[Imc-girlscore] RE: [Imc-girls] Meeting Reminder (and Minutes!)

Mon Feb 9 17:29:14 CST 2004

Zoe and Anne -

I agree with you Zoe.  

I also want to say that I don't think Anne was trying to leave anyone out
- she just wanted accountability.  We don't have any structure really yet
in place to take care of people so they don't fall through the cracks.  
Anne has been a point person for people and she wanted to just pass this
on.

Taking care of people is not the same of taking over.  We will need to 
develop a structure that is transparent to folks, but we don't have one 
yet.

So, as an example of lack of structure, who is facilitating tomorrow?  
And what is the agenda?  I am happy to help facilitate again, but think 
our "tag team" approach worked well.  Any takers?

- danielle

On Mon, 9 Feb 2004, Zoe S. wrote:

> hi,
> i feel that questions and concerns should be sent to the 
> imc-girlscore at ucimc.org list instead of just to danielle so that all core 
> organizers can have input and aren't ignored.
> 
> anne and others, in the future please send out minutes as individual emails 
> and not as word documents!
> 
> --zoe.
> 
> >From: "Anne Odom" <anne at webeasel.net>
> >To: <imc-girls at ucimc.org>
> >Subject: [Imc-girls] Meeting Reminder (and Minutes!)
> >Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 16:44:56 -0600
> >
> >All:
> >
> >REMINDER: The next RAGG meeting is tomorrow night at the IMC from 6:30p to
> >8p.
> >
> >The minutes from the last meeting are attached in an MSWord Document (THIS
> >IS NOT TRUE - THE MAILING LIST WOULDN'T LET ME POST A MESSAGE WITH THE
> >ATTACHMENT, AS IT WAS TOO BIG; IF THE MODERATOR OF THE LIST APPROVES THE
> >MESSAGE, YOU MAY RECEIVE THE ATTACHMENT LATER).  If you can't read Word, or
> >you have trouble with attachments, they are also cut and pasted below
> >(unformatted, so maybe a little difficult to read...).  The main points 
> >are:
> >we selected a mission and chose a name (details of the process are in the
> >minutes).
> >
> >NAME: RAGG - Resource and Action Group for Girlz & Womyn
> >MISSION: RAGG is a local grassroots partnership of girls and women for 
> >girls
> >and women whose aim is to provide safe spaces, resources and activities to
> >foster creativity, self-expression and empowerment.
> >
> >I AM DUE THIS SATURDAY, 2/14!!! Do not respond to this message with any
> >questions or important information, as I may be out of email contact at any
> >minute.  c  THANKS!
> >
> >Anne
> >
> >-------------------------------
> >NOTES
> >-------------------------------
> >INTRODUCTIONS
> >-	We all introduced ourselves, as many of us hadn’t met in person.
> >-	The purpose of this organization is to fill a void in the community left
> >by the closure of GirlZone.  However, this is a new organization that can
> >strive to be anything the community needs/wants it to be.
> >-	Why are we part of the Independent Media Center (IMC)?  The IMC was a big
> >part of girl space for GirlZone and GrrrlFest, and it offers a valuable
> >collection of resources for a new and growing organization.  As part of the
> >IMC, we already have our 501c3 status and can start raising funds as a
> >non-profit immediately.  Because the IMC supports our efforts, we have a
> >volunteer base that we might not otherwise have.
> >
> >Our CORE Group
> >-	Groups have been in town focusing on girls and women for a while, and
> >GirlZone was the most recent effort to provide for opportunities for Girls
> >in the community.  GirlZone focused on giving girls (not women but younger
> >girls) access to activities they don't normally get the opportunity to
> >learn.  When GirlZone ended, it held a community forum to see what what the
> >community might want to do to continue efforts for girls and women in the
> >CU.
> >-	There were many women and girls interested in seeing something new grow 
> >in
> >our community.  We created a rather large mailing list of these women, then
> >we asked for core organizers to help us get things off the ground.  The 
> >core
> >organizing group consists of 10 women who are trying to birth this new
> >organization; core organizers meet at least once a month outside of general
> >meetings, decide on format and discussion topics for general meetings, and
> >likely will head committees to accomplish various organizational goals.
> >-	The core group called this general meeting to:
> >o	Agree on a mission for the organization – the core group has worked
> >together to come up with a proposition for this mission.
> >o	Agree on a name – the core group has worked together to come up with some
> >initial options
> >o	Brainstorm activities/events/resources that this group should seek to
> >provide.
> >
> >What it Means to be Part of the IMC
> >-	THE GROUP AS A WHOLE has been approved by the IMC as a adhoc committee,
> >which allows us to do non-profit fund-raising and elect spokspeople to
> >participate in the IMC decision making.  We are one of the working groups 
> >of
