Paws up! (Raise hands like paws)
Paws down! (Don't lower your hands)
I DIDN'T PUT MY PAWS DOWN!!
Brown squirrel, brown squirrel
Swish your bushy tail, woo!
Brown squirrel, brown squirrel
Swish your bushy tail, woo!
Take a peanut in your hands and SHOVE IT UP YOUR NOSE!!
Brown squirrel, brown squirrel
Swish your bushy tail, woo!
So yeah, expect this post to be interrupted by frequent FYSOP cheers.
Anyway. My first full day of FYSOP was Education Day. My FYcos (FYSOP coordinators) planned a presentation about the Gender Focus issue area. It has to do with the LGBTQ community, body image/eating disorders, and sexual assault. I actually learned a lot, although there is a lot I still don't know. I'm not sure what, though, because I don't know it yet.
Hey FYSOP!
Hey what?
Hey FYSOP!
Hey what?
This is a repeat after me cheer!
(This is a repeat after me cheer!)
You can't ride in my little red wagon!
(You can't ride in my little red wagon!)
The front wheel's broken and the axle's draggin'!
(The front wheel's broken and the axle's draggin'!)
Hoo ha hoo ha hoo ha ha!
(Hoo ha hoo ha hoo ha ha!)
[[This repeats with the following transitions]]
Second verse! Same as the first! A little bit louder and a little bit worse!
THIRD VERSE! SAME AS THE FIRST! A WHOLE LOT LOUDER AND A WHOLE LOT WORSE!
My first day on site was spent handing out flyers for a thrift store called Boomerangs (check it out, I'm totally advertising for them now! Their website is shopboomerangs.org, if you're interested). It's sort of like Goodwill, but the proceeds go to the AIDS Action Committee, and they do a ton of awesome work with it. I wish we could have done more for them, actually, but flyering is important work too...right?
The next day we went to Cafe Emmanuel, which is part of the LGBT Aging Project. (They're slowly adding the Q and stuff on. Cut them some slack, they're old.) It was nothing less than awesome. Cafe Emmanuel is held in a church, and it's weekly lunch event for LGBT elders. Yep, you read that right. Pretty awesome, huh? Four of them actually came and spoke to us at our Ed Day, so I was extremely excited to go. We had lunch with them, talked to them...I learned so much!
Have you ever even thought about LGBT elders? I'm going to be honest: I never had. It's quite interesting to consider, so if you're interested you can do some research or just some personal reflection on your own.
Anyway, this was also what we call FYSOP Fusion, because it blends two issue areas: Gender Focus and Elders. An elders group also came with us on site.
The coolest thing was how happy, energetic, and funny all of them were. The less cool part was that the lunch was pretty funky. In their words, "We come for the company, not for the food!"
And on the third day (that was a shout-out to my little sister, so don't feel bad if you don't get it), we went to Germaine Lawrence. It's a treatment center for girls ages 12-18 facing various serious challenges in their lives. We put some mail in envelopes, stamped and sealed them...I actually thought that was fun. And then I organized a closet for them (with the help of some of my other Quillbacks).
Oh! Story time!
We found a really scary bug inside that was like nothing I've ever seen. It was like, the demon bug of the closet. Seriously. It had maybe 20 legs. At first I thought it was a super gross clump of hair. But I was wrong. It moved. It had a face. It was a bug. One of my friends took it outside.
That wasn't a good story, but I told it anyway. Now I'll teach you the GF Call. It has a dance too, but you'll just have to imagine one on your own.
Hey GF!
Hey what?
Hey GF!
Hey what?
Let's do the GF Call!
Gender 1, Focus all!
Let's all do the GF call!
(chorus)
Go GF go GF go!
Go GF go GF go!
Gender 2, Focus 3!
Let's fight for equality!
(chorus)
Gender 4, Focus 5!
Let's all do the GF jive!
(chorus)
Gender 6, Focus 7!
BOYS AND GIRLS MAKE OUT WITH KEVIN!
(chorus)
Gender 8, Focus 9!
STOP! It's GF time!
(chorus)
We actually didn't know anyone named Kevin, but that honestly doesn't even matter.
Other highlights of FYSOP including seeing awesome dancers that were on America's Best Dance Crew, and even more yelling and cheering. And other stuff, but I doubt you want to keep reading this post forever. I just wanted to impress you with the America's Best Dance Crew thing.
FYSOP is over now and my classes start on Tuesday...But for some reason I'm still busy. Tomorrow you can read all about that business! Oh yeah, I'm lookin' forward to that!
(I'm holding a sarcasm sign)
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