Hi Everyone, Oct. 25th was my last blog on the OCIC Conference. After that I fell ill but am now, FINALLY, fully recovered. So my sincerest apologies to all.
Here is my blog about the second and third day of the conference.
REMINDER: The OCIC Global Citizens Forum focused on how to use art for social change.

DAY 2:
There were MANY great workshops to choose from like mural painting, photography, how to blog, postcard making and theatre.

I attended the workshop hosted by Bella Donna entitled, "Stories are stronger than statistics".

THINK:
HOW MANY OF US KNOW THAT RAPE IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM FOR OUR YOUNG WOMEN IN CANADA.

MANY

HOW MANY OF US TRULY CARE AND FEEL COMPELLED TO ACT TO RECTIFY THE SITUATION.

FEW

WHY IS THAT:
We do not connect what we know in our minds with what is in our hearts.

CONSIDER THESE WORDS:

In the name of love, stop.
In the name of love, stop.
As I pick up this thread that I dropped.
From a catch in a throat and a sob
From lungs attached to arms to young to reach the doorknob
And a fiath system too new to doubt there’s a god
But do keep in mind that in time she will learn how to doubt
Around the time her arms grow big enough to let her out
But by my clock too late for a little girl or boy to celebrate
It’s too bad you can’t be un-raped
And the therapist spins all this self-righteous crap
About purging fasts and self-cleansing attacks
Take blue pills for dinner and yellow for snacks
Life through a fog. Who could ask more than that?
And she turns and says, “Doctor, I want my hymen back.”
And he thinks of her stretching and his mind starts to block and says stop.
In the name of love, stop.
In the name of love, stop.

These are a few lines from Bella Donna's song "Giant Squid". I get chills every time I hear or read it.
For me, these words really connected with my hear and my head. Especially when she said "Doctor I want my hymen back".

The power of spoken word is just being discovered
here in Toronto. It is a beautiful and effective way of reaching people in a place they aren't normally reached.

In the workshop we also practiced expressing ourselves without words. We could only use our bodies to communicate what we were feeling and thinking.
I'm categorized as an expressive, so it was really hard for me not to use my mouth as a method of communication.

The exercise broke down many barriers.

Everyone was in the same situation and so did not laugh at their peer. Also, I realized that there are so many ways to use art, including my body, to effect social change.


DAY 3:

The wrap up session was AMAZING. It was warm and fulfilling. All participants came together to share what they had leaned throughout the conference. They performed, sharing the knowledge from their workshop with everyone else. Therefore, it felt like I got to attend all of the sessions. YAY.

[There are pictures in the photo album of all the work the groups did].