> >the IMC – a part of the organization, not a child of the IMC.
> >-	One of the requirements of being a working group of the IMC is that we
> >make certain core decisions by “consensus”.  Consensus is a decision making
> >process in which everyone present at time of decision making agrees on the
> >outcome of a decision.  The process works like this:
> >o	A decision is proposed.
> >o	The group is asked if there are any concerns.
> >o	All the concerns are listed, and each one is addressed by the group.
> >o	If the concerns are successfully addressed, the group eventually gets to
> >the point at which there are no more concerns about the decision.  When
> >everyone is agreed that there are no concerns, the decision is accepted, 
> >and
> >we have reached consensus.
> >o	If there are concerns which cannot be addressed to the satisfaction of 
> >the
> >concerned parties, the decision needs to be altered, and the process begins
> >again.
> >o	Process is repeated until a decision is proposed upon which the group can
> >address all concerns and reach consensus.
> >-	We made all decisions about the mission statement and the name of the
> >organization using the consensus process.
> >
> >MISSION statement
> >-	The core group proposed the following mission statement:
> >o	<<Girlz Org>> is a local grassroots partnership of girls and women for
> >girls and women whose aim is to provide safe spaces, resources and
> >activities to foster creativity, self-expression and empowerment.
> >-	The following concerns were raised and addressed:
> >o	Concern about exclusivity of “girls”. Does this mean that there is no
> >place here for activities where boys and girls can interact in a supervised
> >away to encourage the learning of non-sexist behavior?
> >§	The organization itself is not providing resources for boys.  However,
> >that does not mean that a co-ed activity or workshop on non-sexist behavior
> >would not be something the organization could host.  In addition, there is 
> >a
> >group of men at the IMC who are interested in starting a group for boys and
> >men; if they do so successfully, then partnering with that group to offer
> >these kinds of events would be something we should encourage.
> >§	There is nothing in the mission statement that excludes this kind of 
> >co-ed
> >activity, so the concern was addressed.
> >-	The mission was approved as-is – no changes were required to reach
> >consensus.
> >
> >EMPOWERED SPOKESPEOPLE
> >-	Empowered Spokespeople represent us at the IMC steering committee 
> >meetings
> >every month.  They participate in making decisions that affect the IMC, and
> >they make proposals for our group to the other working groups of the IMC.
> >Currently, Zoe Swords and Shawn Williams are our empowered spokespeople.
> >They volunteered for the responsibility, and are willing to continue their
> >roles unless a concern is voiced.
> >o	No concerns were voiced about Zoe or Shawn.
> >o	Concern was voiced about rotating out empowered spokes, and all agreed
> >that we should rotate spokes.  No plan was made for rotating spokes; it
> >should be discussed at a future meeting.
> >o	What is the specific commitment of an empowered spoke?
> >§	IMC Steering Committee Meetings are the first thrusday of every month at
> >8pm; the spoke must attend.
> >§	PLUS the spoke must participate in the core organizing group for this
> >organization – a committment of up to 2 core group meetings and one general
> >meeting a month-
> >
> >NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION
> >-	Many name suggestions were put up on the wall; the paper copies of all 
> >the
> >suggestions have been kept for records, but are not listed in these notes.
> >-	We divided into small groups and discussed the existing names.  We also
> >allowed ourselves to brainstorm new options. Then we came back to the large
> >group and voted on the new and existing names.  This reduced our number of
> >name choices to two: WRAG (Women’s Radical Action Group) and Grrrlz.
> >-	WRAG – Women’s Radical Action Group – we worked to see if we could
> >consense on this name; it had a lot of support, but also many concerns.
> >o	CONCERNS
> >§	CONCERN 1 - Doesn't match with the mission statement;  it seems like 
> >we're
> >more activist and political than our mission statement.  It doesn’t seem to
> >embrace the “safe space” and “resource providing” that are the center of 
> >our
> >mission statement.
> >§	CONCERN 2 - Possibly unoriginal; it was suggested because one of the
> >people at the general meeting had belonged to a group with this name.  On
> >further investigation, she had started that group, it had consisted of a
> >handful of her friends, and had disbanded when she moved here.  We decided
> >this concern was not a reason to discard this name.
> >§	“Radical” may turn people off; may exclude people.  While creating safe
> >spaces for girls and women is radical work, the social connotation of the
> >word “radical” can be negative.  It could be intimidating to girls, and 
