and your work. Practice confronting them. Build your community of radical allies.

After the success of the Racial Microaggressions workshop at the 2010 RISE conference, we are back with an extended version! This day-long workshop will:

* Explore how people of color experience and white people perpetuate racial microaggressions in personal and professional settings
* Address how people and communities of color have been conditioned to engage in racial microaggressions toward one another
* Examine the role of media, language, and societal/institutional norms in encouraging racial microaggressions
* Practice tools for interrupting racial microaggressions when they happen

When: Saturday, January 29, 2011.

Where: Long Island University, Downtown Brooklyn Campus. (More location details to come!)

Time: 9:00 am- 4:00 pm

Cost: No Cost- $15. Please pay at the level you can afford. All of our funds go entirely into operating expenses. Lunch will be provided.

Check out the details on our website or register online now! Space is very limited. Sliding scale based on ability to pay: $0-$15

This will be an experiential workshop for people with a foundational understanding of systemic/institutional racism. In order to have a rich conversation we are committed to recruiting a racially diverse group of participants. Please check out our workshop guidelines here for more information about the day.


Happy New Year from RISE!

RISE Organizing Committee
Organizing Collective

RISE: Social Work to End Oppression
info@riseconference.org
www.riseconference.org