$tart $mart Workshops Teach Salary and Benefits Negotiation Skills

The upcoming $tart $mart Workshop targets graduates going into non-profit work but is really relevant to anyone regardless of the job. The workshops are sponsored by the UC Women's Center, the UC Parent Fund, the Commission on the Status of Women, and Student Government. UC Women's Center staff attended one of these last fall and say that they really learned a ton about how to negotiate for salary and benefits, etc.

We’re offering two programs—Wed. and Thursday and each is 2.5 hours long with FREE dinner.

RAPP Logo Design Contest!

The "RAPP Rebranding" logo design contest is off and running!

Between now and Monday, April 26th, the rebranding committee is seeking submissions of logo designs from UC students. Submissions from the community will also be considered.

RAPP members current and previous helped the committee determine what is needed in our new logo through a survey conducted last quarter. The information gathered there was distilled into communication points in the call for submissions. Many thanks to all who helped us with that! Many thanks also to the hardworking rebranding committee members: Jojo of RAPP XXIV and Amber and Maggie of RAPP XXV.

Full contest details can be found on the RAPP website.

Best wishes to all who enter! Even if you don't submit a design, you can still be involved! Help us spread the word about this contest! Help us pick the winner: We'll be seeking community input on the final designs as well as ask the finalists to explain their design concepts at Finalist Presentations that are open to the public.

Looking for RAPPers!

The time is finally here: We're officially looking for RAPP XXVI!

Applications are available at the RAPP Office and will soon be available in many Student Life offices.

If you know someone who is interested in RAPP, you can get them connected in several ways:

• Send them to the "join RAPP" part of the RAPP website;
• Have them call Rebecca at 513.556.6119;
• Have them email Rebecca at lehmanrl@uc.edu

If they're curious about what RAPP will entail, the RAPP XXVI FAQ is a great place to start. It details what we do in RAPP, what we expect of members, and what members can expect of RAPP. It also explains the application process.

From now through late spring, we'll simply be taking interest and written applications. We'll conduct RAPP interviews from late spring quarter through the first week of October.

Our membership is capped at 70 again this year - 35 will be accepted into each RAPP group.

We'll be accepting applications through Friday, October 1st!

Happy Spring Break!

Things have been quiet all over campus and in the Steger Student Life Center since most students are away on spring break. Things haven't necessarily been calm though! Here are some things to look out for in RAPP world over the next quarter:

• RAPP XXV wrapping up! The group has one quarter left - so much to do, though the feeling that we're reaching the end is going to creep up soon! This quarter we focus heavily on allyship, finding one's own action plan for combating oppression, and issues of social justice around sexuality.
• Finding RAPP XXVI! We start the process of taking on RAPP XXVI members in spring quarter. Applications will be available starting the first day of class, Monday, April 29th. That said, I've had interested people contacting me since last November.
• Getting a new logo! The logo design contest starts on Monday, April 29th! The RAPP Rebranding committee has been working hard to get ready and are excited to see what comes in! More details will be posted here on this next Monday!
• Getting ready for the RAPP 25 Year Reunion! Sure, it's more than a year a way, but we've got much to do to get in touch with RAPP alumni and get set. If you're a RAPP alum, mark your calendar for Saturday, May 21, 2011! Hope to see you there!
• Continuing outreach. We've got a few workshops already set up for spring quarter and more requests coming in. If you're interested in a workshop on anything that RAPP talks about, give me a call (513.556.6119).

I hope all folks who have a spring break are having a great, relaxing one! I can't wait to get rolling with the coming quarter!

GenderBloc Call for Performers

From Kimmins, RAPP XXIII member, RAPP XXV Peer Leader, and activist extraordinaire:

It's that time again, for the GenderBloc GenderF*ck drag show and we need performers. Please e-mail Jamie at jamiearoyce@gmail.com if you are interested in performing. Please forward this to appropriate Listserves.

