Campus Activism
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
It is not often that I blog two days in a row, but today I HAVE TO. And since I know some of you slackers don't come back everyday, this is my official notice that you have two posts to read. I promise the other one is short.
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Today I am reminded of one of the most powerful tools I have as a young queer activist. NETWORKING! Throughout my time here at the University I have learned that when you want to get something done, you have to stay on top of it. That means making visits to the Campus Activities Center (CAC) on a regular basis, sitting and chatting with the budgets people, and even randomly running by one or two associate Dean's offices to make sure people know what you are doing. Sometimes these trips have to happen every day.
Case in point - As a result of my most recent adventures into the CAC and beyond, I found a room for my comedian (in an already booked up union), I was directed toward a possible screening of the Logo and the Sundance Channel's new film "Transgeneration," I managed to find one or two groups to co-sponsor activities with our group for next year, and I even created interest for some administration types in an upcoming Drag Show.
Granted, with the contacts I have now, I could have done much of that from the comfort of my home through email. However, I am a firm believer that were it not for my bright shiny face knocking around the basement of the student union on a regular basis nobody would even really think of me when it comes to these kind of events. I am sure SPECTRUM would not be among the groups to get first invited to sit on planning boards for some of the University's biggest celebrations. And the emails would all go to the listserv or to my advisor (not that this is bad, just at times less effective when advisors have real jobs and listserv mail gets deleted).
Here's my point. If you want to be part of a successful organization, where you can at times run in at the last second and expect people to help, you have to be proactive. Make friends, not enemies among those whose help you will later need. And when you can, plan in advance. These things will make event planning smoother, and may even lead to having cute Student Affairs types fluff your ego (it happened to me this morning).
posted by ZEUS @ 10:38 AM, No comment,
LIVI LIVES
Monday, July 25, 2005
There's a little girl I know all of you are dying to meet.
You can find her here.
If you want a link, just ask her. She'll take care of you.
And if you are interested, she would be
find YOUR drag persona
and go to mewing.net. where all the men wear skirts.
posted by ZEUS @ 10:03 AM, No comment,
I Hate Computers
Thursday, July 14, 2005
My laptop is a major pain in my arse lately, and I am not talking in that fun, makes you play with toys, kind of way.
The problem originally - when I try to play Knights of the Old Republic II (KOTOR2) the game freezes up immediately after the intro movie. So I re-installed the game, and the problem happened again. Turns out I don't meet the specs for the game. But wait the spec it wants is a 1GHZ processor, and mine is supposed to run at 2.2GHZ. Download a clocking software to find out that while my FSB is set ok, my multiplier is set at 4. No wonder my computer is only putting out 800MHZ in processing speed.
I call tech support, nice guy helps me with some upgrades to my system, and it still doesn't work. However with PRIDE, the 4th, lots of family time, lots of stuff that has to happen right after work, etc... I don't get to call the guy back for a couple weeks.
Called him 3 days ago. More upgrades that don't fix the problem.
Called him 2 days ago. Still more upgrades. A memory test that renders my computer completely useless for an evening, and one more re-install of the game. No breakthroughs.
Last night. Download a new clocking program / system performance analyzer and find out that the CPU is still only getting a multiplier of 4x and thus only running at around 800MHz. Get told by tech support to do a re-format of the system. (Good thing I had nothing better to do than spend the rest of my night backing up my system and downloading drivers).
As it stands now, I am going to have to call for a wireless driver so we can re-install all the driver updates that are supposed to fix this problem but have not to date. When (notice I did not say IF) that doesn't work, I get to ship my computer off cus they think it is a problem with.. maybe the motherboard.
Great.
Bitches better keep it long enough to upgrade everything to XP 64 and 64bit drivers!
posted by ZEUS @ 8:56 AM, No comment,
Internships
Friday, July 08, 2005
I am starting to worry about my next summer. I am conflicted. On one hand I am pretty sure I would enjoy working on the forefront of GLBT litigation in this country. This would likely mean looking for internships with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) or Lambda Legal. The problem with those positions is that I would have to move to them, and there are far more unpaid than paid positions. We are talking about living in Chicago, Dallas, and or D.C., away from 100% of my security structure. Talk about leap of faith.
But I am qualified! Take for instance Lambda Legal's qualifications list.
-They prefer "a background in or familiarity with issues, legal and otherwise, that are important to lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV/AIDS."
- "[C]ommitment to public interest law."
- "[S]econd- and third-year students are preferred."
The NGLTF isn't looking for anyone all that different.
OOH.. I just learned if I search for law fellowship I may be able to work for the HRC, and the ACLU. Needless to say it appears they are all a long ways from home too.
I guess this is what it is like to decide what it truly means to be an activist.... more later.
posted by ZEUS @ 2:19 PM, No comment,
There's a downside to knowing the law
Thursday, July 07, 2005
I really wanted to blog about how I got all conflicted and made some of the people I work with mad at me because I told them we had made a contract I thought we should honor. However, due to the nature of the project I work for, I have to keep the whole thing completely under wraps. Suffice it to say, sometimes having taken a class or two in contract law can really complicate your day.
posted by ZEUS @ 2:33 PM, No comment,
