Queers and Allies

Pay attention!!

Workshops-Simple hand sewing project: Pick an easy project that will result in something useful. Teach the students to make a re-usable shopping bag or a soft toy (to gift or donate!). The project should include tips like how to sew a button or repair a tear in clothing.

-Knitting or Crochet: I have NO idea how to knit, but I’ve watched my roommate knock out most of a scarf in an afternoon. If more than two people are teaching this project, maybe start off with a few basic techniques, and then split off into seperate projects. Someone teahces scarves to beginners, another teachers hats to more advanced kids.

-Woven jewelry: We’ll provide tons of beads and string, you guys teach every pattern you can think of! There could be a big table of people working on hemp, embroidery floss, maybe even those lanyard things that are so much fun and remind us all of summer camp. We had a couple members say they could do all of these, so this group would team up, and decide amongst themselves who would teach what.

Origami: hey, look, colorful paper! And now it’s a bird!! Awesome!!! Bri and Andy said they could do this, I believe they can do anything.

Beauty school: Make-up and hair. We teach them, hell, we could even set people up with make-overs, I don’t care. Anything to spread a little beauty. (I’m in talks with Jacob, he seems on board!).

In addition to these things, we could set up a table where we sell our creations!! I know I’ve got tons of old photo prints and bead earrings and half finished sewing projects just waiting for an opportunity like this so they can get the hell out of my house. And don’t forget about the book! So far I have been promised:
-Fabric dyeing
-T-shirt surgery
-Scrapbooking
-Soap and deodorant making
-Cake decorating
-Pen and marker techniques
-Steam punk crafting
-Easy or “no cook” recipes
-Dorm room cooking (in approved appliances!)
-DIY hair dye
-Make up tips and tricks (day to night anyone?)

Every workshop should have typed up instructions, printed out for those attending. These instructions will be used in the book

Any extra small talents or tips? People who like to customize their clothes, purses, shoes, etc… I was thinking we could even use some cleaning tips using “green” products. I would love to have everyone contribute, and I’d also like to limit it to one or two unique entries per person. We can’t have three knitting tutorials, but I’m sure each of you knitters have some personal tip you can add.

All instructions are due, typed up, illustrated, and emailed to me, by March 5th!!! That way we can print the books over Spring Break, and plan to have the camp the first half of spring semester.

Okay kids, here’s some GREAT news!

I have received confirmation from both Donna Wood and the reservations board that SCAD Queers and Allies has reserved Boundary Village Common Room for Spring Semester, Thursday nights at 9pm! Our tactic now will be to get the room reservation in by Midterm of each semester so hopefully we won’t have to get shuttled around again.

Also, I’ve made the executive decision that this Thursday will be Bring a Buddy night. We will watch a movie and have some snacks, and have TONS OF FUN! I will bring my copies of RENT, Moulin Rouge (I found it!), and Gia. Bring your own if you’d like, we will vote at 9pm sharp! Try to get there early, the room is not reserved by anyone before us, so we might be able to start a little ahead of time!

Print these out, get them stamped by the res life office, and staple them up everywhere you can!!!!

Hello all-

I have compiled all of the suggestions left on the blog comments and made at the meetings about the craft fair. There are some ideas I think would work really well in the workshop setting, and some that might be better suited as printed instructions in our book. I will bring in my ideas to the meeting tonight, and we will set up a schedule. We will determine who will be teaching what, what we might sell, and what we will print in our Booty Camp instruction manual!

As you can see below this, I have posted our Budget Proposal for Winter semester 2009. This is a good guide for anyone who might want to help put together the proposal for Spring with me, and whoever might take over this responsibility next year.

On that note, the ICC blog has posted their Blog Tutorials and a small tutorial on student organization budgeting. They are definitely worth checking out just to read up on the process. The links are in the upper-right corner of their home page.

See you all tonight at Barnard Village, 9pm!

SCAD Queers and Allies exists as a safe place for students dealing with personal issues of gender and sexual identity and orientation (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, questioning, etc…) and their allies, in an effort to provide support for those students and education about these issues to the community at large.
We, as a group, meet every week for one hour, usually broken up into one half hour of support group and one half hour of planning school and community events or volunteer opportunities. The support group atmosphere allows students to share their questions and concerns about acceptance and tolerance of GBLT individuals within their families, school, and community. All students are encouraged to share their own stories and suggestions for dealing with these kinds of pressures. Students who do not identify as gay, transgender, etc… are encouraged to attend as our Allies, and to share their perspectives on these issues.
By holding events such as our annual Gender Bender Ball and our winter Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony, we open our group up to the SCAD student body as an educational resource. Like our acronym suggests, we are open for questions and answers. All of our officers have been involved with the group for at least the previous school year and are required to “read up” on the gender and sexual-orientation related topics they may be asked to explain. We believe that by representing ourselves as educated individuals who are willing to discuss even the most squeamish topics, we can encourage others to open up and ask.
We had great success with our Fall 2008 Gender Bender Ball, a collaborative effort with Savannah’s Stand Out Youth organization. Our budget allocation from ICC for Fall covered much of our food and decorating budget for the Ball, and we had over 200 students in attendance from SCAD. We also invited students from Georgia Southern University and Armstrong Atlantic University to join us as our guests. This is an excellent example of our goal to reach out to the SCAD community, as well as the greater Savannah community. The Christian Student Fellowship has asked to collaborate with us on our upcoming community service opportunity (details below.) We will also be collaborating with the Art History Society for their Friday movie event at the end of this month.
This semester we would like to participate in the “Adopt a Meal” program with the local Ronald McDonald House, in association with Memorial Hospital. Through this program volunteers sign up to prepare and serve a meal to the families staying at the house while their loved ones are being treated at the hospital. We are asking for $250 to cover the costs of food and travel for our group members. This amount is based on an estimate provided by the staff at RMH. It has been decided by our group that should any of the money not be spent on costs for the meal, it will be donated to the foundation.
Also, as a fund raising event for Q&A, we are organizing a craft fair for early Spring 2009. In this event we would invite SCAD students to spend a day with Q&A learning how to do such things as knitting, hand sewing, scrap booking, etc… We would also sell artworks and crafts made by members of the group, as well as a small book we will design with instructions for some of these hobbies and simple recipes. We are working to have the book designed by the end of this semester, and would like some “start up” money to cover the costs of the printing and perhaps some supplies for the workshops. This would only be a small amount, around $80, but it would go a long way for us.
The vice president Stephanie Candelaria, our faculty advisor Professor Krista Harberson, and I have been allowing some of our junior members to take more responsibility within the group. There are a handful of underclassmen who have expressed interest in taking on officer roles for the 2009-2010 school year. Stephanie and our ICC liaison Chris will be sharing the President role of Q&A, and we are currently preparing other students to be voted in as Treasurer, Secretary, and ICC liaison. These votes will take place after midterm of Spring semester.
Queers and Allies has been an active student group on the SCAD campus, and beyond, for the past three years, and we fully intend to continue this trend. Not only have we been cooperative participants in ICC, but our members regularly volunteer their time for committees and events to benefit the council and other student groups. We greatly appreciate ICC for helping us with our funds so that we can continue to plan our fun and helpful events.