Important upcoming dates:
Music due April 23rd
Mandatory Practice April 28th
Numbers due April 9th
Semi-Mandatory Practice April 14th

Getting Ready for RAPP XXVI!

A season is fast approaching - and I don't just mean spring! Recruitment season for RAPP XXVI will kick off in a week and a half with the start of spring quarter!

Recruitment employs a variety of tactics to bring notice to RAPP and get students interested in joining. This past year was a record-breaking year for us (in terms of recent history). Here are a few of the things we'll be doing again this year:

• "Short" applications in a lot of Student Life offices. What I call the short application is an info sheet about RAPP that includes our schedule for the 2010-2011 year and a short form on the bottom they can fill out and tear off for more information about RAPP
• "Short" applications in student binders in Bearcat Bound Orientation.
• Tables! Tables! Tables! Our first info table will be at the WorldFest International Festival. From there they continue through activities fairs, Student Spotlight at every new student orientation, and a half-dozen welcome events during Welcome Week.
• Info at all RAPP-led workshops. All year long, at every training or workshop I lead I give out information on RAPP. Now that the short applications are soon ready, I'll take them nearly every where I go.
• Recruitment contest (like this one)! Year after year, we find that over half our group learned about RAPP through a friend who'd completed it. I want to bank on that knowledge and be intentional about it. This kind of thought is also behind RAPP T-shirt Days.

Though the info needed to apply is available (as of today!) on the RAPP website, I won't officially start recruitment until Monday, March 29th. [which is also the day the Rebranding Committee drops the RAPP logo design contest, btw]

We'll take student interest throughout spring and begin accepting full applications and conducting interviews in late spring.

We haven't set a final deadline for applications yet (should have that before recruitment starts), but I know we'll contact folks with their results by Friday, October 8th, 2010.

I hope you're similarly excited and getting geared up for getting our next amazing group together!

Linda Bates Parker Scholarship Luncheon

Please join us for
The Linda Bates Parker
Scholarship Celebration Luncheon
Celebrating & Continuing the Legacy
Duke Energy Center
525 Elm Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
Saturday, April 10, 2010
11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Patricia Russell-McCloud, JD
Keynote Speaker

*A portion of all proceeds will be designated to the LBP Scholarship.
To learn more about the LBP Scholarship, please visit: www.lindabatesparkerscholarship.org

To make an online reservation for the luncheon, please visit: www.lindabatesparkerscholarship.org/luncheon.html

Stopping to Appreciate Progress

As mentioned earlier, I've been working to find the names of people who've completed RAPP and have benefited greatly from the RAPP community in this (though I still need your help).

Today I finished looking up the 277 names we have gathered so far in UC's alumni database. I'm excited to announce that I found 153 RAPPers in there! That's half of the people so far - and it's worth noting that a good 30+ of the people on the list were in RAPP in the last three years and are still in their undergraduate studies (so they're not alumni yet, and thus not in the alumni database).

There's still much work ahead - we have another 300-400 people to find who've finished RAPP!

You can find the current lists of names on the RAPP History website. Check out your year and see if there are any blanks you can fill in or names whose spelling needs to be corrected. Then shoot me an email (lehmanrl@uc.edu) or give me a call (513.556.6119).

History Repeats Itself: Racial Issues at UC San Diego

I typically don't do any news not directly related to current events at the University of Cincinnati. I feel embarrassed at how slow I was to find this story. Regardless of both of those, I want to highlight what's happened and is happening at University of California San Diego. Those familiar with RAPP's history may find the story sadly familiar.

The second weekend of February, members of a campus fraternity held an off campus "ghetto-themed Compton Cookout." The party was held to "celebrate" Black history month and the invitation included a wealth of offensive racial stereotypes about Black people.

After the party, student activists mobilized a campus-wide response urging the administration to respond to the party. This involved student-led protests and support from their allies among university staff and faculty. Students led a walk out during a university organized teach-in, stating that the meeting was unproductive and not hitting at the core issues.

