Service Learning Activism Log, Entry Two.

This week initially was supposed to consist of Pride and planning more tabling, but as I'm sure is to be expected, things did not go as planned. Not only was I late because I went to lunch and the friend I was going to Pride with was late, but parking was also an absolute disaster. When I arrived, I couldn't find Voices of Planned Parenthood's table, it took me a very long time to get in touch with Abigail over the phone, and she directed me to Arielle, who didn't pick up at all. After walking around for almost two hours, I gave up. Leandra is still giving me hours because I made a contrite effort to find them, but I definitely learned that communication needs to be more specific and I need to leave earlier for the events with limited parking availability. Beyond that, I've been emailing Arielle all week about tabling, and so far, I'm staffing a table for VegFest (October 23), Diva Invasion with EQUAL (November 4), and I received approval from my manager to set up a table for five hours in front of my Publix in Winter Garden on November 20, and I may ask him if I can table on a Thursday or another Saturday as well. He has been particularly generous in giving a table under the name "Animal Safehouse," minus the "of Brevard" part, because he's only supposed to allow tables for organizations in the immediate community and I live very far away from everything, so tabling at the Publix where I work and know a lot of the customers, some even by name (hazards of working in the same store for two years), will be much more effective. I've set up a very detailed calendar to keep track of all of this, as organizing four simultaneous service learning projects is no easy feat.

One change, attitudinally, for me this week regarding how perhaps service learning in general, though not this cause specifically, are vital to work in Women's Studies is that I would like to understand the shortcomings of activist work now, specifically the teamwork and a degree of reliance on others for my projects to have a successful outcome, so that I can be a better activist when I incorporate that work into a career. I have never liked group projects. Though I suppose they can be fun with the right group dynamic, where my academics are concerned, I'm a bit paranoid and would like to be able to know that if there was a mistake, it was my fault and my fault only. The idea that someone else's mistakes could negatively effect my grade, or that I might unintentionally pass too much off on someone else and not pull my weight enough just because the option is there (I have a tendency to become complacent), is really uncomfortable for me, and because of the field I'm going into, I really need to learn to get over that and I'm glad I'm being given such an ample opportunity to do so. Otherwise, still the same general ideas, with regards to Animal Safehouse. It's great, it's vital, it fills a niche market, it needs lots of money which I'm hoping to provide.

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