Presentations, Politics, and Pizza!

Our class started off with the first group of Amazing Women Presentations. It was great because I got to know more about Mother Teresa, Maya Angelou, Cleopatra, and the other great women chosen by my fellow peers. It was more interesting to hear the girls talk from their amazing women first person point of view because it made the biography seem more real. I enjoyed listening to the presentations.

After we were done with the first group, we all gathered around to watch a film in Women and Politics. It talked about women and how the United States is racked 85% for having women in cabinet and other political positions. This amazed me. The movie was great. It also talked about women status around the world. There was a section in where the ex-President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, talked about women and how the peoples mentality is starting to change. It was another great educational film.

We had a special guest speaker named Anna Hidalgo who then talked to us about women and politics. She talked to us about the 2008 campaign. She focused on the way Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were portrayed. I agreed that both women were judged on their appearance. Sarah Palin was classified as being too girly. Both women were attacked a lot because of their appearance or personal issues like Palin's pregnant daughter. Then Anna said that there have been experiments in where it showed that women are first judged on the way they look while giving a speech and men are more judged on their speech and what they actually said. I found this very interesting.

Anna Hidalgo really encouraged us to get in politics. I completely agreed with her when she said that women issues are global issues since we all come from a woman. Even though I had a mild headache, I was still able to listen to what Anna was saying. It really captured my interest.

Then it was time for lunch. Since I was feeling a little tired and had a headache, I decided to just stay with the girls in the Ratty for the rest of lunch. I took Tylenol and my headache got better. I was able to have a good conversation with Irene, Selene, Diana, Guadalupe and Thara. They were saying jokes which really helped me feel better. I have gotten really close with all the girls here that I consider them my family. They are able to make me feel better even when I'm feeling sick. I am so glad that I have made such great friends here.

When we returned to class we continued the Amazing Women Presentations. As soon as the second group had finished, two new speakers came into our class and talked to us about the Youth in Action program here in Providence. They talked to us about what the program was about and it reminded me a lot about some of the programs we have back home. I found it interesting that the Youth in Action actually did a Youth Bill of Rights. It was quite interesting to hear all of their ideas. One of them was that we should be allowed to vote at 16. This really sparked some great discussion points in our classroom.

With the women from Youth in Action

Dean Rose and I

In the afternoon, Dean Rose invited everyone who was in the Partner Scholars to go eat pizza and ask any questions we had. We were privileged to be part of the Partner Scholars because we are part of the Ivy League Connection. I was really happy to be there. I got to talk with Cindy, a current Brown student and former San Leandro High School student, about the whole college process and financial aid help. It was really nice to get to know someone who was also in EAOP and PCA in high school. We were able to connect over that.

In the group with Cindy

With Jamillah

Ryan, Moe, Jamillah, Dean Rose, Cindy, Mayte, Ana, and many other people talked to us about college. It was really nice to know that three students (Ana, Cindy, and Mayte) were actually from California. I had so much fun talking to everyone and eating pizza. The pizza here tastes a little different and is thinner, but I liked it.

Moe and I

With Ana a Brown Univ. student.

After the meeting was over, I headed back to my room in where I practiced my monologue out loud. I don't want it to exceed 5 minutes since that is our maximum limit. I'm presenting tomorrow afternoon, but I'm a little nervous. Now all I have to do is continue working on my Action Plan paper and finish my journal entry for the homework assignment.