David Topping
Day 1 of Camp!
So, it's begun.
The 3rd annual Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp has started, and what a whirlwind it's already been! I will never be able to explain how fantastic Camp is in words (it's something you MUST experience to understand), but I'm going to try my best here. My name is David, and I am from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI - yes, just like the song "I've Got A Gal In Kalamazoo". I am the President of my LGBTQA campus group there (OUTspoken) and I worked with Campus Pride this past year as a Campus Q Team blogger. I have now returned for my second year of camp as a Pride Leader - that means I have volunteered my time to help facilitate a glorious week of intense, emotional, beautiful, revealing events. And despite the fact that my flight here on Monday was at 7:00 am, I am not regretting it at all!
Camp began today bright and early at 10:30 AM (I know that's not very early, but it's still in the morning so I am calling it early) with check-in for all the campers. Our wonderful Ambassadors from Towson University took care of our campers, gave them their room keys, and sent them off to their rooms so they could unpack and prep for the day. Camp proper began at 4:00 PM with the most fabulous kick-off event you could imagine. Some Pride Leaders and the wonderful 3rd-time faculty member CM Hall got together to introduce campers to our most FAVORITE thing here at camp - CHEERS! So you can all follow along at home, the first one is:
Awesome Cheer #1:
2, 4, 6, 8, Campus Pride is super great! Campus Pride YAY!
Awesome Cheer #2:
When I say Campus, you say Pride!
Cheerleader: CAMPUS!
Campers: PRIDE!
Cheerleader: CAMPUS!
Campers: PRIDE!
See? Don't you wish you were here so you could see these amazing cheers in action? I know you do, even if you aren't thinking it right now.
Proposition 8 - Fight Back And Use It
So, like every other person in our alphabet soup of a community this past week, I'm a touch infuriated.
The California Supreme Court has not struck down Prop 8. It stays, and we're showing our anger through protests and screaming and interviews on the nightly news. This is all well and good - but I have to wonder if maybe we should simply back off of gay marriage as a cause for a while.
More after the jump.
Leading By Example
So I know I said I was going to get a little bit more personal last week, but I lied. Meaning, I didn't have enough time what with moving into my new apartment and all to come up with something personal that I want to share with all of you. Instead, I"m going to talk to you about something that I try to inspire in the members of my organization: leadership.
Too often (at least in my organization) members just come to meetings and hang out there, letting other people move the organization forward. I don't like that.
The Importance of Allies
At my university, we have a program called SpeakOUT - basically a LGBTQA speakers bureau. We go up and tell our coming out stories then answer questions for the audience. It's really a great experience, and I love answering the questions - no matter how ridiculous some of them might be.
We have allies on our panels, and sometimes they get really silly questions. But one that I love the most is this - "What do I have to do to become an ally?"
Beauty Pageant Drama
So, I've been under a rock and didn't know much about the whole Miss USA debacle until recently. Color me surprised when I found out it involved Perez Hilton, the diva blogger that has made a name for himself out of drawing obscenities on pictures of celebrities in MS Paint, asking a serious question.
If you're like me and live under rocks, here's a lowdown of what happened at the Miss USA pageant. Miss California, or Carrie Prejean, went up to the podium during the Questions round of the pageant and drew Perez Hilton as her questioner. A video of what happened after the jump.
And The Fourth One Comes In..
Hey everyone! It’s my turn to let you know a little bit about me. Sorry for the delay; it’s the end of the school year where I am and things are a little bit crazy. My name is David and I am a second year student at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. I am double majoring in Communication Studies & Gender / Women’s Studies, and double minoring in English & Nonprofit Leadership. Believe me, that sounds a lot more impressive than it really is - that’s why I like it! I plan on working in the LGBTA community, hopefully with a national organization doing media work (hint, hint GLAAD! ;). At my school, I’m the new president of our LGBTA student group OUTspoken and for the past year I’ve been their secretary. I have also been involved with our LBGT Student Services office as a panelist and facilitator in our speakers bureau, SpeakOUT. In addition to both of those, I’m a tour guide and “telecounselor” (meaning I call prospective students) as part of WMU’s awesome Student Ambassador Program. I do a LOT of LGBTA “stuff” as I like to call it, and starting in June I’m going to be an intern with Michigan Equality working on the human rights ordinance battle here in Kalamazoo (more info here on that and I guarantee you I’ll rant about it once May comes). I pretty much devote all of my time to LGBTA stuff, my classes, and my job as a Student Ambassador. I’m one of those college students that has NO social life, but I love what I do and that makes up for it. I found out about the Campus Q Team after our LBGT Student Services office selected a group of us to go to the Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp, and got involved from there. If you want to know more, PLEASE talk to me!
Campus Pride is the leading national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization for student leaders and campus organizations working to create a safer LGBT learning environment at colleges and universities. It exists to develop, support and give "voice and action" in building future LGBT and ally leaders.
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