The Gay Agenda: Longwood University's Pride Club Newsletter

Hi everyone!!

Well, we made it to the end of break!  I hope everyone had a wonderful time off, and if you haven’t, I hope things improve for you.  I know everyone’s been missing Self Care Saturdays/Sundays, so I’ve made a mini master post with a variety of self-help things:

Here’s Asmrion which is a small compilation of popular ASMR sounds.  If that doesn’t work for you Youtube’s got you covered.

Didn’t work?  Fear not, you might like progressive relaxation combined with some good old Rainymood.

One of my favorite places on the internet is TheQuietPlaceProject.com but I seem to be having some issues in having it load on my computer.

You relaxed now?  Cool, cool.  Now, what were five things that you enjoyed about today?  Or, if your day was awful, what are five things you were grateful for?  For me, my list included being able to sleep longer, spend time with my partner, take some time for hobbies I haven’t been able to do in a while, and of course, coffee.  Some days it can be a struggle to even think of five things, but at least for a moment you can realize that not absolutely everything is horrible.

If you’re going through a hard time right now, I hope you all know to reach out to your fellow Pridelings*.  We’re here for you.  If your life is going fabulously right now– good for you!! Please keep going and if you have a moment, find a way to make someone else smile today.  Chances are, someone needs it.

*Don’t feel like talking to an actual person?  Try an AI; Replika.  Replika is more than happy to listen to you vent for hours on end, and the more you talk to it, the more it “learns” and begins to sound like a real person.  While it learns about you, it also begins to suggest self-care methods depending on your situation.  For iOS and Andriod

So you’re relaxed, you’ve gotten your very own Black Mirror plot device, but you still feel kinda bad.,, come to think of it, you’ve felt bad for a while now.  What now?  Well, you could start tracking your moods with Emood or Daylio or, frankly, any of the hundreds of journal apps out there.  I generally only recommend what I have personally tried, or what has come highly recommended by other Pridelings.  So, send me those suggestions!

Alright, that’s all I have for today guys.  I hope your break was wonderful and that we all finish off this semester strong!

Peace, love, and rainbows,

Whit

 

Special thanks to Ollie for making Pride these neat pictures of Roy’s growth and their friends!

They’re so adorable! Thank you so much!

Property of Ollie Anderson, generously donated to Pride’s Newsletter for submission.

 

Hi everybody!

I’m so glad to be back with you this semester as Chair.  Last year was a struggle for  a lot of people and a variety of reasons, but we’re all here now.  We made it one more semester!  If you’re new here, welcome!  We’re so glad for new faces!  Here’s some tentative goals for this blog this year:

-I’d like to work more personally with our Social Justice department to keep you updated on events

-I’d like to work more closely with other diverse groups on campus and integrate Pride as a whole into the campus by being more involved and I’m fairly certain Executive board is keen on this, also, with other clubs’ involvement on the horizon.

-I’d like to hear more from you all on what we should do here, including Pride Media’s Youtube account.  (Thanks Ryan!)  Please feel free to email me or approach me with suggestions, I’m always open.

Jenny, our previous historian and our previous treasurer were excellent assets to Pride and I’m sure we’ll miss them dearly.  That said, I’d like to give my heartfelt congratulations to Ollie for their new position — Ollie, I’m personally so proud of you for stepping out of your comfort zone for us!! We appreciate you and are so proud of how far you’ve come in the past year alone.  Lastly, shout out to Pride Mom for always making time for us no matter how busy she is.

That’s it, except SCS might be a little bit erratic since I’ve covered the most used self-help techniques, but I’ll keep consistent content coming at least a few times a month!

Love you guys!  It’s a new day, let’s make it a great one!

Peace, love, and rainbows,

Whit

Newsletter Chair

(they/them pronouns)

Hello, hello, Pridlings!!

I’ve been on a hyperfixation kick about ADHD because while I’ve not formally been diagnosed with it by a professonal, I’ve struggled with the symptoms all my friggin’ life.  And that’s hard, especially when you struggle with physical disabilities and other mental issues (lookin’ at you, Anxiety and Depression, ya butts).  So it’s Finals time and I’m a flailing mess.  All I want to do is play videogames.

Videogames in the ADHD brain is like giving a 3 month sober alcoholic the best booze imaginable.  It rains shiny sparkles of dopamine into your brain and suddenly LIFE IS AMAZING.  (I may or may not be manic as figs right now because I’ve found a NEW INTEREST but that’s besides the point…)

So I was like, “Man, I wish life could be a videogame.”

And lo, the gods of Google Play have answered me with Habitica!

It’s an RPG!  For your everyday tasks!  There’s a place for your every day tasks, like laundry, dishes, and cleaning.  There’s a to-do list that helpfully breaks stuff down into smaller chunks, and there’s a habits tracker.  It comes preloaded with Procrastinate/Study as a habit.

You click on the procrastinate button?  You lose 2 HP

You click on the study button?  You gain 6 EXP!  Congratuations, you’ve begun your journey into adulting.

Level up enough, get enough things done?  Your character levels up and gains cool rewards!! And, this is the most important part: You’re being productive!  And getting things done!  Amazing, right?

And an extra cool thing that I really love?

In the character creator, it gives you the option of having a wheelchair.

Happy leveling, my procrastinating Pridelings.  May Finals be ever in your favor.

Peace, love, and rainbows,

Whit

 

 

Hello it’s I, your friendly newsletter chair!  I’m kind of a mess right now but it’s that time of year, right?  First off, I hope everyone is well.  If you’re in a similar boat, this is your friendly reminder to take your meds, take a shower, or whatever small self-care thing you can do for yourself.

