Service Learning Activism Log, Entry One.

1) I met with Cristina Calandruccio, president of VOX, about Men's Health Week, specifically the HPV awareness event that Rachel Collins is planning, and our reproductive health movie night, which we mutually decided should be moved to an on-campus classroom setting, as it will encourage more academic discourse. We would love if you would promote our movie night in your other classes, and even offer it as an extra credit opportunity for your students, whenever we work out the particulars as far as date, time, and location are concerned, as this will obviously give us a much larger turnout, and we'll also promote in our other classes, as we would like to encourage discourse beyond the progressive community. I've also been in contact with Rachel, regarding ideas for Men's Health Week. Successes: It was great to meet Cristina, though Kara could not accompany me. Pitfalls: I still don't know exact particulars, and will publish these details as they become abundantly clear to us. In the next week, I will work to get approval for a date and renting a room, create a Facebook event to raise awareness, sans the arduous process of making physical posters or flyers, et cetera, and speak further with Cristina and Rachel about plans for our project.

2) In terms of everything we've learned in class, obviously, men's sexual health is directly proportional to women's health, especially in terms of awareness about STIs/STDs. Men's Health Week will have a particular emphasis on proliferating information about the accessibility of Gardasil for men. Though the worst possible symptom men can expect to develop from having HPV is genital warts, and most of the time they will be entirely asymptomatic, there is still the risk of passing the virus on to female partners. In this case, it can be a much more serious problem, as HPV, if not caught by what should be a routine pap smear, can lead to cervical cancer, infertility, and even death. This is a huge problem, as STIs in women "may not be noticeable or may be difficult to diagnose as women often do not have any symptoms or, if they do, the symptoms are mistaken for something else" (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 215). In addition, educating about the many routes women take in understanding their options with respect to their reproductive health and making a choice, as we are planning to do with our movie night, reduces the stigma inherent to the often shameful experience of an unwanted pregnancy. In creating a dialogue, we hope to create a community where the process of shaming women for their reproductive choices becomes unacceptable behavior.

3) As far as reciprocity is concerned, I'm beginning to find that service learning is an excellent opportunity for networking within the progressive community. I'm receiving a wealth of knowledge just from surrounding myself with other people in the community, and all of my projects for Service Learning are informing each other very well. In fact, while I will not be working with VOX at Pride, it is very likely that I will still be around their table because I've designated it as a day to work for Animal Safehouse, but they don't have a table, so we're teaming up with VOX for resources. Though that won't count towards my hours, it obviously gives me an opportunity to become more intimately acquainted with the VOX's future plans and inner workings.

Works Cited

Kirk, Gwyn, and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.


Word Count: 581