So very tired. So very proud. Thank you Portland!

Bike Back the Night was awesome!!!! Thank you to everyone who came.

And a huge thank you to BikePortland for covering the event. Check out their blog post about it and Flickr page for some great photos of the ride.

Here are a few the super star organizers:

And I just love this photo:

We are creating change! Right now!

Did You Register for Bike Back the Night YET?

Well, have you?

Please do! Click below for more information on Bike Back the Night and instructions on how to RSVP. We'll see you there!

Bike Back the Night is Next Week!

*Ledena is again unable to post to the blog. W-T-F Google?! I'm posting it for her and while I'm at it I just want to say: LEDENA - you've done an amazing job working on SAAM this year. I hope you know how proud and appreciative we all are of you and the work you've done. Hopefully you'll have much more time to commense the dancin' in the kitchen again. - Kelsey

Way back in April of 07 I returned to the crisis line after a day of outreach for last year’s sexual assault awareness month with my brain churning about what we could do next year. I was talking to some of my co workers about how great it would be to do a bike ride for SAAM next year, and here we are with less than a week to go before Bike Back the Night comes to fruition for the first time on Thursday April 24^th starting at 4:30 pm at Colonel Summer’s park (SE 20^th and Belmont under the covered picnic area). You can register at the PWCL Eventbrite page by clicking HERE.

This year’s Sexual Assault Awareness Events have been really great for all of us here at PWCL. The staff, volunteer and community support and effort have really been uplifting for me as I learn more and more about what it takes to plan events: a lot of phone calling, list making and A LOT OF HELP AND SUPPORT FROM OTHER PEOPLE. I just want to give a huge shout out to Linda, Rebecca, Kelsey and Lyndi for all of their hard work for SAAM and Bike Back the Night (not to mention the countless other folks who have helped as well!!!).

I see SAAM as a time to re-energize in the uphill battle of fighting domestic and sexual violence everyday. It’s been tremendously inspiring the response that we have gotten from the community so far and I can’t wait until Thursday, when we rally together in such a public way, to recognize our work, recognize survivors and support this year’s Take Back the Night rally at PSU.

Hope to see you there!!

Ledena

“Live with the suffering in the center of your heart, because the struggle is the change.” Eve Ensler

SAAM Activism

A big blog thanks goes to Feministing for being so on top of everything.

I just read this article: Another military contractor rape *before you click - trigger warning*

Essentially, another woman working for a US defense contractor in Iraq has come forward as a survivor of a terrible, terrible sexual assault (too many details in the article. sigh.) perpetrated on her by her male coworkers.

The survivor was told to be quiet about it by superiors and stayed quiet for fear that more violence would be perpetrated against her.

Feministing is asking us to do a few things to support this survivor and the many, many survivors who are speaking up after working for defense contractors in Iraq, which I think is just so smart of the Feministing folk and it makes me like them all the more.

So, PWCL folks:

Take Action! Pressure the Department of State and Department of Defense to take steps to protect US contractors; urge them to respond to the concerns raised by Rep. Louise Slaughter.

Positive Sexuality

“ A social change movement is a sustained subversion of oppressive forces and a construction of new ways of relating to each other based on liberation and self-determination.” Communities Against Rape and Abuse, Seattle

I am proud to say that for SAAM we are bringing to town presenters from a sister agency in Seattle for a workshop on Friday April 11^th about survivors and healthy sexuality in collaboration with the Tri-County Sexual Assault Task Force.

I am excited to be bringing them to town because I have been tremendously inspired by the way CARA goes about the work after discovering the organization when reading their essays in the book The Revolution Will Not Be Funded. CARA’s approach to anti-violence work is radical, to say the least, and I encourage all of you to check out their website at www.cara-seattle.org.

And, to continue our discussion about defining rape culture, you can read some writings by members of CARA on the topic including the essay Organizing to Challenge Rape Culture, an article by Hollis Rendleman, former Youth Program community organizer at CARA/. http://www.cara-seattle.org/w_challenge.html

Join us for this workshop April 11^th from 12pm - 1pm on the PSU campus Multicultural Center SMSU Room 223. FREE LUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Ledena

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

For the next two blogs I will be posting third-party style for Ledena. Her Google account is blowing raspberries at her while it doesn't let her log on. I hate when the internet taunts humans. - Kelsey

April is moving along…

The last time Lyndi and I were preparing to do the Rape Culture workshop we were talking about the continuum activity and I didn’t know what the word “frottage” meant. I learned that it’s the term used to describe when a person bumps up against you, into you or touches you in an inappropriate way for example on the bus or at work. It’s like groping but a little bit more covert. For me, it’s the kind of thing that happens and then you think “no, that must have been a mistake”, or “am I making this up?” I have to say, I am really glad that there is a word for this! And, I am also glad that we have organized our next workshop for SAAM to be about workplace sexual harassment.

The folks over at the law office of Randall Vogt have been very supportive of PWCL and the work that we do and have offered the workshop "Sexual Harassment: What Every Employer Needs to Know" on Wednesday April 9^th from 12-1 in downtown Portland at the “big pink” building 111 SW 5^th Avenue, suite 1250. This is also great information for every employee to know, in addition to increasing your advocacy knowledge about civil legal options for survivors.

We’ve got lunch provided for us Thanks to Kornblatt’s Deli and New Season’s Market!

Also, don’t forget to check out Sally Tomato’s Toy Room performance at the Wonder Ballroom this weekend, as all of the proceeds benefit PWCL!!! More info at www.pwcl.org

SAAM Proclamation

Today the Multnomah County Board of County Commissioners declared April National Sexual Assault Awareness Month and honored the work of OHSU's Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program. The County Commissioners were impressed with the collaborative approach of the Sexual Assault Response Team, which PWCL has been a member of since 2002.

Here's a picture of Gresham Police Chief Piluso, Portland Police Sgt Geiger, District Attorney Michael Schrunk, and the Victim's Assistance Program Coordinator Helen O'Brien talking about the work of the SART:

And here's Multnomah County Commissioner Maria Rojo de Steffey reading the proclamation:

And here's the OHSU nurses who came to be honored:

And, my favorite picture of all -- here's a quick picture of two of my favorite advocates!