Anne Cortinas ,3/11/2016, 90

 Anne Cortinas, 3/11/2016, 90 MW SOC 111

 The event I attended was very eye opening and fun. When I first arrived I found you to sign in and then I was around to see what each organization was about and how their booths their booth was contributing to the day. One of the first booths I attended was the homelessness; I went to be very interesting. I participated in a few activities they had going on, my favorite activity was the "Are you hungry?" the students gave me $7.50 to go grocery shopping unfortunately all I could afford was $2 loaf of bread and $5 whole fried chicken, I was a quarter short of being able to buy water. This activity was meant to show realities family face by having to purchase unhealthy food to feed their family because it's affordable each fruit and vegetable they tried to sell me was $1 each. I also learned that funds have been cut in California for WIC, there is limited assistance for breastfeeding/pregnant women for children up to 5 years of age. I also took a quiz to test my knowledge of homelessness in Fresno I was not truly aware of the statistics, I did learn 46% of homeless women have been abused, 20-25% of homeless have mental issue problems, and 49,933 homeless veterans. The status a for homeless better a women is very shocking because 70% are affected by substance abuse issues and 40% are assaulted in the military. On the bright-side, 100% of Fresno Unified Students are eligible for the free school lunch program. A few other booths that I really liked was the animal rights because I am a stronger believer that animals should not be used as a testing subject for makeup.  They especially should not be  in any way mistreated because they don't know any better. We need to be guardians to them and treat them right.  Another booth that I found interesting was students supporting teachers to get a raise. Many of the students handed out booklets that gave us information on where's the money from tuition going if we don't see teachers getting a raise, but yet their are new monuments going up around the school, but what's happening to the rest of the funding. It really made me think as to what is happening to all the money, I mean not only does the school get tuition paid, but parking passes are 93 dollar a student (and we have a commuter school).

Another thing that impacted me was a group of old women called "The Raging Grannies" who have been protesting against the government for women's rights singing songs. I felt super empowered listening to the passion and word choice for those songs since I am a woman, I couldn't believe that they have been protesting since the 60s. My favorite song was uterus because no one should be afraid to call their body parts the proper name.  I noticed they was people of all ages involved in this activity as well as a lot of different ethnic groups, who also participated in the march. Mainly it was composed of college students and senior citizens(raging grannies).  

First I began, making myself a sign for the march, my sign focused on animal rights I had so much fun making it. On the back, it said no animal testing and on the front it said Cruelty-Free with a bunny on the top. During the march, we walked from the free speech area all around towards university high to shaw and back past the door and again to the free speech area.  The march was my favorite part of this activity because I wasn't embarrassed to speak my mind and shout things. Everyone in the crowd was having fun and laughing we all marched there were many shouts and then there was silence at times. It was a really great overall experience because people were honking at us. At one point we tried to get this random girl to join, but she said she was going to get food. I feel everyone felt comfortable to be who they were no one was judging anyone and it felt great to be apart of a group who was open minded.  The march itself made me feel so liberated from the world it allowed me to see a different perspective because I've seen marches happen, but I've never participated in one. For me, this experience was one of the best I've had at Fresno state since I don't really have time to participate in activities.