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.

Speakers use humor to discuss sexual assault - News

Speakers use humor to discuss sexual assault - News

3 Manatee's

Yesterday was an amazing experience. Together with other caring citizens we helped bring awareness to The Clothesline Project www.clotheslineproject.org. Thousands of shirts made by survivors of violence. Their pain, triumph and healing was on display for an entire community to see. The event took place around this beautiful inlet of water. After set-up three manatee's entertained us by wrestling- it was awesome. Just a reminder how lucky we are in live in Florida. After volunteering we headed down to Greek Town/Tarpon Springs and ate like two Grecian Goddesses. If your ever in the area, put this on your to do list. It was a wonderful day a celebration of healing, life and culture.

Southeastern Sisters

What a week. Becca had oral surgery on Monday and all went well. She has just been running on half her normal cylinders. Tomorrow we are headed to lend some support to the local Clothesline Project. It is an honor to participate in this event specifically here in our hometown. Sunday begins the official training for the Breast Cancer 3-day (hum Rocky theme song while reading). Very exciting. Monday we are off to North Carolina to meet some super cool folks at Duke and Elon. As a very special added bonus we will be spending some quality time with our dear fiends Courtney and JJ. Then we are taking a jaunt to Virginia and we will end up in Georgia on Thursday for SEPC. As if this week were not awesome enough we are seeing two of our Alpha Gam sisters in Atlanta (Anna and Kelly). Finally making our way home on Saturday night. Sounds like we better rest up and get ready to rock n roll. Peace and love.

Kelly and Becca

LUCKY IN LOUISIANA! (an incredibly appropriate title for St. Patrick's Day)

KELLY HITS BIG!!! 240 points, cha-ching! That's 12 bucks!






Gambling is not something we do often (at least not the kind that requires money). So, when we had an afternoon to burn while we were in Shreveport, LA we were all too excited about the nickel slots! Yes, we said nickel slots. We quickly by-passed the penny slots as we were feeling like lady luck was on our side.
Our dreams of a Louisiana shopping spree were shattered when we discovered that we were not the winners of the $2,000 Isle of Capri daily drawing-- one that we thought was ours to win without a doubt. So we put our Lucky Magazine with Yes, No and Maybe tabs clearly marked away for the time being. We were highly optimistic about what the nickel slots had to offer.
The nickel slots were good to us. We still can't figure out which part was more fun, jumping up and down and cheering the machine on whenever we hit 25 cents or more...the fun part of that was getting everyone around us all excited about our big win only to discover that our winnings were less than 20 bucks and usually less than 2! But, hey we were winning! We also found great joy in teasing the drifters who were circling our slot block waiting to jump on our stools. There really should be some sort of slot machine etiquette don't ya think? We played one of the eager and aggressive drifters for a good twenty minutes. Every time he would peep over our shoulder (which was every 30 seconds) we would look at our watch and say, "We really need to go, but man oh man, this machine is being so good to us and it's about to hit big!" After about twenty minutes Mr. Drifter gave up and moved on. We spent a record breaking (for us anyway) three hours at the nickel slots! We left with a little less money than we sat down with, but not much- something like 20 bucks total. It was highly entertaining and worth every nickel!

A special thanks to Kimberly, the Assistant Director of Student Leadership and one of her students, Bobby who is the Speakers Chair at LSU who brought us to Shreveport. We had a great time at LSU-Shreveport and appreciate the true Southern hospitality! Thanks y'all!

Let the Good Times Roll,

K & B

A quote worth noting

Found this especially significant following today's news and events.

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. – Guillaume Apollinaire, 1880-1918, French Poet and Writer

Peace-
K & B

Heartache, walking, bowling and good times

Today was filled with emotions some good and some that were very sad. We heard that a dear friends daughter lost her battle with breast cancer today. We cannot even begin to wrap our head around how hard it must be to lose your child. As a tribute to our beloved friend and the other survivors we know, we made a commitment to participate in the Breast Cancer 3-day Walk fundraising event- www.3day.org. This invovles walking 60 miles over 3 days. Kelly is no stranger to aerobic activity, but Becca....OY VEY! We hope that what they say is true, what does not kill us makes us stronger. We do know that love is stronger than fear and it is a divine motivator. The commitment has been made and we are ready to rock (or shall we say walk).

We participated in the Bowl for Kids' Sake fundraiser in support of Big Brothers Big Sisters. This agency is near and dear to us and it feels good to do something for the kids in our community. Following the bowling bonanza we went to the movies with two of our Alpha Gamma Delta sisters. It was a great girlie good time. KD and Karen exude love and warmth and are a delight to spend time with. The only complaint came from Becca who mentioned about 50 times that we missed the previews. We even did a little shopping too. To wrap it up we went our separate ways and enjoyed time with our husbands. Relished putzing around the house and of course watching all the ABC shows. Desperate Housewives, Grey's and Extreme Home Makeover...all especially rocked tonight. Kudos to the writing team! All this begs the question, what will we do over summer break when we are not traveling and the shows are on hiatus? We are taking suggestions.

Much love....

Bec and Kel

Da Bears

What a great week! Went to Texas and met some rock solid folks at Baylor, go Bears. It was a great program filled with energetic and bright students (the school's excellent rep. is well deserved). The best part is how we got there. Several students lead by our new pal David decided that Baylor was ready to talk about sexual assault and date rape. So these proactive cats put it all together. They even sent out press releases and the media came out, not to mention that the good folks at the Baylor Lariat covered the story both before and after the visit...it was all very cool and very impressive. If David and company are an example of the future then I must say, things are looking bright. To David and all our new friends in Waco, thank you. Students like you keep us believing.

Much love- Kelly and Becca

http://www.baylor.edu/lariat/news.php?action=story&story=39354

http://www.baylor.edu/lariat/news.php?action=story&story=39428

Time in Tampa

"Becca typing away"


We're home for a few days and catching up on office work. It is an incredible whirlwind time for both of us. We have been so passionate about making this venture a success that we worked right through the entire Mardi Gras season. So other than putting away a few obligatory moon pies, fixing some gumbo and dirty rice the biggest celebration of the year has passed us by. No special trip to our spiritual home but musings of a Jazz fest 2006 adventure have begun to surface. If you have not looked up the line up for this years festival we encourage you to do so. Who knows, maybe you too can meet us at the foot of Canal Street? Just remember what happens in NOLA, stays in NOLA.