R U Dancing Backwards Yet?
Q: What had 110 legs, a LadyPoli candidate, 8 tentacles and hundreds of books?
A: Victoria’s Gordon Head Middle School's Dancing Backwards premier presentation in the school library!
Yup, we did it! DWtO's newest tentacle, Dancing Backwards, launched on Friday January the 25th, to 55 enthusiastic Grade 8 students. Special thanks to principal Brent Kelly, Grade 8 teacher Jess Hoyt, teaching partner Alex deMeidros and Victoria School District 61.
The students watched DWtO video clips, listened to Sandy recount women and politics stories, drank in political factoids, and were introduced to the upcoming DB challenge that'll kick off the storytelling component of the exercise. The afternoon ended with a short, non-partisan chat by Oak Bay/Gordon Head candidate Jessica Van Der Veen, who took time out from campaigning to tell the group her story.
Jessica was inspiring, engaging and funny - speaking to how role models empower young women. We learned about her grandmother, who was the first woman to ride a motorcycle in the U.K. Wearing her grandmother's ring gives Jessica courage on the campaign trail. We gained insights into why it's so important to be political - that it affects everything from the air we breath to school funding. Jessica's one outspoken Lady Politician, and DWtO loves it when Lady Politicians speak up!
Jessica Van Der Veen pictured here with Sandy and volunteer intern Johanna.
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Empowering Young Women
At the beginning of January, Womensuffrage.org
published an article written by DWtO's Sandy Mayzell. The article explores what it takes to keep young women feeling empowered and involved in politics into their later teen and early adult years.
This month we have news that the article is soon to be re-published in the B.C. Teachers' Federation upcoming Social Justice newsletter! This comes at a fortuitous time for DWtO as we ramp up our educational tentacle with
Dancing Backwards. Education is political!
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Dundurn Donates
Toronto's Dundurn Press has made a generous donation to DWtO! We've received copies of
100 Canadian Heroines (and it's sequel
100 more Canadian Heriones), written by local author Merna Forster, for each class participating
Dancing Backwards pilot class.
Thank you Dundurn Press for this generous contribution and for doing your part to further the education of Canada's young women and men!
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Anya's Moustache
Our moustache winner collects her prize tentacle during a meet up with Sandy at Oak Bay Discovery Coffee.
Inspired by her grandfather's battle with cancer, 11-year old Anya raised $580 for Movember Canada this year and plans to do even better next year. Check out her Movember page to see pictures of her daily moustaches and the DWtO donation post!
Keep your eyes open for our next contest. Here's a hint: you'll have to make a match to win a prize!
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...from Sandy's Desk
It's thrilling to see all the prep work for Dancing Backwards start to bear fruit. One of the unexpected bonuses has been the hope inspired in me by the devoted, compassionate teachers and principals participating in this process. I'm so relieved that these people are responsible for shaping the lives of our children - things are going to be OK. I highly recommend that you dip your toes into the world of public education - a wonderful counter-balance to the intensity and negativity that sometimes comes with political activism. What a blessing.
More news?
The website pitch page and short video are just about complete as preparations are in the works for the launch of the
Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign hitting the web next month on International Women's Day. And remember, wherever you find yourself on February 14, get out and dance on the street for One Billion Rising saying no to violence against women!
Sending a huge octo-squeeze thank-you to volunteer intern Johanna Lee, who puts this newsletter together so splendidly each month! Couldn’t do it without ya!
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Monday, February 4, 2013 at 11:35AM 