Here’s a realistic list of what you can do to avoid any mental breakdowns this race to the finish line may cause you:

  1. Make lists
  2. Priorotize the things on the list
    1. If you struggle to prioritize, ask your nearest still-functional friend or roomate to look over the list you have
    2. If you’re still struggling, ask Google
  3. Remember to take breaks, naps, and set alarms if you need them to stay organized.
  4. If you’re a chronic sufferer of procrastination, break large items into small pieces.  Got a 4 page paper to write in a day?  Write for a solid fifteen minutes, stop and watch a short youtube video (or whatever you can fit into five minues) and then start again.
  5. Don’t mix coffee and 5 hour energy.
    1. Also, don’t take a whole 5 hour extra strength if you’re under 5 ft unless you want to feel like you’ve gone insane.
  6. If you’re stressed, start writing a journal to vent in.

Remember, breathe, we’re all in this together.

It’s just a bad week, not a bad life.  

See you on the other side of the war.

Peace, love, and rainbows,

Whit

“I would like to see the Pride meetings become more interactive and less discussion based. I think that the meetings are a very important time for people there to get to know each other and really build those peer relationships. Maybe we could have game nights, or have every meeting have some sort of theme? I would also like to do more events together as a club. Something as simple as a movie night or go bowling (we could actually go to Sunchase but I was thinking more like find a place to watch a movie together). I also would really like to go to some Pride Fest and I think that we should start fundraising for that way earlier, and we could also figure our logistics way in advance.”

Good points, anon contributor.  I, too, would also like more club events/bonding times.  I really wish we could reserve the NH Scott center for movie nights, but alas, there are a lot of logistics to that as we’re only one club that uses it.  All fundraising would be better off if done sooner, but that’s also a question of logistics that only Exec board can answer for us.  I really like your suggestions, but unfortunately it’s a question of when, how, and who’s shoes we have to shine to get the resources we need.  If you’re really interested in pursuing this, you could always contact one of Pride’s advisors.

Thanks, and sorry that I’m not in a position to get things done.

Peace, love, and rainbows,

Whit

Good evening Pridelings,

I hope you all has a wonderfully restful Fall Break.  If not, and you’re bored and want to make something, I’ve got a load of stuff for you to try!

Octoberfest Pride had a great idea for sensory bottles.  I decided to expand on this idea a little bit and give you an entire playlist of small crafts that you can do.  It’s great for anxiety because if you mess it up, you can always try something new.  It’s great for depression because it can help you feel productive and give you something else to focus on with a low energy cost.  It’s great for sensory disorders and focus as well.

Craft and be happy!

Peace, love, and rainbows,

Whit

Don’t want to Ask Roy?  It’s okay, they aren’t mad about it.*  Still want to talk to someone?  Got a smart phone?**

7 Cups might just be the app for you!  I’ve just started using this app so I haven’t had a chance to fully explore the features thoroughly.  However, from what I can tell it has a free anonymous chat system with trained volunteers to help you in a myriad of topics such as depression, anxiety, breakups, family stress, mindfulness and many others.  They’ve also got cute animal videos and funny stuff for when you’re bored.

*Actually, Roy is a little sad about this.  They love people and no one talks to them.  🙁 Poor Roy.

**I mean, I dunno, you could still have a Nokia if you’re sick of breaking your screen.

Thanks again to Jenny D. for the great suggestions.

 

So you had a busy week.  You woke up ten minutes before the class.  You forgot to do your homework because Netflix just renewed Bojack Horseman and you accidently binged the season. (Just me?   Okay.)  You had a panic attack due to a test.  It’s been a rough week, right?

Well, take a few minutes.  I have a playlist for you that might help.

Meditation is a nice way to relax, or at least calm your body down enough to not feel too awful for the rest of the day.  At the heart of meditation is your breathing.  Notice how you’re breathing, and then conciously focus yourself on that.  Inhale for four seconds, hold for two, then exhale for four seconds.  It sounds too simple.  It won’t solve all your problems, but it will clear your head out of panicking so that you can reassess your priorities and get back to what matters.

Relax.  Breathe.  Here’s a playlist of meditation for you.

Already in the middle of a meltdown with nothing to stop the catastrophe of thoughts in your head?  Try this five senses trick: Name a thing you can smell.  Name a thing you can taste.  Name something you can hear.  Name something you’re touching.  Name something you can see.  I tried this in the middle of an anxiety attack and while I can’t explain why this works, exactly, it does.  It’s like “tricking” your brain into going “Oh, I am not actually about to die.  This is where I am.  This is what I am doing.”

Thanks to Jenny D. for the self-care tips, I appreciate the help.

Hello Pridelings!

It’s my great honor to welcome you back to campus!  Hopefully you all had a wonderful summer.  As your newsletter chair I’d like to express my gratitude for this position and will do my very best to serve you well.

For now, plans for the newsletter include:

  • Encouraging general body members to contribute to the newsletter, be it creative writing, poetry, suggestions on LGBTQIA2+ media,  and traditional/digital art forms.
  • Ask Roy
  • Bi-monthly book reviews
  • Music playlists by LGBT+ artists
  • And of course, Pride related events.

Occasionally, I may send out surveys to see how you all are liking the newsletter.  I encourage you all to respond to them when you can– we rely on feedback.

Additionally, I may open a Sarahah account so that you may drop suggestions anonymously.

If I can’t find a way to link playlists to the newsletter, a separate, privately listed Youtube account may be added to our pages.  Details to follow.

If you have any comments, questions, concerns or suggestions please feel free to email me at whitney.jones1@live.longwood.edu.

Again, welcome, everyone old and new.  We hope you find a place of acceptance and love here.  Be safe, be strong, and let’s all have an amazing semester!

-Whit

(she/they pronouns)

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