10May

The Diversifieds A publication of the EDRC at Grays Harbor College

Volume 2, Issue 8

May 2010

May is Family Wellness Month

By Stephany Murray, GHC Student

So let‟s take a look at what we can do for our families this month either to encourage them or just to let them know that we are there and care for them.

There are several ways to do both of these things.

May is...

Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month Jewish American Heritage Month Clean Air Month

First of all you could call one or two of your family members and say “Hi”. Make sure that they have been having a good week or even a good month. Also remind them how much you care and love them. Hearing I love you or I care about you makes a person feel good about themselves. Not only does it help with selfesteem, it also makes a person feel worth something.

Secondly make plans to spend time with your loved ones. Especially the ones that you never get to see or call. And don‟t forget about the ones that you see all the time. Make a family day by going to the beach or to the park maybe for dinner or a picnic.

Make a day and go for a bike ride or a walk with your kids or a family member.

Make healthy food choices by looking at the food pyramid and planning out the week‟s meals and giving everyone a ASGHC Elections chance to have something they like.

May 13th Ballots can be cast at all GHC campuses. You could also do a family game night.

Campus Happenings Contact Cal for more info: 538-4078

GHC One-Act Plays May 13th-15th 7:30 PM nightly & 4:00 PM Sat. Bishop Center for Performing Arts

Project Mayhem May 19th 10:00 Am—3:30 PM Food, music and fun for students.

Visit the EDRC table!

Diversity Discussion May 20th - 2:oo PM EDRC Foyer—200 building

Advising Period Begins May 24th

Scholarship Ceremony 7:00-9:00 PM

Memorial Day May 31 No Classes

Nonviolent Communication June 1st Led by the Mediation & Settlement Center

Talking to a family member or a loved one can help reduce stress in one‟s life.

Don‟t forget that having family meetings once a week helps keep you and your kids on track. Plus it helps so that the family members or your loved ones know what has been bothering each other. And you can plan things for the next week, like what you would like to do as group activities or simply spending time together. This way you know when you will be spending time with family or friends.

So remember that family is a really important part in our lives and we all need to let each other know “We care about and appreciate one another.” So call a close friend or family member and let them know.

National Foster Care Month Women‟s Health Care Month American Wetlands Month Family Wellness Month

Awareness Dates: 1 1 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 13 17 18 19 20 21 23 23 24 25 25 26 28 29

Beltaine (Pagan and Wiccan) Lag B‟Omer (Jewish) Constitution Day (Japan) + (Poland) Youth Day (China) Cinco de Mayo (Mexico) National Day of Prayer (U.S.) Victory Day, WWII (France) Mother‟s Day (U.S.) + (Finland) Mother‟s Day (Mexico) Ascension Day (Christian) National Day (Norway) Shavuot (Jewish) Ataturk and Youth Day (Turkey) Independence Day (Cuba) Battle of Iquique (Chile) Declaration of the Bab (Baha‟i) Pentecost (Christian) Victoria Day observed (Canada) Africa Day (Zambia) + (Zimbabwe) Independence Day (Jordan) Independence Day (Republic of Georgia) Visakaha Day (Buddhist) Ascension of Baha‟u‟llah (Baha‟i)

30 31

All Saints Day (Christian) Memorial Day observed (U.S.)

The Diversifieds are a publication of the EDRC of Grays Harbor College. The mission of the EDRC is to promote awareness, respect, and equitable treatment of the diverse individuals and groups that exist within our campus and surrounding communities. The EDRC is open to all!

Please come visit us in the 200 building.

Students of Color Conference

By Natalie Betancourth, GHC Student

they have “reasonable suspicion” of being an undocumented immigrant. Translation: police can now stop and harass people for no other reason than that they are brown-skinned or speak Spanish. So many thoughts were going on in my head and the ones that stuck out the most were “Are we going to be treated like the Black people were? Is there going to be another civil war? How long is this going to last? Are my relatives in Arizona endangered?

Stupid Governor of Arizona and all its white people! My people work so hard. Not all of them are bad. Let my people go!” After 9:15pm on Thursday, April 22, 2010 my mentality of “land of the free” in this country changed. I have to do something.

The second session I attended was under the Awareness of Others theme and was entitled How Islamic Fundamentalism Violates the Fundamentals of Islam. This workshop addressed the historical evolution, rationale, and manifestations of Islamic fundamentalism and how its conceptualization and practices violate core Islamic teachings. I learned about Islamic law, the Qur‟an, the five articles of faith, violence as a solution to problems, and the etiquette of jihad. What surprised me the most was when Ernest Johnson, the presenter told us the ways that Christianity overlapped with Jihad. It was a very interesting and enriching workThe Students of Color Conference is held every year to support shop for me because I was born and raised into Catholicism and Washington State students to become more active advocates of my family put it in my head that any other religion other than Catheir own education and life choices. This year was the 20th antholicism was bad. I believed that motto up until Friday April 23, nual SOCC and the theme was “Generation of Change: We are the 2010 at 11am. I left that workshop feeling relieved that not all Future!” This year the conference had an awesome turnout of Muslims are terrorists and the ones who are are the ones who 850 students which created maximum capacity. The conference misinterpret the Qur‟an by still using violence as a solution to workshops were guided by five main themes: Identity Developproblems. The religion of Islam seems peaceful and genuine. ment, Awareness of Others, Skill Development, Social Justice/ Every religion has its good and its bad but we as people cannot Social Activism, and Personal Development. Each of these judge for we are not God himself. themes had 10-13 workshops per session over three days.

