Once again, I find myself returning to my blog at a time when I couldn't be busier academically! Anything for procrastination. But recently a number of things have contributed to me feeling really creative: reading good books and visiting bookshops; helping out at the local poetry festival; listening to the new Ed Sheeran album; and many other things! To be honest, being a student here in itself is very creatively stimulating. With Spring Break approaching, I'm really looking forward to getting away for a wee while and spending time with family, but every day I'm reminded in some way of how much I love the environment I'm lucky enough to find myself in at the moment. I also thought that bashing out a few rough blog posts (in true 'Draft One' style!) while sitting in a busy library might loosen the writers' block threatening to lower my productivity, and then I might finally get cracking on my essay!
Well, that was some intro! I think this will be one of those rather rambley posts... sorry! This academic year I've really pushed myself to get involved in lots of student activities: the student newspaper, swimming club, student ambassadors, orchestra, trad and folk society, foreign affairs society and a part time job are just a selection of the things I've got involved in my time at university so far. I figure, time here seems to fly by, so I better make the most of it!
It was the annual FAS 'Summit'/conference at the beginning of February that got me note-taking for this post, but honestly I'm not 100% sure what exactly it was I wanted to say, so please bear with me!
The conference was entitled 'World of Women: Freedom to Succeed Summit'. And I must say, as you can imagine, it was pretty darn inspiring. Since I decided just to listen and enjoy the speeches, I didn't take notes so I won't go into details about what exactly was said, but it was essentially all about empowering women and inspiring stories from across the world. There were reps from many walks of life, from a women who helped found a company producing reusable female hygiene products for impoverished communities, to a woman accountant and business coach, to a lawyer specialising in female Muslim cases, a female representative from NATO, a student who set up a society aiming to enable female students to believe themselves capable of independent financial security and a well-known journalist, among others. The one thing missing, in my opinion, was a male perspective on the many roles of women in our world. But I suppose not everyone would agree, and it may not have totally fitted with the programme for the day.
Yesterday (March 8th) was International Women's Day, and I spent much of the day pondering what that meant, and if I was a fan! It's similar to the issues I encountered when considered my views on Feminism (see my post called 'I am a Feminist... I think'). Why do we have an International Women's Day? Are we encouraging a binary gender divide and inequality by dedicating a day to women? I'm not going to claim that those issues are totally cleared up in my head, and everyone is entitled to their view, but I have generally come to the conclusion that raising awareness about the importance of gender equality and the continuing lack of it visible so often in our world is never a bad thing. We just wouldn't exist without distinct roles in society, and certainly without the women in our world. And their achievements and goals and dreams are no more whimsical or idealistic than any man's. Plus, I got to tweet one of my fave old pics of my Mum and I, and celebrate a woman who made me who I am, and I love that.
I don 't think there's much benefit to me getting any soppier, but I'm glad we had #IWD to make us stop and think of these issues. And there was one more point I wanted to touch on. If you read my review of the book 'All the Bright Places' you may remember that, for me, it brought up the problematic issue of 'labelling' and how one of the main characters was caused to really retreat within himself and refuse help as a result of fear surrounding labelling. It was something that certainly struck a chord with me at the time, and must have stayed with me because I thought of it again during this conference, but this time with far more positive connotations...
I was recently speaking to my Mum via Whatsapp, and talking about how I was busy conducting some interviews for the student newspaper, and in her reply she referred to me as a "budding journalist" or "aspiring journalist" or something along those lines. On reflection, as a teenager I definitely shied away from embracing any label that committed me to role or profession, that made me sound productive or successful. Y'know, I'd always answer with "not really" or "haha" or "muuuum... stop being so embarrassing!" I don't think that that is uncommon.
But sitting in that conference, I suddenly realised that I am proud to call myself an "aspiring journalist", or anything else that reflects my goals and hard work. Because they can change and adapt, but its ok to admit what I want right now and believe it to be possible.
I'm not sure how much sense I've made, but I really should get back to essay writing! To all my fellow lassies out there, dream big, let those dreams become a part of your identity, and keep kicking ass! There you go, my advice in a nutshell!
Catriona x
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