My Personal Long Term Goals at DePaul

         In addition to the writing workshop my long term goals for addressing sexual assault and awareness on campus is to use my opportunity to direct a play as a senior in the Theatre School to write and direct a play on sexual assault within the DePaul Community.  This show will be based off a series of interviews that were conducted on sexual assault and awareness on campus.   We will be asking students at DePaul to write a poem or a monologue about their experience and the resilience they have had to overcome sexual violence in their lives.  We think it is important to speak of ways that will help women to see themselves as survivors.  This project with my community is imperative for me to constantly remember that I am not alone but also the ways that race, gender, class and age impact the women here at DePaul. 

            I have witnessed friends here at DePaul that have been sexually assaulted by peers within the school and I think it is important to create a community where these topics can be spoken about.  This is just the first step.  I think using art as a medium for women to share their stories is important, this will allow them to be creative and think of the ways they have shown resilience to sexual violence.  I would like the outcome of this event to encapsulate a quote by Aurora Morales, “we have in fact survived; that our spirits are indestructible” (19).  This is so powerful to me because I think a lot of the focus in art about sexual assault focuses on the victimization and leaves it there.  I ultimately want the students of DePaul to realize that storytelling is important to not only recovery and resilience but also to speak to others that could possibly relate to them. 

            My identity and experience are shaped by my position in the community as a theatre major because I see art and theatre as a great tool to create just enough distance with topics such as this while being able to personal relate and discuss emotions within our own lives.  I would like the writing and the Speak-Out to be a stepping-stone to the start of the discussion about resilience and ways that gender, class, age and sexuality impact their stories and the community as a whole.  

            Creative writing has been important to me for a long time and because my passion is growing and my awareness of sexual assault on campus is also growing I look forward to working on developing my personal art therapy. "A general rule of poetry is to try to include both the positive and the negative in a single line.  Balance, beauty, credibility derive from that. Poetry that is either too positive or negative dulls the interest." (Baranow, 6)  A goal of mine is to be able to find a balance in the positive and the negative in my piece because I don't want this piece to be focused on the oppression, but it is necessary to be included that way there can also be focus on the resilience and resistance that survivors go through. 

      The goal after this project is to hopefully use the monologues and poetry to create a performance piece that will be performed at DePaul in the future.  DePaul’s student body should be able to see perspectives of current students about the controversial topic of sexual assault to continue the conversation. 

Baranow, Joan, Brian Dolan, H. David Watts, and UC Medical Humanities Consortium.,. The Healing Art of Writing. Proc. of The Healing Art of Writing. San Francisco, CA; Berkeley: UC Medical Humanities Consortium ; Distributed by UC, 2011. Print. 

-Sam Bentson 

After the Creative Writing Workshop, I want to continue to work with the community through a series of workshops with this group.  I hope to continue working with sexual violence on DePaul’s campus throughout the rest of my time here.  I feel that it is important to form a more concrete community advocating for his issue on DePaul’s campus.  Through processing our own experiences of violence, we can continue to work towards positive changes in the DePaul community.

            When working with issues around trauma, healing is so important.  Whether it be trauma from sexual violence, family abuse, or military violence it can be very beneficial to seek creative outlets.  I believe that creativity is a powerful way to process and heal from trauma.  Groups have used musical outlets to begin healing from traumatic experiences, and there were immense improvements when compared to individual and/or verbal talking only therapy (Bensimon 2012).  It is easy to find oneself balancing between the everyday life, and the traumatic experiences that one has experienced.  Creative outlets aid in healing from these experiences and moving forward, and I want to continue to foster safe spaces that welcome creativity and resilience. 

            I have seen healing happen within community in my own life, and I am continuing to work to have this more accessible on DePaul’s campus through the University Counseling Services as well as other areas. Throughout the winter quarter, I want to stay involved in groups advocating for this issue at DePaul and in other communities.  There are different groups forming, and I think it is important to come together to make a more effective case for more resources, support, and prevention around sexual violence issues. 

Studies have shown that within a group, there is increased social justice activism specifically because an increased amount of support and hope in situations (Perry 1999).  Activism becomes a form of expression and healing within some circles that can be mutually beneficial to the activist because they find more meaning and passion through their work, and also for the community because of people working for social justice and a more just society.

I look forward to working within these groups, and advocating for survivors of sexual violence on DePaul’s campus.  I will be interning with Rima Shah in the Office of Sexual Health &Violence Prevention this winter quarter. Through this internship, I will work to instigate the formation of a male-led initiative against sexual violence to engage men with the issue.  I will also be working to increase resources through University Counseling Services, and the Office of Sexual Health & Violence Prevention through support groups, more specialized counseling, and a peer advocacy network for survivors.

I am hopeful to see changes happen on our campus, but know that it takes time.  There are so many inspiring students on campus that are driven and passionate about this issue.  This has inspired me to try and collaborate with more students as well as the rest of the DePaul community to work with this issue within our DePaul community.

           

Bensimon, Moshe, Dorit Amir, and Yuval Wolf. “A Pendulum Between Trauma And Life: Group Music Therapy With Post-Traumatized Soldiers.”  The Arts In Psychotherapy 39.4 (2012): 223-233.

           

Perry, Alice de V. (01/01/1999). "Spirituality expressed in community action and social justice: A therapeutic means to liberation and hope." in Spiritual resources in family therapy. (1-57230-508-8, 978-1-57230-508-3), (p. 272).

-Emily Edwards