UCSD's Black Student Association has been leading a rally call for the creation of a truly inclusive environment at their university. They have successfully worked with the administration to create and sign an action plan. UCSD has also launched the website Battle Hate.

Twenty-four years ago our campus was in similar turmoil in response to a fraternity party called the "MLK Day Trash Party," with similar advertisements despite the limited media of the day - flyers with comments like "bring your father, if you know who he is." Coupled with the student body president's public dismissals of the need for ethnic-specific student groups (particularly, the United Black Association and the Society of Black Engineers), our campus exploded into student action. From this was born the Committee for Dialogue on Racial Awareness, who created RAPP.

Please keep UCSD on your radar! They're also looking into intergroup dialogue as part of a long-term solution. They also show that, sadly, RAPP's history isn't part of long-gone history - it's still relevant and happening today.

We Need Your Help!

Don't worry - this is NOT a telethon fundraising plea (though, if you have any money you want to give, the Linda Bates Parker Scholarship is a great place to start!).
I'm asking for your help on two projects. In return, I'll give you some exciting and useful information.
First, the pleas:

1. We're working hard on getting the names of everyone who's been in RAPP. After a year working on this, we've got just over 250 names - meaning we're likely just over 1/3 of the way.
The current listing is kept by group on the RAPP History website.
If you have a good memory for names (or even just know one name I don't know), please shoot me an email (lehmanrl@uc.edu) or give me a call (513.556.6119). If you have a RAPP memory book that lists the names of everyone who finished with you, please scan the list and send it to me. Every additional name (or, corrected spelling on a name, really) helps push us further toward our goal!

2. Our RAPP 25th Reunion committee is up and running! There are two ways in which you can help us out:
a. Join us! Check out the committee charge to see what we're up to and get in touch if you'd like to help organize this amazing event. Keep in mind - you don't need to be in Cincinnati to help with this.
b. Send us a theme suggestion! We're hoping to set a fun but meaningful theme that encapsulates the 25 years of amazing work that's been done by all our members - both during their time in RAPP and since. Email (lehmanrl@uc.edu) or call (513.556.6119) me with your ideas!

Now, on to the enticement... The exciting and useful information...

Though the official "save the date!" message will go out in a month or two, you can have a sneak peak on this now!

The RAPP 25th Reunion will be on Saturday, May 20th, 2011!

This is part of Alumni Weekend, so there'll be heaps of fun activities to do while you're here for our reunion - college reunion events, MainStreet Stride, a special campus tour for RAPPers, Sigma Sigma Carnival, and more!

So, to review this long post:

Help us find your RAPPmates!
Help us get an awesome theme for our 25th reunion!
Hope to see you on Saturday, May 20th, 2011!

One More Day of Data Collection!

Just over a week ago, the RAPP Rebranding Committee put out a survey to gather information from RAPPers current and previous on their thoughts on what a new logo would need to convey.

We've got one day left to gather info! Thank you to all of the many folks who've already completed the survey - I've taken a gander at some of the early results and you've provided a wealth of useful information.

I thought for the last push to get insight, I'd leak out some early info. So here it goes! Don't agree with what we're finding so far? TAKE THE SURVEY!

Over 1/2 of the respondents so far (23/42) are current members of RAPP - RAPP XXV.

"Challenge. Debate. Educate." is our most popular motto. "UC's Social Justice Forum" is our least.

"Socially Aware" and "Self-Awareness" are the words most commonly picked as "capturing the spirit of RAPP and RAPPORT." No one thinks "service" most captures our spirit.

Again, want to help us get the best logo ever? TAKE THE SURVEY!

Slowly Finding Ourselves

As part of just generally benefitting ourselves and as part of getting ready for our RAPP Reunion, I'm still trying to dig up names of people who've completed RAPP.

