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

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)

“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

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)