Hey Ladies,
Im working in the Congresssman's office now, and it's pretty cool. I was the stage manager for a pretty big event yesterday and it went so well..Thank God! I hope all of your summers are going really well..I know mine is. For some reason I miss Atlanta. New York is cool, but it's just not home for me anymore. Does anybody else feel that way, that home just isn't home anymore? Well, it's just a thought/feeling and I was curious to see if I was the only one. See you all in a few days..lol..
Very Truly Yours,
Iyana

I was watching CSPAN this week and heard the introduction to a speech, I did not listen to the speech in its entirety because the introduction sent me into a whirlwind of thought. A man who worked at the institute where the speech was broadcast from introduced the speaker. In his introduction, the man kept referring to the next president to take office in 2009 and in his every reference he said "he or she". It got me thinking because not only did it strike me as wonderful that he referred to the future president of having the possibility of being a woman, but I realized despite my knowledge that Hillary Clinton is in the race to be the next president, I had not once heard or thought of the president being referred to as "she". Though one may think that is not important that I think of it is that wording specifically, it was wildly important to me.

In that rush of thought, I also remembered something that had been said to me in a conversation last week. It was "think of how much we don’t know and have to learn". Both when this was said to me and when I thought again about it, I thought about the last year, my involvement with NNPCW and how much I have learned from those experiences. As this year’s Leadership Event is approaching I think back to the days and weeks leading up to last year’s event. It was my first introduction to NNPCW and I was beyond intimidated by the "Jesus loves Feminists" bumper sticker I had received in the mail with my pre conference packet. I had little knowledge of what feminism was and had a strange connection with the word itself.

In a short year’s time, my life has changed drastically because of my involvement with NNPCW. I applied and was accepted to the Coordinating Committee and have been on the Leadership Event Planning Team for this year’s event. After over a dozen conference calls, many trips to Louisville, meeting and getting to know NNPCW staff and other members, learning more about the church structure, representing NNPCW at a conference, and being mentored and loved by other members and staff, I think that I am in a pretty good position to tell you why you should consider applying for the NNPCW Coordinating Committee (CoCo); and, in honor of NNPCW’s tendency to make lists, here are your top six reasons to apply for CoCo (please note that these are not qualifications but rather my thoughts).


6. You love getting meaningful and important emails that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.
5. You want to learn more about the church, how you can be a part of it and be an advocate for young women in the church
4. You want to know and love14 young women who will care about who you are and what you do while learning how to work on a committee with them.
3. You want to create and advocate for safe space for women on their campuses, at the leadership event, and at CoCo meetings.
2. You want to be united with women who share a common faith in Jesus Christ and you want to share that with as many college women as you can!
1. You love NNPCW!!
Applications are available on the NNPCW website 9 http://www.pcusa.org/nnpcw/aboutus/coco.htm) and are due August 15th!!

If you haven't already heard, the theme for this year's Leaderhip Event is "Speaking Truth to Power: Women, Faith and Politics."

I've been thinking a lot lately about the phrase "speak truth to power," and I'm wondering what the phrase means, if anything, to those of you who keep up with this blog.

The phrase has meant different things to me during different periods of my life, but at this point in time the word that sticks out to me the most is "power." Before becoming the Associate for NNPCW I worked as a community organizer, and power is a key concept in organizing. Basically, in order to speak truth to power, you have to have power. And if you don't have power, then you have to build power. And how do you do that? By coming together with other people--many other people--and acting collectively.

We often hear that we are to speak truth to power in order to give voice to the voiceless. I believe, however, that we need to consider the ways in which the so-called voiceless might come together in large enough numbers so as to use their own voices and be heard.

What would this look like in your community? On your campus? Are you ever one from among the "voiceless"?

Throughout history, the so-called voiceless have routinely risen up on their own behalf to speak for themselves. Think of Cesar Chaves and Delores Huerta of the United Farm Workers. Think of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Think of the many women who have worked (and continue to work) for various women's rights.

So what does it mean to speak truth to power? Can we--should we--speak for others? How might we need to speak for ourselves? And how might we help to build the power necessary to make this possible?

Have you seen "The Pursuit of Happyness"? I just watched it last night, and I have to admit that I don't yet know what I think about it. I know the movie is supposed to be inspirational, but I mostly felt sad--and a little mad--at the end of it.

For one, I wanted to know what happened to Chris's mom. And I wanted to know more about why she left him and his dad in the first place. Was she as selflish as the movie made her out to be? Or was Hollywood just trying to draft a clean foil for Chris, Sr.? She was working double shifts and bringing in the only source of income for her family while her husband (unsuccessfully) tried his luck as a doctor-to-doctor salesman. That would make me frustrated, too. I'm not saying that she was justified in leaving her son, but I am saying that her side of the story is probably a lot more complicated than the movie's protrayal of it.

Secondly, I don't quite know what to do with the movie's "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" moral. I think Chris Gardner is an exceptional person for doing what he did, and I know in my heart that I never would have had the courage to do what he did. But he is just that: exceptional--an exception to the rule. I could not have done what he did, and millions of other people are not able to do what he did. What are we to make of that? I don't want to take away from his hard work and his incredible accomplishments, but what of the underlying social issues that keep other people on the edge financially or in and out of homeless shelters indfinately?

I'm curious to know what you think...