Water Heater a Go Go

This week has been intense and a little off. After the best Easter ever (being Jewish the bar was low), I returned home to a water heater gone caput. Following a unpleasant clean up we finally went to bed. Monday I got the run around and ultimately no one could help me. Yet, my loved ones showered me with empathy. Friends and family were like, "oh no" and "that is just awful". People called to see how we were and if there was any progress, they all really cared and rallied around us. It was all incredibly nice and much appreciated but all I could think was, it is just a water heater. It could be much, much worse. I thought a lot about the amazing survivors we have met on our journey and how they would take a busted water heater any day. I guess that is another perk to the work we do, we see pain and survival everyday. I have seen the human spirit flourish in difficult situations and it makes for a tempered perspective. Sometimes that very perspective saves us from ourselves.

It is Wednesday and the hunt for a water heater and install marches on. Today, I have had the worst customer service experiences of my life. I was frazzled, mad and frustrated but then I remembered it is just a water heater.

What we do does define us.

Experience is not what happens to a woman.
It is what she does with what happens to her.
-Aldous Huxley

Wonderful quote, the only thing I would add is that I am always amazed by women and men. That within each of us is the power to change the world.

We miss Bill

We're in Little Rock, Arkansas this week and had some extra time to check out the Presidential Library of our friend and yours, President Bill Clinton. It's an awesome library/ museum and we highly recommend you take a few hours to check it out if you're ever in Little Rock. A gig at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock is what brought us to the quaint, all-american town. A special thanks to Sarah at UALR for being so great to us and for introducing us to the tastiest spinach dip we've ever had!
Missing Bill,
Kelly and Becca

Hip New Resources created by RAINN

An article from RAINN's recent newsletter that's worth sharing...
RAINN Prepares to Launch the Web's First Secure Online Hotline
Twelve years after creating the nation's first decentralized national hotline, RAINN is once again about to redefine just how hotlines work. This fall, RAINN will launch the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline, which will be the web's first secure hotline service, offering live help 24 hours a day.
We're creating the Online Hotline in response to user demand for a new way to access services. While calls to the national telephone hotline continue to increase (the hotline provided free, confidential help to 137,039 people in 2005, up 44% in the last three years), research and observation are finding an increased reluctance among young people to use the phone.
Because nearly half of all rape victims are under 18, and fully 80% are under 30, we have no choice but to respond to the growing desire to communicate online instead of by phone. It's the natural — and necessary — evolution of hotline services.
One click will take users from rainn.org to the Online Hotline. There, they will anonymously request help and be connected to a trained volunteer for live, one-on-one support. While there's lots of advanced technology at work behind the scenes, the user's screen will be as clear and intuitive as instant messaging, so there's no learning curve.
The pilot launch of the Online Hotline will begin in May, with a national launch expected in September. For more info, visit rainn.org/programs/online-hotline/.

Warm Southern Charm

GIG'EM AGS! Kelly's husband is so proud!


We recently had an opportunity to spend some time at the South Eastern Panhellenic Conference in Atlanta. This conference is always fun for us as we're southern sorority women ourselves and enjoy spending time with our peeps. We had a chance to meet several remarkable ladies at our break out session on Friday morning (you know who you are). The women who came to our session, came for many different reasons- they wanted to learn more about sexual assault, the program sounded fun, they're concerned about date rape on their campus, they are a survivor, they want to help a friend who is going through this, they're ready to break the silence on their campus and start talking about "IT". Whatever the reason, we thank you for coming and we hope that the session was all you wanted it to be.

Being at Greek leadership conferences is a constant reminder of the important role Greek students play on campus. It's up to each of us to make our Greek experience count. Meeting so many wonderfully talented, energetic, intelligent and fun folks in one place is confirmation that we (all Greeks) have the passion, integrity and power to make our campuses the safest and best place to spend some of the best years of our lives.

Your sisters,
K & B

Kelly on CNN Headline News- Nancy Grace Show !

So, here we are two homies trying to make a difference in this world and we get a call from a CNN producer! Coolio! We're still not sure how they discovered us, maybe through the article that appeared in The Herald Sun covering our program at Duke during the start of the media frenzy, maybe through a google search or maybe out of sheer desperation to find a rape survivor who was willing to talk on the show. Nonetheless, they found us! We got the call Friday afternoon and they sent a car to pick us up early that evening so that I (Kelly) could be in make-up by 7pm. Yes, they sent a car and we felt like super important people, especially when I was sitting in the make-up chair shortly after we arrived! How very Hollywood! When we arrived at the CNN building, they knew exactly who we were and whisked us away to get ready to go on set. I was so nervous, but tried to play it cool, like I had done this sort of thing before. Becca was with me of course, and our dear friend Anna who recently graduated from law school was kick'n it with us in Atlanta when we got the call from CNN so she came with us too. We felt super prepared having legal council present as we embarked on our first national media experience! So, they powdered my face and teased my hair a bit, applied some super shiny lip gloss - I was now camera ready. Becca and Anna were wandering through the research area and tip towing around the studio snapping photos and keeping an eye out for other VIP's. One of the producers came to get us and brought us to the set. They slip an ear piece in, clip a mic on my jacket, tell me which monitor to look at and say, "we go live in 5"(just like they do for Katie Couric I'm thinking). About 10 minutes into the show, the host, Nancy Grace asked, "What's your take on that Kelly." I responded as best I could under the live, national news for the first time circumstance and that was it. What a tremendous opportunity. It was an amazing experience. I was honored to be a part of the show, even if it was only 20 seconds, it was 20 seconds on CNN, live!
Life is good and keeps getting better!
Peace out,
Kelly

Duke, the Durham community and the Nation....

The entire nation has taken notice of the horrific sexual assault incident involving the Duke lacrosse team that recently took place on campus. Many months ago we were booked to speak at Duke to kick off the Duke Women's Center sexual assault and violence prevention week. Our arrival and presentation just happened to be more timely than one could ever expect. Instead of this important week being a time of prevention and awareness, it was a time of tragedy and outrage, but also a time of campus unity and overwhelming support. Being on campus amongst multiple media vans, reporters, camera crew tents,campus safety folks--multiplied, students, faculty, staff and members of the Raleigh- Durham community was a bit surreal. In the midst of one of the most beautiful campuses we have ever visited was an overwhelming presence of controlled chaos. There was an abundant outcry of support from the Duke community. Members of the community who wanted to be heard...who wanted to "talk about it!" Now that we have the nations attention, it's time to take action. We respect and admire this courageous woman for coming forward. We are heart-broken over the community and what they're going through, what we're all going through. We can't go backwards and change what has happened. We need to move forward, take action and be a part of the solution. It's time to talk about "it". To face the issues of sexual assault on campus and in the community. This particular incident happened at Duke, but it could have been anywhere.

Please feel free to check the article that appeared on the cover of The Herald Sun the day following our program at Duke University: http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-717666.html


PS- The Duke Women's Center ROCKS THE HOUSE...to say the very least. Mad props to the staff, student volunteers and all of their hard work not only this week but throughout the year.