The third session I attended was under the theme Personal DevelThe first session I attended under Identity Development was the opment, and was entitled Racial/Ethnic Caucuses: Chicano-as/ Ponle Sabor: The Healing Hispanics/Latino-as. During this session we Art of Cuban Rueda de got in groups of five students, and we were Casino Dancing. This asked 3 questions: How does your upbringworkshop was my utmost ing affect you today? What are the misconfavorite. We all learned ceptions that your race/ethnicity is conhow to dance Cuban stantly labeled? What do you want other Rueda de Casino. It is races/ethnicities to stop doing or saying square dancing but salsa about you? After sharing our answers indistyle. This dance took vidually in our group we were asked to share teamwork and my first partner was Brian Shook. one thing that everybody in the group agreed He too can say he had a upon. The last question was the most powerheck of a good time. We learned how to be either a follower or a ful. Before sharing our answer as a group we were given each a balloon to blow. But to our surprise, we were asked for each and leader. I was the follower and Brian was the leader. We also learned about the history behind both the dance and music. The every one of us to stand and shout out our response individually Cuban dance was created as an escape to all of the bad things and pop our balloon as hard as we could. that were happening in Cuba at the time and people were able to During the second part of this session, I was enraged to learn express themselves through dancing this type of dance. All in all about what was going on in another state of this country. Arizona the Conference was an awesome learning experience for me and I passed a new law that makes racial profiling legal, and in effect, had a great time getting to know more about my fellow classrequires police to stop people based on their race and ethnicity. mates.

Arizona's new law, SB 1070, says that police can question anyone Page 2

The Rainbow

Volume 2, Issue 8

By Katie Main, GHC Student

I grew up in a predominately white community without any real knowledge of other races and ethnic backgrounds. The little knowledge I had of diverse people came from my father‟s very racist and prejudiced family. Even with that as an influence, I had a hard time accepting others‟ ways of thinking. Since my younger years I have had a lot more experiences with diversity. I have lived in many areas with a very diverse and mixed population.

Still, I attended the Students of Color Conference with a really limited understanding of what exactly diversity was. I was a little scared and very overwhelmed the first day. I myself identify as Native American. I am however very light skinned and have blue eyes. I really believed I would not be welcomed among the other Native Americans at this conference. On the first day we were instructed to attend the Caucus of what race we identified with. I was terrified to say the least. I was sure I would be met at the door and told I did not belong there. To my relief and surprise I was not only welcomed, but I was accepted, not based on my skin and eye color but on what was in my heart. We all then began to share our stories of struggle and triumph. It was at this point that I knew deep in my inner being that I was where I belonged.

I myself would have considered this conference well worth the trip at that point. But my personal experiences had just begun. I was part of this huge blending. Not each group huddled together with their own. Everyone mingled and interacted with everyone else. It truly became a “melting pot” of peoples. In a room of seven hundred students of all colors, backgrounds, political views and diverse life experiences we were united in hope and change.

Even when we disagreed, it was done with respect and dignity.

Many leaders believe this is the generation of change. I could never understand why that was until I attended this conference. I see a future for this country that is different from anything we have ever known. I see a people united as people, not by their cultural backgrounds or the color of their skin, but by the drive to make this place better for everyone.

Women’s Health Month

By Jen Anderson In honor of Women‟s Health Month I want women to think about the negativity they put in their lives.

We are bombarded with negative self-images through the media on what we should wear, how thin we need to be, and how we will never be that „Super Woman‟ like every other woman in the magazines that stock the supermarket shelves.

We compare ourselves, degrade ourselves and silently criticize ourselves every day. We fester in our guilt of not being able to measure up to some standards that society seems to pressure us to be.

Why? Who are we living for exactly?

from various surgeries and run-ins with the pavement from when I used to skateboard, I eat too much, talk too much, sing off key, procrastinate on research papers, I drink too much caffeine, I laugh so hard that I cry, I get angry and cool down quickly, I overspend, I don‟t do the dishes every night, I let laundry get out of control, I let my kids eat in the living room sometimes, I forget to lotion after showers, I hate to dress up on the weekends, can‟t leave my house without eyeliner, I facebook too much, and… oh, there is so much more that I can go on and on about. But I don‟t think these things are defects; they make up who I am. I am proud of who I have grown to become. I am proud that I can see myself and my faults and know that I am a strong woman who is capable of great things.