More than just digging up names, I'm trying to find ways to contact people. Thankfully, many of us have connected through Facebook. Others have found the RAPP history website and sent me an email or gave me a call. Recently, I enjoyed a visit from Bradford H of RAPP VIII - which involved both a fun conversation as well as garnered a few more names for the list.

Robin Selzer of the UC Alumni Association (and previously of the UC Women's Center) has been beyond helpful in the quest for RAPPers. With her help, I've been searching the names we have in the University system. Today was an exciting one for me: I've found two-thirds of the people based on the first 70 names I have!

The search will continue over the next year as we're trying to get in touch with people for our reunion. If you're a former RAPPer (or happened to know some former RAPPers), you can help! Check out the RAPP History section of our website and help fill in missing names or correct misspelled names by emailing me at lehmanrl@uc.edu.

(pic - a random picture of RAPPORT that I love!)

UC Town Hall Meeting on Tuition - Tuesday @ 5, AACRC

From the United Black Student Association:

It was been brought to our attention that tuition and fees for the University of Cincinnati could receive an INCREASE OF 7%!!! Please join us along with representatives from Student Government, on Tuesday, March 9th as we discuss this matter in depth. The meeting will be held at 5PM in the AACRC. Please remember THERE IS NO US WITHOUT U! Peace and Love!

From The News Record:

Front page above the fold story yesterday - Student Government Questions Tuition Increase

From The Campus Antiwar Network:

Eye-catching flyers are up all over campus with the tagline "Drop Tuition, Not Bombs". The picture below is not from our campus' campaign, but you get the idea.

Daniel W of RAPP XXV has spoken about how his study abroad experience was life-changing. He's currently working to help others be able to have similarly impactful experiences.

Daniel went to South America through the organization CIEE, which provide study abroad opportunities all around the world and for a variety of time lengths. Daniel is currently working as a recruiter for CIEE, so he can answer a wide variety of questions about the opportunities his program provides.

UC International works with CIEE and many other organizations to provide international learning opportunities for students - get credit for an amazing experience!

Youth Empowerment through Hip Hop Education

Dr. Ernest Morrell, UCLA Graduate Professor and author of "Critical Literacy and Urban Youth" and "Linking Literacy and Popular Culture," will facilitate a round table discussion at the AACRC on "Critical Literacy, Academic Achievement, and Youth Empowerment in Urban Schools using Hip Hop Culture."

Tonight, Thursday March 4th

7PM

AACRC

Refreshments provided by C.Y.P.H.E.R.

Commitment during Cold Times

We started winter quarter off with a pep talk about the challenges winter quarter presents. It's a tough time in many ways. Environmentally, it's dark out, it's cold and snowy, the weather's unpredictable but generally terrible. Groupwise, winter is when things get more uncomfortable. Avoidance of difference through politeness falls way to genuine and honest sharing of differences. The facilitation team turns the heat up with more demanding activities. The group usually hits some conflict.
Plus, there all of the other demands of life - school, family, work, and other commitments.
With that in mind, I want to take a minute to note folks who faced these challenges head on and still managed to be at every meeting this quarter:

Rachel Berman
Mahsino Blamoh
Amber Easterling
Simone Epperson
Craig Erickson
Courtney Fancher
Lauren Fink
Sarah Hejma
Jay Khan
Chelsea Korte
Meagan Lauer
Martha Maberry
Brice Mickey
Dy'Mand Montgomery
Calena Neal
Bridget Nickol
Wil Pierce
Danielle Thomas
Tiffany Thompson
Dion Webb
Maggie Yoder
Anum Zaheer

Many thanks are also due to our Peer Leaders, who've had strong attendance despite the many things they're involved in and that this is their second time around with the demanding RAPP Commitment:
Tad Miller
Nancy Paraskevopoulos
Krystal Smith
Kimmins Southard
DeVorah YisraEL

(pic - Dan B of RAPP XXIV receiving his perfect attendance certificate)

Pictures from The Vagina Monologues

Last night UC students put on a standing room only reading of The Vagina Monologues.

