GEN's Voice

Issue 26
August 2003

In This Issue:

The 2003-2004 Speaker Series will start Sept. 10. This year's series will serve 15 schools, including six new schools, and it will cover a broader area of Austin and Round Rock. The series will be more closely integrated with clubGEN this year with events at five clubGEN campuses.

The Speaker Series features a diverse range of topics, including girl in-fighting, body image and other self-esteem-related topics. We're also working with the American Cancer Society on a workshop on "Big Tobacco Marketing Techniques to Young Girls," and there will be one workshop that is conducted entirely in Spanish.

The Speaker Series calendar is currently in production and will be completed by Aug. 11. It will be distributed at Back-to-School Night at the schools with events planned. The Speaker Series is also seeking to expand to corporate locations with lunch hour programs on parenting. If your company is interested, please contact GENaustin at (512) 414-0472 or [email protected].

The clubGEN facilitator and sponsor training is scheduled for 8:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 6. The location will be announced soon.

The training is for the high school girls who are going to be facilitators (leaders of the clubs) next year and for the adult sponsors. Each school has one adult sponsor and one adult community sponsor -- someone from the community who does not work for the school.

The teen facilitators and adult sponsors will be trained on the model and structure of clubGEN and on group facilitation and leadership skills. The training will also include experiential activities to give the facilitators and sponsors practice at running a clubGEN.

Community sponsor opportunities are still available. If possible, we suggest that community sponsors take on the role for the entire school year to maintain continuity and consistency with the assigned school. Community sponsors are assigned to one clubGEN (one middle school and one high school). In addition to the clubGEN training, sponsors are encouraged to attend the monthly clubGEN committee meetings held by GENaustin. Key duties include:

• Attend clubGEN planning meetings and club meetings if the school sponsors are unable to attend them. These meetings take place on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. The planning meetings occur once a week for about an hour. Community sponsors fill in when the school sponsors are unavailable, although they are welcome to attend as many meetings/clubs as they like.
• Conduct monitoring visits of the club to check in with the girls and evaluate the progress of the club. This monitoring visit also entails filling out some evaluation paperwork.
• Gather data such as pre-post-surveys from the clubs.
• Conduct an annual meeting each year (January - March) to renew the contract of an existing school sponsor or help recruit a new school sponsor for the next school year.
• Assist in the coordination of two "Speaker Series" events during the school year (one in the fall and one in the spring). The different speakers will come to the school during clubGEN time to speak to the girls (both high school and middle school). A volunteer from the GENaustin Speaker Series committee will help the community sponsor with this.

If you're interested in this fun and rewarding experience, please contact Barb Steinberg at 512/750-3928 or [email protected].

GENaustin's Director of Programs, Barb Steinberg, recently conducted a workshop at IBM's Camp EXITE (Exploring Interests in Technology & Engineering). The workshop covered how it feels to be a girl in today's world and how our society affects the future aspirations of girls. The workshop included lots of interactive activities and self-esteem-building exercises.

The participants were about 35 sixth- and seventh-grade girls. "The girls were very open," Barb said. "They got to see how similar they are to each other and to share common feelings, thoughts and experiences. They were very energetic and really involved in the activity. They loved it, and I had a great time, too."

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, Sept. 17, because famed expert on media literacy, Jean Kilbourne, EdD., will be making her way to Austin! She will be here to talk to girls in the community, their parents and teachers about the tobacco industry's marketing to young women. Ms. Kilbourne's visit is in conjunction with the GENaustin Speaker's Series. Ms. Kilbourne will give her talk on behalf of the GENaustin group oriGENal voice: Austin girls speaking out against Big Tobacco.

Ms. Kilbourne is best known for her award-winning documentaries "Pack of Lies," "Slim Hopes" and "Killing Us Softly." Don't miss a great opportunity to learn from this renowned speaker!

May's issue of O Magazine had lots of great advice on body image for women. One article pointed out that it's particularly important to learn to love your body if you're a mother of a girl so that you can set a good example for her.

