Workshops Workshops Workshops!

After interviews are over, the AYA team is in full gear to develop workshops and flesh out the summer program's schedule. We've had more meetings since then to make sure we are on track and to plan out what the summer looks like. We had to really think to fit different workshops and skills trainings in as well as the extra activities we want to do. It's going to be a packed summer! It's not finalized yet since the youth leaders will get to look at it and give feedback as well. Watch out summer, we are doing a lot every time we meet!

I'm responsible for developing four workshops, and I'm pretty excited about them. One is on ableism and the other is on environmental justice. These two are issues that I do not know a lot about but I'm interested in and I think they're issues that deserve to be on the table. Researching for curriculum development materials has definitely taught me a lot about these topics, though.

My favorite workshop and biggest priority right now is the patriarchy one. I have so much to say about this topic, but the workshop will be held during the retreat for the summer program, so it will be quite early on in the foundation of things. Instead, I began to throw ideas I have for deeper analysis into a separate google doc for a Patriarchy 201/Feminism workshop! I really hope there's time for me to maybe facilitate this workshop for the youth in the leadership committee. I guess we will see. While researching stuff for patriarchy and sexism and feminism, I came across new things that really opened up my analysis. You learn something new everyday!

Here's a snippet of what new analysis I learned:
Modern sexism refers to three basic beliefs:
  1. The belief that sexism is no longer a problem in today's world
  2. That programs designed to help women are not necessary
  3. That women who complain about sexism are just causing trouble

I gotta hustle and finish up these workshops, so until then, a toast to feminism :)

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