I challenge you to tell a woman how great she is. I challenge you to look in the mirror and tell yourself how great you are.

When do we get to feel good about who we are and feel strong about the people we have become? When do we get to look in the mirror and not think about all our flaws but about how beautiful we are? When do we get to not second guess every choice we make with our partners? Our children? Our families? Our friends?

I think the best thing we can do for our health is let go of the perception that we have to be perfect women. Perfect as described by Merriam-Webster‟s dictionary: 1. a: being entirely without fault or defect. Wow, that is not asking much of a person.

To be entirely without fault or defect? I am in so much trouble.

I wear glasses, have stretch marks, have numerous scars

We need to radically change the way we view ourselves and other women in this world. We need to help empower one another and not tear each other down. I hope that I can live in a world where I can teach my daughter that she can be anything she wants to be and no matter what that is… she is a work of art. She is a beautiful, unique girl who will grow into a beautiful and unique woman. We need to start fostering this type of thinking in our youth and ourselves and shift the paradigms the world tells us we need to have.

So for Women‟s Health Month, I challenge you to tell a woman how great she is. I challenge you to look in the mirror and tell yourself how great you are.

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Memorial Day

Understanding & Improving Your Credit

By Kristina St. Louis, GHC Student On Thursday, April 29, I went to a Money Smart workshop called Understanding and Improving Your Credit. I chose this workshop because I have been in debt for five years now, and would like to know more about fixing my credit. I learned that it is relatively easy to fix credit; it just takes a while to reflect on your credit reports. The presenter shared a few steps we could take towards establishing credit. Regularly adding to your savings account goes a long ways towards showing responsibility and reliability. Holding a job for more than one year, not moving around to many different places, and paying your bills on time all help to show that you are a responsible person. Opening many lines of credit can hurt your credit. When you apply for any type of credit card or loan, those salespeople are checking your credit. Each time someone checks your credit for an application, it is called a hard hit. There are also soft hits, which is I didn‟t know about. Those are when you are filling out an application for a job or for a house or apartment.

There was quite a bit of information that I was really excited to hear. There are many ways that you can improve your credit. Viewing your credit score/history at least once a year lets you know: 1) if you have anything outstanding that you maybe forgot about 2) if older bills have dropped off your credit report 3) if anyone is trying to use your identity. Also, the longer you are with a bank or the longer you have a credit card, even if you do not use it, helps your credit score.

The presenter also told us that when you apply for a car loan, the dealership can charge you extra interest and they do not have to tell you that they are doing so. The bank the dealership deals with may give you a deal at 5% interest, and then the dealership could charge you 7% and keep the extra 2% themselves. I had no idea that they were able to do this. A good way to prevent this from happening is to get pre-approval from your bank for the car loan. This also helps your credit by having only one financial institution checking on your credit report.

Many things can happen to you if your credit is bad. I have a little experience with this.

Your car or home insurances premiums could be higher. You could be applying for a job and be turned down because of your credit report. Stores, cell phone companies, and other places like that could also turn you down based on your credit score. The presenter also told us that using a finance company like American General should be used as a last resort. They can charge very high interest on any loan that they give you.

I also asked a few questions regarding the debt that I have and the presenter gave me some really good insights on what to do to get it straightened out. This workshop was very interesting, informative, and the presenter was very knowledgeable about the subject. I am really Deadline for submission in next is glad that I went to this, and hope thatmonth’s next timenewsletter these workshops are held I will be able to attend Maytake 29th more of them. I will definitely what I learned and apply it not only to myself, but to my children as well so that they will be able to have excellent credit when they are older.

On May 5, 1868, the Grand Army of the Republic established Memorial Day or Decoration Day as the national day to decorate the graves of the Civil War soldiers with flowers.

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE I watched the flag pass by one day.

It fluttered in the breeze.

A young Marine saluted it, and then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform So young, so tall, so proud, He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him Had fallen through the years.

How many died on foreign soil?

How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?

How many died at sea?

How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?

No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night, When everything was still I listened to the bugler play And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times That TAPS had meant "Amen," When a flag had draped a coffin Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children, Of the mothers and the wives, Of fathers, sons and husbands With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard At the bottom of the sea Of unmarked graves in Arlington.

No, freedom isn't free.

Calling All Writers!

The Diversifieds are an extension of the GHC campus and our surrounding community. We would like to welcome and encourage students and staff to submit articles for publication in The Diversifieds. This is a monthly publication. Please contact Erin Frasier at efrasier@ghc.edu for next month‟s topics and to submit articles, poems or artwork.

Diversity Committee

Committee Chair: Brian Shook The Diversifieds Staff: Erin Frasier Rob Hitt

Equity & Diversity Resource Center 360-538-4247 Room 219 1620 Edward P. Smith Drive Aberdeen, WA 98520 edrc@ghc.edu http://www.ghc.edu/edrc/brochure.pdf

-Kelly Strong