> >very
> >importantly, it could be intimidating to their parents (who will be giving
> >permission for them to attend our events).  “Radical Action Group” ought to
> >be a subset of what we’re trying to create, but not it’s whole identity.
> >§	There’s no "girl" in the acronym
> >o	ADDRESSING THE CONCERNS
> >§	There was consensus on liking the “WRAG” acronym; so why not change what
> >it stands for to address the concerns above?  Ultimately, we hit on 
> >removing
> >“Women” from the front of the acronym and respelling it to include Girls:
> >RAGG – Resource and Action Group for Girls (Girlz? Grrrls? Gyrls?) & Womyn.
> >§	While we had not yet consensed on how to spell Girls, all felt that the
> >new name addressed the concerns above – it keeps the “active” feeling of 
> >the
> >original acronym meaning, but it’s general enough to match our mission
> >statement.  And we get to keep the cool acronym
> >-	FINAL DECISION: RAGG is the name.
> >
> >SPELLING of GIRLS:
> >-	Top choices were Grrls and Womyn
> >o	Immediate consens on womyn with "y"
> >o	Concerns with Grrls: too much like GirlZone, looks funny without three 
> >“r”
> >s; concern that with three r’s we look like posers on the riotGrrrl
> >movement; concern that girls today no longer identify with the riotGrrrl
> >movement.  We didn’t feel like these concerns could be easily addressed, so
> >we moved on to other spelling options.
> >o	Gyrls - concerns with gyrls - looks kind of like “guy”.
> >o	Took a straw poll vote on Grrls and Girlz - straw poll turned up girlz;
> >there was no blocking of consensus or concerns raised about  girlz, so 
> >that’
> >s how we’re spelling it.
> >
> >OFICIAL NAME: Resource & Action Group for Girlz & Womyn - RAGG
> >
> >BRAINSOTORMING:
> >The list that follows is a massive brainstorming on things we could do with
> >the organization.  We didn’t go into detail on these; this list is a record
> >for discussion at future meetings:
> >-fun fundraising activites - we need money and funds
> >-guy/girl co-existing group or subset
> >-all-girl art time (women-owned studios?)
> >-pink flamingo fund raiser.  like rolling with toliet paper, but people pay
> >to have other people "flamingoed"
> >-leadership workshop
> >-storytelling workshop for women who earn a living telling stories and
> >traveling
> >-workshops on specific careers and life journeys
> >-theater workshops
> >-college workshops
> >-tutoring & mentoring
> >-managing money
> >-dj-ing workshnopos
> >-breakdancing workshop
> >-self-defense
> >-classes, as opposed to workshops
> >-fishbowls - people with something in common stand in the center and talk
> >about what they have in common, and others stand on outside and listen, 
> >then
> >they switch (race/white, gender, generational, sexuality, etc.)
> >-things that address segregational community issues
> >-transgender and gender variance type of class.
> >-handy class (changing tires, oil, apoxy, plumbing)
> >-spirituality and religious focuses addresses
> >-sound engineering and performance stuff
> >-body image workshop
> >-sexism in the media
> >-cooking workshop
> >-link body image with something like belly dancing
> >-penny wars for fundraising
> >-video and/or video editing
> >-computer technology and troubleshooting computer problems
> >-clothing - making /sewing
> >-sports workshops
> >-health and exercise workshop
> >-skateboarding
> >-boxing
> >- bike repair
> >- clothing trade
> >- weight lifting
> >- silk screening
> >- stained glass and radio
> >- include wicca and other alternative spiritual choices in 
> >religious-focused
> >workshops
> >- support groups for traumatized girls
> >- middle school girls talk about their experiences now
> >- language (sexist)
> >- web stuff and design program training
> >- sexual education
> >- producing radio shows
> >- media literacy
> >- performance of self
> >- RAGG Mag (our own zine)
> >- Mother and father/parent education
> >- etiquette workshops and dinner parties to practice etiquette training
> >
> >
> >DISCUSSION TOPICS FOR Next Meeting:
> >-child care at meetings and events
> >-transgender issues – should we address them in our mission?
> >-Next Steps – identifying committees and real tasks for items on our
> >brainstorming list
> >-outreach
> >-rotating dates, times, locations of meetings
> >
> >Date of next meeting:
> >-February 10th, 6:30 - 8p.
> >RAGG Meeting
> >
> >
> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >Anne Odom * Product Manager * WebEasel, Inc.
> >WebEasel - It's that easy!
> >anne at ojctech.com * www.webeasel.net * 217.344.0444
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Imc-girls mailing list
> >Imc-girls at lists.cu.groogroo.com
> >http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/cgi-bin/listinfo/imc-girls
> >
> 
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-- 
| Danielle Chynoweth
|
| Art Director * OJC Technologies * ojctech.com
| City Council Member * Urbana City Council * city.urbana.il.us