The ASUW Womxn's Action Commission

September 24, 2012

Welcome back! Get involved with WAC!

Greetings, folks! Hope your first day back to school wasn’t too stressful and perhaps even a bit inspiring.

I’m Shelby Handler, the WAC Director for the coming year. Just to tell you a bit of where I’m coming from as an organizer, here are some words that I like to be upfront about in terms of my identity. I’m white, queer, middle-class, able-bodied, femme and jewish. I use they/them or she/her gender pronouns. If you are totally confused as to why all these words are listed or what gender pronouns are, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m a senior majoring in Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies and Creative Writing. Besides WAC, most of my organizing work has been with Manic Mouth Congress (https://www.facebook.com/manicmouth) and the UW Q Center (http://depts.washington.edu/qcenter/wordpress/). So, all this means that I value and seek to enact: intersectionality, arts activism, accountability, celebration, process-based organizing, brave spaces and critical solidarity. Again, if these fancy words are confusing you, don’t fret, just ask me what’s up. Also, there will be a glossary of terms up on the website very soon!

Anyways, I’m writing you to introduce myself but also to get y’all keyed into what’s coming up this year. Currently, all of ASUW is settling into the new HUB and we want YOU to come visit us! In the coming weeks, please stop by and introduce yourself. If you have things to hang on the WAC office walls, event ideas or resources to share, bring those too! I want your involvement, if you’re willing to honor the WAC with it.

Speaking of getting involved, here are some very concrete ways you can join the WAC’s upcoming efforts:

  1. APPLY TO BE AN INTERN! The application and more information can be found at this link: https://catalyst.uw.edu/webq/survey/asuwomn/178826 The application closes on October 5th at 11:45 PM. Students of all gender identities, races, classes, sexual orientations, minds and bodies are encouraged to apply.
  2. ATTEND OUR FIRST EVENT! This coming Wednesday, we are collaborating with A&E, BSC, ASA and STG to put together “Connecting Communities through Arts and Culture”, which will be a discussion on how you can better engage the community at UW and beyond. More information here: https://www.facebook.com/events/287643018007082/
  3. LIKE US ON FACEBOOK! Go here: https://www.facebook.com/ASUW.Women
  4. JOIN OUR MAILING LIST! You will only receive emails twice a month with updates. Enter your email here: https://mailman2.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/asuw_women
  5. STOP BY THE WAC OFFICE! You can find me in HUB131R and my office hours are here: http://hours.asuw.org/

Those 5 ways to get involved should keep y’all busy. If you want more ways to connect with us or access resources, please don’t hesitate to email or call me. I welcome your concerns, critiques, questions or amazing jokes. I promise to do my best to serve y’all with spirit and honesty, and to find productive ways to improve and move forward.

Let us make this a transformative year! Sincerely,

shelby
asuwomn@uw.edu
303.513.9618
HUB131R