Here's what writer Liz Brody had to say:

Step One: Cut out the Junk Thoughts

Start by taking a day to write down your negative thoughts about your body. Then take a good hard look at them. Where did they come from? Your parents? Friends? Television? Now ask whether these thoughts are logical. Do you use words to describe yourself that you would never use to describe someone else? Imagine if you're a mother if your daughter used those words to describe her body. Next, write a list of the things you're missing out on because of your image of your body. Then set some rules. Some examples might be: "I will refrain from speaking disparagingly about my own body and weight" or, "I will avoid making negative remarks about the appearance of others." Other suggestions include:

• Arm yourself with comebacks to negative remarks about your weight.
• For one week, try not to mention appearance at all when you greet or refer to other women.
• Watch the adjectives you use when describing women you admire, especially in front of girls.
• Focus on developing and celebrating your own unique style.

Step Two: Shake It Up!

Start moving. Experiencing what your body can accomplish will make you feel more positive toward it. Involve your family in your exercise and active pursuits as well. You might want to join a gym with your kids, take tennis or dance lessons, or even get a dog that you'll need to walk often.

Step Three: The Food Peace

Take a look at your relationship with food. Start by examining the messages, both implicit and explicit, that you received from your mother about food. Try to separate yourself from the negative messages. One recommendation is to keep a food diary to look at the physical and psychological reasons for eating. What triggers you to eat when you're not hungry? Once you recognize the triggers, start coming up with alternate responses such as taking a walk or listening to music. She also recommends sitting down to eat with friends or family, which can nourish you both physically and emotionally. Dealing with your emotions regarding food will help you to stop the negativity and develop a more healthy relationship with food.

YOGA and TALK are ongoing therapy groups for middle and high school girls that integrate yoga with a more traditional group therapy approach. The combination of psychotherapy and yoga practice is designed to help participants grow in their ability to acknowledge and bear the full range of human emotions.

Each group begins with 25 minutes of yoga (Hatha and Kundalini styles). Beginning the therapy group with yoga helps girls learn specific techniques to increase relaxation, decrease anxiety, manage stress and strengthen the sense of self and a healthy ego.

The groups are also an opportunity for girls to address problems and concerns such as relationships with peers and family, school pressures, sexual development and concerns about drugs and alcohol.

The groups are facilitated by Kelly Inselmann, LMSW-ACP and Anita Stoll, LMSW-ACP. Kelly and Anita are both psychotherapists and certified yoga instructors. Together, they have led yoga workshops for girls as part of GENaustin. YOGA and TALK offers girls a safe environment to learn about themselves, practice relationship skills, and gain support for the many changes in their lives.

Groups begin Sept. 15 and will meet weekly throughout the school year. Cost is $40 per group meeting.

Middle School Group (ages 11-13): 4:30-6 p.m. on Mondays
High School Group (ages 14-17): 6:15-8 p.m. on Mondays

Call (512) 586-2121 for more information or to register.

GENaustin's programs are made possible through the generous support of 3M, Alice Kleberg Reynolds Meyer Foundation, Austin Independent School District, Austin Wine Merchant, Austin Ventures, the Dell Foundation, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, the Silverton Foundation, Milkshake Media, Shoes for Austin and the Webber Family Foundation.

When you make a purchase at the following places part of your purchase goes to help fund GENaustin.

GENaustin has been selected to take part in Buffalo Exchange's Tokens for Bags Program. The program allows customers to choose to receive a token instead of a bag when making their purchase and the token represents a cash donation to a particular charity. So the next time you're shopping at Buffalo Exchange (2904 Guadalupe), be sure to forego the bag and help out GENaustin by placing your token in our box. Our box is in the middle!

Now you can support GENaustin and its important programs simply by shopping online. Just go to http://www.genaustin.org/public/content/getinvolved/shop.asp and follow the links to more than 400 stores, including Barnes & Noble, Land's End, Ann Taylor, Linens-n-Things, Neiman Marcus, L.L. Bean, Dell, Amazon.com, JC Penney, Old Navy, Gap and many more!

Also, mention GENaustin when you shop at Giada, a unique boutique and gift shop just west of downtown, and 2% of your sale will go directly to GENaustin. GENaustin is excited to be a part of Giada's Community Investment Program. Giada is located at 704 West Sixth Street, a block west of Katz' Deli, 512/457-8881.

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This site was last updated on 1/04/2005.

Copyright © GENaustin, Inc. 2001. All rights reserved. GEN, GENaustin, and GENaustin logos used and displayed herein are registered and unregistered trademarks of GENaustin, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks and logos used herein are the property of their respective owners. Email us at office@genaustin.org.