Astor Torres

Social movements

Chalking/ MEW (event 3)

            Prior to the March 4^th event, the entire class went to the free speech area to get our groups message across through the use of chalking. MEW is the name of my group which stands for Men for Equality of Women. Women encounter inequality on a daily basis whether it is at work or just walking down the street. Thus my group and I thought it would be a great idea to write/ chalk down statistics of the inequality women endure. The group had plenty of ideas and were creative in their chalking as for me, I did my own thing. I decided to get creative and use different color of chalks. I started off by writing down how women make 78 cents for every dollar men make. I was so focused on my chalking that I failed to realize another member from the group wrote the same thing down. I also drew a male sex symbol equaling female sex symbol. It was basic but got the point across. "no means no", "equality for all", and "women don't belong in the kitchen" are just some of the things I wrote down. I ended up using some of these references for my signs (march 4^th).

            It was an awesome experience to do chalking, I mean we tend to look down a few times if not, all times when walking. Students can learn things on issues as they make their way to class. The only problem was that chalk would get used up fast. I failed to read the instructions on the syllabus prior to this event, so I ended up not taking pictures of the event. I had some students tell me that they saw the chalking and thought it was a creative way to bring awareness about certain issues. Prior to this event, I had never thought of chalking as a way to bring about awareness of issues. I use to associate chalking with children, I have seen children chalking on my neighbor's sidewalks for years. Lastly, chalking taught me that shining light on issues can be fun.