Resurfacing
I am now in the final weeks of my time in Grinnell and the final weeks of my job. Over the past week I have been trying to ease myself back into a "normal" American lifestyle. Unfortunately it hasn't been as easy as one might think. Last week I took a 4-day weekend. While this was a much needed break, by Tuesday I was, in a way, relieved to go back to work. The serenity of my apartment and simplicity of my life felt deceiving and somewhat empty to me. No one I knew was receiving death threats; no one was reliving flashbacks, no one's children were being taken away. Away from the office, I found myself talking about the happenings of my day. At first simple meaningless chatter like, "I ran into Annie today; she is thinking of moving to California after graduation," felt like an imprudent disclosure of information. However I'm certain this awkward resurfacing stage will be short-lived. Graduation at the college is nearly here, and I will soon be swept up in excitement and good-byes that accompany it.
While I may be leaving the day-to-day precautions and routines of advocate life behind when I leave Grinnell, there are many aspects of my life that I do not plan to change with my job title. Through advocacy and the various campus groups in which I participate or lead, I found a way to do feminism. This was very different from the studying of Feminist thought that I had done as a student. Doing feminism entails integrating "the theory;" a fluid yet thorough set of ideas about power dynamics and normalization, into our everyday social institutions and cultural consciousness. In my job, feminism has been done in the form of law enforcement trainings, discussing the role of restraining orders with the county attorney, or talking individually with women about their experiences and decisions. However these are not the only ways to bring feminist perspectives to the world around us.
Because no one exists unaffected by issues of gender, ethnicity/race, income level, sex, social welfare, violence, etc; no individual or institution is free from the power politics that these constructs bring. However not every individual and institution are cognizant of the degree to which these constructs exists and shapes our behaviors, thoughts, and perceptions. In fact, there seems to come a point in life when we decide to either see Injustice, or ignore it. 1 in 4. Patriarchy. Greed. Learned Violence. Enforced Poverty. Cultural Colonization. Objective disciplines and institutions such as, "Science," "American History, or "American Justice," are saturated with Injustice. In many instances, whether or not you can reasonably act in opposition to these realities is beside the point. Do you see it? Do you label it as such? Or do you accept the domination/oppression dichotomy as the normal and natural order of things.
I believe one of the most important lessons I have learned from my time as an advocate is that identifying, and helping others to see the problem, in a society that has been blind to the problem for so long, is half the battle. In general Americans (or at least Poweshiek County residents), seem more than willing to come together to oppose wide-spread, critical oppressions. We pride ourselves in our morality and sense of justice. Moreover, many of us have long abandoned the notion of productively solving any problem with violence. Yet there remain certain injustices we have been taught not to see and certain voices that we don't know how to hear. Whatever projects or careers I may stumble into down the road, I know I will continue to assist those who need to speak in being heard; and those willing to work for social change in gathering the resources and knowledge to make their communities safer and healthier environments for ALL.
Before I go I would like to thank Lola Garcia, David Degeest, Deanna Schorb, Sheree Andrews, and Amy Graves for working to establish a Peer Advocate program for our college campus to be implemented next Fall. I would like to thank the members of Just Sex, especially Laura Shannon, David Degeest, Lola Garcia, Amanda Slatus, and Leslie Spring for putting on a wonderful Take Back the Night Week this year. Thanks to all the DVA/SAC Volunteer Advocates for their unwavering support and hard work for the agency. Among the volunteer advocates I would especially like to thank Lara Janson, Claire McDonough, Baylis Beard, Pat Wright, Saurabh Saraf, Atavia Whitfield, Jamie Giorgi, Catherine Hall for going beyond the volunteer advocate's call of duty to raise community awareness about our domestic/dating violence and sexual assault. I would also like to recognize Johanna Borkan who will be the interim student leader for the Volunteer Advocates on campus. Finally I would like to thank Doug Cutchins and Grinnell College for allowing me this fellowship opportunity.
