Film Friday Fun!

Many thanks to the RAPPers and RAPPORT folk who came out for Film Friday last week!
We chose to watch The Corporation and, given its length, many folks came and went throughout the hours we spent watching it. Shown is the gang left at the end.
If you couldn't make it but would still like to see the film, it's available from the UC Library (where we got our copy), online at Hulu, or you can purchase your own copy for $25 at HelloCoolStuff (where the The Corporation folk recommend to buy it).

Film Friday: Conversations on Corporations

In "honor" of the recent Supreme Court decision on campaign finance, RAPP will be scratching the surface of the complex issue of corporations as people in this week's Film Friday.

Film Friday: Corporations
Friday, January 29th
1PM
6th floor open space, Steger Student Life Center

Pick the film at 1PM, light snacks during film, discussion to follow.

Review: RAPPORT Retreat Rocked!

Many thanks to all who participated in this year's RAPPORT retreat. We went "home" to Grailville for the 2010 retreat and RAPPers from groups XXII through XXIV participated.
We took on the daunting topic of religious diversity as well as spent time looking at characteristics of advantaged and target groups. I really appreciate the genuine self-reflection we engaged in, as well as all the fun we had!
In recognition of the many questions we came up with as well as the general interest people have shown in the topic, I'm planning a Film Friday about religious difference for Friday, January 29th. More details will come soon, but per usual Film Friday events start at 1PM in the 6th Floor Open Space of Steger Student Life Center and are open to RAPPers and their friends. A few light refreshments will be available (a.k.a. pretzels and popcorn).

Film Friday: Environmental Issues

In honor of yesterday's Environmental Sustainability Day, sponsored by UC Sustainability, this week's Film Friday offerings will be about environmental issues.

Come by our usual FF spot (6th floor open space, Steger Student Life Center) at our usual FF time (1:00PM) and enjoy a good film, good popcorn, and good conversation.

Folks who get there at 1:00 will get to choose what we watch. Options this week include Trashed: This is the Story of Garbage... American Style, An Inconvenient Truth, or the National Geographic show Human Footprint.

Our Second First also Smashing Fun

I - the person usually irritating folks with my camera - forgot to take pictures of our first meeting of RAPP XXV Wednesday.

Though there's no photographic evidence, I can attest that our group filled the room both with their bodies and with their good conversation. I'm very excited about the entire RAPP XXV now that both have come together.

Next up on the RAPP calendar? Two things on Friday:

1. I'll be presenting "Self Awareness & Social Justice" at the 7th Ohio First Year Summit. This interactive workshop will explore the impact of RAPP on first year students and the tools in which we use to encourage increased self awareness, increased sense of connection to campus, and increased awareness and agency around social justice issues. Many thanks to the many students who provided feedback for the presentation!

2. Another Film Friday! As I'll be at the Summit, Un Kyong of Diversity Education will be hosting this week's Film Friday. Our choices will be from the selections of this year's Latino Film Fest. Film starts at 1PM on the 6th floor of Steger Student Life Center!

Welcome the Newest RAPPers!

It's been an exciting day!
The more recent part has been our second Film Friday showing, which was great fun. I enjoyed watching Companeras - a film from this week's Latino Film Festival that profiled America’s first all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles - and the conversation we had afterwards about the music, the people, and the issues they faced, particularly around sexism.
The more exciting part of the day was in the morning. We welcomed our RAPP XXV members into the group! All new members were emailed and called this morning with the results of the application.
It's been a busy and challenging time this recruitment in many (positive!) ways. We had 170 people express interest in joining RAPP, nearly 80 of whom pursued membership through applications and interviews.
We've welcomed our newest members and have a waiting list of folks hoping to get in by the second meeting.
I've been overwhelmed by the interest and am excited going forward with our two, full groups! We have an amazing team of facilitators and RAPPORT members who've done much work getting the group in place. Many thanks to all who helped spread the word, promote RAPP at events, and interview our candidates!

First Film Friday = Fenomenal!

Despite the limited advertising we'll be doing for it, a good size group came out for our first Film Friday. Our topic was healthcare issues in the US and we selected Unnatural Causes... Is Inequality Making Us Sick? as our film for that Friday. I really enjoyed the conversation we had following the film about our reactions to the ideas presented in it and how that related to our own experiences. I also value the questions we generated for ourselves in terms of the future of healthcare and how to stay informed and make informed decisions.

Join us again next Friday to pick between two great films again! I'll announce the topic by Wednesday.

(pics-watching the film on the 6th floor of Steger)

-Rebecca

Movies! Movies! Movies! Introducing Film Fridays!

Between RAPP and Diversity Education, we have a decent library of thought-provoking films. We've got documentaries and feature films on a wide variety of subjects, from everyday life experiences in different cultures to exposes on business practices to TV shows about people's life experiences.

Those who know me know I'm very hesistant to show films during RAPP meetings because of the time investment of watching a whole film. Despite this, I find movies to be powerful tools for generating discussion (which is why I bend and show them at retreats :) ).

Wanting to not allow our resources to just gather dust and wanting also to capitalize on the power of film, this year I'm starting a semi-regular series I quaintly call Film Friday.

This is an intentionally low-key programming series and won't be heavily advertised. To stay in line with copyright issues, I won't be promoting on-line or by posters which film we will show - but I'm happy to say the topic area and confident in saying that the film'll be awesome!

Join us this Friday, September 25th, from 1-3PM in the 6th floor open space of Steger Student Life Center. We'll be watching a documentary on healthcare issues in the US. Discussion to follow and popcorn available throughout!

(pic - RAPP I enjoying a movie at their retreat)

-Rebecca