GEN's Voice

Issue 31
January 2004

In This Issue:

Here’s what’s going on in January:

“What is Your Relationship with Your Body?”

For many people, meeting society’s ideal body image has become more important than being healthy. Society’s top solutions appear to be “a diet” or surgery. But there are ways to change your body image without doing damage to your body! Lynne Bannatyne, Ph.D., will discuss how learning to love your physical appearance can positively affect self-acceptance, self-esteem and physical health.

For girls.
Tuesday, January 13, 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., Dobie Middle School

“Big Tobacco Marketing Tactics to Young Women”

Amy Hoge from the American Cancer Society joins GENaustin in our campaign against teen smoking – oriGENal Voice – Austin Girls speaking out against big tobacco. Every year, tobacco-related disease kills more than 178,000 women, making it the largest preventable cause of death among women in the U.S.  Join Amy as she takes the mystery out of tobacco marketing tactics that try to make you think smoking is cool, sexy, pretty and makes your life easier. 

For girls.
Thursday, January 15, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Redeemer Lutheran School 

“Girls as Friends, Girls as Foes: Strategies for Spotting and Diffusing Relational Aggression in Your Daughter and Her Friends.”

Peer relationships are everything in middle school. When they’re good, they’re very, very good. And when they’re bad… “Girl fighting” is often a hallmark of middle school, and some of the most painful times in girls’ lives. Girls may express their aggression and insecurities through hurtful words, gossip and other forms of relational violence that can damage each other emotionally. Parents can help by understanding the conflict and communicating with their daughters. Middle school counselor Carolyn Brooks will share successful strategies for dealing with ways girls love, hurt and can heal each other.

For girls.
Thursday, January 22, 2:40 p.m. Burnet Middle School

“The Roller Coaster Ride of Middle School Years: Coping with Stress and Success.”

School, friends, hormones, dances, sports, parents, drugs, popularity, thinness. Yikes! How much pressure can young teens carry before it begins to affect their grades, their relationships and their futures? Carolyn Brooks, middle school counselor, will help parents and girls understand and manage the stresses in girls lives. 

For girls & parents.
Wednesday, January 28, 11:05 a.m., Covington Middle School

Please consider giving to GENaustin today.  Our annual campaign is just short of its goal.  Take just a few minutes to go online and donate on this secure Web site and encourage others to do so by forwarding this link:  http://www.active.com/donate/genaustin2004

Your donation will enable GENaustin to continue to provide a wide range of programs that touch the lives of thousands of girls, parents, teachers and others:

• Speaker Series – adolescent girl-focused presentations on such topics as school success and career choices (with a particular emphasis on girls and math, science, and technology), friendship and dating issues, media and advertising messages, and family relationships;
• clubGEN After-School Program – designed for middle school girls, taught by high school mentors, reaching over 200 girls in Central Texas every week;
• Nationally-Acclaimed Speakers – including notable authors and experts;
• New Media – offering a lending library of girl-positive educational videotapes;
• oriGENal voice – a program designed to help girls understand the dangers and consequences of smoking, including the development of a large-scale community outreach campaign designed for teen girls by teen girls; and
• www.GENaustin.org – an award-winning interactive Web site for girls, their parents, and the global community, featuring an online therapist.

Mark your calendars for January 22, 2004, when GENaustin will host bestselling author Rachel Simmons at the Dell Jewish Community Center at 6:00 p.m. Simmons wrote the New York Times bestseller Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls, the first book to explore the phenomenon of bullying between girls. Her brand new book out in December, Odd Girl Speaks Out: Girls Write About Bullies, Cliques, Popularity, and Jealousy, delves further into the issue, but this time from girls’ perspectives. For more information and to reserve your spot go to http://www.genaustin.org/public/content/events/special_events.asp#rachel

You might have something sitting in your garage or attic that you don’t use anymore. Check out our list at http://www.genaustin.org/public/content/getinvolved/get_involved.asp#wish. Maybe you have one of these items lying around that you no longer use or perhaps you know of a business that could possibly donate one of them.

If you can provide any of these items or have any ideas about how we can get them, please contact us at [email protected]. Thanks!

Get a jump on your New Year’s resolutions and volunteer your time to clubGEN, GENaustin’s weekly after-school mentoring program and support group for middle school girls. The goal of clubGEN is to create a girl-friendly environment that develops leadership skills, healthy self-esteem and decision-making skills, and promotes social and civic responsibility.  For a complete listing of volunteer opportunities with clubGEN go to http://www.genaustin.org/public/content/getinvolved/clubGEN_opps.asp

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 Favrot Foundation, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, the Silverton Foundation, Milkshake Media, Shoes for Austin and the Webber Family Foundation.

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 W. 6th St., one block west of Katz' Deli. The phone number for Giada is (512) 457-8881.

Inspired by the book Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, GENaustin, a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization, was formed in 1996.

GENaustin is a non-profit organization based in Austin, TX, and was founded in 1996. GENaustin is made up of volunteers committed to helping girls grow into healthy, confident women who feel valued for what's inside, and not outside, themselves. Our mission is to help adolescent girls develop and maintain healthy self-esteem through the education of the girls, their parents, their teachers and others who touch their lives. 

For more information, please visit our Web site at www.genaustin.org. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 3122, Austin TX, 78764. You may call us at (512) 414-0472 or email us at [email protected].

If this email has been forwarded to you by someone else, please join our newsletter mailing list! Subscribe by sending an email with a subject line of ‘subscribe’ (without the quotes) to newsletter@genaustin.org. or call us at (512) 414-0472. Your email address will be kept confidential and will not be used for any other purpose.

If you would like to be removed from our newsletter mailing list, please send an email with a subject of ‘unsubscribe’ (without the quotes) to newsletter@genaustin.org. or call us at (512) 414-0472.

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.