The above photo is from Kelly of RAPP XXV - before the show, before the big crowd all squeezed in (which included over a dozen RAPPers), she asked RAPPers in the house to come onstage for a picture.

Front row: Kelly (XXV), Kenzie (XXV), Nancy (XXIV, PL XXV)
Back row: Patrice (started XXIII), Kimmins (XXIII, PL XXV), Rachel (XXV), Mimi (XXV), Sarah (XXV), Anthony (XXV)

It was a RAPPtastic night - with the stage and audience full of RAPPers. Unfortunately, I don't have the best camera, I don't know how to use it well, and I hate blasting people with the flash. This adds up to some dark, grainy, blurry pictures. Still, I'm putting the best-of-what-I've-got below.

Kimmins S (RAPP XXIII, Peer Leader with RAPP XXV) performs the monologue "My Angry Vagina"

Kenzie A (XXV) performs "Not-So-Happy Fact"

Nancy P (XXIV, Peer Leader with RAPP XXV) performs "My Vagina Was My Village"

Kelly C (XXV), Athina W, and Yewineshet G (XXV) perform "The 'Wear and Say' Lists"

Sarah H (XXV) performs "Hair"

Rachel B (XXV) performed the "Introduction Piece" with Becky James and Kat Crumley

Patrice B (started in RAPP XXIII) performs "The Vagina Workshop"

Jaime R (started in RAPP XXIV) performs "The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy"

Many thanks to Kim F, Brandy T, Ann B, and Courtney B from the UC Women's Center and all the students and staff who performed and attended for bringing this great show to campus!

President Williams' Book Talk

The Center for Access & Transition and Diversity Education are sponsoring a talk from UC President Gregory Williams on his book Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy who Discovered He Was Black.

The event will involve readings by President Williams, audience Q&A, and book signing.

Tuesday, April 6th
12:30-1:45PM

2133 French Hall

(pic-copied from UC Magazine)

RAPP Rebranding - We Need Your Feedback!

For many reasons, we're working in RAPP to develop a new logo for our future. We've had many great logos throughout the years - we're seeking another excellent logo for our 25th year and beyond!

The RAPP Rebranding committee is working hard to ensure that we get a logo that represents RAPP and RAPPORT well to the UC community and everywhere else RAPPers go. One of the keys we're looking for is for the new logo to come from our community. How will we do that this time?

We're having a contest!

To get ready for the contest, our committee is seeking feedback from RAPPers and our supporters. If you've been involved in RAPP in any way since our creation in 1986, your feedback is valuable!

The rebranding committee has created a survey and will conduct it through Wednesday, March 10th. It has five questions and should take five minutes or less to complete.

You can find the survey HERE.

Information gathered from the survey will be used in the creation of a detailed call for submissions.

(pic-one of RAPP's previous logos, the "peace on earth" logo)

-Rebecca

Pictures from the Student Leadership Conference

RAPP's mission is fighting oppression through individual awareness and collective action. Seeing as we're just over 1/2-way through our RAPP year, we're still quite focused on the first part of that (the individual awareness) though we've started rolling the group slowly toward the latter part.

Many RAPPers come to the group with leadership experience, many don't. Whichever group they fall in, a lot of RAPPers strengthened their leadership foundation this weekend by attending the 25th Annual Student Leadership Conference - a great place to be to get ready for effective collective action.

Students listening to keynote speaker Dr. Jame'l Hodges.

Nloh (XXIV), zina (XXV), and Taylor (XXV) at lunch.

Brenna (XXII), friends, Courtney E (XXV), and Coya (XXIV) at lunch.

Kristin (XXV) taking notes on Dr. Hodges speech.

Katie & Nicole (both XXIV) enjoying lunch before the keynote.